Sierk van Terwisga
@sierkdoesscience.bsky.social
I'm an astronomer working with ALMA on the destruction and chemistry of protoplanetary disks. Currently a postdoc at the IWF and no longer living from boxes!
Reposted by Sierk van Terwisga
We are 35 people away from hitting 3000 sign ups for Kickstarter notifications on this project! Have you signed up?!
rollandplaypress.com/highrollers
A High Fantasy Campaign Setting, with Dragon Nobility, Magical Dimensional Dungeons, & so much more! #dnd #ttrpg #dnd5e @highrollersdnd.bsky.social
rollandplaypress.com/highrollers
A High Fantasy Campaign Setting, with Dragon Nobility, Magical Dimensional Dungeons, & so much more! #dnd #ttrpg #dnd5e @highrollersdnd.bsky.social
November 10, 2025 at 12:33 PM
We are 35 people away from hitting 3000 sign ups for Kickstarter notifications on this project! Have you signed up?!
rollandplaypress.com/highrollers
A High Fantasy Campaign Setting, with Dragon Nobility, Magical Dimensional Dungeons, & so much more! #dnd #ttrpg #dnd5e @highrollersdnd.bsky.social
rollandplaypress.com/highrollers
A High Fantasy Campaign Setting, with Dragon Nobility, Magical Dimensional Dungeons, & so much more! #dnd #ttrpg #dnd5e @highrollersdnd.bsky.social
Bit of shameless self-promotion on a Friday afternoon: there's a cool new paper on the arxiv today, by Gavin Coleman and myself, in which we look at the evolution of the trend between disk mass and external UV irradiation from nearby massive stars, and what it tells us: arxiv.org/abs/2511.04410 🪐🔭
How the gradient of $M_{\rm d}$ versus UV field strength yields insights into the ages of protoplanetary disc populations
FUV radiation from massive stars launch photoevaporative winds from the outer regions of protoplanetary discs around other stars, removing gas and dust. Observations have identified a relation between...
arxiv.org
November 7, 2025 at 3:19 PM
Bit of shameless self-promotion on a Friday afternoon: there's a cool new paper on the arxiv today, by Gavin Coleman and myself, in which we look at the evolution of the trend between disk mass and external UV irradiation from nearby massive stars, and what it tells us: arxiv.org/abs/2511.04410 🪐🔭
Modern astronomy has, of course, progressed a lot since then: we now have peer review and (distributed) time allocation duties instead of corvées.
Academics in Assyria in the 7th c BC complain that admin is preventing them from doing research and teaching
November 3, 2025 at 12:52 PM
Modern astronomy has, of course, progressed a lot since then: we now have peer review and (distributed) time allocation duties instead of corvées.
Reposted by Sierk van Terwisga
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 8:02 AM
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
Reposted by Sierk van Terwisga
In #NatureAstronomy präsentiert ein internationales Team die erste 3D-Temperaturkarte eines Exoplaneten. Mithilfe von Beobachtungen durch #JWST wurde bei #WASP-18b eine Atmosphäre mit unterschiedlichen Temperaturzonen enthüllt. Analysiert und interpretiert wurde diese unter der Leitung des #IWFGraz.
Exoplanet WASP-18 b jetzt in 3D
In der Fachzeitschrift Nature Astronomy präsentiert ein internationales Team die erste dreidimensionale Temperaturkarte eines Exoplaneten. Mithilfe von Beobachtungen durch das James Webb Space Telesco...
www.oeaw.ac.at
October 28, 2025 at 11:16 AM
In #NatureAstronomy präsentiert ein internationales Team die erste 3D-Temperaturkarte eines Exoplaneten. Mithilfe von Beobachtungen durch #JWST wurde bei #WASP-18b eine Atmosphäre mit unterschiedlichen Temperaturzonen enthüllt. Analysiert und interpretiert wurde diese unter der Leitung des #IWFGraz.
Reposted by Sierk van Terwisga
Fantastic article in which actual experts on AI and higher education cut through the nonsense surrounding the infinite garbage engines and expose a system captured by the techbro sales pitch. "A general ban is necessary, but nobody dares to say so."
Belgian AI scientists are advocating *against* the use of AI in academia. “If independent thinking is no longer encouraged at university, where would it?” apache.be/2025/10/24/b...
Belgian AI scientists resist the use of AI in academia
Several AI scientists have published an open letter calling for a ban on AI use by students.
apache.be
October 25, 2025 at 10:54 AM
Fantastic article in which actual experts on AI and higher education cut through the nonsense surrounding the infinite garbage engines and expose a system captured by the techbro sales pitch. "A general ban is necessary, but nobody dares to say so."
