STARSTRUCK, my debut memoir about the universe and the more earthbound obstacles we face, is officially available for preorder!!!
it would mean the world for you to preorder & share with your communities! can’t WAIT for this to be out in the world 6.6.23
I FOUND A SUPERNOVA!!!!! I FOUND A MASSIVE STAR THAT EXPLODED ~10 DAYS BEFORE I OBSERVED IT!!!! AAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!! from its spectrum we can measure the expansion rate of the Universe, propelled by dark energy. AAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!
4 years ago I got a 0 on a quantum physics exam. i met with my professor fearing i needed to change my major & quit physics. today, i’m in a top tier astrophysics Ph.D program & published 2 papers.
STEM is hard for everyone—grades don’t mean you’re not good enough to do it.
me, an astrophysicist who has published 2 (nearly 3!) papers on Betelgeuse and specializes in supernovae: *tweets about Betelgeuse*
men in my mentions: “well actually it may have already exploded do you know how light works here’s the Wikipedia link also calm down”
today I’m applying to become an astronaut for
@NASA
.
!!!!!!!
tbh I’m treating this like a practice round to get my training up to par and give myself time to finish my PhD. BUT IM STILL SO EXCITED!!!!!
i’ve dreamt of going to space since i was little. despite the naysayers & fear of not being good enough, i’m elated to share that today, i’m taking a giant step towards that goal.
i’ve been selected for
@NASA
’s
@HI_SEAS
, a Mars Analog Astronaut Simulation on Mauna Loa, Hawai'i.
hay to all of the physics and math profs - and especially the men - who told me I would never be able to make astrophysics my career — look at me now :)
#TexasEx
🤘🏽
literally in total and absolute SHOCK that we have a new image of a black hole that shows its MAGNETIC FIELD LINES!!!!! this image was taken by
@ehtelescope
, a VIRTUALLY EARTH-SIZED TELESCOPE. this shows the inner edge of a black hole ARE U KIDDING ME
a gentle reminder: science is more than equations and formulas. it’s the stars in the night sky, the grass crunching under your shoes, the salt and brine of the ocean, the rush of adrenaline and beat-beat of your heart. it’s wonder in the unknown, & that’s what makes it beautiful
MY CODE FINALLY WORKS and i can determine how fast galaxies are moving away from us BY TAKING SPECTRA OF EXPLODING STARS waHOOOOOO science is JUST WILD
hi! i’m an astrophysicist, science communicator, & women’s health advocate & I’M TRYING TO GO TO SPACE! i’m joining the
#Inspiration4contest
to raise funds for
@StJude
& share my story with hereditary cancer.
help me get to space! ❤️🚀
more info:
quick clarification: the supernova is ~100,000,000 light yrs away. we observed it when it was a week old, but it exploded 100 mill yrs ago. the OG tweet was kinda misleading due to "astronomer-speak"; we observed it ~10 days post-explosion, but the explosion was 100 mill yrs ago!
i can’t share yet images and spectra but I will when I can!!! supernovae are discovered relatively often, I am just SO STOKED to be able to discover one myself!!! it’s a dream come true.
Betelgeuse has experienced unprecedented dimming over the last few months. everyone's been speculating whether this dimming is a harbinger of an impending supernova...but here's the kicker.
it's not fading anymore.
even more interesting: that's right on schedule.
My name is Sarafina El-Badry Nance. This is the first time I’ve said my full name in public. Ever.
I talk about disavowing my Arabic heritage for most of my life post-9/11, too scared and too embarrassed to embrace my identity and heritage here:
HELLOOO THE MOST MASSIVE BLACK HOLE MERGER **EVER** WAS JUST DISCOVERED 5 GIGAPARSECS AWAY, when the Universe was about HALF its current age.
physics is SO COOL!!!
really good days are when an astronomical discovery is made. the BEST days are when a woman is behind that discovery—and getting her due credit.
this is Katie Bouman, and she created the algorithm that produced the first ever image of a black hole.
#EHTBlackHole
called my mom and told her i’m an astronaut applicant and she immediately shouts in Arabic, “mabrouk, mabrouk, mabrouk!!! (congratulations!)”
as the daughter of an Arab American immigrant, it’s an incredible gift to be able to even just apply to NASA. 🚀
some days i totally forget about cancer, and other days i absolutely lose it. after my BRCA diagnosis, every aberration/lump scares the hell out of me. sharing this for authenticity — “bravery” is nice, but it’s not the full picture: there’s a lot of fear & anxiety, too.
this is a core collapse supernovae, a massive star that explodes at the end of its life. from its spectrum, we can measure the velocity of the host galaxy and the rate of the expansion of the universe. HOW COOL IS THAT!!!!
stop this. stop this right now. I’m not a piece of meat for you to ogle at. I don’t exist for your pleasure. i’m a scientist taking time to communicate what excites me about space. you don’t get to abuse that by coming into my space.
for those new to my page, i’m a PhD student at Berkeley in astrophysics. i talk a lot about space and equity in STEM. i also talk a lot about cancer awareness—im BRCA+ and just had a preventative mastectomy to reduce my high risk of breast cancer. so happy you’re here!
yesterday, i defended my research in front of my thesis committee and proposed my plan for my dissertation. i passed, unanimously. *sobs*
(not a doctor yet!!! still gotta write the dissertation. but no defense— Berkeley doesn’t have those! this was my last hurdle 🥲)
a robot has died on our neighboring planet, Mars.
it was designed to last a fraction of a year. it lasted 15.
it was meant to travel 1 km. it drove over 45.
it sent back data filled with the dust and stories of another world.
its name was Opportunity.
we will miss it deeply.
