A helpful reminder for anyone who needs one: Reform UK was called the Brexit Party before 2021. In 2019, Farage said there was “no difference between the Brexit Party and UKIP in terms of policy.” Same politics. New branding. Don’t be fooled.

FYI: the abstract deadline for NAM has been extended until the 16th! Includes a session on radio astronomy and the SKAO (with a particular focus on work by early career researchers).

More context on this #Artemis II image: * This is the night side, lit by moonlight. You can see city lights in Spain & Portugal, & a sliver of day at lower right * The Sun is entirely behind Earth, which makes it a kind of solar eclipse, but w/ Earth doing the eclipsing instead of the Moon: ☀️🌍🚀🌕

For ⁦‪@SciTechgovuk‬⁩ Lord Vallance says: “"It is not right to portray this as a massive cut. It's not, it’s about managing a budget responsibly". He added that the UK was and would continue to be the second biggest funder experiments @CERN.🧪 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

UK folks: tomorrow evening offers an amazing observational challenge. The Moon will be less than 9 degrees elongation at sunset, but other conditions are favourable. The youngest crescent I’ve ever seen was 18 hours old; this will be 17h! 🔭🌙 www.skyatnightmagazine.com/news/moon-ve...

Great summary of today's Science, Information & Technology Committee hearing (House of Commons) from @astroroyalscot.bsky.social. It seems pretty clear that there have been serious structural and governance failures at STFC that have led to the current crisis.

Here is my run-down of today's Science, Information & Technology Committee hearing (House of Commons) where @jonbutterworth.bsky.social @si-wills.bsky.social & I argued for no funding cuts, & Prof. Michele Doughtery explained why they were needed. The public gallery again packed with physicists 🔭👩‍🔬⚛️

Starting at 9:30am "Following reports that the Science & Technology Facilities Council (STFC) is facing significant cost pressures, the Science, Innovation and Technology Committee will hold a one-off evidence session exploring scientific research funding" 🔭 committees.parliament.uk/event/26683/...

Astronomers take note: The Science, Innovation and Technology Committee are having another session on Wednesday, taking evidence from (among others) the Prof Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social and STFC Executive Chait Prof Michele Dougherty. committees.parliament.uk/event/26683/...

Article I co-wrote which covers the astronomy of new crescent Moon visibility in the Islamic calendar! #Ramadan Mubarak to those observing the month ☺️🌙

For anyone in London next weekend - get yourself down to this absolutely wonderful combination of art & astronomy. It’s a really special place.

Open letter from Early Career Researchers to the UKRI investment plan. We can't let young people pay the price of "outcome-driven strategies". #stfc #ukri ecr-openletter-stfc.github.io If you are a postdoc or PhD, read and sign! 🧬🔭🔬⚗️🧪📡🛰️

The peculiar construction of #STFC, funding national labs & international projects, alongside blueskies research (read: jobs for postdocs, fellows, students...), means it lacks the flexibility to respond to rising costs & shifting priorities within a flat budget. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

I've updated my post on the funding crisis heading for British astronomy: docs.google.com/document/d/1.... UKRI made clear that astro and particle physics are being subject to unique cuts due to rising costs elsewhere. This looks like a deliberate decision not to fund fundamental physics. 🔭 🧪

Many thoughts about this, but the doublespeak of the phrase "building on last year’s 15% reduction" is mind-boggling. 🔭🧪

Grim news for particle physics, astronomy & nuclear physics research in UK. 30% cut overall with projects asked to consider options ranging to a 60% cut. These areas are a huge success for the UK internationally and a great inspiration to the next generation of scientists and engineers.

@astropotamus.com hi please can you stop following and unfollowing? I already follow you back. Will have to block you otherwise 😬

A new project, aiming to provide Muslim communities across the UK with the skills to host local astronomy hubs and moon-gazing events, is being established by the University of Leeds and @cam.ac.uk 🌙 To read more, click the link below 👇 www.leeds.ac.uk/news/article...

Not sure what specific flavour of lurgies I have right now, but currently very thankful for vaccines and boosters — I dread to think of what state I’d be in right now without them 🤧💉🦠

Super proud of this project!! 🌙 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Breaking: SKA-Mid achieved first fringes last month! This is the first step towards individual dishes becoming an interferometer. It's kind of a big deal. Congrats to the SKA Mid Commissioning Team! Looking forward to first SKA Mid image in 2026. 🔭 📡 🧪 www.skao.int/en/news/693/...

Amazing!!

