Reposted by Jai 🦑
Great to see in this bumper review of the LMC & SMC ditch the pointlessly colonial language that we have for the Milky Way's two nearest neighbours. arxiv.org/abs/2609.38277
Magellan had *nothing* to do with discovering them, and they were known to indigenous communities for millennia. 🔭☄️
![4-panel comic. (1) [Two people in a room with bed and nightstand. One person points at something on ceiling.] PERSON 1 with short hair on top of head: What’s that device? PERSON 2 with ponytail: Part of the supernova early warning system. There hasn’t been a Milky Way supernova in over a century. Astronomers don’t want to miss the next one. (2) [Person 2 sits on bed.] PERSON 2: 20 years ago, we set up a supernova alert system using neutrino detectors. It should give us a few hours’ advance notice. (3) PERSON 2: If it ever goes off, every astronomer on Earth will scramble to point their equipment at the sky. PERSON 1: Oh, Ok. So is that a detector? Or some kind of telescope? (4) PERSON 2 [leaving]: Fireworks launcher. I *refuse* to sleep through a supernova. PERSON 1: I think I’ll spend the night at my place instead.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cz73r7iyiqn26upot4jtjdhk/bafkreieib3sjwqtdeaedpuit6ewx4mm56j3nzcvfqpwbtzifnvsvtp6rde)
