iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Mike Wheatland

Tara Murphy @taramurphy.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

New images of the Sun so detailed you can almost see its face! Textbook Kelvin–Helmholtz instability patterns in images with resolution of ~20 km. With quotes from @manicule.bsky.social and @hannahschunker.bsky.social www.abc.net.au/news/science... ☄️ ⚛️ 🔭 🧪

abc.net.au

We've never seen the Sun in this much detail before

The highest-resolution imagery of the Sun's surface ever taken reveals dizzying currents, and clues about our star's magnetic fields.

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Reposted by Mike Wheatland

Tara Murphy @taramurphy.bsky.social · 12/01/2026

The final version of our Dawes Review on the Dynamic Radio Sky is now published! doi.org/10.1017/pasa... Everything you need to know about what causes radio transients: how we detect them, the history of radio transient surveys, and what new widefield radio telescopes will do. #RadioAstronomy 🔭☄️🧪

Transient phase space showing radio luminosity versus the product of timescale and observing frequency for different transient source classes, following Cordes et al. (2004).

This is a figure from Murphy & Kaplan (2025) published in PASA. See the paper text (Figure 1 caption) for a full description.

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Reposted by Mike Wheatland

Tara Murphy @taramurphy.bsky.social · 15/10/2025

Excited to announce that we are advertising the Professor Harry Messel Research Fellowship. A 3 year position open to women in any area of #Physics or #Astronomy at the University of Sydney @sydney.edu.au Deadline: 16th November ⚛️ 🔭 ☄️ usyd.wd105.myworkdayjobs.com/USYD_EXTERNA...

usyd.wd105.myworkdayjobs.com

Professor Harry Messel Research Fellow (Woman only) (PHYSICS)

Full time / Part-time 3 years fixed term, located on the Camperdown Campus at the School of Physics Exciting opportunity to undertake independent research and contribute to the advancement of physics ...

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Reposted by Mike Wheatland

Sarah Scoles @sarahscoles.bsky.social · 16/09/2025

Ever wonder what happened to that $100 million interstellar spaceship program? Me too. www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-...

scientificamerican.com

A $100-Million Mission to Another Star Just Disappeared

An abandoned plan to visit another star highlights the perils of billionaire-funded science

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Reposted by Mike Wheatland

Tara Murphy @taramurphy.bsky.social · 02/09/2025

Participation in Australian high school #Physics is declining! The proportion of Yr 12 students studying physics fell from 14.9% in 2015 to 12.1% in 2023; gender ratio unchanged. (Luckily this hasn't impacted the number of students studying Physics @sydney.edu.au, but it is a broader issue).

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Reposted by Mike Wheatland

phyphox project @phyphox.org · 28/08/2025

A smartphone is not all that different in shape from a skateboard, in Australia, they are willing to take risks, and so “The mobile phone as a free-rotation laboratory” was born, www.physics.usyd.edu.au/~wheat/paper... (for tl;dr, there is a video via the DOI link). 2/3

physics.usyd.edu.au

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Mike Wheatland @manicule.bsky.social · 19/08/2025

The Faculty of Science student awards 2025. Science is amazing and our students are the future which is more amazing still. @sydney.edu.au @sydneyphysics.bsky.social

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Reposted by Mike Wheatland

Tara Murphy @taramurphy.bsky.social · 05/08/2025

In an era that is very cynical about higher education, it's great to see students from a range of cultural and educational backgrounds working together, sharing their experiences and recommending books to read. Both on campus and online. (Credit to @manicule.bsky.social and Tristram Alexander)

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Mike Wheatland @manicule.bsky.social · 16/05/2025

This week I helped graduate 165 students (including 24 PhDs, one supervised by me, and 10 university medallists). Congratulations to James and all of the graduates! @sydney.edu.au @sydneyphysics.bsky.social

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Reposted by Mike Wheatland

Tara Murphy @taramurphy.bsky.social · 15/05/2025

I am super excited to be hosting the incredible Katie Mack @astrokatie.com presenting "The End of Everything" at the University of Sydney @sydney.edu.au Join us on July 10 to learn about five ways the Universe might die! Registration is free... www.sydney.edu.au/engage/event... ⚛️ #Astronomy ⚛️

sydney.edu.au

Katie Mack: The end of everything

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Mike Wheatland @manicule.bsky.social · 23/04/2025

Blue Mountains Botanic Gardens Mount Tomah in Bilpin. Highly recommended! They have giant Redwoods, and so much else.

