My book should have had this stamped on the front cover

I've not had time to tour my book as much as I'd like this past year, so I have a stack of "First Light" books needing happy, nerdy homes (UK only) 🔭 I'll dedicate and sign each one, so if you want to grab one for yourself, or even get a jump on Christmas (😱) head to: www.space-stuff.co.uk

I am giving a rescheduled talk from last year, and I had to remind myself of the title. Yeaaaaah... I was clearly feeling a bit despondent when I wrote that.

Me reading Bluesky to catch up on the Comet 3I/ATLAS = aliens drama. ☄️👽🔭

I have a complaint about Avi Loeb's latest work and I want to speak to management. medium.com/@steve.desch...

Love this group picture of the "Original 7" + "Next 9" astronauts. 4 would walk on the moon. 3 more would orbit it. 2 went there twice. With the passing of Jame Lovell, they are now all gone.

I see the first articles in the UK press giving space to the claim that 3I/ATLAS is an alien spacecraft. Briefly: It’s a comet that formed billions of years ago, passing through our Solar System. It’s behaving like a comet. There is no evidence it’s artificial.

“We learned a lot about the Moon, but what we really learned was about the Earth.” Jim Lovell, who guided Apollo 13 safely back to Earth, has died aged 97. His bravery was second-to-none but I loved him for his sense of wonder, and his willingness to let that show. RIP www.bbc.com/news/article...

K the word “badass” should be trademarked for describing Michele only. She was awesome as my head of department while I was at Imperial College and now she’s like HEAD OF ALL ASTRONOMY 🪐 🔭🥰🙌 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Congratulations Prof Michele Dougherty!

The 'Infinity Galaxy' is a marvel of both destruction and creation: a violent collision of two galaxies forming a unique black hole not born from the death of a star. It reminds me of Buzz Aldrin's words upon stepping onto the lunar surface: "Magnificent Desolation" 🔭

Yesterday afternoon was spent chatting with two local amateur radio astronomers from @sherwoodobs.bsky.social. Experts in electrical engineering, they suggested a tweak to an antenna I was fiddling with, and I explained a weird sky signal that had stumped them. The perfect collaboration 🥰 🔭

Super article from the fabulous @georginarannard.bsky.social too 🥳🥳 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Astronomers want to unlock the secrets of the early #universe by sending a miniature spacecraft to listen for an ancient whisper on the far side of the #moon. The proposed mission will study the early universe, right after the Big Bang. 🌕🛰️🔭 buff.ly/89lVtfZ 📸 RAS/ Nicolo Bernardini/ Kaan Artuc.

Postgraduate researchers may be overlooked by incoming sexual harassment regulations in English universities, warns @the1752group.bsky.social @ukcge.bsky.social www.timeshighereducation.com/news/phd-stu... via @julietterowsell.bsky.social

Awesome Research Alert: The first stars are often thought of as compact, hot, and blue. However, if enough dark matter gathered at their cores and self-annihilated, it could provide outward pressure, delaying a collapse and making these stars massive, cool, and red.🔭☄️

Fun Easter Egg: try googling “meteorite”

Think you can spot a comet? ☄️ Try your eye with the *very first* citizen science project on @zooniverse.bsky.social that uses data from NSF-DOE Rubin Observatory, Comet Catchers! 🔭🧪 We can't think of a more fitting project for #AsteroidDay 🤩 ☄️ cometcatchers.net ☄️

So, as a divorced parent, I cannot describe the anxiety of it not being ‘my week’ with the kids when nuclear war breaks out. I’m not joking, I think about it all the time.

If you know of any undergraduate students studying in Puerto Rico who are looking for research opportunities, direct them to this opportunity to study SETI observations. phl.upr.edu/wow/projects I believe they may still have opportunities open. H/T to @profabelmendez.bsky.social who leads this. 🧪

Please don't forget to mention the amazing project that emanated from SETI@Home, the amazing BOINC, providing super-computer capacity to academic teams around the world: boinc.berkeley.edu

Remember SETI@home? Over 100,000 personal computers contributed to analysing two decades of telescope data in the quest for alien life. Now, scientists are utilising FAST, a 500-meter dish in China, to investigate the 92 most intriguing signals. Fingers crossed! 🔭 #SETI arxiv.org/abs/2506.14737

My new book review is out! My goodness did this one take me on a journey… thanks for a great read @philhalper.bsky.social @nafshordi.bsky.social 🔭📖 physicsworld.com/a/beyond-the...

