Sign in

Ken Shen

@kenshen.bsky.social
122 followers 50 following 42 posts

Astrophysicist at UC Berkeley. I try to make stars blow up.

PostsRepliesMedia
Ken Shen @kenshen.bsky.social · 06/06/2024
1/ New paper thread (well, new last week)! We find that most white dwarfs are born ready to explode. They just need something to hit them hard enough, which should happen when they merge with other white dwarfs. Read on for details! arxiv.org/abs/2405.19417
arxiv.org
Almost All Carbon/Oxygen White Dwarfs Can Support Double Detonations
Double detonations of sub-Chandrasekhar-mass white dwarfs (WDs) in unstably mass-transferring double WD binaries have become a leading contender to explain most, if not all, Type Ia supernovae....
120
Ken Shen @kenshen.bsky.social · 23/01/2024
Rats can be pretty cute: www.nytimes.com/2024/01/23/s...
nytimes.com
Our Rodent Selfies, Ourselves
A photographer trained two rats to take photographs of themselves. They didn’t want to stop.
020
Reposted by Ken Shen
Ava Polzin @avapolzin.bsky.social · 08/12/2023
So excited that our SIRIUS B book is now up on arXiv! arxiv.org/abs/2312.04041 It is intended to serve as a primer for students looking to pursue astro professionally. Participants in our 2024 program will get printed copies thanks to the IAU NA-ROAD Women & Girls in Astro mini-grant. 1/ 🧪🔭👩‍🔬
Cover of the SIRIUS B book, "Astronomy as a Field: A Guide for Aspiring Astrophysicists", which features a drawing of a girl holding her hands out toward space.
411143
Reposted by Ken Shen
Misty Bentz @astronomisty.bsky.social · 10/11/2023
If you are enjoying the new Euclid image of the Horsehead Nebula, you might be interested learn about the person who first discovered this beautiful nebula: Williamina Fleming.
Euclid image of the Horsehead Nebula
110942
Reposted by Ken Shen
Alex Ji @alexji.bsky.social · 21/09/2023
On the astro postdoc market this year? @UChicagoAstro has several fellowships, listed here: astrophysics.uchicago.edu/research/pri... If you're interested in near-field cosmology here, please do reach out to me by e-mail! (Link fixed now, thanks to watchful eyes 😅)
astrophysics.uchicago.edu
Postdoctoral Fellowships in Astrophysics | Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics | The University...
The Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics is a world leader in astrophysical research and offers rigorous academic programs at both the graduate and undergraduate level.
0107
Reposted by Ken Shen
Dr Ashley J Ruiter @astronomash.bsky.social · 14/09/2023
Transients Down Under abstract submission is closing soon! transientsdownunder.github.io #transient #astrophysics @Swinburne
poster of Australia cutout in black with Aboriginal artwork, background is stars and nebulae, below has images of tennis, roos and telescope domes, building in Melbourne, Dark Emu, a koala.
021
Ken Shen @kenshen.bsky.social · 10/08/2023
1/ Paper thread! I had a fun time exploring white dwarf physics with Simon Blouin and Katie Breivik. Read on to find out more! arxiv.org/abs/2308.04559
110
Reposted by Ken Shen
sanjana! @sanjanacurtis.bsky.social · 05/07/2023
I WROTE THISSS www.scientificamerican.com/article/…
1216139
Reposted by Ken Shen
CosmicRami 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @rami.spaceaustralia.com · 29/06/2023
BIG SCIENCE NEWS! 🧪 Global astronomers announce strongest evidence yet of stochastic gravitational wave background! I'm one of the co-authors on these papers 😭😭😭 www.spaceaustralia.com/feature/aust… 📸 @astronerdika.bsky.social
Graphic showing the Earth at the centre of a warped space-time grid. On the grid, surrounding the Earth are several pulsars whose beams are being distorted with space-time. In the distance, and on the edges of the image, are swirling binary black holes.
24915
Ken Shen @kenshen.bsky.social · 08/06/2023
0/ Do people use this site for science communication? Does it even matter if I have single-digit followers? Let's find out!
430
Reposted by Ken Shen
sanjana! @sanjanacurtis.bsky.social · 08/06/2023
y’all hear about this paper yet? It’s the first identification of the *abundance signature* of pair instability supernovae i.e explosions of stars HUNDREDS of times as massive as the sun, which were among the first stars to form in the universe www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-…
4143