“the Department of Energy has asked all the national labs, which are funded by taxpayer dollars, to suspend their diversity, equity, and inclusion training programs”
received this from Lawrence Berkeley National lab yesterday, where I work.
this is Trump’s America.
i’m an astrophysicist figuring out when stars will explode, & i dropped my first college physics class because I was so lost and felt too stupid.
4 years later, I looked my teacher in the eye as I walked across the stage at graduation to give the commencement address. 💁🏽♀️
I'm an Instrument Operations Engineer who operates cameras on Mars....and I dropped out of engineering school to get a Multimedia Design degree in 1998.
i’m doing IVF to screen out the cancer-causing BRCA2 mutation from my future child(ren) and i had my egg retrieval this morning!!! i’ll share more soon but everything went well!!!
it is so empowering to hopefully end the lineage of BRCA with me. SCIENCE IS AWESOME!
Me and Taylor’s first long solo hike together was in Glacier, 3 years ago on the Highline Trail. We spent that summer summiting as many mountains as we could find, falling in love. Taylor joked that instead of getting me a rock if we ever got engaged, he’d get me a mountain.
today i measured the expansion rate of the universe using supernovae that i’ve been observing for the last few years of graduate school. this has been my dream since I was 18 and I’m going to CRY I’m so happy and so proud
Fuck it— the world is on fire and our Black colleagues are suffering — I can’t push the rocket launch right now. If you’re watching, great, but I can’t pull myself together to do a Live Stream (like I’d said I would). I’ll be making many calls today in protest. Black Lives Matter
I AM SO ECSTATIC TO SHARE: I’ve signed my first BOOK DEAL!!! I’ve written A CHILDREN’S BOOK!!!!!!
Details to come, but I CAN say I hope it empowers, inspires, & educates future generations— especially little girls like I was, who have an insatiable love for our Universe.
person: why do you do astronomy?
me, always: I LOVE SPAAAAAAACE LOOK AT THE PRETTY STARS AND THE COOL STUFF WE LEARN ABOUT THE COSMOS ALSO PHYSICS IS COOL TOO I GUESS BUT REALLY THE SKY IS BIG AND WE ARE SO SMALL YAY STARS
person: *runs*
YOU GUYS. YOU GUYS YOU GUYS YOU GUYS!!!! I got my first supernova spectra!!!!! I reduced the data and (it may still be wrong but) I got my code to work and I SEE THE SPECTRUM OF AN EXPLODING STAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i’m sorry but I just could not fucking care less about science right now. i just don’t. there is no universe in which science is paramount to Black lives.
today i leave for “Mars” - a two-week analog astronaut Martian simulation with
@HI_SEAS
.
my crew and i will be living on Mauna Loa like astronauts, conducting research, living in a Habitat, and going on EVA spacewalks across the volcano.
speaking as someone with 2 bachelors, 1 masters, and en route to get my Ph.D.: what makes you a scientist isn’t your degree(s) or where you went to school, nor is it the number of papers you’ve published: it’s your desire to question and understand our Universe.
embarrassing true story: the first time I walked onto set, my partner told me I’m following in Carl Sagan’s footsteps and I started crying.
explore the cosmos with me in CONSTELLATIONS, a new show by
@seeker
streaming on YouTube, Facebook, & IGTV. premiers tomorrow, January 15
something beautiful happened this morning.
i had one woman physics professor in college. one. she was a big inspiration for me.
today she emailed me out of the blue that she’s in Berkeley, saw my BBC article, and wants to catch up.
it’s small, but it means the Universe.
for those new to my page, i’m a PhD student at Berkeley in astrophysics. i talk a lot about space and equity in STEM. i also talk a lot about cancer awareness—im BRCA+ and just had a preventative mastectomy to reduce my high risk of breast cancer. ♥️💪🏽
as a scientist i think it would be really really cool if scientists stopped acting like we’re smarter/better than non-scientists. the elitism is extremely harmful (and misplaced bc spoiler: we’re not).
i can’t believe people genuinely believe NASA’s covering up evidence of aliens or whatever like can you see from today’s social media that we legitimately can’t keep our mouths shut when we’re excited
in today’s totally wild news, I HAVE A WIKIPEDIA PAGE?!?!!!!!!!
absolutely losing my mind at this— so wish I could go back in time to young Sarafina dreaming of the stars and tell her that her dreams are possible.
6 years ago my ex-boyfriend told me I’d never amount to anything and would never succeed, in relationships or in my career. I’m now in grad school to get my PhD in astrophysics, happily dating my partner, and working daily on my insecurities. suck it, my dude.
Hi! I’m an astrophysicist & author of Little Leo's Fascinating World of Astronomy, which comes out TODAY!
