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Dr Shanika Galaudage

@astronerdika.bsky.social
1.9K followers 242 following 425 posts

Diary of a space detective (astrophysicist)🕵️ Postdoc at CIERA + Adler Planetarium Just going with that Universe flow ✨ 🇦🇺 -> 🇫🇷 -> 🇺🇸 linktr.ee/astronerdika | 🇦🇺🇱🇰 (she/her)

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Dr Shanika Galaudage @astronerdika.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
🧊
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Science Magazine @science.org · 05/10/2026
Exclusive: A new analysis refutes James Watson’s claim that he was the first to recognize the significance of the famed photograph 51. scim.ag/4rTKck8
scim.ag
How did Rosalind Franklin miss the helix in her iconic DNA image? She didn’t
New analysis refutes James Watson’s claim he was first to recognize significance of famed photograph 51
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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
As arXiv announces a new submission rate limit policy, I refer anyone who is up in arms about it to👇Hogg 2026👇. I'm so confused who would want to submit so much slop? For me (both writing and hiring) it's always been about quality over quantity, every single time. 🧪⚛️ blog.arxiv.org/2026/10/01/u...
blog.arxiv.org
Fair Moderation, Equitable Access, and AI: arXiv’s Updated Rate Limit Policy
arXiv, and the scientific community at large, are facing a watershed moment. Scholarly publishing is currently changing at a rapid pace, and we are seeing a…
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Dr Shanika Galaudage @astronerdika.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Annnnnd it’s time for round 2 🤞 Arrived at 3:50, flight at 6:35 and check-in desks are not open yet 😭
Image of a bunch of check-in desks at airport. It looks deserted. The big screens are not even on yet.
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Dr Shanika Galaudage @astronerdika.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Note, it was a hydraulic fluid leak. Very not good situation 😅 And the cancellation notice came in at 16:48 Flight rebooked for 6:35 😭😭😭 Meanwhile using the €15 meal voucher the airline gave us. I sort of feel like the order number is trying to tell me something… I mean what are the chances…
A receipt for Burger King, and the order number is 737.
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European Space Agency @esa.int · 29/09/2026
A little help from Earth 🌍 On 28 September, our Juice spacecraft flew by Earth, using our planet’s gravity to adjust its course towards Jupiter, increasing its speed by 3.5 km/s while using very little fuel. Next up: another Earth flyby in 2029, before Jupiter in 2031. 🔗 esa.int/Science_Expl...
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Dr Shanika Galaudage @astronerdika.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Anyone experienced long delays due to mechanical issues with British Airways? Got to airport at 8:10 Scheduled departure: 10:40 It’s now 16:15 😭
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LIGO Scientific Collaboration @ligo.org · 25/09/2026
The latest issue of the @ligomagazine.bsky.social is now out with all the latest #GravitationalWaves news! Read it for free at ligo.org/wp-content/u... 🔭🧪⚛️🎶
LIGO Magazine Issue 29

