Danny Milisavljevic
@danmil.bsky.social
Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Purdue University. Excitable Explorer of the Universe.
Sad to realize that 80% of people in North America can’t see the Milky Way at night.
We need these protected Dark Sky escapes to connect with the Universe.
We need these protected Dark Sky escapes to connect with the Universe.
have you ever been somewhere so dark you could step outside & immediately spot the Milky Way? i traveled to the Upper Peninsula to learn about efforts to balance industrialization & economic growth with the preservation of starry skies:
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/24/s...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/24/s...
Fighting for ‘The Right to Night’ Under Starry, Rural Skies
www.nytimes.com
November 25, 2025 at 1:05 AM
Sad to realize that 80% of people in North America can’t see the Milky Way at night.
We need these protected Dark Sky escapes to connect with the Universe.
We need these protected Dark Sky escapes to connect with the Universe.
Reposted by Danny Milisavljevic
I haven't seen research though I'd guess it exists, but handwriting letters *extensively* - as in 18th & 19th centuries- seems to produce a critical mass of great writers & thinkers. Jefferson's correspondence with Adams, for example. Maybe it's quill pens, which slow down writing to thinking speed.
November 21, 2025 at 1:53 PM
I haven't seen research though I'd guess it exists, but handwriting letters *extensively* - as in 18th & 19th centuries- seems to produce a critical mass of great writers & thinkers. Jefferson's correspondence with Adams, for example. Maybe it's quill pens, which slow down writing to thinking speed.
Yes to this also! Everyone has different strategies to learn.
I’m reminded of a saying from my dad:
“If you do nothing, you know nothing.”
I can read all about, e.g., basketball, but unless I’m on the court practicing shots, I’m not going to improve my game.
I’m reminded of a saying from my dad:
“If you do nothing, you know nothing.”
I can read all about, e.g., basketball, but unless I’m on the court practicing shots, I’m not going to improve my game.
Writing was horrible for me, too much focus on writing instead of actually learning. However, getting printed notes or slides can make you just stare and pretend. I think tasks are needed, manageable task with gradually increasing complexity that make you use the info given.
November 21, 2025 at 1:48 PM
Yes to this also! Everyone has different strategies to learn.
I’m reminded of a saying from my dad:
“If you do nothing, you know nothing.”
I can read all about, e.g., basketball, but unless I’m on the court practicing shots, I’m not going to improve my game.
I’m reminded of a saying from my dad:
“If you do nothing, you know nothing.”
I can read all about, e.g., basketball, but unless I’m on the court practicing shots, I’m not going to improve my game.
I remember the “old fashioned library search”
Relying on ChatGPT to teach you about a topic leaves you with shallower knowledge than Googling and reading about it, according to new research that compared what more than 10,000 people knew after using one method or the other.
Shared by @gizmodo.com: buff.ly/yAAHtHq
Shared by @gizmodo.com: buff.ly/yAAHtHq
November 21, 2025 at 1:08 PM
I remember the “old fashioned library search”
Reposted by Danny Milisavljevic
Very excited to share the NASA/ESA/STScI press release of our team's work on Apep! It's a terrific writeup, complete with a brand new beautiful visualisation of the nebula geometry.
1/? ⚛️🔭🧪
science.nasa.gov/missions/web...
1/? ⚛️🔭🧪
science.nasa.gov/missions/web...
Webb First to Show 4 Dust Shells 'Spiraling' Apep, Limits Long Orbit - NASA Science
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has delivered a first of its kind: a crisp mid-infrared image of a system of four serpentine spirals of dust, one expanding
science.nasa.gov
November 19, 2025 at 10:08 PM
Very excited to share the NASA/ESA/STScI press release of our team's work on Apep! It's a terrific writeup, complete with a brand new beautiful visualisation of the nebula geometry.
1/? ⚛️🔭🧪
science.nasa.gov/missions/web...
1/? ⚛️🔭🧪
science.nasa.gov/missions/web...