Parents & anyone else up early on Christmas morning: there’s a bright pass of the International Space Station over the UK, just after 6.15. Well, I say it’s the ISS. Could be Santa heading home… Exact timings for where you are at www.heavens-above.com/PassSummary....

The first SPHEREx full-sky images are out! This is an awesome new mission that's super under-rated. It has a really interesting way to take data in 100 different colours 🔭☄️

Experiments in @solarcan.bsky.social (~Dec 2024 to ~June 2025, only just processed) ☀️🔭

Made the mistake of sending a parcel with Evri which has now got lost. Their customer service appears to only consist of AI, which gives up on trying to help me and closes the conversation without passing me onto a human. Any tips?

Sharing this again for US friends who are just waking up. I saw some posts saying that our 1996 gun law reforms failed, as evidenced by the horrors at Bondi Beach this weekend. This is not true. These incidents are rare for us. It *can* be done. It *must* be done, if you want a normal society.

Hi folks — quick question about undergraduate admission interviews. I’ve not done them myself, although I have done interviews as part of teaching (eg after lab experiments). I’ve offered to do a mock one for a family member who has an interview for Natsci at Cambridge. Any tips or resources?

Space weather isn’t just about lovely displays of the aurora. There is a very real impact on our technology too.

Scientist Lawrence Krauss had close ties to Epstein. This article has some of it, but look to @skepchick.org's feed for details.

I’m on a boat just south of Tromsø, Norway, and have just seen the most insane aurora!! It’s 4.30am for me now and I need to sleep but if it’s night for you right now, go outside and look!!

Hei from Ålesund! 🇳🇴 I’m currently working my way up the Norwegian coast on @fredolsencruise.bsky.social Bolette as one of the on-board @gostargazing.bsky.social astronomers. Keeping our fingers crossed for clear skies and Northern Lights! ✨☺️

Back visiting my old department @manchester.ac.uk today! Very happy to report that the guinea pig picture I left on my old office window 2 years ago is still in place 🐹

Took my phone in for a battery replacement today and the Apple person said my iPhone 13 mini was “cute” and she’d not seen one in ages. It only came out in 2021! Surely I’m not the only one who’s kept their phone for 3+ years?

Jews and Muslims in North Manchester: A personal story. Fantastic piece by @ophiraophira.bsky.social, who has covered the attack for @manchestermill.bsky.social like no other journalist. Read this alongside the other news coverage. manchestermill.co.uk/jews-and-mus...

STOP THE GENOCIDE

Iconic moment at the Downton Abbey premiere

Signed last night. It was pointed out that, even if you don't think petitions work, this will force the government to debate it and therefore they can later be held accountable for genocide if they do not act.

years of live-streamed genocide, & media refusing to call it a genocide. now footage of starving people in Gaza — horrifying resemblance to Holocaust photos — gunned down trying to get food, yet media *still* refuses to call it genocide. a moral depravity/failure that'll be a museum exhibit one day

I think it’s worth noting this piece generated the most unsubscribes I’ve seen in a while, and the newsletter version had the lowest open rate in many months. These horrors persist in part because too many people go to great pains to avoid them.

Absolutely dystopian juxtaposition from the Guardian front page. Difficult to understand how anyone of decency and conscience can defend this government at this point. Just sheer moral degeneracy to arm a state that does this and arrest people for objecting. Wtf are we doing as a country?

Meanwhile, we send weapons to Israel and fund illegal settlements in the West Bank. Pretty sure the Labour Government more closely meets any normal definition of 'support for terrorism' than those it arrested.

We are saddened to report the passing of Cyril Hazard (18 March 1928 – 14 June 2025). Cyril was a pioneering radio astronomer whose work on quasars helped transform our understanding of the Universe. www.ast.cam.ac.uk/news/cyril-h...

In 2024, the United States gave Israel a significant fraction of the annual NASA budget. There's no conflict between affording science and affording healthcare. There's a conflict between affording murdering people and affording healthcare.

We are over half way through #NAM2025 @royalastrosoc.bsky.social @durham-university.bsky.social 💫 Here is our incredible conference photo with 100s of the nearly 1000 attendees of NAM! Possibly one of the largest astronomy conference photos ever! We hope you’re having a great week 🪐

Amplifying the call from Marc Delcroix and co. over the weekend: the team are looking to verify/refute a potential impact on #Saturn on July 5th, 09:00-09:15UT. Videos taken by amateur observers at that time might hold the key. This 📸 credit: Mario Rana pvol2.ehu.eus/pvol2/news/v...

I’m in lovely Durham for @nam25-durham.bsky.social this week! ☺️