Very cool work from Monsch et al. on the arxiv today, on a recently-discovered protoplanetary disk seen very nearly edge-on. It has weird, wispy structures and asymmetries - far more dynamic than we normally imagine disks to be! And, of course, it makes for beautiful images.
arxiv.org/abs/2510.11819
arxiv.org/abs/2510.11819
October 15, 2025 at 11:47 AM
Very cool work from Monsch et al. on the arxiv today, on a recently-discovered protoplanetary disk seen very nearly edge-on. It has weird, wispy structures and asymmetries - far more dynamic than we normally imagine disks to be! And, of course, it makes for beautiful images.
arxiv.org/abs/2510.11819
arxiv.org/abs/2510.11819
Reposted by Sierk van Terwisga
GOOD NEWS !
"A team of musicologists has unearthed the printed score of a previously unknown Purcell song, as well as the original manuscript for various keyboard compositions."
#baroque #music
www.theguardian.com/music/2025/o...
"A team of musicologists has unearthed the printed score of a previously unknown Purcell song, as well as the original manuscript for various keyboard compositions."
#baroque #music
www.theguardian.com/music/2025/o...
‘Almost unheard of’: experts find more music by English composer Henry Purcell
Printed score and keyboard manuscript by Purcell, who died in 1695, unearthed in Worcestershire and Norfolk
www.theguardian.com
October 7, 2025 at 10:23 AM
GOOD NEWS !
"A team of musicologists has unearthed the printed score of a previously unknown Purcell song, as well as the original manuscript for various keyboard compositions."
#baroque #music
www.theguardian.com/music/2025/o...
"A team of musicologists has unearthed the printed score of a previously unknown Purcell song, as well as the original manuscript for various keyboard compositions."
#baroque #music
www.theguardian.com/music/2025/o...
Reposted by Sierk van Terwisga
We bail out banks. We bail the steel industry, the water industry, airlines and hotels.
The UK higher education sector directly employs nearly 1M people. It's the envy of the world and benefits almost every area of UK society. But apparently it can go burn.
The UK higher education sector directly employs nearly 1M people. It's the envy of the world and benefits almost every area of UK society. But apparently it can go burn.
September 20, 2025 at 9:20 AM
We bail out banks. We bail the steel industry, the water industry, airlines and hotels.
The UK higher education sector directly employs nearly 1M people. It's the envy of the world and benefits almost every area of UK society. But apparently it can go burn.
The UK higher education sector directly employs nearly 1M people. It's the envy of the world and benefits almost every area of UK society. But apparently it can go burn.
Reposted by Sierk van Terwisga
1/ 🔭 Astronomers have discovered 'The Cliff,' a distant object that may hold the key to understanding the mysterious 'little red dots' observed by the James Webb Space Telescope #JWST. These could be supermassive black holes, not galaxies! #Astronomy #JWST
“Black Hole Stars” could solve JWST riddle of overly massive early galaxies
A newly discovered distant object that astronomers have dubbed “The Cliff” could solve a riddle posed by some of the first observations of the distant universe with the James Webb Space Telescope, rel...
www.mpia.de
September 15, 2025 at 8:03 AM
1/ 🔭 Astronomers have discovered 'The Cliff,' a distant object that may hold the key to understanding the mysterious 'little red dots' observed by the James Webb Space Telescope #JWST. These could be supermassive black holes, not galaxies! #Astronomy #JWST
Really cool work from Jenny Frediani, in the XUE collaboration led by @maclart.bsky.social - a protoplanetary disk with way more CO2 and less H2O than expected. Read the whole paper here: www.aanda.org/component/ar...
August 29, 2025 at 12:08 PM
Really cool work from Jenny Frediani, in the XUE collaboration led by @maclart.bsky.social - a protoplanetary disk with way more CO2 and less H2O than expected. Read the whole paper here: www.aanda.org/component/ar...
Reposted by Sierk van Terwisga
A very hungry planet! 🪐
What appears to be a ripple in space is actually a newborn planet, eating its way through its dusty cradle around a younger version of our Sun 🌞
Read more: https://www.eso.org/public/images/potw2534a/
🔭 🧪 #exoplanets
📷 ESO/R. van Capelleveen et al.
What appears to be a ripple in space is actually a newborn planet, eating its way through its dusty cradle around a younger version of our Sun 🌞
Read more: https://www.eso.org/public/images/potw2534a/
🔭 🧪 #exoplanets
📷 ESO/R. van Capelleveen et al.
August 26, 2025 at 10:02 AM
A very hungry planet! 🪐
What appears to be a ripple in space is actually a newborn planet, eating its way through its dusty cradle around a younger version of our Sun 🌞
Read more: https://www.eso.org/public/images/potw2534a/
🔭 🧪 #exoplanets
📷 ESO/R. van Capelleveen et al.
What appears to be a ripple in space is actually a newborn planet, eating its way through its dusty cradle around a younger version of our Sun 🌞
Read more: https://www.eso.org/public/images/potw2534a/
🔭 🧪 #exoplanets
📷 ESO/R. van Capelleveen et al.