Reposted by Danny Milisavljevic
Those were beautiful #aurorae in the past days. A solar storm brought a lot of protons to Earth. Not only to Earth but also to #ESAEuclid – but does #Euclid notice? Oh yes.
www.euclid-ec.org/here-comes-t...
#ESA #Sun #SpaceWeather #space
www.euclid-ec.org/here-comes-t...
#ESA #Sun #SpaceWeather #space
November 15, 2025 at 3:52 PM
Those were beautiful #aurorae in the past days. A solar storm brought a lot of protons to Earth. Not only to Earth but also to #ESAEuclid – but does #Euclid notice? Oh yes.
www.euclid-ec.org/here-comes-t...
#ESA #Sun #SpaceWeather #space
www.euclid-ec.org/here-comes-t...
#ESA #Sun #SpaceWeather #space
How did I not know this?!
Did you know?
In 2025, the U.S. quarter features Vera Rubin, honoring her landmark discovery of the existence of dark matter — a tribute that perfectly coincides with the first light of the Rubin Observatory(@vrubinobs.bsky.social), celebrating her enduring legacy in unveiling the unseen universe.
In 2025, the U.S. quarter features Vera Rubin, honoring her landmark discovery of the existence of dark matter — a tribute that perfectly coincides with the first light of the Rubin Observatory(@vrubinobs.bsky.social), celebrating her enduring legacy in unveiling the unseen universe.
November 7, 2025 at 10:50 PM
How did I not know this?!
Reposted by Danny Milisavljevic
Astronomers have spotted the largest and most distant flare ever observed from a supermassive black hole.
Nicknamed “Superman,” the flare originated 10 billion light-years from Earth, and at its peak, the light emitted shone with the brightness of 10 trillion suns. https://cnn.it/3WFwNNN
Nicknamed “Superman,” the flare originated 10 billion light-years from Earth, and at its peak, the light emitted shone with the brightness of 10 trillion suns. https://cnn.it/3WFwNNN
November 7, 2025 at 1:04 AM
Astronomers have spotted the largest and most distant flare ever observed from a supermassive black hole.
Nicknamed “Superman,” the flare originated 10 billion light-years from Earth, and at its peak, the light emitted shone with the brightness of 10 trillion suns. https://cnn.it/3WFwNNN
Nicknamed “Superman,” the flare originated 10 billion light-years from Earth, and at its peak, the light emitted shone with the brightness of 10 trillion suns. https://cnn.it/3WFwNNN
Another title for this article could be: “Superman Outshines Scary Barbie”
www.cnn.com/2025/11/06/s...
www.cnn.com/2025/11/06/s...
November 7, 2025 at 1:22 AM
Another title for this article could be: “Superman Outshines Scary Barbie”
www.cnn.com/2025/11/06/s...
www.cnn.com/2025/11/06/s...
Excellent, exciting new paper by M. Graham et al. who find the newest record holder for most energetic flare from a supermassive black hole, nicknamed “Superman”. The previous record holder was “Scary Barbie,” first reported by our group at Purdue in Subrayan et al. 2023.
arxiv.org/abs/2511.02178
arxiv.org/abs/2511.02178
An Extremely Luminous Flare Recorded from a Supermassive Black Hole
Since their discovery more than 60 years ago, accreting supermassive black holes in active galactic nuclei (AGN) were recognized as highly variable sources, requiring an extremely compact, dynamic env...
arxiv.org
November 7, 2025 at 1:08 AM
Excellent, exciting new paper by M. Graham et al. who find the newest record holder for most energetic flare from a supermassive black hole, nicknamed “Superman”. The previous record holder was “Scary Barbie,” first reported by our group at Purdue in Subrayan et al. 2023.
