João Calhau
@astrocalhau.bsky.social
The second rock from grandpa. Astronomy from Alentejo🇵🇹 to the World. Lancaster Uni alumnus. Post-doctoral researcher at INAF, Italy. Likes galaxy evolution, AGN,SFR, and Universe in general. Personal account; Opinions my own. astrocalhau.wordpress.com
Reposted by João Calhau
15+ years old, but still VERY relevent — and if we had acted 15 years ago, the “better world” we’d be creating would be a LOT better & easier to reach. There are real consequences we’re just starting to see to not heeding this cartoon a lot sooner.
Even worse if we don’t heed it now. #ClimateCrisis
Even worse if we don’t heed it now. #ClimateCrisis
November 12, 2025 at 5:04 AM
15+ years old, but still VERY relevent — and if we had acted 15 years ago, the “better world” we’d be creating would be a LOT better & easier to reach. There are real consequences we’re just starting to see to not heeding this cartoon a lot sooner.
Even worse if we don’t heed it now. #ClimateCrisis
Even worse if we don’t heed it now. #ClimateCrisis
Reposted by João Calhau
We're a third of the way through Haiti!! It would be awesome if we could keep the momentum up 🧪
This is a fantastic citizen science project to help with the aid distribution in the Caribbean following Hurricane Melissa!
Very easy to take part and little effort, which translates to a huge help to aid teams on the ground! 🧪
www.iflscience.com/citizen-scie...
Very easy to take part and little effort, which translates to a huge help to aid teams on the ground! 🧪
www.iflscience.com/citizen-scie...
Citizen Scientists Are Helping With Rescue Efforts In Hurricane Melissa's Aftermath – Here's How You Can Too
It is very easy to lend a hand, and you can do it with just your phone.
www.iflscience.com
November 7, 2025 at 5:57 PM
We're a third of the way through Haiti!! It would be awesome if we could keep the momentum up 🧪
Reposted by João Calhau
Mission accomplished! We've hit £1000 in just 12 days. Of course people can always donate more/there is no upper-limit. What next? Well, my sobriety has over 8 months to go, so that's my task. Maybe I can do some other challenge to build on this amount... @braintumourcharity.bsky.social
November 6, 2025 at 6:43 PM
Mission accomplished! We've hit £1000 in just 12 days. Of course people can always donate more/there is no upper-limit. What next? Well, my sobriety has over 8 months to go, so that's my task. Maybe I can do some other challenge to build on this amount... @braintumourcharity.bsky.social
Hell yeah!
Open Sesame!
The ELT doors have moved for the first time. This was no small feat, as each door will weigh 650 tonnes once completed.
The ELT dome & its doors will guard the telescope from the harsh conditions of the Atacama Desert.
https://www.eso.org/public/videos/potw2544a/
🔭 🧪
📹 ESO/ACe
The ELT doors have moved for the first time. This was no small feat, as each door will weigh 650 tonnes once completed.
The ELT dome & its doors will guard the telescope from the harsh conditions of the Atacama Desert.
https://www.eso.org/public/videos/potw2544a/
🔭 🧪
📹 ESO/ACe
November 3, 2025 at 9:51 AM
Hell yeah!
I have a complicated relationship with Weekends. They're technically two days, yet I spend half of the time despairing over the fact that the next day will be Monday and end up only resting for a day...
November 2, 2025 at 9:08 PM
I have a complicated relationship with Weekends. They're technically two days, yet I spend half of the time despairing over the fact that the next day will be Monday and end up only resting for a day...
Reposted by João Calhau
Reposted by João Calhau
–The faint light of the star reflected in the frozen globes of unseeing eyes served as a reminder of reality, because in the end this was all that the ship was: A cold and silent grave, forgotten and left to forever drift through the darkness of space.
[1/4]
#SciFiFri
[1/4]
#SciFiFri
October 31, 2025 at 4:39 PM
–The faint light of the star reflected in the frozen globes of unseeing eyes served as a reminder of reality, because in the end this was all that the ship was: A cold and silent grave, forgotten and left to forever drift through the darkness of space.
