Reposted by Corey S. PowellGeoff Brumfiel @gbrumfiel.bsky.social · 23hThe IceCube neutrino detector has won the 2026 Nobel Prize in physics. The Trump administration has proposed slashing its budget in half in 2027. 381959685
Corey S. Powell @coreyspowell.bsky.social · 23hThe Nobel Prize in physics goes to Francis Halzen, who figured out how to turn a cubic kilometer of Antarctic ice into a neutrino detector. The resulting IceCube experiment is now studying extreme events across the universe. 🔭🧪 www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physi... 15311
Reposted by Corey S. PowellDebra's Astrophotography @debraceravolo.bsky.social · 05/10/2026Even though Saturn is 1.26 billion kms from Earth, this beautiful planet was as close to Earth as it gets this year making it appear big and bright. This is called opposition, which happened last night (October 4th). I used my 16 inch telescope. #astrophotography #astronomy #saturn 39922
Corey S. Powell @coreyspowell.bsky.social · 04/10/2026This is your periodic reminder that humans are clever & are capable of great feats of discovery. We can solve huge problems when we set our minds to it, too. Here, seeing neutrinos from the bottom of a Canadian mine: 🧪 snoplus.phy.queensu.ca/geo.html 0281
Corey S. Powell @coreyspowell.bsky.social · 04/10/2026We can't touch the deep interior of our planet, but we can now see it in the "light" of neutrinos emitted by radioactive elements. Early results suggest our Earth is intriguingly lopsided. 🧪 www.quantamagazine.org/neutrinos-fr... 56616
Corey S. Powell @coreyspowell.bsky.social · 03/10/2026The birth of Earth's Moon would have created a similar debris cloud around the Sun 4.5 billion years ago. We might be seeing analogous catastrophic moments of destruction & rebirth around other stars right now. (Art by Chesley Bonestell, one of my favorites.) 🔭🧪 iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3... 0374
Corey S. Powell @coreyspowell.bsky.social · 03/10/2026In astronomy, modest data points can hide stories of extreme drama. Here, each purple and white dot indicates a place where planets are colliding & destroying each other, releasing huge clouds of debris. (Artist's interpretation at right.) 🧪🔭 science.nasa.gov/missions/web... 1378
Corey S. Powell @coreyspowell.bsky.social · 30/09/2026China's Einstein Probe satellite uses "lobster eye" optics to provide a unique, wide-field look at the x-ray sky. If something goes bump in the night (in x-rays!), Einstein will see it. 🧪🔭 ep.bao.ac.cn/leia/ 0161
Corey S. Powell @coreyspowell.bsky.social · 30/09/2026Enigmatic flashes of x-rays in the sky may come from the catastrophic merger of two stars, creating an ultra-dense and ultra-magnetc remnant called a magnetar. The finding come from another kind of merger, one of Chinese & EU science missions. 🧪🔭 www.sciencedaily.com/releases/202... 1251
Reposted by Corey S. PowellCarl Zimmer @carlzimmer.com · 27/09/2026Four days ago, a scientist was surprised by the news that Anthropic discovered new virus genes for making DNA. He says he’s been studying them for years—and feeding his data to Anthropic’s AI as part of his own research. Coincidence? Here’s my story. nyti.ms/3VSWaycnyti.msDid Anthropic’s A.I. Really Make a Scientific Discovery on Its Own? (Gift Article)An expert at the University of Copenhagen said his team had been sharing its research with the company’s A.I. model, Claude, and that its new finding matched their work. 882124874
Corey S. Powell @coreyspowell.bsky.social · 26/09/2026Here comes the nor'easter, seen by the GOES-19 satellite. It's building outside my apartment, and it is *loud*. (The storm, that is, not the satellite.) 🧪 www.star.nesdis.noaa.gov/goes/conus.p... 1212
Reposted by Corey S. PowellEd Maibach @maibached.bsky.social · 25/09/2026Happy Stanislav Petrov Day He passed in 2017. As Encyclopedia Britannica puts it, “He is survived by his two children, two grandchildren, and the entire human race.” If you don't know his story, please take 3 minutes now to learn it. @gchalliance.bsky.social @docsforclimate.bsky.socialsammatey.substack.comHappy Stanislav Petrov DayTake five minutes to not destroy civilization 252122938
Corey S. Powell @coreyspowell.bsky.social · 24/09/2026Also really good at blocking out the Sun. Sometimes. 130
Corey S. Powell @coreyspowell.bsky.social · 24/09/2026A surprise in the new computer simulations: The outcome of a giant impact depends sensitively on the temperature & composition of the protoplanet that (probably) struck Earth. A slight change would have produced a different kind of Moon, or no Moon at all. 🧪🔭 iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3... 0100
Corey S. Powell @coreyspowell.bsky.social · 24/09/2026There's a lot we still don't know about how the Moon formed, but new computer simulations show that the Moon might have come together in just a *few hours*. Which makes me feel really unproductive today. 🧪🔭 www.swri.org/newsroom/pre... 4395