Proposed NASA cuts in context, courtesy of the Planetary Society #astronomy #science

Let's take a peek inside one of the ALMA antennas! 📡 Based high up in Chile's Chajnantor plateau, the 66 antennas of ALMA are all used to observe the cool Universe. But how does a radio-telescope really ‘see’? 🤔 Find out here: www.eso.org/public/image... 🔭 🧪 📷 ESO/Sergio Otarola

Movie you’ve watched more than six times using gifs. (“Hard mode” - no Star Wars, Star Trek, or LotR)

To clarify: this is only possible thanks to adaptive optics, which corrects atmospheric turbulence and allows us to read those tiny labels 🔭. xkcd.com/3066/

I very much enjoyed finding the @esa.int Near-Earth Object Coordination Centre logo www.esa.int/Space_Safety...

What a lovely day, thank you Universe!

Using my trusty Dwarf II telescope to capture this morning's partial solar eclipse. Such an awesome sight 🔭 😍 😎

The final commands have been sent to Gaia. This is the last time that the spacecraft will ever hear from its team on Earth. The final commands include those to shut down the spacecraft's communication systems and central computer.

This is what a physicist looks like when they get to hold a first edition of Isaac Newton’s Principia. Not only that, it is the only know edition inscribed with a hand-written note from Einstein. I genuinely didn’t know whether to cry with joy or faint.

Bravo to this paper title: "JWST-TST High Contrast: Living on the Wedge" Balmer et al.

Astronaut Returns From ISS With Annoying Space Accent theonion.com/astrona...

#Euclid releases today also the first detailed catalogue of more than 380 000 galaxies, done by volunteers working with #AI. This first catalogue represents just 0.4% of the total number of galaxies of similar resolution expected to be imaged over Euclid’s lifetime. 7/ 🔭🧪 #astrosci

📣 Euclid releases first batch of survey data, including a preview of its very own deep fields! With just one scan, #ESAEuclid has already spotted 26 million galaxies 👉 www.esa.int/Science_Expl... Let's explore the treasure trove that our #DarkUniverse detective has uncovered 🧵 1/ 🔭🧪 #astrosci

Planet Definitions xkcd.com/3063

A positive message for Friday…

Favourite joke right now: What do you get when you crash a microscope into a telescope? A kaleidoscope!

@dreochapman.bsky.social Hello. I just wanted to say that I'm enjoying your audiobook 'First Light'. Very interesting.

Hi, we're new here! Here's a bit about us... We're a UK-based campaign and research organisation, made up of members of the academic community, dedicated to ending sexual misconduct in higher education.

I’ve been a professional astronomer for over ten years and still there is a little part of me that finds it weird when I see the moon in the day.

I am in love with the VR teaching lab at @uniofnottingham.bsky.social - I spent the morning walking across Mars! The applications for astronomy 🔭 teaching (especially in a cloudy country) are so exciting. Anyone got a VR model of a telescope control room?!

And the award for Astronomy Acronym of the Month goes to..... FindPOTATOs: Minor Planet Observation Linking Software arxiv.org/abs/2501.12922

I’ve spent a few years away from my harassment activism. Back then, I drove myself into the ground fighting for justice in a broken system, and I could only see the bleakness in academia.

I am thinking about moving to another planet following recent political events. TRAPPIST-1e looks nice. 40 lightyears away, tidally locked so one side always faces its red dwarf star, but the twilight zone in between the halves might just be habitable. A fresh start anyone? 🔭🪐

This is not what I expected to find when looking for Airbnb properties with a telescope...🫣🔭

I just had to update the number of Starlink satellites in orbit from 1900 to 7000 in an old draft of a book chapter, which I wrote only **two years** ago. The pace of Musk's takeover of our skies is astonishing. 🔭

Another huge piece of space junk landed on Earth, right next to a Kenyan village. Launches by SpaceX etc… means this is going to get way more common, but companies currently have no legal responsibility for damage, and so no motivation to stop littering the sky. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

It's a day late, but Happy Birthday to CPG's thesis. It was so revolutionary I named my tortoise Cecilia 🐢!