Dr Laura Driessen

science.nasa.govWebb Measures Distance to Farthest Fast Radio Burst, Suggesting Origin - NASA ScienceFirst discovered in 2007, fast radio bursts are enigmatic, millisecond-long flashes of radio emission from the distant universe. Their origin remains

Most distant fast radio burst ever discovered just dropped! This FRB gives us clues about what FRBs are and tells us about the cold, dark stuff between us and other galaxies science.nasa.gov/missions/web... 📡🧪

This work was led by Manisha Caleb and the MeerTRAP team. I helped a little bit 😊

theconversation.comAstronomers pinpoint the origin of a 10 billion-year-old millisecond signal from spaceA flash of radio waves from a young galaxy 3 billion years after the Big Bang is lighting up 80% of the universe’s history.

Read the Conversation article written by lead authors Manisha and Themiya: theconversation.com/astronomers-...

12 Aug

Just a couple of the eleventy-billion photos of the eclipse I took 😅

5 Aug

Thrilled to be one of this year's NSW Young Tall Poppy Science Award recipients! 🥳 aips.org.au/2026-young-t... 🧪

5 Aug

"The Young Tall Poppy Science Awards were created in 1998 by the Australian Institute of Policy and Science (AIPS) to recognise and celebrate Australian intellectual and scientific excellence and to encourage younger Australians to follow in the footsteps of our outstanding achievers."

13 July

Trying to watch The Dish but it keeps getting all blurry. Feeling totally heartbroken, Sam Neill you were an absolute legend

ozgrav.orgStudent astronomer discovers ‘Rosetta stone’ for mysterious cosmic signals - OzGravWhite dwarf binary provides unique natural laboratory for extreme physics An international team led by astronomers at the University of Sydney has uncovered the clearest evidence yet for the origin of...

1 June

New long period radio transient just dropped! Brand spanking new work by @funfactscience.com 👀 🔭🧪

Fun Fact Science with Kovi@funfactscience.com

www.ozgrav.org/news/student...

22 Apr

Officially 5 years to the day since I submitted my PhD thesis! And yes, it was pink throughout 😎

11 Mar

At the ABC today to chat science with Dr Karl on Triple J at 11am AEDT! Important to say hi to Big Ted, Little Ted and Jemima

3 Mar

An hour until the partial lunar eclipse starts! Then the total lunar eclipse at 10:04pm AEDT. I'm in cloudy Canberra, but I've heard that Brisbane and Perth have lovely clear skies! 🌚🔭

abc.net.auLab Notes: Why buying a star name is nonsense - ABC listenA quick online search reveals multiple paid services for naming stars as commemorative gifts. You'll be provided with a certificate and a map for finding your star in the sky. But these names are not ...

20 Feb

Selling stars is big business. If you missed my written rant about it last week, you can listen to me rant about it on the ABC instead 😆 www.abc.net.au/listen/progr... 🔭🧪

theconversation.comFor $40, you can name a star for your Valentine. But it won’t mean muchSo what names do astronomers use for stars and how are official star names selected?

20 Feb

If you'd prefer to read about it, I wrote a @aunz.theconversation.com article last week: theconversation.com/for-40-you-c...

spacenameregistry.comSpace Name RegistryA unique gift for your loved one

20 Feb

And if you'd like to support making my star-naming website (where you can't buy stars but can find out why and symbolically name a star for free) more visible on Google, you can check it out at SpaceNameRegistry.com

theconversation.comFor $40, you can name a star for your Valentine. But it won’t mean muchSo what names do astronomers use for stars and how are official star names selected?

11 Feb

Today's Conversation article brought to you by extreme frustration 😖 theconversation.com/for-40-you-c... 🧪🔭

spacenameregistry.comSpace Name RegistryA unique gift for your loved one

11 Feb

So much frustration, in fact, that I made a whole website that looks like a star-selling website, but if you click "buy now" you can actually symbolically name a star for free spacenameregistry.com You can't actually buy stars on my website of course. It instead explains why you can't 🔭🧪

20 Jan

Auroras are pretty fickle beasts, but fingers crossed the geomagnetic storm will continue into the Australian night so some of us can see it! 🔭 The further south you are the better, Tasmania is best 😆 bottom of the south island of NZ even better 🤣

20 Jan

If you're going to give it a shot, head as far south and away from light pollution as possible. A long exposure on your phone camera will pick it up better than your eyes. Happy aurora hunting!