Corey S. Powell @coreyspowell.bsky.social · 21/09/2026How does a planet devour a moon? Full technical answer at the link. 🧪 iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3... 060
Corey S. Powell @coreyspowell.bsky.social · 21/09/2026The Moon shaped a lot of life on Earth, including holidays (like Yom Kippur) anchored to the lunar calendar. But moons are delicate things. We managed to keep ours. Venus may have eaten its moon. One more way it lost out... 🧪🔭 news.ucr.edu/articles/202... 2272
Corey S. Powell @coreyspowell.bsky.social · 20/09/2026Pairs well with "'Psycho' Hotel Owner Dresses as His Dead Mother, Murders Guests" 020
Reposted by Corey S. PowellKevin M. Gill @kevinmgill.bsky.social · 16/09/2026New postcard from Curiosity using Navcams taken on Sols 5000 & 5003 science.nasa.gov/photojournal...science.nasa.govCuriosity Postcard Celebrates Rover’s 5,000th Day on Mars - NASA ScienceWhile parked at a sand ridge nicknamed “Chocolatal,” NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover used its black-and-white navigation cameras to capture panoramas at two times 313743
Corey S. Powell @coreyspowell.bsky.social · 16/09/2026Hold on, I was just measuring Olympic swimming pools and football fields 000
Corey S. Powell @coreyspowell.bsky.social · 16/09/2026The new lunar impact also created a big new cold spot on the Moon. Seems that the incoming asteroid loosened up the Moon dust, so it doesn't hold heat as well. Nighttime temperatures around McGetchin crater are about 8 degrees C colder than its surroundings. 🧪🔭 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... 0307
Corey S. Powell @coreyspowell.bsky.social · 16/09/2026Wow: Giant new impact crater spotted on the Moon! An asteroid the size of an apartment building hit the lunar surface in early 2024 & created 220-meter (730-foot) wide McGetchin crater. It's "the largest contemporary impact crater found in the Solar System." 🧪🔭 science.nasa.gov/solar-system... 49734
Corey S. Powell @coreyspowell.bsky.social · 16/09/2026You can find a huge version of this panorama of the star-forming region IC 348, along with more background information, here: esawebb.org/news/weic2619/esawebb.orgWebb reveals stunning panorama of star formation - One of Webb’s largest images to date showcases the hunt for the smallest brown dwarfsThis starry view of the nearby star-forming region IC 348 is one of the largest images from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope released to the public so far. Using Webb, astronomers searched ... 041
Corey S. Powell @coreyspowell.bsky.social · 16/09/2026Look closely, and there's even more to see: shockwaves, distant galaxies, gravitational bending of light. This nebula is full of planet-mass objects that formed on their own like stars. What to call them? NASA says "brown dwarfs." Many astronomers disagree. 🧪🔭 science.nasa.gov/asset/webb/i... 2175
Corey S. Powell @coreyspowell.bsky.social · 16/09/2026Just in: A gorgeous new panorama of creation in our galaxy, taken by JWST. This image shows infant stars shooting out jets, baby stars emerging from dusty cocoons, young planet-like objects floating alone & starless, and one planet birthing planets of its own. 🧪🔭 science.nasa.gov/asset/webb/i... 24716
Corey S. Powell @coreyspowell.bsky.social · 16/09/2026And most of the past Earths would have been completely inhospitable to human life! The world we know, with an oxygen-rich atmosphere and land covered with plants, has existed for less than 10% of geologic history. 130
Corey S. Powell @coreyspowell.bsky.social · 14/09/202690% of all the helium in the universe today was already around at the time of the Big Bang. All the stars in the universe, cranking out fusion reactions for 13 billion years, have managed to contribute only 10%. That's how efficient solar/stellar energy is! 🔭🧪 iopscience.iop.org/collections/... 1282
Corey S. Powell @coreyspowell.bsky.social · 14/09/2026According to the standard model of the Big Bang, the universe was born containing 24.7% helium by mass. A new galaxy survey finds that the actual helium content was 24.6% (with a little uncertainty)! It's amazing that human brains figured out how the universe began. 🧪🔭 news.osu.edu/using-helium... 29225
Corey S. Powell @coreyspowell.bsky.social · 12/09/2026There's a sense of community born out of shared trauma, and one born out of shared aspirations. 9/11 brought us the first, briefly. When I watched the launch of NASA's Roman telescope, I saw a lot of the latter. We need more of that kind of community: optimistic, forward-looking, sustainable. 🧪🔭 0365
Corey S. Powell @coreyspowell.bsky.social · 11/09/2026Ha! I recall seeing copies of this letter (or something very similar) when I was the editor of Discover, 15 years ago. For better or worse, this type of smug drivel has been around a long time. 100
Corey S. Powell @coreyspowell.bsky.social · 11/09/2026There is something sadly Suessian about our current situation. 040
