Chris Walter
@chriswalter.fediscience.org.ap.brid.gy
Professor of physics at Duke University. Studies particle physics and cosmology. Works on Super-Kamiokande and also LSST at the Vera C. Rubin Observatory.
[bridged from https://fediscience.org/@ChrisWalter on the fediverse by https://fed.brid.gy/ ]
[bridged from https://fediscience.org/@ChrisWalter on the fediverse by https://fed.brid.gy/ ]
Reposted by Chris Walter
Astrophotographer snaps 'absolutely preposterous' photo of skydiver 'falling' past the sun's surface | Live Science
This photo is breaking my brain. 🤯
https://www.livescience.com/space/the-sun/astrophotographer-snaps-absolutely-preposterous-photo-of-skydiver-falling-past-the-suns-surface
This photo is breaking my brain. 🤯
https://www.livescience.com/space/the-sun/astrophotographer-snaps-absolutely-preposterous-photo-of-skydiver-falling-past-the-suns-surface
Astrophotographer snaps 'absolutely preposterous' photo of skydiver 'falling' past the sun's surface
Astrophotographer Andrew McCarthy has snapped a striking shot of a skydiving YouTuber perfectly aligned with the fiery surface of the sun. The unlikely image, dubbed "The Fall of Icarus," required meticulous planning to pull off.
www.livescience.com
November 15, 2025 at 2:04 PM
Astrophotographer snaps 'absolutely preposterous' photo of skydiver 'falling' past the sun's surface | Live Science
This photo is breaking my brain. 🤯
https://www.livescience.com/space/the-sun/astrophotographer-snaps-absolutely-preposterous-photo-of-skydiver-falling-past-the-suns-surface
This photo is breaking my brain. 🤯
https://www.livescience.com/space/the-sun/astrophotographer-snaps-absolutely-preposterous-photo-of-skydiver-falling-past-the-suns-surface
Reposted by Chris Walter
**How a medieval Oxford friar used light and colour to find out what stars and planets are made of**
🔗 https://theconversation.com/how-a-medieval-oxford-friar-used-light-and-colour-to-find-out-what-stars-and-planets-are-made-of-262652.
#medieval #history #science #histsci #astronomy #histodons
🔗 https://theconversation.com/how-a-medieval-oxford-friar-used-light-and-colour-to-find-out-what-stars-and-planets-are-made-of-262652.
#medieval #history #science #histsci #astronomy #histodons
How a medieval Oxford friar used light and colour to find out what stars and planets are made of
Richard Fishacre challenged the scientific orthodoxy of his day, and contemporary astrophysics has vindicated his position.
theconversation.com
November 7, 2025 at 8:07 PM
**How a medieval Oxford friar used light and colour to find out what stars and planets are made of**
🔗 https://theconversation.com/how-a-medieval-oxford-friar-used-light-and-colour-to-find-out-what-stars-and-planets-are-made-of-262652.
#medieval #history #science #histsci #astronomy #histodons
🔗 https://theconversation.com/how-a-medieval-oxford-friar-used-light-and-colour-to-find-out-what-stars-and-planets-are-made-of-262652.
#medieval #history #science #histsci #astronomy #histodons
Reposted by Chris Walter
Thrilled to join the Simons Observatory with Duke University as a member institution! @simonsobservatory.org
today.duke.edu/2025/10/capt...
today.duke.edu/2025/10/capt...
Capturing the Big Bang’s Afterglow | Duke Today
today.duke.edu
November 3, 2025 at 3:57 PM
Thrilled to join the Simons Observatory with Duke University as a member institution! @simonsobservatory.org
today.duke.edu/2025/10/capt...
today.duke.edu/2025/10/capt...
Reposted by Chris Walter
I cannot visit @esoastronomy HQ without photographing and posting about this video game box.