[1/4]
#SciFiFri
[1/4]
#SciFiFri
Reposted by João Calhau
Time to spotlight the first paper of my PhD student Gauri Kotiwale that appeared on arXiv last week: Rapid, out of equilibrium metal enrichment indicated by a flat mass-metallicity relation at z ∼ 6 from NIRCam grism spectroscopy
arxiv.org/abs/2510.19959
arxiv.org/abs/2510.19959
Rapid, out of equilibrium metal enrichment indicated by a flat mass-metallicity relation at z~6 from NIRCam grism spectroscopy
We aim to characterise the mass-metallicity relation (MZR) and the 3D correlation between stellar mass, metallicity and star-formation rate (SFR) known as the fundamental metallicity relation (FMR) fo...
arxiv.org
October 31, 2025 at 10:53 AM
Time to spotlight the first paper of my PhD student Gauri Kotiwale that appeared on arXiv last week: Rapid, out of equilibrium metal enrichment indicated by a flat mass-metallicity relation at z ∼ 6 from NIRCam grism spectroscopy
arxiv.org/abs/2510.19959
arxiv.org/abs/2510.19959
Back home tomorrow. Napoli was a pleasant enough place. Especially the people. And I definitely enjoyed the food. But looking forward to get home.
October 29, 2025 at 5:31 PM
Back home tomorrow. Napoli was a pleasant enough place. Especially the people. And I definitely enjoyed the food. But looking forward to get home.
Reposted by João Calhau
Reposted by João Calhau
1.5°C: what it means and why it matters | United Nations share.google/oEm522fCUaD1...
1.5°C: what it means and why it matters | United Nations
The science is clear: to avert the worst impacts of climate change and preserve a liveable planet, global warming needs to be limited as much as possible and as a matter of urgency. Under the Par...
share.google
October 27, 2025 at 6:38 AM
1.5°C: what it means and why it matters | United Nations share.google/oEm522fCUaD1...
Reposted by João Calhau
Fantastic - now at £600, or 60% of the target (I don't know why it's saying 59%, but whatever.) Many thanks to an anonymous donor who gave £100 🙏👍❤️
October 26, 2025 at 11:32 AM
Fantastic - now at £600, or 60% of the target (I don't know why it's saying 59%, but whatever.) Many thanks to an anonymous donor who gave £100 🙏👍❤️
Reposted by João Calhau
–Captain, the more we talk about it, the less it seems like an accident.
–Oh come on! Don't tell me you've never wondered what the big red button is for. Look at it as a... a scientific experiment! Yeah!
–You could have just read the bloody manual!
–Oh come on! Don't tell me you've never wondered what the big red button is for. Look at it as a... a scientific experiment! Yeah!
–You could have just read the bloody manual!
October 25, 2025 at 3:12 PM
–Captain, the more we talk about it, the less it seems like an accident.
–Oh come on! Don't tell me you've never wondered what the big red button is for. Look at it as a... a scientific experiment! Yeah!
–You could have just read the bloody manual!
–Oh come on! Don't tell me you've never wondered what the big red button is for. Look at it as a... a scientific experiment! Yeah!
–You could have just read the bloody manual!
Reposted by João Calhau
When the DORA Report and other research say "increased coding speed but reduced stability," this is what they mean. It writes a lot of code, most of which is bad and breaks things.
It can write okay code -- if you spend more time fighting with it than if you'd just wrote the code yourself!
It can write okay code -- if you spend more time fighting with it than if you'd just wrote the code yourself!
I remember tech bros specifically saying that coding was a use case where actually AI worked well... About that:
"It's said that the AI keeps adding incorrect code to projects, which have to be fixed by the developers who don't want to work with the tool in the first place."
"It's said that the AI keeps adding incorrect code to projects, which have to be fixed by the developers who don't want to work with the tool in the first place."
EA's AI Game Development Tools Are Apparently So Bad That It's Costing More Money To Fix Their Mistakes
A new report suggests that EA's pivot to AI is just causing costly mistakes, and the developers hate it.
www.thegamer.com
October 25, 2025 at 10:41 AM
When the DORA Report and other research say "increased coding speed but reduced stability," this is what they mean. It writes a lot of code, most of which is bad and breaks things.
It can write okay code -- if you spend more time fighting with it than if you'd just wrote the code yourself!
It can write okay code -- if you spend more time fighting with it than if you'd just wrote the code yourself!