Corey S. Powell @coreyspowell.bsky.social · 10/09/2026Do you have the reference link? It's hard to find some of these shots within the huge NASA photo drop. 210
Corey S. Powell @coreyspowell.bsky.social · 10/09/2026A new study has exposed a major blind spot in our view of the cosmos. Objects that shine in extreme UV are among the most energetic sources in galaxies. Yet we've overlooked them because we lack the right instruments & they get hidden by interstellar fog. 🧪🔭 chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2026/m... 05913
Corey S. Powell @coreyspowell.bsky.social · 09/09/2026The galaxy pair is also known as "Nā ʻUhane Māhoe Huki Pū i ke Ola" (“Twin Spirits Pulling Together Creating Life"). The name was chosen by a trio of high school interns who helped direct the creation of this image using the Gemini North observatory. 🧪🔭 noirlab.edu/public/news/... 0141
Corey S. Powell @coreyspowell.bsky.social · 09/09/2026Gas + gravity + time leads to surprising and gorgeous results. Look at this peculiar galaxy pair, NGC 7253. Gravity caused a couple hundred billion balls of hydrogen to light up as stars, held together in two great swarms that then collided, scattered & reassembled. 🧪🔭 noirlab.edu/public/image... 310419
Corey S. Powell @coreyspowell.bsky.social · 06/09/2026And he was a pioneer of color photography! (Not news to you, I expect, but I was quite surprised.) Maxwell was a remarkable human all around. www.historyofinformation.com/detail.php?i...historyofinformation.comHistory of InformationAn interactive, illustrated timeline of historic moments in humankind's quest for information. With annotations by Jeremy Norman. 250
Corey S. Powell @coreyspowell.bsky.social · 06/09/2026James Clerk Maxwell was also a poet! www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45777/...poetryfoundation.orgMolecular Evolutiondry nurse of Red Lions, From thee the wise their wisdom learn, From thee they cull those truths of science, Which into thee again they turn. Soon, all too… 131
Corey S. Powell @coreyspowell.bsky.social · 06/09/2026A Chinese spy satellite broke up in an unusual retrograde (backward) orbit, creating a field of space debris that will remain up there for decades or more. There have now been more than 600 fragmentation events in Earth orbit. 🧪🔭 spacenews.com/chinese-reco... 32711
Reposted by Corey S. PowellDr Robin George Andrews @squigglyvolcano.bsky.social · 06/09/2026Quite enjoy getting this sort of alert. An asteroid has just been discovered before it’ll hit Earth! It’ll enter the atmosphere just northwest of Australia. (Don’t worry: it’s ~1m long, so it’ll just make a cool, brief fireball. We aren’t all about to die.) 34910
Reposted by Corey S. PowellRobert "The Bobby Yaga" McNees @mcnees.bsky.social · 05/09/2026It can be hard to appreciate the vastness of just one (1) light-year. The most distant human-made object has been hurtling into space for almost 50 years, and its distance from Earth is just about to reach 1/365th of a light-year. 812638
Corey S. Powell @coreyspowell.bsky.social · 05/09/2026It's been a long, challenging path to Mercury. A glitch with BepiColombo's thruster added a year to its travel time. But the probe will reach final orbit in December & science begins next spring. Mercury like we've never seen it before! 🧪🔭 arstechnica.com/space/2026/0... 0314
Corey S. Powell @coreyspowell.bsky.social · 05/09/2026The BepiColombo spacecraft just broke in two. In December, the remainder will split in two again. It's all part of the elaborate preparations for making the best-ever observations of the enigmatic planet Mercury. 🧪🔭 www.esa.int/Science_Expl... 26410
Corey S. Powell @coreyspowell.bsky.social · 05/09/2026I was just talking about it with a friend. We were fantasizing about an extended dance mix with unplayed beats. 250
Corey S. Powell @coreyspowell.bsky.social · 03/09/2026The first private Venus probe--part of a planned set of Morning Star Missions--is taking shape in California. It will sample the Venusian clouds to see if they could possibly support life. But for now it's grounded, awaiting the debut of its Neutron rocket. 🧪🔭 www.leonarddavid.com/unveiling-ve... 16113
Corey S. Powell @coreyspowell.bsky.social · 03/09/2026It's not at all hard to imagine that he'd now be a snarky MAGA agitator. 020
Corey S. Powell @coreyspowell.bsky.social · 03/09/2026Two magnetic observatories in London recorded the effects of the Carrington Event. The readings were, literally, off the charts. A day earlier, astronomer Richard Carrington had observed an eruption on the Sun and recognized a new phenomenon: a solar flare. 🧪🔭 geomag.bgs.ac.uk/education/ca... 1332
Corey S. Powell @coreyspowell.bsky.social · 03/09/2026Happy Carrington Event Day to all who celebrate. On Sept 2-3, 1859, a huge solar flare hit Earth with the most intense magnetic storm on record. Auroras bloomed, magnetometers went wild, and telegraph machines sparked around the world. 🧪 link.springer.com/article/10.1... 27527