It is not just a bit of astronomy themed retro box art, there is an actual retro game to go with it too. It was written for the Atari 2600 but can also be played online […]
[Original post on aus.social]
It is not just a bit of astronomy themed retro box art, there is an actual retro game to go with it too. It was written for the Atari 2600 but can also be played online […]
[Original post on aus.social]
October 17, 2025 at 2:30 PM
I cannot visit @esoastronomy HQ without photographing and posting about this video game box.
It is not just a bit of astronomy themed retro box art, there is an actual retro game to go with it too. It was written for the Atari 2600 but can also be played online […]
[Original post on aus.social]
It is not just a bit of astronomy themed retro box art, there is an actual retro game to go with it too. It was written for the Atari 2600 but can also be played online […]
[Original post on aus.social]
Reposted by Chris Walter
You remember the iconic picture of a black hole from the @ehtelescope? Now there are three - a mini-movie so to speak. The structure of magnetic fields changes, the brightness wobbles, but the ring remains rock solid. That seals the case for it being a black […]
[Original post on mastodon.social]
[Original post on mastodon.social]
September 16, 2025 at 7:23 AM
You remember the iconic picture of a black hole from the @ehtelescope? Now there are three - a mini-movie so to speak. The structure of magnetic fields changes, the brightness wobbles, but the ring remains rock solid. That seals the case for it being a black […]
[Original post on mastodon.social]
[Original post on mastodon.social]
This article has a really nice explanation of how astronomical images that you see get assigned their colors, along with info on some of the choices we make related to this in the Rubin Observatory.
https://spie.org/news/photonics-focus/sept-oct-2025/coloring-astronomy
https://spie.org/news/photonics-focus/sept-oct-2025/coloring-astronomy
Astro-color alchemists
Astronomers have a method for colorizing grayscale images from various space- and groundbased observatories.
spie.org
September 16, 2025 at 11:59 PM
This article has a really nice explanation of how astronomical images that you see get assigned their colors, along with info on some of the choices we make related to this in the Rubin Observatory.
https://spie.org/news/photonics-focus/sept-oct-2025/coloring-astronomy
https://spie.org/news/photonics-focus/sept-oct-2025/coloring-astronomy
Reposted by Chris Walter
This is the "Ann Plate", a photograph that was taken during the commissioning of the Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT) in 1974 as a demonstration of the capabilities of new telescope.
The AAT was the first large telescope to be completely computer controlled […]
[Original post on aus.social]
The AAT was the first large telescope to be completely computer controlled […]
[Original post on aus.social]
![Photo of a page from the symposium proceedings "Celebrating the AAO: Past, Present and Future"
Text is as follows:
4. On the Ann plate
The famous "Ann plate", showing the capabilities of the AAT's computer control system, appear in teh paper by Pat Wallace in this volume. While the photograph is widely remembered, exactly who took it is slightly uncertain, and probably irrelevant. However, for the record:
Pat Wallace: I did the experiment and processed the plate, but I think an AAT technician was present in the PF cage for opening and closing the shutter, with me at the telescope controls... I guess it was 1975 [It was 22 December 1974]
Peter Gillingham: I don't think it much matters but I'm almost certain Ken Oliver (the first AAT electrician) was the Night Assistant for the night and he was the one in the PF cage. But, as Patrick says, aII he had to do was to open and close the shutter (several times) as Pat commanded.