A+ bigger beamsplitters: A major upgrade for LIGO's A+ phase, p 18
GWTC-5.0 - the catalogue continues: 161 events added to the collection, p 6
LIGO Virgo KAGRA teamwork: Gravitational-wave autotune, p 8
Sept. 2026 LVK Meeting in Pune: GW research in India, p 11
A decade on... LISA Pathfinder persists in discovery, p 28
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LISA Community @lisacommunity.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
What do black holes and comic books have in common? More than you'd think. 📖 Read it for free: blackholecomicbook.com
A starry space scene with a glowing orange-black figure representing the black hole and its accretion disk, a small character and a floating figure at left, and the text “BLACK HOLES” in orange letters.
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Dr Shanika Galaudage @astronerdika.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Love this!
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Christopher Berry @cplberry.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
🔭 Anyone interested in applying for a RAS Fellowship or 1851 Fellowship at @uofgravity.bsky.social, please get in touch! We have a great gravitational-wave group ⚛️ These fellowships are great for those coming straight from a PhD. We have internal deadlines, so we need to know who's interested soon
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LIGO Scientific Collaboration @ligo.org · 14/09/2026
Happy birthday #GW150914! 11 years ago today, we caught our first gravitational wave, and founded a new type of astronomy A decade later, we now have hundreds of observations! 🔭🧪🎂
Classic plot showing GW150914. Filtered data from LIGO Livingston and LIGO Hanford are shown, both show the characteristic signal of a binary black hole. Crucially, data from the two observatories agree, indicating a real signal.
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Dr Shanika Galaudage @astronerdika.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Your nephew has the power to outshine all the stars in the Universe?! 🤯
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Dr Shanika Galaudage @astronerdika.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
And there’s more being announced at the end of this year 😎 Stay tuned for GWTC-6!
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Dr Shanika Galaudage @astronerdika.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Since then we have seen 390 events!
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Dr Shanika Galaudage @astronerdika.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
OTD 11 years ago we discovered an event that birthed a whole new field of astronomy ✨ Happy Birthday #GW150914! 🥳 #GravitationalWaves #BlackHoles
Image of Figure 1 of the discovery paper showing an eight panel plot with 2 columns and 4 rows. Each row shows the observed gravitational wave signal over time, reconstructed signal against waveform template over time, the residual over time and frequency time graph showing the signal amplitude in colour map. Each column shows the signal observed in each of the LIGO detectors.
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ARC Tracker @arc-tracker.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
#ARCschedule Sep26 Outcomes possible for Industrial Transformation schemes. FT26 already announced. Other events: 🔹Open: 2027 rounds of Future Fellowships & Industrial Tran. schemes 🔹Selection meetings: Laureate Fellowships (but outcomes in Mar ’27 🤡) Data ▶️ docs.google.com/spreadsheets...
ARC grant scheme timetable, including open, close and anticipated outcome announcement dates for Expressions Of Interest and full applications, plus rejoinder periods and selection meeting dates.
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Prof Anna Watts @profannawatts.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Join us! We are advertising not one but TWO new observation-oriented tenure track faculty positions, in the areas of massive stars/compact binaries and exoplanets. Links in thread! [Genuine footage from our staff meetings, seen below]
static.klipy.com
Avengers Assemble with Thor
Alt: Avengers Assemble - camera pans around the Avengers on a New York (?) street. Thor chairs the staff meeting.
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Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani @mayor.nyc.gov · 08/09/2026
For years, New Yorkers have demanded access to City records about the lasting health impacts of the horrific September 11th attacks. For years, they have been denied and ignored. That ends today. nyc.gov/sept11docs
nyc.gov
September 11 Docs
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ARC Tracker @arc-tracker.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
To the many unsuccessful Future Fellowship applicants who got great scores (& feedback) from their peer ("Detailed") reviewers, but much poorer scores from their ARC College ("General") assessors, here's an old thread explaining why this happens👇 And, by the way, I'm sorry – the system ain't great.
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ARC Tracker @arc-tracker.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
🚨 #FutureFellowships #FT26 announcement: ❗️Outcomes announced publicly for ARC Future Fellowships 2026❗️ See ARC's RMS for list ➡️ rms.arc.gov.au/RMS/Report/Download/… /bot
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Mary Woessner @marynwoessner.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Those numbers look pretty similar to their 'inaccurate' release of results the other week...
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Dr Shanika Galaudage @astronerdika.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
how much could have changed in just two weeks? 🤔
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Australian Research Council @arc-gov-au.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Tomorrow (Tuesday 8 Sept), we will announce the outcome of the ARC Future Fellowships (FT26). Stay tuned for the update!
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Dr Shanika Galaudage @astronerdika.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Celebrating this chonky neutron star by adding it to my "How dense are neutron stars?" notebook. Find out what volume of this neutron star weighs as much as all of humanity on Earth right now! shanikagalaudage.github.io/scicomm-outr... Spoiler: it's tiny!
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Dr Shanika Galaudage @astronerdika.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
Let's do a calculation together of just how dense neutron star matter really is; using a real neutron star's measurements 😎 Watch along, and try it for yourself here: shanikagalaudage.github.io/scicomm-outr... ✨ (the video is longer than 3min, so it's in two parts!) #NeutronStarWeek #SciComm
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European Space Agency @esa.int · 02/09/2026
A look back at Sophie Adenot's third spacewalk. Together with NASA astronaut Jessica Meir, Sophie successfully completed US EVA-99, spending 6 hours 49 minutes outside the International Space Station. 📽 Video courtesy of sen.com
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Dr Shanika Galaudage @astronerdika.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Or “chonky”
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Dr Shanika Galaudage @astronerdika.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Ooooh chunky indeed!
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Dr Shanika Galaudage @astronerdika.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
I’m so sorry. This is so infuriating.
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ARC Tracker @arc-tracker.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
#ARCSenateOrder Aug26: The ARC made no grant recommendations to the Minister in August. See www.arc.gov.au/about/our-organisati… /bot
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Dr Shanika Galaudage @astronerdika.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
I know a few folks who are relying on these outcomes to make their next career step. I feel delays on major fellowships like this can also push folks away from Australia 😕
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Dr Shanika Galaudage @astronerdika.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
oh, very fun!
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Dr Shanika Galaudage @astronerdika.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
The suspense is painful. But FT26 announcements are now late right?
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Space.com @space.com · 30/08/2026
Trump celebrates launch of Roman Space Telescope, a mission he tried to cancel www.space.com/space-explor...
space.com
Trump celebrates launch of Roman Space Telescope, a mission he tried to cancel
President Trump interrupted a NASA press conference today (Aug. 30) to congratulate the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope team on a successful launch.
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Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
NASA’s Roman Space Telescope could uncover oodles of potentially Earth-like exoplanets during its survey of our galaxy’s central, star-packed bulge. But astronomers probably won’t be able to learn much more about most of them.
scientificamerican.com
NASA is about to take a good, long look at the Milky Way's massive bulge
The Roman Space Telescope will spend more than a quarter of its time staring at the Milky Way’s bulge, a star-packed central region of our galaxy that may swarm with small, rocky exoplanets
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Kate @rebelraising.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
And the launch of the telescope named after her is being used as an advert for a company owned by a man who slashed funding and recognition for equalities work in the US government, under a present who deleted women's achievements from government websites.
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Dr Shanika Galaudage @astronerdika.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
This really nails the mixed emotions I have about these launches 😕
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Dr Shanika Galaudage @astronerdika.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
And did you know you can 'Adopt a Pixel' from #NASARoman?! Go claim one of the pixels of the very first images we will see from this amazing mission ✨ science.nasa.gov/mission/roma...
science.nasa.gov
Adopt a Pixel Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope - NASA Science
NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is a next-generation space observatory designed to settle essential questions in the areas of dark energy,
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Dr Shanika Galaudage @astronerdika.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
That launch was beautiful ✨ And off she goes 🥹 Safe journey onwards Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope! So excited for the main mission objectives of understanding dark matter, dark energy and observing planetary systems. But I am most excited for the UNEXPECTED! #NASARoman
View from a launch vehicle camera showing the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope during separation, moving away, framed by large cylindrical structures against the pitch black background of space. Off she goes to L2!