arxiv.org/abs/2511.02178
arxiv.org/abs/2511.02178
Reposted by Danny Milisavljevic
So, we are tracking well above Cycle 4. Figure by @mpudoka.bsky.social and Yongda Zhu. 🔭
October 15, 2025 at 8:16 PM
So, we are tracking well above Cycle 4. Figure by @mpudoka.bsky.social and Yongda Zhu. 🔭
Reposted by Danny Milisavljevic
Michelle's first paper discusses the Pearl in the Shell, a study of an ultra compact dwarf and a debris cloud around a nearby spiral galaxy. The study combines data from professional and amatCheck it out in our latest episode! arxiv.org/abs/2509.14038 🔭 ☄️
September 29, 2025 at 8:36 AM
Michelle's first paper discusses the Pearl in the Shell, a study of an ultra compact dwarf and a debris cloud around a nearby spiral galaxy. The study combines data from professional and amatCheck it out in our latest episode! arxiv.org/abs/2509.14038 🔭 ☄️
Happy Miniature Schnauzer Day!
I asked Google “What’s your favorite dog?” and it came back with Miniature Schnauzer—like our Wilbur.
A+ to whoever trained this LLM. 🧑💻🐾
Does your smart assistant agree?
I asked Google “What’s your favorite dog?” and it came back with Miniature Schnauzer—like our Wilbur.
A+ to whoever trained this LLM. 🧑💻🐾
Does your smart assistant agree?
September 25, 2025 at 1:03 PM
Happy Miniature Schnauzer Day!
I asked Google “What’s your favorite dog?” and it came back with Miniature Schnauzer—like our Wilbur.
A+ to whoever trained this LLM. 🧑💻🐾
Does your smart assistant agree?
I asked Google “What’s your favorite dog?” and it came back with Miniature Schnauzer—like our Wilbur.
A+ to whoever trained this LLM. 🧑💻🐾
Does your smart assistant agree?
Reposted by Danny Milisavljevic
was v excited to see work by @danmil.bsky.social (+ many others!) featured at the @amnh.org today !!
September 18, 2025 at 9:38 PM
was v excited to see work by @danmil.bsky.social (+ many others!) featured at the @amnh.org today !!
Reposted by Danny Milisavljevic
This new JWST image is one of the most spectacular yet from the space telescope.
Giant, newborn stars here are carving away surrounding gas & dust. The bright pair at center is two of the most massive stars known. The dark spire is 50 trillion kilometers tall! 🧪🔭
webbtelescope.org/contents/new...
Giant, newborn stars here are carving away surrounding gas & dust. The bright pair at center is two of the most massive stars known. The dark spire is 50 trillion kilometers tall! 🧪🔭
webbtelescope.org/contents/new...
September 4, 2025 at 9:40 PM
This new JWST image is one of the most spectacular yet from the space telescope.
Giant, newborn stars here are carving away surrounding gas & dust. The bright pair at center is two of the most massive stars known. The dark spire is 50 trillion kilometers tall! 🧪🔭
webbtelescope.org/contents/new...
Giant, newborn stars here are carving away surrounding gas & dust. The bright pair at center is two of the most massive stars known. The dark spire is 50 trillion kilometers tall! 🧪🔭
webbtelescope.org/contents/new...
Rai was a true scientist: curious, rigorous, and deeply committed to the pursuit of knowledge. He was also an incredible mentor who inspired those around him with his generosity, wisdom, and unwavering support. His impact on the world was enormous and he will be deeply missed.
August 27, 2025 at 10:50 AM
Rai was a true scientist: curious, rigorous, and deeply committed to the pursuit of knowledge. He was also an incredible mentor who inspired those around him with his generosity, wisdom, and unwavering support. His impact on the world was enormous and he will be deeply missed.
Very nice article by @kashapatel.bsky.social in WaPo about a paper just published in ApJ by Gagliano et al. on the unusual transient SN 2023zkd. The light curve and spectra are consistent with a massive star undergoing an instability-induced merger with a black hole companion. 💥🔭
wapo.st/47uRQcd
wapo.st/47uRQcd
Why the death of this star is very, very strange
This particular supernova was unusual for several reasons.
wapo.st
August 13, 2025 at 9:09 PM
Very nice article by @kashapatel.bsky.social in WaPo about a paper just published in ApJ by Gagliano et al. on the unusual transient SN 2023zkd. The light curve and spectra are consistent with a massive star undergoing an instability-induced merger with a black hole companion. 💥🔭
wapo.st/47uRQcd
wapo.st/47uRQcd
Lots of amazing light echo science coming out soon about supernova remnant Cassiopeia A
www.astronomy.com/science/jwst...
www.astronomy.com/science/jwst...
