With my post, I would like to summarize work that my colleagues and I published recently (Beuchert et al. 2019, A&A, 610, 32). Let me start with a general introduction to provide the necessary context needed to understand what “jets” are. One of the major open questions in astrophysics deals with the most powerful objects in the Universe. We find them in the very centers of so-called Active Galaxies, where we expect at least one very heavy black hole (a Million to a Billion solar masses) to reside. In the consequence of its attractive force combined with friction occurring within the dense matter in orbit around it, matter will slowly spiral…

Given that our group has been growing significantly over the last years, annual group retreats are the ideal occasion to get to know each other better and talk about important topics that don’t necessarily find their way in usual working days. So, just recently, we spent a whole day at a beautiful little farm in the outskirts of Amsterdam called “Bomen op Locatie”. Surprisingly, the weather turned out to be amazing, even close to the end of the year, even in the Netherlands. While the whole village was still asleep, our arrival at the farm was immediately recognized by one of two little pigs that live a happy life on…

In this blog-post, I want to share my experience in the field of science communication and give you my personal perspective of things. I would be very happy to receive your feedback. Maybe, you disagree with what I say? Maybe, I missed something in my discussion? Feel free to contact me (t.beuchert@uva.nl) or post a comment below. Who we should communicate with and why “Science communication” is a term that one can write a lot about. I think what is important is that we would like to bridge between the broad public and the scientific community as well as within the scientific community itself. That way, we can establish links…

My name is Tobias Beuchert. I recently joined this group as a postdoc. My research interests are to expand our knowledge about accreting compact objects (black holes or neutron stars), their energy consumption and energy release. Disclaimer: this blogpost may contain one or two elements of slightly exaggerated content. This is an attempt to make the astonishing nature beyond our habitable horizon a little bit more accessible.  Imagine a vacuum cleaner that does not simply suck in matter, but feeds from an orbiting disk of dirt in your living room just like water forming a funnel before disappearing in the sink. Now, remove the bag inside the vacuum cleaner and…