Reposted by Sierk van Terwisga
The presence of those seeking the truth is infinitely to be preferred to the presence of those who think they’ve found it. TERRY PRATCHETT
August 18, 2025 at 1:08 PM
The presence of those seeking the truth is infinitely to be preferred to the presence of those who think they’ve found it. TERRY PRATCHETT
Reposted by Sierk van Terwisga
In Avi's latest he finally figured out why spacecraft would have dusty comae!
It almost feels like he read @deschscoveries.bsky.social's complaint about how lazy his "it's aliens" claims have been lately and decided to up his game.
It almost feels like he read @deschscoveries.bsky.social's complaint about how lazy his "it's aliens" claims have been lately and decided to up his game.
Avi Loeb Figured Out Why Spacecraft Have Comae!
Avi Loeb has two new blog posts out about 3I/ATLAS, and they’re doozies! Steve Desch recently posted a snarky piece entitled “This is not the quality of pseudoscience infotainment to which I have grow...
sites.psu.edu
August 9, 2025 at 7:03 PM
In Avi's latest he finally figured out why spacecraft would have dusty comae!
It almost feels like he read @deschscoveries.bsky.social's complaint about how lazy his "it's aliens" claims have been lately and decided to up his game.
It almost feels like he read @deschscoveries.bsky.social's complaint about how lazy his "it's aliens" claims have been lately and decided to up his game.
Reposted by Sierk van Terwisga
Loeb: we must stick to the facts, not judge things based on public opinion.
Also Loeb: Look at how many likes and messages my ideas get! I must be doing it right.
Also Loeb: Look at how many likes and messages my ideas get! I must be doing it right.
August 2, 2025 at 5:59 PM
Loeb: we must stick to the facts, not judge things based on public opinion.
Also Loeb: Look at how many likes and messages my ideas get! I must be doing it right.
Also Loeb: Look at how many likes and messages my ideas get! I must be doing it right.
Blatantly AI-generated images of Anne of Brittany in a @sport.nos.nl discussion of today's Tour Femmes stage, which have now vanished into nothingness (sadly, before I could archive them). Modern French flags in quasi-historical illustrations kind of gave it away (as did the art style).
July 28, 2025 at 1:28 PM
Blatantly AI-generated images of Anne of Brittany in a @sport.nos.nl discussion of today's Tour Femmes stage, which have now vanished into nothingness (sadly, before I could archive them). Modern French flags in quasi-historical illustrations kind of gave it away (as did the art style).
Reposted by Sierk van Terwisga
My last living musical hero is still my hero but unfortunately no longer living. RIP to the great, great Mr. Tom Lehrer.
July 27, 2025 at 5:33 PM
My last living musical hero is still my hero but unfortunately no longer living. RIP to the great, great Mr. Tom Lehrer.
Reposted by Sierk van Terwisga
WeTransfer just changed their TOS giving themselves permission to train AI on any content you transfer and produce derivative works based on content you transfer that they are allowed to monetize and you are not allowed payment for.
Stop using WeTransfer.
Stop using WeTransfer.
July 14, 2025 at 11:05 PM
WeTransfer just changed their TOS giving themselves permission to train AI on any content you transfer and produce derivative works based on content you transfer that they are allowed to monetize and you are not allowed payment for.
Stop using WeTransfer.
Stop using WeTransfer.
Really cool paper from Alvaro Ribas, @mvioque.bsky.social et al. on MP Mus, where Gaia astrometry and ALMA imaging at 3mm both point to a young Jupiter-mass planet embedded in the disk at ~1-3 au 🔭
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
A young gas giant and hidden substructures in a protoplanetary disk - Nature Astronomy
ALMA and Gaia data combine to reveal a young gas giant in the protoplanetary disk around MP Mus. Previously unseen substructures, visible only at longer wavelengths, suggest that more planets may hide...
www.nature.com
July 14, 2025 at 10:39 AM
Really cool paper from Alvaro Ribas, @mvioque.bsky.social et al. on MP Mus, where Gaia astrometry and ALMA imaging at 3mm both point to a young Jupiter-mass planet embedded in the disk at ~1-3 au 🔭
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Sierk van Terwisga
The major large satellite constellations are still too bright, reports a new paper.
arxiv.org/abs/2507.00107
Almost all Starlink, BlueBird, Qianfan, Guowang, and OneWeb satellites impact astronomy, and most are above the limit where they are visible to the naked eye too.
arxiv.org/abs/2507.00107
Almost all Starlink, BlueBird, Qianfan, Guowang, and OneWeb satellites impact astronomy, and most are above the limit where they are visible to the naked eye too.