NASA telemetry stats at the bottom reads T+00:31:58, speed 36,342 km/h, and altitude 797 km.

This image is a screenshot from the NASA livestream of the launch!
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Laurence Datrier @asleepywanderer.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
The little dopamine rush from citations has convinced me that they're just social media likes for academics
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Dr Shanika Galaudage @astronerdika.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
I was meant to post this last week but, it’s been a pretty busy few weeks 😅
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Dr Shanika Galaudage @astronerdika.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
My choice in nail polish is frequently influenced by the cosmos! 💅✨ Can you guess what the shade name is? Hint: it’s a thing that can make neutron stars! Make your guesses, and no cheating! #Astronomy #SciComm #WomenInSTEM
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CosmicRami 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @rami.spaceaustralia.com · 28/08/2026
It’s been a little while since I’ve had a chance to do this, but it’s Saturday morning and I have a little free time. Just processed the Kepler Supernova image from #JWST 🔭 Can’t wait to hear about this science! 📸 PI: @danmil.bsky.social /NASA/ESA/CSA/STSCI 🎛️ MIRI f2100w/f770w
A semi-spherical shell of expanding gas that is the remnant from a supernova
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Dr Shanika Galaudage @astronerdika.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Cheers! I enjoy making things that have a bit more info conveyed than you might see at first glance! 😎
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Dr Shanika Galaudage @astronerdika.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Whaaaaaaaat?! That’s wild!
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Dr Shanika Galaudage @astronerdika.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Did I catch your favs from #NeutronStarWeek?
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Dr Shanika Galaudage @astronerdika.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Did you catch the subtle map in the background? 👀 The dashed contours track distance from our solar system 🟡 on a log scale, so as we move through these neutron stars 🟠 we’re also moving across the scale of the Universe. Thanks for joining me on this journey! ✨ #NeutronStars #Astronomy
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Dr Shanika Galaudage @astronerdika.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
The Crab Pulsar is slowly losing rotational energy as it powers the nebula around it! It drives a powerful wind of particles and magnetic fields that helps keep the Crab Nebula glowing ✨ #CrabNebula #Pulsars #NeutronStars
Infographic featuring PSR B0531+21, the Crab Pulsar, about 6200 light-years from Earth.

A colourful stylised Crab Nebula in blue, green, yellow and red surrounds a glowing pulsar at its centre. Text reads, “a pulsar spinning ~30 times per second at the heart of the Crab Nebula.” An orange handwritten note says, “we saw its birth in 1054!”

The background shows a map of the Universe with dashed, logarithmically spaced distance contours and an orange dot marking the location of the Crab Pulsar on a distance scale relative to Earth.

Created by Shanika Galaudage.
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Dr Shanika Galaudage @astronerdika.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
The Double Pulsar allows us to test gravity! Its tight orbit lets astronomers measure relativistic effects with extraordinary precision, including how spacetime delays the pulsars’ signals as they pass through the system. #GeneralRelativity #Pulsars #NeutronStars
Infographic featuring PSR J0737−3039, the Double Pulsar, about 2400 light-years from Earth.

Two pale-blue pulsars, each with magnetic-field loops and beams, are shown orbiting one another along a large dotted path. Text reads, “a pair of pulsars whose extreme orbit lets us test gravity with remarkable precision.” An orange handwritten note says, “and they will merge too… in about 85 million years!” 

The background shows a map of the Universe with dashed, logarithmically spaced distance contours and an orange dot marking the location of the Double Pulsar on a distance scale relative to Earth.

Created by Shanika Galaudage.
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