For the first time, astronomers have detected a coronal mass ejection from a star other than our Sun, and it was a big one – powerful enough to strip the atmosphere from nearby planets. That's bad news for the search for extraterrestrial life. Here's why: physicsworld.com/a/astronomer... 🧪⚛️🔭

Inspiring talk by Mayuri Rao, telling us all about the many proposed lunar radio astronomy experiment. My head was especially turned by the “Lunar Crater Radio Telescope”. They want to recreate the iconic Arecibo dish but using a 1-km diameter CRATER on the MOON 🤯🤯🔭 #SALFXI

Orléans cathedral, night and day

"A generally uncomplicated and pleasurable read ... pitched perfectly for the curious general reader and even for those dipping their toes into popular science for the first time." @dreochapman.bsky.social reviews James Riordon's "Crush" for @physicsworld.bsky.social:

Oh my god I am shadow of a human and Day 2 isn’t even over. How do people do conferences? Seriously?

As Io orbits Jupiter, its volcanoes spew out particles which interact with the planet’s magnetic field and create bright radio emission. Astronomers are now looking for similar patterns from exoplanetary systems, to probe for magnetic fields (i.e could they be habitable 👽) 🔭 Im: John Spencer

Shaun O’Sullivan kicks off Day 2 of #SALFXI telling us about Faraday Rotation Measure maps. The polarisation plane of linearly polarised light rotates as it travels through the Universe. This helps us trace cosmic filaments & pin down emergence of primordial magnetic fields. 🔭 Image: O’Sullivan ‘23

Some have argued to me strongly that even if Loeb is wrong, he’s getting people interested in 3I/ATLAS and that’s a good thing for science. But Loeb isn't just wrong, he's recklessly following an old playbook that got 39 people killed in 1997. sites.psu.edu/astrowright/...

Updates from the Square Kilometre Array 🔭: 15,000 antennas on the ground, four stations have undergone commissioning testing using the Sun to calibrate the antenna responses. They’ve rediscovered 56 pulsars and created their first image - each point is a bright radio galaxy go baby SKA! #SALFXI

Speaker Naman Jain has just told us that the CHIME radio telescope is detecting about 2 new fast radio bursts A DAY. No wonder it has the largest uniform sample of FRBs around. #SALFXI Image: CHIME collaboration + MIT News

Movie you’ve watched more than six times with a gif. Hard mode: no Stars (Wars nor Trek), LOTR, or Marvel, Disney Animated or Pixar.

Excellent talk on Radio Stars by @astrolaura.com. We observe radio emissions from stars all over the H-R diagram. Their flares help us understand space weather. Also radio telescopes can see ultra-cool tiny stars - analogues for planets that help us understand exoplanetary magnetic fields 🔭 #SALFXI

Mic drop moment from this conference… swag includes a calendar of RADIO TELESCOPES 🔭📡😍🥰 #SALFXI

“I’m telling you, if it’s the middle of the night, I’ll just hold it until morning, ’cause there’s no @&£?! way I’m heading out there to be pelted with micrometeorites if I have to wake up in a few hours” theonion.com/astronaut-ha...

It is 4 pm on a Friday, and I want you all to know that every week at this time, a postdoc bangs a gong to let everyone in the astronomy building they have to stop work and gather for cake and coffee. 🍰🔭☕ Do your workplaces have funny little traditions (bonus point for a gong?)

Pub quiz hell is when your job 🔭 comes up as a category. Question: “What’s the coldest planet in the Solar System?” Everyone slowly turns to the astronomer at the table. I confidently say: “Neptune.” Answer: Uranus. I have brought shame upon my family.

Omg shut up

Want to work at the IOP? We're recruiting for three roles! Communications Officer 🗓️ 1 December 🔗 https://bit.ly/4nYGDoQ Accreditation Coordinator 🗓️ 24 November 🔗 https://bit.ly/4oA39G3 Scholarships Project Officer 🗓️ 19 November 🔗 https://bit.ly/43KAp55

Become a UK Moonsighting Leader and empower Muslim communities to hold their own local moonsightings. 9-month course on astronomy, Islamic calendar science & community leadership. Led by New Crescent Society + Cambridge & Leeds experts. Apply by 15 Nov 2025 www.interfaith.cam.ac.uk/moon

Episode 23 – Failed galaxies, faint galaxies, and the proto-Galaxy In this episode, Michelle and Nicole explore the chemistry of faint galaxies and RR-Lyrae stars, tracing the proto-Galaxy, discussing the failure of some galaxies, examining quasi-stars in relation to Little Red Dots, and…

If you're impatient to read COHERENCE, I'm posting the first 4 chapters in PDF and EPUB: www.aaronrparsons.com/books-portfo...

Cosmologists! We have a faculty job going here in Oxford - happy to answer questions. Brief version is that this remains a great & collaborative place to do science and the students are superb. 🔭 www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DOP628/a...

Today JPL lost so many incredible people. My heart hurts for every single one of them. This administration is gutting American science institutions and throwing away hyper specific experts who cannot be replaced. This is an extremely detrimental loss.

Episode 22 of the StarXiv is live! As I was away last week, I had to wait to listen until this morning, and it's a great line-up of papers from @payeldas.bsky.social and @nbuckley0810.bsky.social. Check it out on our website or wherever you get podcasts 🔭🧪☄️ starxiv.com/2025/10/13/e...

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)