I’m Jost (they/them). PhD in astroparticle physics (#supernova#neutrinos), now Senior Research Software Engineer at King’s College London. I help researchers across the university write better code to enable better research. (Still work on software for @HyperKamiokande & @SNEWS part-time.)
🇬🇧 resident, 🇩🇪 passport, 🇪🇺 in ❤️ & 🧠.
Pretty queer. 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
I sometimes do LGBTQ+STEM or astroparticle physics outreach; slowly learn Japanese; listen to too many podcasts.
#Supernova is the last dying gasp of a star as it goes dark.
A #nova, on the other hand, requires two stars. One star is always a white dwarf, while the other is usually a red giant.
#Hypernovas are supernovas that achieve a certain size and brightness. Usually, they're about 10 or more times brighter than a standard supernova. Another type, an extremely rare #kilonova occurs when two neutron stars collide, releasing an incredible gravitational wave.
A vast, expanding cloud of debris from a supernova, as seen in x-ray and optical light by the Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Hubble Space Telescope, respectively.
X-ray: NASA/CXC/GSFC/B. J. Williams et al.; Optical: NASA/ESA/STScI
There is a nice bright #Supernova right now in NGC 4216 (in Virgo). Visible later in the evening, for North America. Discovered/appeared 4 January - but still pretty bright!
This is from last night. Image is noisy with artifiacts etc, due to hazy conditions, bright moonlight and short exposure time. But did not crop - wanted to show the many other galaxies in this area of the sky/universe.