#/NEBULA!!!

[friendli-rose]

"...Well, time to give this a try!"

[REACCESS PROCEDURE: INITIATED. PLEASE EXCUSE SOME MILD DISCOMFORT.]

"Oh I forgot about this part- OW!"

[REACCESSING: NEURAL MEMORY]

[REACCESSING: MUSCLE MEMORY]

[REACCESS PROCEDURE: COMPLETE]

"Oh thank goodness..."

["Welcome back, Rosie. :)"]

["Are you okay?"]

"...Yeah. Yeah, actually, I'm great! It worked!"

["That it did. It's nice to be back."]

@squipspace

[the-wolf-and-moon]

The Pleiades

[dinchenix]

If you had the chance to join the journey through space, would you do it?

This artwork is also availabe as a wallpaper on my ko-fi here!💙

[markscherz]

Meet the seven new frog species we just named after iconic Star Trek captains!

Artwork by A. Petzold, CC BY-ND 4.0

At the right time of year along rushing streams in the humid rainforests that stretch the length of Madagascar's eastern and northern mountain ridges, otherworldly trills of piercing whistles can be heard.

Are they birds? Insects? Communicator beeps? Tricorder noises?

No, they're little treefrogs!

Boophis janewayae. Photo by M. Vences, CC BY-SA 4.0

Until recently, we thought all of the populations of these little brown frogs across the island were one widespread species, Boophis marojezensis, described in 1994. But genetics in the early 2000s and 2010s showed that there were several species here, not just one.

Now my colleagues and I have shown that they are in fact eight separate species, each with unique calls!

These whistling sounds reminded us so much of Star Trek sound effects that we decided to name the seven new species after Star Trek captains: Boophis kirki, B. picardi, B. janewayae, B. siskoi, B. pikei, B. archeri, and B. burnhamae.

Photos of all new species described by Vences et al. 2024. CC BY-SA 4.0

I subtly and not-so-subtly built some Star Trek references into the paper, but probably the best one is this one:

'Finding these frogs sometimes requires considerable trekking; pursuing strange new calls, to seek out new frogs in new forests; boldly going where no herpetologist has gone before.'

— Vences et al. 2024

There’s a real sense of scientific discovery and exploration here, which we think is in the spirit of Star Trek.

Of course, it doesn't hurt that there are at least two Trekkies amongst the authors (including yours truly). As fans of Star Trek, we are also just pleased to dedicate these new species to the characters who have inspired and entertained us over the decades.

On a personal note, this marks a milestone for me, as it means I have now described over 100 frog species! I am very pleased that the 100th is Captain Janeway's Bright-eyed Frog, Boophis janewayae (if you count them in order of appearance in the paper)—she is probably my favourite captain, and I really love Star Trek: Voyager.

You can read more about the discovery of these new species on my website! You can also read the Open Access paper published in Vertebrate Zoology here.

[wonders-of-the-cosmos]

The Mermaid Nebula Supernova Remnant Image Credit: Neil Corke

[punkeduppirate]

look at you, you're gorgeous💥

[prinnay]

Rho Ophiuchi cloud cluster

~Happy anniversary to the James Webb Space Telescope~

[aimeekb]

Milky Way arch over the Mojave desert, California

[theofficialastronomy101]

Close up of Pluto from the New Horizons space probe.

Will be adding several more photos to this same post

[spacewonder19]

Beta Fish Nebula ESO 217-25 © Brian Boyle

[animatedtext]

requested by python-nebula

[the-wolf-and-moon]

Comet Leonard

[astrhae]

crowley used the metal tool in season 1 to start time, and we learn that he's used it first to start space. to create the stars -- he still remembers how. he still remembers all of heaven's passwords: in the book crowley is described as an optimist because he has the "utter surety... that the universe would look after him". not god, but the universe. and of course he does: he helped create it and he's looking after it, too.

think about it: aziraphale had a sword, but crowley is about to face satan who wants to destroy the world, and crowley's only weapon is a tool of creation

[karlrincon]

This is how Eclipse Solar 2024 is looking from space. 🔭🌘

[wonders-of-the-cosmos]

Messier 39 in Cygnus is a large, sprawling open cluster

Images: Adam Block.

[ponydoodles]

stupid fragging rabbit always making me look stupid

@sylver-seraphim