Dan Wilkins
@danwilkins.bsky.social
Astrophysicist, black hole scientist and science communicator. Research Assistant Professor of Astronomy at The Ohio State University. Amateur photographer, rower and avid traveller. He/him 🏳️🌈
Tonight, Mars disappeared for about an hour as the moon passed in front. Here they are together a little while after Mars’ lunar occultation.
January 14, 2025 at 5:53 AM
Tonight, Mars disappeared for about an hour as the moon passed in front. Here they are together a little while after Mars’ lunar occultation.
A little over one year since the launch of our latest X-ray space telescope… a brilliant week in Tokyo at the XRISM Science Team Meeting, discussing all of the amazing data, revolutionising the way we look at black holes, giant clusters of galaxies, supernovae and more!
September 27, 2024 at 3:01 PM
A little over one year since the launch of our latest X-ray space telescope… a brilliant week in Tokyo at the XRISM Science Team Meeting, discussing all of the amazing data, revolutionising the way we look at black holes, giant clusters of galaxies, supernovae and more!
Very excited about the observations we have happening right now, using NuSTAR, XMM-Newton and NRAO’s VLBA. The first in an intensive series to understand how a supermassive black hole called 3C120 launches a jet reaching far out of its galaxy at close to the speed of light!
August 26, 2024 at 10:50 PM
Very excited about the observations we have happening right now, using NuSTAR, XMM-Newton and NRAO’s VLBA. The first in an intensive series to understand how a supermassive black hole called 3C120 launches a jet reaching far out of its galaxy at close to the speed of light!
We currently have the NuSTAR and XMM-Newton X-ray observatories performing long, 7 day observations of the really interesting supermassive black hole MS22549. This black hole shows a mysterious wave-like variation called a QPO. We hope to figure out what causes it and what it is telling us!
November 3, 2023 at 3:10 PM
We currently have the NuSTAR and XMM-Newton X-ray observatories performing long, 7 day observations of the really interesting supermassive black hole MS22549. This black hole shows a mysterious wave-like variation called a QPO. We hope to figure out what causes it and what it is telling us!
A successful few days in Tucson for the annual PIs’ review meeting for our NASA APRA programmes. It’s always great to hear updates about all the cool projects our colleagues are working on, developing technologies for next-generation space missions, and what a nice venue too!
November 1, 2023 at 7:22 PM
A successful few days in Tucson for the annual PIs’ review meeting for our NASA APRA programmes. It’s always great to hear updates about all the cool projects our colleagues are working on, developing technologies for next-generation space missions, and what a nice venue too!
It was a bit touch and go with the clouds, but we just managed to see this morning’s annular eclipse… and the break in the clouds perfectly coincided with the maximum, when the Moon covered about 80% of the Sun!
October 14, 2023 at 5:10 PM
It was a bit touch and go with the clouds, but we just managed to see this morning’s annular eclipse… and the break in the clouds perfectly coincided with the maximum, when the Moon covered about 80% of the Sun!
Congratulations to the entire team on the successful launch of XRISM today. Here’s to every success as the mission enters its critical commissioning phase, and I can’t wait until we start analysing the first data from the black holes it will observe!
September 7, 2023 at 5:40 AM
Congratulations to the entire team on the successful launch of XRISM today. Here’s to every success as the mission enters its critical commissioning phase, and I can’t wait until we start analysing the first data from the black holes it will observe!
An exciting day at Stanford Student Observatory. We have our new 0.7m PlaneWave telescope installed and (pretty much) ready to go! Can’t wait until we start getting our first on-sky images!
August 31, 2023 at 10:02 PM
An exciting day at Stanford Student Observatory. We have our new 0.7m PlaneWave telescope installed and (pretty much) ready to go! Can’t wait until we start getting our first on-sky images!