It's also my quite confident recollection that, one or two nights earlier as we (Pat, very likely John Straede, and I) were discussing what should be traced on such a plate and puzzling over what would be a suitable word, Ann Savage, came into the Control Room and, on being acquainted with the topic of conversation, suggested "Ann" right away, pointing out its geometric simplicity [and only two alphabetic characters had to be encoded!].](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:snbpxx4fxrcw4bvs2okniwfc/bafkreic4rwqasa3fjoci22ny7x4pb7o3hyv7whre7zwbbwpmkgj6kkv5oe@jpeg)
![Photo of a page from the symposium proceedings "Celebrating the AAO: Past, Present & Future". The relevant part of the text is as follows:
As I releated at [this] meeting, Californian astronomer Sandra Faber told me before I left Keck that, on seeing the Ann plate image projected at an astronomy instrumentation meeting attended by Pat and Graham Bothwell (at MIT?) she knew that a new era in instrumentation had dawned.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:snbpxx4fxrcw4bvs2okniwfc/bafkreihpzjlgxuafwn5m6tpx7powux65fijdumzsimvmr7e36zrzddqjhu@jpeg)
September 15, 2025 at 3:35 AM
This is the "Ann Plate", a photograph that was taken during the commissioning of the Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT) in 1974 as a demonstration of the capabilities of new telescope.
The AAT was the first large telescope to be completely computer controlled […]
[Original post on aus.social]
The AAT was the first large telescope to be completely computer controlled […]
[Original post on aus.social]
Reposted by Chris Walter
This isn't my sub-field of astronomy, but someone needs to give this conference 1000 internet bonus points for the best, most geographically relevant acronym, plus their logo is ADORABLE
https://uwaterloo.ca/astrophysics-centre/geese-on-2025
GEESE-ON […]
[Original post on mastodon.social]
https://uwaterloo.ca/astrophysics-centre/geese-on-2025
GEESE-ON […]
[Original post on mastodon.social]
September 8, 2025 at 2:30 PM
This isn't my sub-field of astronomy, but someone needs to give this conference 1000 internet bonus points for the best, most geographically relevant acronym, plus their logo is ADORABLE
https://uwaterloo.ca/astrophysics-centre/geese-on-2025
GEESE-ON […]
[Original post on mastodon.social]
https://uwaterloo.ca/astrophysics-centre/geese-on-2025
GEESE-ON […]
[Original post on mastodon.social]
Reposted by Chris Walter
In the 1900s and 1910s there were a number of Chicago-based record labels that operated a type of premium scheme whereby the phonograph itself was inexpensive but the purchaser was locked-in to purchasing discs made for the player through the use of different […]
[Original post on mastodon.world]
[Original post on mastodon.world]
August 30, 2025 at 4:43 PM
In the 1900s and 1910s there were a number of Chicago-based record labels that operated a type of premium scheme whereby the phonograph itself was inexpensive but the purchaser was locked-in to purchasing discs made for the player through the use of different […]
[Original post on mastodon.world]
[Original post on mastodon.world]
@ryanfb and others who work with papyrus:
If you find yourself on the island of Ortigia in Syracuse in Sicily, there is a small interesting papyrus museum. It is not really about manuscripts, it is about papyrus itself, how it is made, its history etc […]
[Original post on fediscience.org]
If you find yourself on the island of Ortigia in Syracuse in Sicily, there is a small interesting papyrus museum. It is not really about manuscripts, it is about papyrus itself, how it is made, its history etc […]
[Original post on fediscience.org]
July 27, 2025 at 10:03 PM
@ryanfb and others who work with papyrus:
If you find yourself on the island of Ortigia in Syracuse in Sicily, there is a small interesting papyrus museum. It is not really about manuscripts, it is about papyrus itself, how it is made, its history etc […]
[Original post on fediscience.org]
If you find yourself on the island of Ortigia in Syracuse in Sicily, there is a small interesting papyrus museum. It is not really about manuscripts, it is about papyrus itself, how it is made, its history etc […]
[Original post on fediscience.org]
RIP Tom Lehrer you will be missed.
Gift link:
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/27/arts/music/tom-lehrer-dead.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Zk8.YR0c.BmzmY54i-uzY&smid=url-share
As a kid, I loved his songs when I found my parent's copy of one of his records.
Here is my small connection to one […]
Gift link:
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/27/arts/music/tom-lehrer-dead.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Zk8.YR0c.BmzmY54i-uzY&smid=url-share
As a kid, I loved his songs when I found my parent's copy of one of his records.
