Quickies: Stunning Astronomy paired with Cute Animal Friday

No intro this time… just the stories!

• The MeerKAT radio telescope in South Africa catches our galaxy’s supermassive black hole “blowing bubbles” in an image that I find stunning from a technical standpoint AND beautifully ethereal. (If you want to get really nerdy, a freely-available preprint of the scientific journal article can be found on arXiv.)
• Remember ‘Oumuamua, the asteroid that recently zipped through our Solar System from interstellar space? A backyard astronomer in Crimea has discovered another one, only this time it’s a comet and is just arriving, so astronomers are eager to study it in detail as it swings through.
• Today is the 61st day that Mauna Kea protectors have been blocking access to the mountain to resist of construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope. Despite my love of all things astronomy, as you see above, I support their efforts, as their action is not anti-science, but rather it is anti-colonialism. An open letter signed by 180 astronomers from TMT-affiliated institutions and over 1000 other astronomers is still in circulation, so I’m not alone. You can also donate to the protectors’ legal defense fund.
• On a weirder note… One guy didn’t need any fancy software to go around stealing credit card information… he just used his incredible memory to steal over 1300 credit card numbers as a clerk. I mean… wow.

Alright, it’s ANIMAL TIME!

• I won’t embarrass Ryan again by featuring his animal antics, but I will add an interesting video shared by another Mad Art Labber, Seelix, in prep for that very panel. It features the sexy (read: terrifying) bellow of a male alligator trying to attract a mate, followed by a bizarre sub-sonic shimmy that causes water to dance on their backs.
• I’m betting you’ve all seen this hilarious and adorable video of a dog DRAMATICALLY flopping over in response to a nail trimming. (I take issues with the headline because dog breed identifications by visuals are atrociously bad, but I digress…)

I saw that last one all over the internets, but the next three are from Muscadine:

• BEBE PENGWIN DONT WANNA LEEV!!!
• Like something out of a Scott Sigler novel, ghost crabs use teeth in their stomach to “growl” at predators. Yeah, I’d back off, too…
• And finally our featured animal above, the mountain chickadee who can probably also steal your credit card information with their amazing memory, or at least the location of tens of thousands of hidden seeds. I can’t even remember where I put my phone…

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