As a kid, I didn't have books that represented Egyptian girls like me. I wrote this to fill that gap- to show the magic of the Universe & kids of all identities exploring it
in 3 days, I get to interview someone who has seen the earth from space.
who saw 16 sunsets a day for 200 days
who was ejected from an aborted spacecraft 58 mi above earth bc a booster rammed into the rocket, putting the craft in catastrophic failure.
i am so FREAKING excited.
the number of people in this country who hate Arab Americans like me, who hate women, who hate BIPOC, who hate LGBTQ+ folks, who hate anyone who is not like them is so fucking staggering and hurts so much.
I grew up thinking I was REALLY bad at math. I was told by multiple teachers that only those “gifted” at math could become engineers and scientists. not only were they wrong about me, they were wrong about math. it’s not only for the gifted— it’s for the curious.
i’m about to go on NPR to give an interview on cosmology and dark energy. a few years ago i was afraid I was going to fail out of physics.
the universe is so insane.
WISH ME LUCK!!
i wrote the kid’s book i would’ve wanted to read as a little girl in love with the night sky.
there weren’t many books with kids who look like me, exploring the cosmos and learning about the universe. AND IT’S FINALLY HERE!!!!!!!!
pre-order here:
it’s 4am, I’m on my last few supernova observations for the night, & though exhausted, i’m reflecting on how happy I am to be here. I used to fantasize about doing astrophysics as my job. i’d stay up all hours of the night learning physics, & now I’m here. i’m so happy. so lucky
I still can’t believe this is real. This is the culmination of 28 years of life & 1 year of solid work, tears, hope, and joy.
I am in tears, OVERJOYED to share that I’ve signed with
@DuttonBooks
at
@penguinrandom
to write STARSTRUCK, a memoir about the wonders of the Universe.
OKAY WOW HERE WE GO IT IS FINALLY OUT AAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! explore the cosmos with me in the premier of CONSTELLATIONS, a new show by
@seeker
.
so excited, SO nervous, so overwhelmed. TRULY hope you all like it ❤️❤️❤️.
today I went back to visit my very first astrophysics teacher, who taught my 11th grade astro class and introduced me to research my senior year. he’s AMAZING— utterly changed my life. so grateful for mentors like him.
JUST GOT THE CALL— PATHOLOGY IS 100% CLEAR!!! IM OVER THE MOON RELIEVED, and I feel so STRONG and GRATEFUL. thank each and everyone of you for being on my team. I am so beyond grateful.
for more —>
when I was 11, I met an astronomer at science camp. i was thrilled! I told him my dream was to grow up to be an astronomer. he told me I couldn’t— it was too hard. i was lucky to find incredible mentors as I got older, but those words always stuck. and you know what? he was wrong
i have said this once before but I will say it again—those of you who came upon my page because of space & supernovae, but stuck around through my BRCA & mastectomy journey: thank you. thank you so much.
the support on this platform is one of the things that keeps me going. ❤️
i am so incredibly honored and proud to share that i have been selected as an awardee for Arab America’s 40 under 40.
so grateful to my mom, who emigrated from Egypt when she was a young woman and paved the way for me to pursue my dreams 🇪🇬💫
I AM SO OVER THE MOON EXCITED TO SHARE THAT I HAVE SIGNED WITH
@foundrymedia
LITERARY AGENCY TO WORK ON A BOOK!!!!!!!
STARS, WOMEN IN SCIENCE, SUPERNOVAE, HERE WE COME!!!!
hi all— my mastectomy is tomorrow at 7:30am!! i’ll be at the hospital at 6am. feeling lots of emotions— scared, anxious, sad, but also ready. so, so ready.
i’ll update y’all when i’m all done tomorrow. love you guys, thanks for being on my team ♥️
i got my second covid vaccine on Friday! aside from some nausea and exhaustion (this second dose hit hard!), i feel so good and am so relieved to have lil baby covid antibodies floating through my body!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
#GetVaccinated
I just...I need to share this. less than 8 weeks out from my double mastectomy.
didn’t think I’d be able to do this, but I did and I feel SO DAMN STRONG.
this is my big FUCK YOU to 2019. let’s GO 2020
Thrilled and absolutely STUNNED to wake up this morning to the news that I’m a
@forbes
30 Under 30 honoree!!
So honored to join the Forbes Class of 2022 amongst this brilliant list of leaders and world-changers.
Read about all the honorees here!
beyond honored to receive this plaque from The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada for my talk on supernovae and cosmology. this is going to be on my desk for the rest of my days.
sometimes I cannot believe how lucky I am to be an astrophysicist.
was met with utter skepticism and dismay the other day when i introduced myself as an astrophysicist, so lemme formally introduce myself here: i'm Sarafina Nance, i work on exploding stars called supernovae, and
#ThisIsWhatAScientistLooksLike
4 yrs ago my dad was diagnosed with stage IV metastatic prostate cancer
he lost ~100lbs, went vegan, moved to Mexico, took up yoga & TRX, & meditates daily. he’s still responding well to treatment & is one of the happiest people I know
he took this photo today. I love him a lot