Cameron

supernova astronomer, these are my musings
he/him

[Cameron @GeckoSpacetime]

never have i ever paid attention

[Cameron @GeckoSpacetime]

@codewithimanshu @GoogleResearch This isn't the only way. Usually, we use Convolutional Neutral Nets (CNNs), but that method takes a lot more training data and a lot more time to train it. But CNNs are a lot faster at runtime when prompted with a new image to classify, basically making Gemini irrelevant here.

[Cameron @GeckoSpacetime]

@lacaille8760 @GoogleResearch Notice how one of the survey images here is from ATLAS, which discovered 3I lol

[Cameron @GeckoSpacetime]

@UAPWixy @4biddnKnowledge Did you know that Andromeda appears larger than the moon in the sky? Andromeda is far away, but it is enormous. The comet is close, but it's tiny. This is like how you can see a mountain from miles away, but you cant to see a penny from across a football field.

[Cameron @GeckoSpacetime]

@PCosmologist @JAtanackov @forallcurious No, he's saying the telescope wasn't tracking the comet's proper motion. The comet moves relative to the background stars. If it was tracking the comet, the stars would appear as streaks. Instead, the comet appears as a streak.

[Cameron @GeckoSpacetime]

@alphafox @NASASolarSystem People were BEGGING NASA to release this photo. If they didn't, people would scream it was a coverup. But the photo isn't pretty, taken by an instrument not designed to do this. What are they to do in this scenario? It's lose lose.

[Cameron @GeckoSpacetime]

@BapoRothstein @Rainmaker1973 @grok No need to ask grog, it says right in the post it's an artistic interpretation.

[Cameron @GeckoSpacetime]

@6333Phrase @Rainmaker1973 Supernovae are not fires. This supernova was the collapse of a massive star, it has nothing to do with combustion.

[Cameron @GeckoSpacetime]

@Wiam468 @NotaMarz01 @forallcurious Let's assume he's right about that. In that case, the angle would be 59km/(270 million km) = 2*10^-7 radians =~ 0.00001 degrees. This is still much too small to resolve.

[Cameron @GeckoSpacetime]

@NotaMarz01 @Wiam468 @forallcurious 3I isn't very big. The best estimates put it at about 1km in diameter. The closest it got to earth was about 270 Million km. This means it's actually very tiny in the sky, about 0.0000001 degrees across, which is not resolvable by any telescope. Instead, we see its larger coma.

[Cameron @GeckoSpacetime]

@NotaMarz01 @Wiam468 @forallcurious We pointed JWST (and many earth based telescope) at both! This supernova happened in 2024, but the paper was just published now.

[Cameron @GeckoSpacetime]

@Wiam468 @forallcurious This paper uses ultra precise polarization measurements to infer the geometry of the explosion. They don't actually resolve an image of it, like is shown here. The polarization data tells us about the symmetry of the explosion and it's regions of extreme temperature.

[Cameron @GeckoSpacetime]

@REALBen_cle @MaxVelocityWX Did you even read the tweet you quoted? He said "Even if this doesn't make landfall, a close approach would still cause some problems." which is pretty much exactly what happened.
I could see why you would be upset if he had been downplaying Erin, but he literally did not.

[Cameron @GeckoSpacetime]

@REALBen_cle @MaxVelocityWX If you expect meteorologists to pinpoint the exact path a hurricane will take over a week out, you've got to lower your expectations. Anyone who says that can do that is lying. That's why the NHC gives a cone of uncertainty. There are too many variables to predict it perfectly.

[Cameron @GeckoSpacetime]

@REALBen_cle @MaxVelocityWX A full week ago Erin was still a tropical storm hundreds of miles from the leeward islands, of course forecasts were uncertain. That tweet you shared is spot on actually. It's cautionary without placing too much weight on a specific path Erin might take. A+ forecast right there.

[Cameron @GeckoSpacetime]

@REALBen_cle @MaxVelocityWX What are you talking about? He was warning of possible rip currents on the east coast from Erin 4 days ago
https://t.co/sxiHPFN0XX

[Max Velocity @MaxVelocityWX]

Tropical Storm Erin is set to become a major hurricane by Saturday.

Impacts to Puerto Rico and the Lesser Antilles are possible. From there, this hurricane will turn north, but it may take a while to do so. The longer it takes, the greater impacts will be felt along the East Coast, with rip currents, higher waves, and possibly even tropical storm force winds or storm surge being possible.

Too early for specifics, but continue to stay alert!

[Cameron @GeckoSpacetime]

@matterasmachine @Astro_Wright https://t.co/a0YOMOarI7

[Cameron @GeckoSpacetime]

@Justin043499946 @basti_vkl The moon actually doesn't get hit by more meteorites. It's just that meteorite impact craters on earth get eroded much quicker than on the moon or Mercury. There's no atmosphere or liquid water on those worlds, so impact craters stick around for billions of years without eroding.

[Cameron @GeckoSpacetime]

@ChuckSm77161211 @DJSnM @RedCollie1 We do have spectra. They show water ice and silicates. Typical of a comet, and similar to the comet 6P/d'Arrest. https://t.co/48TZJ0sXyM

[Cameron @GeckoSpacetime]

@DJSnM @RedCollie1 Dr. Loeb back at it again with the god of the gaps fallacy. He must know this is illogical, but he does it anyway. He reminds me of a "just asking questions" conspiracy theorist. But of course he gets huge press because "Harvard astronomer says it's aliens"

[Cameron @GeckoSpacetime]

@sillydarket @JamesLimmer @gospaceport @grok @Mathonymics @forallcurious Yes. There are "Directors Discretionary Time" proposals for exactly this reason. These are proposals with a quick turn around time to look at time sensitive objects. They used one to look at that object that had a small chance of hitting earth earlier this year.