26 Dec 2025

Literally a few hours ago I commissioned @bsky.rennatelier.art to draw my dog Astro and she already finished it for me! How cute is this?! I love it! vgen.co/rennatelier ❤️

26 Dec 2025

Astro, for reference 🐶

Grateful for Earth's global magnetic field today. Protecting us from cosmic radiation and putting on a light show?! Mars could never 💅

If you didn't get to see the aurora, there are loads of stunning pics of it on here to enjoy! I got a faint pink glow in a 4 second phone camera exposure, nothing by eye 🤷‍♀️

theconversation.comAurora likely tonight as string of solar flares heads for EarthFour big outbursts from the Sun mean skies may light up much further from the poles than usual.

Want to see the aurora? Tonight might be the night! There have been a bunch of coronal mass ejections (big flares of plasma) from the Sun that are all arriving at Earth today and tonight. theconversation.com/aurora-likel...

Lots of gorgeous pics of the aurora from the US already, hopefully we'll be just as in Australia and NZ lucky tonight!

Aurora are notoriously difficult to predict, but I'm crossing my fingers and toes that it'll be visible tonight from Sydney and Perth as well as the southern parts of Australia. With how strong these flares are, there's a chance!

theconversation.comIs it aliens? Why that’s the least important question about interstellar objectsThe alien question, while fun, generates misinformation and distracts from the science.

3 Nov 2025

I've been thinking a bit about how talking about aliens affects how we share new astronomy discoveries, so I wrote an article about it 👽🔭🧪 theconversation.com/is-it-aliens...

Dr Laura Driessen reposted

ARC Tracker

@arc-tracker.bsky.social

26 Oct 2025

ARC says Discovery Projects outcomes will be tomorrow (Tuesday). Linkage Projects (2025, round 1) on Wed. Over past ~year, it's often been at about 11am (Canberra). My bot will pick up the change to RMS & post immediately. ARC should email outcomes to lead CIs, but might take an 1hr or so for DPs

26 Oct 2025

Hailstone from the balcony in Brisbane, this storm is intense! Even after melting a bit it's bigger than a 50 cent piece!

3 Oct 2025

Stopping in to say hi to one of my fav telescopes on the way to Siding Spring Observatory! Tonight, I'm on a panel in a pub in Coonabarabran. Siding Spring is an optical Observatory, but I'm a radio astronomer. So I had to stop in at the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) first! 🔭📡

theconversation.comDaylight saving is about to start. But why do the days get longer?Earth’s tilt means the Sun both rises earlier and sets later as we head towards summer.

2 Oct 2025

2 out of 3 Aussies will be changing their clocks forward this weekend, but why do the days get longer? Find out in my article on daylight savings: theconversation.com/daylight-sav...

7 Sept 2025

Did you even see the eclipse if you don't post a fuzzy phone camera photo of it? 🌚

abc.net.auWhen and where can I see Monday's total lunar eclipse from Australia?A total lunar eclipse, also known as a "blood moon", will be visible across all of Australia next week. Here's what you need to know to get the best view and snap the best photo.

7 Sept 2025

It's cleared up in Sydney and I can see the shadow creeping across the Moon! 🥳🌚🔭

Dr Laura Driessen@astrolaura.com

Lunar eclipse fans, there's a total lunar eclipse this weekend! All of Australia (and a bunch of other countries) will be able to see all the best bits. The eclipse will be in the evening of Sunday the 7th or the morning of Monday the 8th of September 🧪🔭🌝 www.abc.net.au/news/science...

The question I always get asked about these things is whether I'll be getting up to see it. I'm a terrible astronomer and I haven't seen a total lunar eclipse before, so I will be. The next lunar eclipse visible from Australia will be in March 2026, but it won't be as good for as much of Australia

timeanddate.comTotal Lunar Eclipse on September 7–8, 2025 – Where and When to SeeTotal lunar eclipse on September 7–8, 2025: Where and when is the Blood Moon visible and what will it look like? Visibility map, animation, and local times.