Reposted by João Calhau
In solidarity with a friend who started a 9-month course of chemotherapy for brain cancer yesterday (24/10/2025), I'm going sober for the same period. Only 273 days to go! (Ends: Friday 24/07/2026).
I'm hoping to raise £1000 for @braintumourcharity.bsky.social
www.justgiving.com/page/guy-wat...
I'm hoping to raise £1000 for @braintumourcharity.bsky.social
www.justgiving.com/page/guy-wat...
Guy's fundraiser for The Brain Tumour Charity
Help Guy Watkins raise money to support The Brain Tumour Charity
www.justgiving.com
October 25, 2025 at 7:41 AM
In solidarity with a friend who started a 9-month course of chemotherapy for brain cancer yesterday (24/10/2025), I'm going sober for the same period. Only 273 days to go! (Ends: Friday 24/07/2026).
I'm hoping to raise £1000 for @braintumourcharity.bsky.social
www.justgiving.com/page/guy-wat...
I'm hoping to raise £1000 for @braintumourcharity.bsky.social
www.justgiving.com/page/guy-wat...
Reposted by João Calhau
As a European this fucking sucks. Can we stop investing our money into stupid bubbles? First fix the blatant theft that's going on daily to "teach" most of those models. SMH
October 22, 2025 at 2:06 PM
As a European this fucking sucks. Can we stop investing our money into stupid bubbles? First fix the blatant theft that's going on daily to "teach" most of those models. SMH
Leaving for Italy at 3 am tonight. I hate travelling.
October 21, 2025 at 6:45 PM
Leaving for Italy at 3 am tonight. I hate travelling.
Reposted by João Calhau
So … here’s the thing I am very excited about, and what I was building all of yesterday.
I got a new backyard radio telescope! 📡
This one is specifically designed for #RadioAstronomy — in particular looking for the 1.42 GHz hydrogen line signal and is made with light, weather proof material.
🔭
I got a new backyard radio telescope! 📡
This one is specifically designed for #RadioAstronomy — in particular looking for the 1.42 GHz hydrogen line signal and is made with light, weather proof material.
🔭
August 3, 2025 at 12:40 AM
So … here’s the thing I am very excited about, and what I was building all of yesterday.
I got a new backyard radio telescope! 📡
This one is specifically designed for #RadioAstronomy — in particular looking for the 1.42 GHz hydrogen line signal and is made with light, weather proof material.
🔭
I got a new backyard radio telescope! 📡
This one is specifically designed for #RadioAstronomy — in particular looking for the 1.42 GHz hydrogen line signal and is made with light, weather proof material.
🔭
Reposted by João Calhau
Today we got our revenge on the storm that forced us to cancel the Day & Night of #Astronomy and #100HoursofAstronomy at Onsala Space Observatory. This is inflatable planetarium where I held 7 presentations today and look - they made a roll-up banner of my artwork! 👩🚀🌍✨
October 18, 2025 at 6:15 PM
Today we got our revenge on the storm that forced us to cancel the Day & Night of #Astronomy and #100HoursofAstronomy at Onsala Space Observatory. This is inflatable planetarium where I held 7 presentations today and look - they made a roll-up banner of my artwork! 👩🚀🌍✨
Reposted by João Calhau
You probably missed it because of some deadline but on Tuesday we published the results of an [OIII] emitters search in the COMOS(-3D) field using slitlless spectroscopy. That's *237* 6.7<z<9 uniformly-selected spec-z galaxies over 0.3 degrees square. See the piled 2D plots below, that's a lot!
October 17, 2025 at 2:34 PM
You probably missed it because of some deadline but on Tuesday we published the results of an [OIII] emitters search in the COMOS(-3D) field using slitlless spectroscopy. That's *237* 6.7<z<9 uniformly-selected spec-z galaxies over 0.3 degrees square. See the piled 2D plots below, that's a lot!
Bloody amazing. And with a 16'' Dobson.
AstroBin's Image of the Day: "Mercury in the Summer of 2025" by Backdoor Astronomy
www.astrobin.com/2f0qzj/
#astrophotography
www.astrobin.com/2f0qzj/
#astrophotography
October 17, 2025 at 12:11 PM
Bloody amazing. And with a 16'' Dobson.