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  RE: https://mastodon.social/@esoastronomy/117030773777110677 We're deploying an array of decoy telescopes and cameras pointing away from the eclipse path to lure clouds out of the way. Let's hope it works!

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  Sentinel-2 image of the massive fires currently underway in Ávila, Madrid and Toledo, with the wind blowing the smoke down all the way to Ciudad Real. And this slice doesn't even cover other active fires in other regions of #Spain... https://browser.dataspace.copernicus.eu/?zoom=7&lat=39.93501&lng=-3.65295&themeId=DEFAULT-THEME&visualizationUrl=U2FsdGVkX19Vuai500PLwSgtlS7mY%2Bk24MBQr6o7MTduhAo7FX1q7C4X5RrRbYk9UGbYbaxV5fKaIq7vrkJgW86FwFrfGSj3MxsEjayIoQwH6X%2BF5FDxbUoE%2BDFTtr...

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  Still better than our current timeline. #books #reading #bookstodon

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  RE: https://mastodon.social/@esoastronomy/116794259466848155

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  RE: https://mastodon.social/@esoastronomy/116815541237502268 The ELT's adaptive mirror is 2.4 m wide, bigger than the *primary* mirror of many telescopes out there! Now that I think about it, the smallest telescopes I've observed with, the Isaac Newton Telescope and the du Pont, are barely larger than this. #astronomy

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  I didn't notice which t-shirt I randomly grabbed this morning, but it's very fitting 🌡️🔥

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  I was worried that I might finish this book in this long train ride, but then I remembered I packed an emergency book so it's all good.

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  RE: https://mastodon.social/@esoastronomy/116844616500605008 The impact of satellite constellations on astronomy can get much worse. A new ESO study has quantified not only the effects of the satellite streaks, but also the overall increase in the sky brightness due to (a) millions of faint satellites that create a veil of diffuse light, and (b) sunlight scattered by space mirrors, even when not aiming directly at the observer. 👇 #astronomy #space

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  RE: https://mastodon.online/@astro_jcm/111580270197140894 The #solstice is a good excuse to remind you that pinhole #photography is a fun way to track the Sun's motion on the sky 👇

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  RE: https://mastodon.social/@esoastronomy/116753015201184474 Don't tell anyone, but back when I worked there I liked to pretend those tunnels were part of a Doom-style FPS game. (Yes, that's my hand holding a small tripod as a makeshift gun. Don't judge me.)

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  Astronomers make for good office mates. We may accidentally zap you with an adaptive optics laser, but most of the time you'll just have to put up with us while we come up with silly acronyms for our projects. #astronomy https://www.newscientist.com/article/2528791-tom-gauld-on-the-worst-place-to-sit/

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  "Desconocíamos que la máquina de plagiar había plagiado" 🤦 El ayuntamiento de San Martín de la Vega plagia con #IA un cartel del gran Paco Roca del año pasado para su feria del libro de este año. La captura de pantalla es de su página oficial de Facebook. https://elpais.com/cultura/2026-05-26/paco-roca-denuncia-plagio-con-ia-de-su-cartel-de-la-fira-del-llibre-de-valencia-por-el-ayuntamiento-de-san-martin-de-la-vega.html

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  This fake image goes viral every few weeks. It shows the Prohodna cave in Bulgaria, which has two openings resembling eyes. There are many similar images showing fake views of the night sky through the holes, like the unrealistically large #Moon here. I've also seen versions where the Moon has been mirrored into an impossible view. If you want to learn how to spot fake #astrophotography images, check out this article I wrote: https://www.eso.org/public/blog/csi-astronomy/ #astronomy #s...

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  Pro tip: if your tarot predictions keep failing, write "please don't make mistakes" in your tarot.md file. 1% of the time it works every time.

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  RE: https://wisskomm.social/@AIP_Potsdam/116656994879477228 Happy belated birthday! I spent many nights during my PhD observing with PMAS/PPAK at Calar Alto. Time flies! #astronomy

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  RE: https://mastodon.social/@esoastronomy/116673668738768684 Look at those radial shadows 🤩 As an extragalactic astronomer I'll never get used to seeing objects evolve on human timescales...

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  This superpower is also our kryptonite: when I moved to Chile it took me a while to figure out that the reason I kept getting lost in Santiago was that I was still subconsciously orienting myself assuming that the Sun was towards the south and not the north. https://xkcd.com/3253

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  The Venn diagram of people who dislike referring to fellow humans by their preferred pronouns and people who anthropomorphize a piece of code should not have this much overlap, yet here we are.

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  Happy #MayThe4th ! Here's a photo I took at @esoastronomy@mastodon.social 's Paranal Observatory in #Chile, with one of our 8-m telescopes aiming its four lasers at the Large Magellanic Cloud, a small galaxy orbiting the Milky Way. The lasers excite sodium atoms high up in the atmosphere, creating artificial "stars" whose twinkle we can measure in real time to correct atmospheric turbulence and get super sharp images. This is how it works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_QC...

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  Don't fall for those #mastodon verification scams! Please remember that the only way to verify you're a mastodon user is to post a picture of your arduino-controlled 3d-printed toothbrush.

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  RE: https://mastodon.online/@astro_jcm/116280697099009454 I was so impressed by Lumibricks' Alpine Observatory that I couldn't resist the temptation and ended up buying their #Art Gallery. It was a fantastic building experience, the model is packed with details, and it looks great on my bookshelf! 3400 pieces, 22 lights, 62 printed pieces, zero stickers. I bought it at a discount at 160 euros —an absolute steal. A similar #lego model with the same piece count would've easily cost t...

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  Many people imagine professional astronomers hunched over a #telescope and taking notes. We no longer work that way, as light captured by the telescope is registered by complex instruments. But sometimes it's fun to use your eyes! I took this pic a few years ago, when we removed one of the instruments of ESO's Very Large Telescope in #Chile. A screen was temporarily attached in its place, and we used it to project the #Moon and show it to everyone at the observatory #astronomy...

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  This is the most German headline I've ever read. https://www.dw.com/en/germany-news-neighbor-attacked-for-pounding-schnitzel-too-loudly/live-76840275

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  RE: https://social.coop/@cwebber/116398174527674933 Look, I wouldn't mind living in a Black Mirror episode if at least it wasn't a dumb one.

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  Me and all the #books I want to read at the same time.

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  Work in progress... #art

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  RE: https://mastodon.social/@esoastronomy/116435741259033438 These four lasers make the VLTI more efficient by allowing us to play with multiple space #cats at the same time.

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  @jaztrophysicist ESO has a funded studentship programme for students who are already enrolled in a PhD to do part of it (up to two years) at ESO either in Garching or Santiago. The student would be co-supervised by a local ESO staff member together with their formal supervisor back at their home institution. Note that since ESO doesn't grant academic titles, it is a requirement for applicants to be already enrolled in a PhD programme. Deadline for next round is April 20: https://recruitm...

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  Really impressed with the Lumibricks Alpine Observatory set! It is loosely inspired by the Sphinx observatory in the Swiss Alps, and as an astronomer I had to buy it. This was my first set from a non- #lego brand. The pieces felt great in terms of build quality and clutch power. The lights add a very nice touch, and the wire management was cleverly done using custom pieces with grooves. It was a really fun build, packed with details and easter eggs. 1/ #astronomy #astrodon #space

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  RE: https://mas.to/@gleick/116351132004167290 Did Kent Brockman write this headline.