Here is my small connection to one […]
Original post on fediscience.org
fediscience.org
July 27, 2025 at 9:45 PM
RIP Tom Lehrer you will be missed.
Gift link:
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/27/arts/music/tom-lehrer-dead.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Zk8.YR0c.BmzmY54i-uzY&smid=url-share
As a kid, I loved his songs when I found my parent's copy of one of his records.
Here is my small connection to one […]
Gift link:
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/27/arts/music/tom-lehrer-dead.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Zk8.YR0c.BmzmY54i-uzY&smid=url-share
As a kid, I loved his songs when I found my parent's copy of one of his records.
Here is my small connection to one […]
A nice article about my colleague @evevavagiakis.bsky.social 's physics books for children:
https://trinity.duke.edu/news/if-you-think-physics-just-grownups-think-again
https://trinity.duke.edu/news/if-you-think-physics-just-grownups-think-again
June 3, 2025 at 5:05 PM
A nice article about my colleague @evevavagiakis.bsky.social 's physics books for children:
https://trinity.duke.edu/news/if-you-think-physics-just-grownups-think-again
https://trinity.duke.edu/news/if-you-think-physics-just-grownups-think-again
Reposted by Chris Walter
#arxiv #goodbyeto The anomalous magnetic moment of the muon in the Standard Model: an update https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.21476 "this update has resulted in a major upward shift of the total SM prediction. There is no tension between the SM and experiment at the […]
[Original post on mathstodon.xyz]
[Original post on mathstodon.xyz]
May 28, 2025 at 5:41 AM
#arxiv #goodbyeto The anomalous magnetic moment of the muon in the Standard Model: an update https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.21476 "this update has resulted in a major upward shift of the total SM prediction. There is no tension between the SM and experiment at the […]
[Original post on mathstodon.xyz]
[Original post on mathstodon.xyz]
Last night in Toyama Japan, as I left the sushi restaurant where I ate dinner, the scene reminded me of Edward Hopper's painting 'Nighthawks' .
May 26, 2025 at 12:50 AM
Last night in Toyama Japan, as I left the sushi restaurant where I ate dinner, the scene reminded me of Edward Hopper's painting 'Nighthawks' .
May 25, 2025 at 8:04 AM
Reposted by Chris Walter
How long will our universe last? Well, it looks like there is a definite end to the most robust pieces of our cosmos: Even the dead remnants of stars, i.e. black holes, neutron stars and white dwarfs will eventually decay. This is based on the realization […]
[Original post on mastodon.social]
[Original post on mastodon.social]
May 13, 2025 at 8:37 AM
How long will our universe last? Well, it looks like there is a definite end to the most robust pieces of our cosmos: Even the dead remnants of stars, i.e. black holes, neutron stars and white dwarfs will eventually decay. This is based on the realization […]
[Original post on mastodon.social]
[Original post on mastodon.social]
Reposted by Chris Walter
Reposted by Chris Walter
A quick skim through this year's astro 101 misinformation debunking final project topics:
-Faked moon landings
-Flat Earth
-Supermoons and tsunamis/earthquakes
-Nibiru
-Black holes "sucking"
-15 days of darkness
-Hollow moon
-Saturn's ring disappeared
-Moon phases caused by Earth's shadow
-The […]
-Faked moon landings
-Flat Earth
-Supermoons and tsunamis/earthquakes
-Nibiru
-Black holes "sucking"
-15 days of darkness
-Hollow moon
-Saturn's ring disappeared
-Moon phases caused by Earth's shadow
-The […]
Original post on mastodon.social
mastodon.social
April 23, 2025 at 12:48 AM
A quick skim through this year's astro 101 misinformation debunking final project topics:
-Faked moon landings
-Flat Earth
-Supermoons and tsunamis/earthquakes
-Nibiru
-Black holes "sucking"
-15 days of darkness
-Hollow moon
-Saturn's ring disappeared
-Moon phases caused by Earth's shadow
-The […]
-Faked moon landings
-Flat Earth
-Supermoons and tsunamis/earthquakes
-Nibiru
-Black holes "sucking"
-15 days of darkness
-Hollow moon
-Saturn's ring disappeared
-Moon phases caused by Earth's shadow
-The […]
