I remember someone painted a giant target on the asphalt of Nicholson Street Melbourne, right across the full width of the road including the tram tracks outside the Exhibition Building, in the week before it came to earth, because nobody was sure where in Australia it would land.

Can't forget the Monks! Great album, btw. youtu.be/20cS7Lqagmw?...

A friend of mine was at a Skylab Party at his uni. They staked out (with her full consent), the daughter of a prominent Australian politician as a ‘human sacrifice’ for 15 minutes, then everyone got on with the drinking. Anyway, it worked. Nothing dropped in Queensland.

Ooh! Ooh! I have one! The Handsome Family “Tinfoil” (1996) youtu.be/2_PLe8pdfkA?...

So, future sociologists are going to analyze demographics, education timing, and death rates to see how many people AI "educated" med professionals killed or maimed. Great. Yes, Sheldon, that was sarcasm.

Some Skylab songs in honour of the anniversary of the US space station falling to Earth in Western Australia! 🧪 🔭

Julie Delpy made a film about a family gathering in France, the summer Skylab re-entered in 1979. Skylab was an uncontrolled re-entry of the biggest object ever launched at that time - people were uncertain and afraid. 🧪 🔭

The songs that Skylab inspired! 🧪 🔭

When the US space station Skylab burnt up in the atmosphere and rained debris over Western Australia on 11 July, 1979, some thought the US deliberately targeted Australia. 🧪 🔭

Making everything so much… better

July 11 is the anniversary of the re-entry of US space station Skylab, over Western Australia, in 1979. Renowned poet John Kinsella wrote an evocative poem about the space station as it was transformed on Earth. 🧪 🔭 #PoetrySky #SpaceJunk

I live on the Moon - I'm a Lunarian.

'MAD, adj. Affected with a high degree of intellectual independence; not conforming to standards of thought, speech and action derived by the conformants from study of themselves; at odds with the majority; in short, unusual.' - Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary, 1911

Space junk: a thread. Megaconstellations are, imvho, the low-Earth orbit equivalent of piles of discarded cans.

Students are using AI to complete clinical health assignments. A physiotherapy lecturer told me they received an assignment where the AI recommended treatment for a knee replacement - on a 7 year old child. Student clearly didn't read before submitting! #HigherEd #AcademicSky

However, it’s worth the threat of stealing all of Earth’s intellectual property, since the beginning of writing.

FREE from July 20-26! Register to watch Spacewoman, which explores the life of Eileen Collins, the first woman to pilot and command a Space Shuttle mission. Celebrate the legacy of a pioneering astronaut whose achievements continue to inspire. https://awis.org/spacewoman-film/ #WomenInSTEM

The situation with the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) website is even worse than I thought. Not only are new registrations not being published, but most of the links to the *old* docs are broken. Except for the versions in Russian; for some reason you can get those ok.

New on Space Age Archaeology! Who lives on the Moon? What we learn from Ambrose Bierce and The Devil's Dictionary 🔭

Well this is both terrifying and unsurprising.

The Outer Space Treaty, like all treaties, is based around the state, even though it also says that the use of space is the common province of humanity. States eg US are issuing launch licences for spacecraft constellations that harm all humanity. Other nations don't get a say.

Have you ever had somebody insist on helping you and then you had to watch them badly and more slowly perform a task that you could've done far better in the time it took to explain anything? on top of STOLEN WORK, being ecologically AWFUL, that's why I'll never use AI. I can just write it myself.

A beautiful Japanese tea bowl. #Moon

'MACHINATION, n. The method employed by one's opponents in baffling one's open and honorable efforts to do the right thing.' - Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary, 1911

🏺 At the heart of every museum is its collection. #ICOM's Code of Ethics sets out how museums should care for it. Responsible #collections care means: 📋 clear collections policies 🔒 documentation & conservation 🔬 responsible use of technology 🔁 acting on restitution requests

Remember, if a Dalek comes in your front door, it didn’t happen if you don’t photograph it. While trying to survive your extermination, pls post image on Bluesky. Use term “breaking” and don’t forget to disable comments. Hope that all helps.

Surely daleks can only come into your home if they're invited. Or is that cybermen?

#booksky #poetry

An oldie but a goodie...

We talked about The Tick, Chairface, and the rights of the Moon on my Star River Podcast with @drspacejunk.bsky.social. I'd blame the Vanguard I cocktail I had, but it wasn't even morning for me. Find out why that sentence exists when her episode goes live on the Star River. 🎙️🔭🦛

I've just realised that if Daleks invade my house through the back door, they'll be stymied by the step between the levels. However if they come through the front door, there's nothing to stop them.

Dr Space Junk Alice Gorman (@drspacejunk.bsky.social) on how we're about to "lose the #Moon." youtube.com/shorts/DD37K... #StarRiver

'LUNARIAN, n. An inhabitant of the moon, as distinguished from Lunatic, one whom the moon inhabits. The Lunarians have been described by Lucian, Locke and other observers, but without much agreement'. - Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary, 1911

Excellent piece on orbital data centers.

Scott Manley did an interesting back-of-the-envelope/whiteboard video about the technical challenges. Technical possible, but there is a viewer comment that sums it up perfectly "Just because it's possible, doesn't mean it's not stupid." www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlQY...

And a nice, hot cup of tea. www.youtube.com/watch?v=q43c...

SpaceX and others have proposed launching tens of thousands of massive satellites for AI processing in a bid to alleviate some of the woes of terrestrial data centers. But can the technical challenges be overcome? 🧪 🔭

It's been a busy night! Up next I'm talking to @astropotamus.com.

"Isn't that lovely? It's my favorite program-fifteen minutes of silence-and after that there's a half hour of quiet and then an interlude of lull. Why, did you know that there are almost as many kinds of stillness as there are sounds? But, sadly enough, no one pays any attention to them these days.”

In news break at the moment, I'm talking to Trevor Chapell on ABC Overnights about all things space junk!

Why do Daleks speak English?

I think user mickeywzx on the other place has solved it. He points out the reentry of a Chinese rocket stage, CZ-3B-Y113, off the coast of Queensland not far from Forrest Beach at 0048 UTC July 1. I concur with them that this is likey the source of the Queensland space balls.

Great week-end for small bodies ! Hayabusa 2# flyby of asteroid Torifune (www.jaxa.jp/press/2026/0...) and Tianwen-2 images of asteroid Kamo'oalewa (www.xinhuanet.com/20260706/eb8...) ! #PlanetaryScience

105. 'Three groups, two possibilities, and one final decision: The gaming piece "Dark Matter" premiered on Sunday evening, turning the audience into directors. The plot: A satellite crashes, leaving only 50 minutes to save certain data. Everything else will be deleted' (2022) #TabClosed2026

make capitalists responsible for the whole cycle of their product

The Australian Space Agency states that the space balls came from a rocket stage falling from orbit. However the spheres are not charred and retain no traces of carbon overwrapping. If it was a high atmosphere rocket stage we should expect to find parts of the rocket body in the ocean.

Space Balls! With commentary from Outer Space Institute fellow Alice Gorman ( @drspacejunk.bsky.social ).