5 Sept 2025

And then the next one after that for any place in the world is the 31st of December 2028! So If you don't get up for this one and then it's cloudy for the March one, then you have to wait more than two years for the next one! So I'll be crossing my fingers that it's clear in Sydney on Monday 🤞

Are you in part of the world that gets to see this total lunar eclipse? Find out here: www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/luna... I love this website for lunar and solar eclipses, and also for converting time zones 🌝 🧪🔭

5 Sept 2025

The best part of a lunar eclipse is that you don't need any special equipment, just your eyes and a clear view of the sky. So fingers and toes crossed the the clouds stay away early in the morning on the 8th of September!

If you're downunder like me and you want to see the best parts of the eclipse, it's going to be a very early morning (or very late night). The partial eclipse, when the darkest part of Earth's shadow starts crossing the Moon, begins at 2:28am on Monday the 8th of September

5 Sept 2025

Totality, when the Moon is completely inside the Earth's dark shadow (or umbra) starts at 3:30am AEST and lasts 82 minutes. This is when the Moon turns red and is called a "Blood Moon". Then at 4:52am the Moon starts heading out of the umbra again (partial eclipse)

3 Sept 2025

On my way to Adelaide to talk about radio astronomy and radio stars! 🌟 www.assa.org.au

theconversation.comWhat’s a ‘black moon’? Here’s why it’s worth looking up at the sky this weekThe Moon will indeed be black, kind of. But that’s not why you should look up this weekend.

21 Aug 2025

There's a black moon on Saturday! Sounds very cool, but is it actually cool? I wrote an article for @aunz.theconversation.com about this very recent term for a "special" new moon 🌚🧪🔭 theconversation.com/whats-a-blac...

theconversation.comEveryone’s talking about the Perseid meteor shower – but don’t bother trying to see it in Australia or NZUse our interactive globe to see if you’re in the ‘zone of disappointment’ for the Perseids – then save these dates for better meteor showers to watch.

9 Aug 2025

It's the first day of National Science Week in Australia, so here's a friendly astronomy PSA: the Perseid meteor shower is not for us It's not a great meteor shower for those of us down under. For more info, check out this article by Prof Horner: theconversation.com/everyones-ta... 🧪📡

9 Aug 2025

The next good meteor for us in the Southern Hemisphere is the Geminid meteor shower, which peaks around the 14th and 15th of December Don't listen to the Northern Hemisphere propaganda 😆 the Geminids are better anyways 😎

8 Aug 2025

I'm the voice of an audiobook! Not something I ever thought I'd do, but I was so excited when Dr Karl asked me to voice the audiobook version of Vital Science It was loads of fun, thanks to the fantastic reading material and the amazing producer I worked with at Bolinda Audio

linktr.eevitalsciencekkruszelnicki - Listen on Spotify - LinktreeView vitalsciencekkruszelnicki’s Linktree to discover and stream music from top platforms like Spotify here. Your next favorite track is just a click away!

8 Aug 2025

Thanks to Dr Karl for this fab opportunity! The audiobook is out now on Spotify, Audible, Apple, and anywhere else you get good audiobooks 🎧 I can now definitely recommend Vital Science, I have read every word of it after all 😂 linktr.ee/vitalscience...

theconversation.comMove over Mercury – Chiron is in retrograde. What even is Chiron?If you’re like most people, you’ve never heard of it. Meet the ringed asteroid-comet hybrid prowling the outer reaches of the Solar System.

7 Aug 2025

I heard that Chiron was in retrograde, but I didn't even know what Chiron was... I wrote an article about it so you can learn about Chiron too! 🧪🔭 theconversation.com/move-over-me...

6 Aug 2025

Join us at the Chau Chak Wing museum to National Science Week! I'll be giving a talk, exact time TBD

Sydney Mathematical Research Institute (SMRI)@sydmathinst.bsky.social

Science at the Museum is happening at the Chau Chak Wing Museum on Saturday 16th and Sunday 17th August! Join us as we team up again with the museum for a program loaded with activities for the whole family! #MathSky #NationalScienceWeek mathematical-research-institute.sydney.edu.au/event/scienc...

4 Aug 2025

Totally agree! But it could also be because they measured this using X posts and X posts only... so a contributing factor could be that women scientists have bailed from that terrible place and are posting their science results elsewhere

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