July 7, 2025 at 9:43 AM
The major large satellite constellations are still too bright, reports a new paper.
arxiv.org/abs/2507.00107
Almost all Starlink, BlueBird, Qianfan, Guowang, and OneWeb satellites impact astronomy, and most are above the limit where they are visible to the naked eye too.
arxiv.org/abs/2507.00107
Almost all Starlink, BlueBird, Qianfan, Guowang, and OneWeb satellites impact astronomy, and most are above the limit where they are visible to the naked eye too.
Reposted by Sierk van Terwisga
Ich bin zutiefst berindruckt von der Solidarität der Menschen hier in Graz. SK Sturm organisiert Blutspenden: sksturm.at/n/blutspende...
Gestern war schon eine Blutspendeaktion. Umliegende Restaurants haben die Helfer und Angehörige vor Ort versorgt...
Menschlich sein in schlimmen Zeiten.
Gestern war schon eine Blutspendeaktion. Umliegende Restaurants haben die Helfer und Angehörige vor Ort versorgt...
Menschlich sein in schlimmen Zeiten.
Blutspendeaktion in Messendorf
Blut spenden, Leben retten – der SK Sturm Graz lädt zur Blutspendeaktion ins Trainingszentrum Messendorf.
sksturm.at
June 11, 2025 at 6:45 AM
Ich bin zutiefst berindruckt von der Solidarität der Menschen hier in Graz. SK Sturm organisiert Blutspenden: sksturm.at/n/blutspende...
Gestern war schon eine Blutspendeaktion. Umliegende Restaurants haben die Helfer und Angehörige vor Ort versorgt...
Menschlich sein in schlimmen Zeiten.
Gestern war schon eine Blutspendeaktion. Umliegende Restaurants haben die Helfer und Angehörige vor Ort versorgt...
Menschlich sein in schlimmen Zeiten.
Reposted by Sierk van Terwisga
Gewone mensen die zomaar andere mensen van de weg halen en uit hun auto trekken. Heel "begrijpelijk".
June 8, 2025 at 6:44 PM
Gewone mensen die zomaar andere mensen van de weg halen en uit hun auto trekken. Heel "begrijpelijk".
Reposted by Sierk van Terwisga
Ready for the latest K2-18b drama?
Madhusudhan is claiming *even stronger* evidence of DMS after analysing both near-infrared and mid-infrared JWST data. But another study finds no evidence at all.
Read on for a quick update on everyone's f̶a̶v̶o̶u̶r̶i̶t̶e most newsworthy exoplanet. 🧵
#exoplanets 🔭
Madhusudhan is claiming *even stronger* evidence of DMS after analysing both near-infrared and mid-infrared JWST data. But another study finds no evidence at all.
Read on for a quick update on everyone's f̶a̶v̶o̶u̶r̶i̶t̶e most newsworthy exoplanet. 🧵
#exoplanets 🔭
Astronomers double down on claim of strongest evidence for alien life
Are there aliens living on the exoplanet K2-18b? Some astronomers believe they have evidence for molecules on the planet that must have a biological origin, but others disagree
www.newscientist.com
May 20, 2025 at 6:45 PM
Ready for the latest K2-18b drama?
Madhusudhan is claiming *even stronger* evidence of DMS after analysing both near-infrared and mid-infrared JWST data. But another study finds no evidence at all.
Read on for a quick update on everyone's f̶a̶v̶o̶u̶r̶i̶t̶e most newsworthy exoplanet. 🧵
#exoplanets 🔭
Madhusudhan is claiming *even stronger* evidence of DMS after analysing both near-infrared and mid-infrared JWST data. But another study finds no evidence at all.
Read on for a quick update on everyone's f̶a̶v̶o̶u̶r̶i̶t̶e most newsworthy exoplanet. 🧵
#exoplanets 🔭
Reposted by Sierk van Terwisga
Deze geweldloze sukkel heeft een column geschreven. www.mareonline.nl/opinie/laat-...
Laat je het knetteren? Of sluit je de poorten en knuppel je studenten neer?
De academici van WOinActie zijn een stelletje softies, maar toch vindt de universiteit het nodig ze aan te merken als potentieel extremistische dreiging. 'We hebben een grote mond en zijn niet bang, m...
www.mareonline.nl
May 15, 2025 at 9:00 AM
Deze geweldloze sukkel heeft een column geschreven. www.mareonline.nl/opinie/laat-...
Reposted by Sierk van Terwisga
I vote we just let these companies set up some AI universities, with AI students, staffed by AI profs, assessed by AI? And let the rest of us get on with actual human pursuits of scholarship and learning?
This looks like one of those rare occasions when it would be entirely appropriate to write WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCKING FUCK? FUCK NO in a work email.
May 13, 2025 at 9:36 PM
I vote we just let these companies set up some AI universities, with AI students, staffed by AI profs, assessed by AI? And let the rest of us get on with actual human pursuits of scholarship and learning?