Benjamin Pope
@benjaminpope.bsky.social
Australian astronomer
he/him
Sydney/Gadi
he/him
Sydney/Gadi
this paragraph could apply in so many science contexts
November 7, 2025 at 2:22 AM
this paragraph could apply in so many science contexts
this but physicists with the Ising model
October 28, 2025 at 6:49 AM
this but physicists with the Ising model
Really, truly affecting talk today, that I will be thinking about for a long time
October 21, 2025 at 10:42 AM
Really, truly affecting talk today, that I will be thinking about for a long time
the ARC RMS interface is what you take if you apply the CIA sabotage manual as a software development paradigm
October 21, 2025 at 5:06 AM
the ARC RMS interface is what you take if you apply the CIA sabotage manual as a software development paradigm
I especially want to call out @spiralstar.bsky.social for his vision and leadership, from designing AMI, proposing targets, supervising these projects, solving problems, and being a fantastic mentor to all of us. We were delighted to see him honoured with the Michelson Prize in 2024 for this.
October 14, 2025 at 3:35 AM
I especially want to call out @spiralstar.bsky.social for his vision and leadership, from designing AMI, proposing targets, supervising these projects, solving problems, and being a fantastic mentor to all of us. We were delighted to see him honoured with the Michelson Prize in 2024 for this.
We can see Io rotate slightly over the hour-long timelapse, tracking volcanoes on its surface!
And check out the Conversation piece for a cool slider showing how NGC 1068 lines up perfectly with previous data from LBTI.
And check out the Conversation piece for a cool slider showing how NGC 1068 lines up perfectly with previous data from LBTI.
October 14, 2025 at 3:35 AM
We can see Io rotate slightly over the hour-long timelapse, tracking volcanoes on its surface!
And check out the Conversation piece for a cool slider showing how NGC 1068 lines up perfectly with previous data from LBTI.
And check out the Conversation piece for a cool slider showing how NGC 1068 lines up perfectly with previous data from LBTI.
The raw data look like messy interferograms that are hard to understand by eye - and we enhance these data to restore beautiful images of the environment of the black hole in NGC 1068, Jupiter's moon Io, and a dusty binary system WR 137.
October 14, 2025 at 3:35 AM
The raw data look like messy interferograms that are hard to understand by eye - and we enhance these data to restore beautiful images of the environment of the black hole in NGC 1068, Jupiter's moon Io, and a dusty binary system WR 137.
By forward-modelling through this, we can reverse out what the uncorrupted images look like, recovering known planets at the theoretical photon noise and diffraction limit of AMI. I told Louis it would Just Work™ and two years and tens of thousands of lines of code later, he made it work.
October 14, 2025 at 3:35 AM
By forward-modelling through this, we can reverse out what the uncorrupted images look like, recovering known planets at the theoretical photon noise and diffraction limit of AMI. I told Louis it would Just Work™ and two years and tens of thousands of lines of code later, he made it work.
Now we are able to correct the mask metrology, infer the wavefront, and infer the mask is not *quite* in focus. We also learn the pixel sensitivities and a neural network for how pixels interact with their neighbours - this 'effective detector model' is probably the most impactful part of the paper.
October 14, 2025 at 3:35 AM
Now we are able to correct the mask metrology, infer the wavefront, and infer the mask is not *quite* in focus. We also learn the pixel sensitivities and a neural network for how pixels interact with their neighbours - this 'effective detector model' is probably the most impactful part of the paper.
The Aperture Masking Interferometer (AMI) is a tiny piece of metal in Webb's NIRISS camera, filtering light through a pattern of holes where no pairs are have the same direction and spacing. This means that we can unambiguously tie changes in the telescope images to the optics ('phase retrieval').
October 14, 2025 at 3:35 AM
The Aperture Masking Interferometer (AMI) is a tiny piece of metal in Webb's NIRISS camera, filtering light through a pattern of holes where no pairs are have the same direction and spacing. This means that we can unambiguously tie changes in the telescope images to the optics ('phase retrieval').
