Thanks for totally derailing my brain @alexandermilas.bsky.social, for pointing me to the most terrifying project by this year's UK entry to Eurovision, where he made a Furby organ, I kid you not!! www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYLB...

IOP President Paul Howarth and I have today written to Science Minister Lord Vallance calling for a full impact assessment of proposed STFC cuts to particle physics, astronomy and nuclear (PPAN) research.

Last week Thursday was my inaugural lecture here at @cambridgeastro.bsky.social (it's been a whirlwind with family in town so only posting about it now). The talk is about #blackholes 🧪🔭, pitched for non-experts, and you can follow it on Youtube (QR code on poster, or youtu.be/60hx7MXzxC4)!

When you spend days making fancy new slides for a talk, only to have to cut them because the talk's already way too long....

"You hear theyre using chickens as camera gimbals now?" "What?" "Chickens. Strap a camera onto their head. No shake. Chicken camera gimbals"

Newest release of #Jupiter aurora from program 17408. Observation date 2025-10-17, but released a few days ago. www.planetarylightshow.com/jupiter/prop... Credit: Planetary Light Show

It always throws me when I look at my French Vélib account and the page auto-translate to English helpfully also 'translates' my name:

👇👇

Amateur astronomers with telescopes equipped with video cameras are requested to look for impact flashes on the Moon tonight, to coordinate with #ArtemisII observations. Details here: www.geodes.umd.edu/impactflash

The President of the United States is threatening to commit war crimes and wipe out a "whole civilization" — all because he started a disastrous war of his own making and had no plan and no strategy for how to end it. This is abhorrent, and the American people do not support this.

Unexpected EHT intern alert! This bird had gotten lost in the fog and appeared at the IRAM 30-m control room door- more than 1,500 meters above its usual habitat. After a brief "internship," it was safely released back into nature the next morning. #M87MOVIE

It is very easy to become accustomed to Trump’s ravings, and laugh them off. That’s a dangerous thing to do. When Trump states: “A whole civilization will die tonight,” he is threatening to commit genocide. We can’t allow that to happen. Congress must end this war NOW.

President Trump is threatening war crimes of horrific proportions against civilians. It’s deranged. This madness must stop.

Sickeningly evil. Donald Trump must be impeached.  When will it be enough for my Republican colleagues to grow spines and remove him from office?

The President is openly threatening massive escalation in Iran saying “a whole civilization will die tonight.” Congress needs to vote to put a stop to this. It is a constitutional duty to vote on war powers and both sides should demand this.

Regardless of whether it’s all talk, when the leader of our country expresses plainly genocidal intent, everyone has to do something. For citizens of all political stripes, it means rejecting this madness. For Congress, it means taking action to rein him in. Now.

During this incredible, unifying moment of inspiring international cooperation and spectacular technological achievement, I would really appreciate it if the US president would stop threatening to murder an entire country with bombs.

“Training the next generation of astronomers is critical to the future of our field. And building excitement about the practice of science by undertaking projects like this is a great way to ensure that curious-minded young learners can see themselves in astrophysics,” Ji concluded. 🫶🏻

Anti-war demonstrations occurred all across Israel this evening. US media decided you really didn't need to know about them.

I highly recommend putting this NASA #Artemis II mission livestream on and just leaving it playing as you go about your weekend. Live views of the spacecraft, occasional visualizations of the current config, views of the control room, space-ground radio audio. www.youtube.com/live/m3kR2KK...

NASA just dropped this image of Artemis II astronaut Christina Koch looking back at us. The first woman to ever see our planet in its entirety. I’m not crying you’re crying 🥹🔭🧪 📸: NASA

Some of the imagery coming down from the Artemis II crew is breathtaking...

Mastcam mosaic captured two days ago by Curiosity, on her way up the slopes of Aeolis Mons 🔍 viewer.gigamacro.com/view/rXLf44E... Credits images: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/fredk #Mars 🧪🔭

FYI, this gallery has all the photos NASA is sharing from Artemis II in one place, with descriptions.

Separation of church and…oh nevermind

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: ☀️🌍🚀🌕

✅ #Artemis II update: end of Flight Day 2, Orion is moving at 5632 km/h, 183 936 km from Earth and 244 298 km from the Moon. Taken by a camera on one of the European Service Module's solar arrays, the Moon at 250 735 km distance (pic: NASA). Graphic from nasa.gov/missions/art...

This is such an incredible photo of our planet, and drives home the need for us to protect this unique (so far) world (from ourselves)

This should be an ad for almost any other OS

I love the April Fools posts on arXiv. Here's one on my favourite #blackhole! 🔭 arxiv.org/abs/2603.29963

Billy Bragg’s music was a big part of my teen years so seeing him live at the @togetheralliance.bsky.social march against the right, where he shouted out the bravery of my hometown Minneapolis, was incredibly meaningful ❤️💪

Black hole scientists against racism at the @togetheralliance.bsky.social March!

Hope to see some other 🧪🔭 folk tomorrow in London!! I didn’t see an ‘academic bloc’ so we’re just winging it!

No one told me my room in Oxford came with roommates! I’ve named them Bob and Marge.

Time to replace this signage?

What's the value of having telescopes in space? Seeing change over human time scales. Plus the Crab Nebula is gorgeous. Latest from Hubble. science.nasa.gov/missions/hub...

This is very Dutch actually

Currently on France TV, the new mayor of Paris Grégoire celebrating his victory by biking around on a bike share. He’s now taking an interview while riding.

If you are not impressed by the picture of a Black Hole, clearly you do not understand the gravity of the situation…

“The ICE warehouse jail in Merrimack is not opening. For the people who would have been detained there and their loved ones, this is a real win. It also proves something larger: detention expansion is not inevitable. Everyday people can stop these facilities.” afsc.org/news/how-sma...

I believe this video is intended as an olive branch, but with the management speak dialled up to 11, I'm not entirely sure what has actually been said 😵‍💫 Credit where credit is due though: important discussions are taking place and this is a very good thing. #STFCcuts #SaveUKAstronomy

You just cannot make this shit up

This is brilliant, I want the poster version please!!!

More details and context about what being a woman math major in the early-2000s was like and why it was so damaging here: cooperativeoverlapping.substack.com/p/a-fuller-s...

As a newbie to the UK struggling to understand the history of, and the ongoing process to get clarity about, the potentially catastrophic cuts to our innovation pipeline and PPAN 🔭🧪funding, this summary post by @lucienheurtier.bsky.social was super useful! 🙏 lheurtier.github.io/STFCcuts2.html

The Science, Innovation & Tech committee have written the most amazing letter to DSIT/UKRI/STFC: "What is clear is that, despite your assertions to the contrary... widespread cuts have been proposed before adequate consultation with those affected was undertaken. This is wholly unacceptable" 💪🔭⚛️🧪

How do we get these stickers??

EHT scientists Sera Markoff & Vincent Fish were recently interviewed on Quirks & Quarks, a Canadian science story broadcast. Listen to the conversation to learn how the EHT is working toward creating videos of black holes! www.cbc.ca/radio/quirks...

I wasn't kidding, there is bonified alpaca petting on our schedule for the "Blackholistic 2026" 🔭🧪 conference in Oxford next week!