August 10, 2025 at 1:22 PM
Lots of amazing light echo science coming out soon about supernova remnant Cassiopeia A
www.astronomy.com/science/jwst...
www.astronomy.com/science/jwst...
Reposted by Danny Milisavljevic
My attempt with Copilot.
Now imagine doing this with sensitive data. Or making critical decisions.
Now imagine doing this with sensitive data. Or making critical decisions.
August 8, 2025 at 2:29 AM
My attempt with Copilot.
Now imagine doing this with sensitive data. Or making critical decisions.
Now imagine doing this with sensitive data. Or making critical decisions.
Reposted by Danny Milisavljevic
The NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope has captured a dying star’s display in new mesmerising details 🤩
Thanks to Webb astronomers can learn more about the life cycle of stars ⭐️
Read more 👉 www.esa.int/Science_Expl...
🔭🧪
Thanks to Webb astronomers can learn more about the life cycle of stars ⭐️
Read more 👉 www.esa.int/Science_Expl...
🔭🧪
July 30, 2025 at 2:03 PM
The NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope has captured a dying star’s display in new mesmerising details 🤩
Thanks to Webb astronomers can learn more about the life cycle of stars ⭐️
Read more 👉 www.esa.int/Science_Expl...
🔭🧪
Thanks to Webb astronomers can learn more about the life cycle of stars ⭐️
Read more 👉 www.esa.int/Science_Expl...
🔭🧪
Reposted by Danny Milisavljevic
I still feel triumphant and rebellious when I get around the “Duplicate” default in MacOS menus and expertly reveal the needlessly hidden “Save As” by holding down the option key!
Feels like every upgrade from Apple has whittled away all the things that made me switch to Mac in the first place. I haven't wanted to buy another one in many years. But I'm not prepared to go full linux.
July 22, 2025 at 8:16 PM
I still feel triumphant and rebellious when I get around the “Duplicate” default in MacOS menus and expertly reveal the needlessly hidden “Save As” by holding down the option key!
Why take this away when it was already there? WHY?!?
I thought I’d finally be responsible and upgrade my OS, only to have this rude awakening.
Any suggestions on how to *elegantly* handle ps and eps files with MacOS post Sequoia?
I thought I’d finally be responsible and upgrade my OS, only to have this rude awakening.
Any suggestions on how to *elegantly* handle ps and eps files with MacOS post Sequoia?
(The sad thing is that macos no longer has pstopdf to convert your pgplot PostScript output to something sensible…. so you have to use other things that don’t work so well.)
July 22, 2025 at 7:14 PM
Why take this away when it was already there? WHY?!?
I thought I’d finally be responsible and upgrade my OS, only to have this rude awakening.
Any suggestions on how to *elegantly* handle ps and eps files with MacOS post Sequoia?
I thought I’d finally be responsible and upgrade my OS, only to have this rude awakening.
Any suggestions on how to *elegantly* handle ps and eps files with MacOS post Sequoia?
Betel-Buddy has been found!
Betelgeuse has a companion - a pre main-sequence B/A star with a semimajor axis of only 8 au. Required speckle observations to dig it out. noirlab.edu/public/news/...
Gemini North Discovers Long-Predicted Stellar Companion of Betelgeuse - Gemini North telescope in Hawai‘i reveals never-before-seen companion to Betelgeuse, solving millennia-old mystery
Astronomers have discovered a companion star in an incredibly tight orbit around Betelgeuse using the NASA and U.S. National Science Foundation-funded ‘Alopeke instrument on Gemini North, one half of ...
noirlab.edu
July 22, 2025 at 12:53 AM
Betel-Buddy has been found!