Benjamin Shappee

Extreme Nuclear Transients (ENTs) are the most energetic transients yet discovered! Being as bright as 100 normal supernovae, they are visible out to redshift~1, when the universe was half its current age. They evolve so slowly that @UHIfA PhD. Jason Hinkle spent most of his time as a graduate student following up the two @ESAGaia ENTs he uncovered, which are detailed in the Science Advances Paper science.org/doi/10.1126/sc… published today. Combined with a later @ztfsurvey source nicknamed as “Scary Barbie”, these three objects help define this new, exciting class. W. M. Keck Observatory / Adam Makarenko made a very fun animation for the press release. Press releases: @uhmanoa : hawaii.edu/news/2025/06/0… @UHIfA: eurekalert.org/news-releases/… @keckobservatory: keckobservatory.org/ents/ @NASA: science.nasa.gov/science-resear…

Hawaii is pretty

Using Georgia State's Center for High Angular Resolution Astronomy (CHARA) , astronomers have captured images of two stellar explosions in unprecedented detail. Their findings were recently published in the journal Nature Astronomy. t.gsu.edu/3KK9m3h

Ivy League schools rediscover, sometimes as if for the first time, that standardized tests predict success in college: 1. Dartmouth (Feb 5, 2024): “Several key findings guided our decision: First, standardized test scores are an important predictor of a student's success in Dartmouth's curriculum, and this is true regardless of a student's background or family income.” “Research shows that standardized test scores can be an important predictor of academic success at a place like Dartmouth and beyond—more so even than just grades or recommendations, for example.” 2. Yale (Feb 22, 2024): “Yale’s research from before and after the pandemic has consistently demonstrated that, among all application components, test scores are the single greatest predictor of a student’s future Yale grades. This is true even after controlling for family income and other demographic variables, and it is true for subject-based exams such as AP and IB, in addition to the ACT and SAT.” 3. Brown (March 5, 2024): “Our analysis made clear that SAT and ACT scores are among the key indicators that help predict a student’s ability to succeed and thrive in Brown’s demanding academic environment.” 4. Harvard (April 11, 2024): “Research by Opportunity Insights has shown that SAT and ACT scores are the single strongest predictors of academic success at selective colleges like Harvard... Standardized tests provide a common benchmark that can help us evaluate applicants’ readiness for the academic challenges at Harvard in a way that is more fair and equitable than high school grades alone.” 5. Cornell (April 22, 2024): “After a multi-year study conducted by the university’s Task Force on Standardized Testing in Admissions, data showed that when reviewed in context with other application materials—such as GPA, academic rigor, extracurricular engagement, essays, and letters of recommendation—test scores help to create a more complete picture of an individual applicant.” 6. Penn (Feb 14, 2025): “Penn’s practice has been, and continues to be, considering a student’s school-based academic record on its own merit, with testing as part of Admission’s broad and comprehensive assessment. With this approach, testing complements a student’s existing accomplishments and can offer additional relevant information in our comprehensive and holistic admission process.” 7. Princeton (Oct 9, 2025): “The decision to resume testing requirements follows a review of five years of data from the test-optional period, which found that academic performance at Princeton was stronger for students who chose to submit test scores than for students who did not.”

Dyson sphere: almost complete!

6.5 outta 10 for an Hawaii sunset.

@AsassnCitizen That's a nice Mdwarf you got there, it would be a shame if something were to... oh god, that's a flare.

Wow, that is a hefty (g~10 mag) flare from an M-dwarf!

Having said that, back in June it was a real monster!

The 3rd interstellar object ever discovered, 3I/ATLAS, in ASAS-SN data over the past two weeks, rocketing across the sky.

Update 4 years later. @NASA_TESS has now been cited more than 3000 times(!!!), and the fraction of those papers mentioning ASAS-SN has grown to be 14.1% of those papers. @ztfsurvey is mentioned in 10.4% and ATLAS is mentioned in 7.1%—amazing synergy between ground and space.

View of Starship landing burn and splashdown on Flight 10, made possible by SpaceX’s recovery team. Starship made it through reentry with intentionally missing tiles, completed maneuvers to intentionally stress its flaps, had visible damage to its aft skirt and flaps, and still executed a flip and landing burn that placed it approximately 3 meters from its targeted splashdown point

@elonmusk USA 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

Always worth the wait.

As a public employee, I try to keep politics out of my professional life. Sadly, @UHawaii’s Faculty Union doesn’t share that view. The article is blatantly partisan and the juxtaposition between the title and the first sentence is funnier than any @TheOnion article I have read this year. uhpa.org/news-flash/you… For mainland friends: #Conquest_of_the_islands" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamehameh…

Meet Gaia18cdj, the truly biggest boom since the Big Bang. Record holder of the new sample of Extreme Nuclear Transient events. Two of these events were found through @gaia_alerts, Gaia's Photometric Science Alerts. cosmos.esa.int/en/web/gaia/io…

New class of transient events found thanks to Gaia and ZTF: Extreme Nuclear Transients or ENTs! These events are the most energetic explosions in the universe known. They are powered by massive stars being torn apart by supermassive black holes. More details: cosmos.esa.int/en/web/gaia/io… GIF credits: based on artwork from the University of Hawaii, Nancy Hulbirt.

Please join me in congratulating @UHIfA graduate, Jason Hinkle!!! 13 first author papers, 5 student papers he co-advised (more coming), and FINNEST future investigator. Jason has accepted an Einstein Fellowship to @AstroIllinois to continue his work on nuclear transients.

Apply to work with us at OSU! osu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/OSUCareers/job… @BenShappee

AAS actively violates is own code of ethics too even after it is pointed out to them for years. Seems to be some cross discipline problems.