I feel like I'm going insane that the Herald and the Foreign Minister are discussing peace in Palestine in terms of a fanciful peace prize for Trump. We're on aestheticization of politics level 7 or 8 by now and it's so dumb
October 10, 2025 at 6:50 AM
I feel like I'm going insane that the Herald and the Foreign Minister are discussing peace in Palestine in terms of a fanciful peace prize for Trump. We're on aestheticization of politics level 7 or 8 by now and it's so dumb
Super proud of @tamarastro.bsky.social winning this year’s Moyal Medal!
October 9, 2025 at 10:22 AM
Super proud of @tamarastro.bsky.social winning this year’s Moyal Medal!
Excited to have a tour today of the new AAO building at Macquarie, where the astronomers and engineers are just beginning to bump into their new facilities! The atrium and forum are going to be awesome event spaces and the labs are enormous.
October 9, 2025 at 9:47 AM
Excited to have a tour today of the new AAO building at Macquarie, where the astronomers and engineers are just beginning to bump into their new facilities! The atrium and forum are going to be awesome event spaces and the labs are enormous.
Wonderful to tour the new Jim Piper Centre at Macquarie, and see Paula Dawson’s To Absent Friends in the new gallery!
October 9, 2025 at 9:43 AM
Wonderful to tour the new Jim Piper Centre at Macquarie, and see Paula Dawson’s To Absent Friends in the new gallery!
went with these great books for top100books.abc.net.au but the longlist is just absolutely chaos, picking the worst books of good authors and missing others entirely...
October 2, 2025 at 12:41 AM
went with these great books for top100books.abc.net.au but the longlist is just absolutely chaos, picking the worst books of good authors and missing others entirely...
Not a bad view from the IAC meeting
September 30, 2025 at 1:52 AM
Not a bad view from the IAC meeting
Ready for Aunty Donna
September 3, 2025 at 10:27 AM
Ready for Aunty Donna
you can stick it in a bottle, you can hold it in your hand
August 13, 2025 at 2:44 AM
you can stick it in a bottle, you can hold it in your hand
Stephanie Shirley was a major donor to Balliol College, becoming the second woman (after the college's founder from nearly eight centuries ago!) to have her portrait displayed in Hall. I think this might also be the first painting in a college with what looks like an iPad in it!
August 12, 2025 at 1:12 AM
Stephanie Shirley was a major donor to Balliol College, becoming the second woman (after the college's founder from nearly eight centuries ago!) to have her portrait displayed in Hall. I think this might also be the first painting in a college with what looks like an iPad in it!
It’s a real pity that we don’t put Science House in Sydney to its intended use as a home for the learned societies
August 7, 2025 at 11:05 AM
It’s a real pity that we don’t put Science House in Sydney to its intended use as a home for the learned societies
From Gadigal to Gaza!
August 3, 2025 at 6:13 AM
From Gadigal to Gaza!
Interesting to revisit Mamajek's Law from 2016 - that the number of known exoplanets is increasing exponentially - in light of new data.
Extrapolating this discovery rate to 2025 we should have found nearly 47k planets (!) vs actual: 5967
Gaia save us!
Extrapolating this discovery rate to 2025 we should have found nearly 47k planets (!) vs actual: 5967
Gaia save us!
August 2, 2025 at 11:41 AM
Interesting to revisit Mamajek's Law from 2016 - that the number of known exoplanets is increasing exponentially - in light of new data.
Extrapolating this discovery rate to 2025 we should have found nearly 47k planets (!) vs actual: 5967
Gaia save us!
Extrapolating this discovery rate to 2025 we should have found nearly 47k planets (!) vs actual: 5967
Gaia save us!
First time at the AFL in a while. 🩸🦢
July 19, 2025 at 6:23 AM
First time at the AFL in a while. 🩸🦢
as a society why did we find and replace “product” with “solution”
July 19, 2025 at 4:39 AM
as a society why did we find and replace “product” with “solution”