Reposted by Chris Walter
There's an absolutely wild statement on wikipedia that a base-11 system was "briefly proposed during the French Revolution to settle a dispute between those proposing a shift to duodecimal and those who were content with decimal".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Undecimal
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Undecimal
Undecimal - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
April 11, 2025 at 9:12 AM
There's an absolutely wild statement on wikipedia that a base-11 system was "briefly proposed during the French Revolution to settle a dispute between those proposing a shift to duodecimal and those who were content with decimal".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Undecimal
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Undecimal
Reposted by Chris Walter
If anyone wants a horrible python program that will write integers in cuneiform sexegesimal (base sixty) using unicode so you can paste it all over the place in emails, documents and text messages I have just the thing. Use with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plimpton_322
For maximum amusement. […]
For maximum amusement. […]
Original post on sauropods.win
sauropods.win
April 10, 2025 at 3:39 PM
If anyone wants a horrible python program that will write integers in cuneiform sexegesimal (base sixty) using unicode so you can paste it all over the place in emails, documents and text messages I have just the thing. Use with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plimpton_322
For maximum amusement. […]
For maximum amusement. […]
Reposted by Chris Walter
Please share this with any #photographers and #photographic #artists who might be interested in turning their creative eye on a science lab that is 2km (6800ft) underground. Applications are welcome! Please mind the deadline […]
Original post on mastodon.cooleysekula.net
mastodon.cooleysekula.net
April 2, 2025 at 9:08 PM
Please share this with any #photographers and #photographic #artists who might be interested in turning their creative eye on a science lab that is 2km (6800ft) underground. Applications are welcome! Please mind the deadline […]
Reposted by Chris Walter
Fun fact: Three out of the eight schools in the Elite Eight of the Women's March Madness are members of the Simons Observatory: Duke, USC, and UT Austin. 🏀 If you want your team to get good, consider convincing your institution to join us! (Of course, there is a relevant xkcd: xkcd.com/1365/)
Inflation
xkcd.com
March 30, 2025 at 6:02 AM
Fun fact: Three out of the eight schools in the Elite Eight of the Women's March Madness are members of the Simons Observatory: Duke, USC, and UT Austin. 🏀 If you want your team to get good, consider convincing your institution to join us! (Of course, there is a relevant xkcd: xkcd.com/1365/)
Reposted by Chris Walter
Amazingly talented fediverse astrophotographers: gorgeous, perfectly exposed and processed telescope images
Me, a professional astronomer: accidentally points a 4 meter telescope at Saturn for a series of 5 minute exposures
Me, a professional astronomer: accidentally points a 4 meter telescope at Saturn for a series of 5 minute exposures
March 17, 2025 at 10:17 PM
Amazingly talented fediverse astrophotographers: gorgeous, perfectly exposed and processed telescope images
Me, a professional astronomer: accidentally points a 4 meter telescope at Saturn for a series of 5 minute exposures
Me, a professional astronomer: accidentally points a 4 meter telescope at Saturn for a series of 5 minute exposures
Reposted by Chris Walter
My colleague Michael Wondrak has conducted an evaporation experiment of Ferrero-Rocher chocolate confection and compared it to our predictions for evaporation via a Hawking-like gravitational pair production, that we published recently […]
[Original post on mastodon.social]
[Original post on mastodon.social]
March 19, 2025 at 3:31 PM
My colleague Michael Wondrak has conducted an evaporation experiment of Ferrero-Rocher chocolate confection and compared it to our predictions for evaporation via a Hawking-like gravitational pair production, that we published recently […]
[Original post on mastodon.social]
[Original post on mastodon.social]