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Mike Wheatland @manicule.bsky.social · 04/04/2025

The yo-yo trick -- which way will it roll? A PHYS1001 demo. @sydney.edu.au @sydneyphysics.bsky.social

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Mike Wheatland @manicule.bsky.social · 24/03/2025

Welcome University of Sydney @sydney.edu.au to Bluesky!

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Mike Wheatland @manicule.bsky.social · 20/03/2025

A rolling spherical neodymium magnet with a maximum surface field of 8000G. It experiences a torque due to the Earth's magnetic field and does a little dance. #physics

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Reposted by Mike Wheatland

Tara Murphy @taramurphy.bsky.social · 12/03/2025

A very interesting new discovery from Iris de Ruiter (our most recent Sydney radio transients / @ozgrav.bsky.social group member)! A new long period radio transient, which turns out to be an unsual white dwarf - cool dwarf binary system theconversation.com/mysterious-r... #RadioAstronomy

phys.org

White dwarf and red dwarf duo emit radio pulses every two hours

An international team of astronomers led by scientists from the Netherlands has shown that a white dwarf and a red dwarf orbiting each other every two hours are emitting radio pulses. Thanks to observ...

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Reposted by Mike Wheatland

Tara Murphy @taramurphy.bsky.social · 05/03/2025

We're advertising a continuing position in the School of Physics at Sydney! Lecturer / Senior Lecturer in Theoretical Optics & Photonics Deadline April 3rd usyd.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/USYD_EXTERNA... Base Salary Level B/C, $122,830 - $173,492 p.a + 17% superannuation #Physics #AcademicSky

usyd.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com

Lecturer / Senior Lecturer in Theoretical Optics & Photonics

Full time, continuing position. Located on the Camperdown Campus at the School of Physics Exciting opportunity to join the leading physics department in the country, with outstanding staff and student...

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Mike Wheatland @manicule.bsky.social · 24/02/2025

Lecture 1 in PHYS1001 for 2025. A great turn out with 300+ students. I am explaining the Tippe Top and the Euler disk. @sydneyuni.bsky.social @sydneyphysics.bsky.social youtu.be/Bf82WQaLQD8

youtu.be

PHYS1001 Lecture 1 extract

YouTube video by Mike Wheatland

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Mike Wheatland @manicule.bsky.social · 18/02/2025

A packed Faculty of Science Welcome Week event at the Seymour Centre today -- wonderful to meet the new students @sydneyuni.bsky.social

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Mike Wheatland @manicule.bsky.social · 16/02/2025

Another solargraph -- the path of the Sun on the sky captured with a pinhole camera (the @solarcan.bsky.social Puck).

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Mike Wheatland @manicule.bsky.social · 13/02/2025

Another solargraph. The @solarcan.bsky.social Puck was attached to my skylight but it got rained on heavily and I think some water got in. And it was pointed too low, the skylight is angled south. The Sun has skimmed the top.

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Mike Wheatland @manicule.bsky.social · 12/02/2025

Another #solargraph with the SolarCan Puck. I pointed a bit low. :-) @solarcan.bsky.social

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Mike Wheatland @manicule.bsky.social · 08/02/2025

Solargraphy with the Solarcan Puck: an image of the path of the Sun on the sky. Also an image of the view it was looking at. #solarcan @solarcan.bsky.social

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Reposted by Mike Wheatland

Tara Murphy @taramurphy.bsky.social · 08/01/2025

First day back at work, time for a flashback... Check out this video for the School of Physics (@sydneyuni.bsky.social) from 1977, the year I was born...! www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bg61... "They often use large computers to check their theories..." ⚛️ #physics #astronomy ⚛️

youtube.com

1977 School of Physics Research

YouTube video by School of Physics - The University of Sydney

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Reposted by Mike Wheatland

Tara Murphy @taramurphy.bsky.social · 21/11/2024

#Physics #art 3 - Today's piece is "The Tippe Top", by Mike Wheatland (@manicule.bsky.social) with photography by Jayne Ion. Mike is a solar physicist who also looks at how to demonstrate interesting features of mechanical and dynamic systems for undergraduate research students.

A sequence of images (which run from left to right in time) showing a tippe top flipping. The tippe top is bright red, with a black background. Image credit: Michael Wheatland and Jayne Ion.

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Mike Wheatland @manicule.bsky.social · 18/11/2024

Last weekend I helped graduate about 700 Sydney University students in Beijing. It was wonderful to meet the students and their families. @sydneyuni.bsky.social

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Mike Wheatland @manicule.bsky.social · 27/07/2023

Tents on Eastern Avenue means Semester 2 is about to start!

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