Looks like we’ve found a T dwarf 🧪🔭

Just read this as Im doing it for journal club. Pretty depressing! 🧪🔭 #academicsky

David Hogg has written a white paper on doing astrophysics in the age of LLMs. It looks to be thought-provoking. My initial reaction is that either LLMs will destroy the field or they will force a reckoning with and re-imagining of the current system that often prioritizes output over quality. 🧪

Lt Frank Columbo of the LAPD told reporters “There’s something about this case that doesn’t add up”

Interestingly, our 🔭 department at Herts has got a special room for milkshakes. Now, I've never managed to get in, so not sure if this is where you can get hold of a milkshake, or you just have to stand in there to drink one.

😮

UK soft power latest

We’ve had rain every day in Lancaster since I arrived in 2017

Might explain a few things 😉 #academicsky

Powered? 🧪🔭

Bet they'll vote for Farage again mind.. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Nice strong 4000A break there 🧪🔭 #extragalactic

Found myself in need of a spoon at the adopted Lancaster office, but don't worry! SPAR sold me these handy desert spoons, which thankfully seem to work in the rain too.

Some unauthorised entry into the University yesterday. #academicsky @lancasteruni.bsky.social

Popcorn at the ready: the UKGov Science, Innovation & Technology Committee is about to quiz Sir Ian Chapman about UKRI’s new strategic objectives. Will they ask him about the devastating cuts planned for UK astronomy? Let's hope so. 🔭🧪 📺 Watch live from 9:30am: parliamentlive.tv/event/index/...

🧪🔭 #academicsky

🧪🔭 #academicsky

Re the disastrous cuts to astronomy confirmed by Ian Chapman's letter, the Commons SIT Committee is questioning him tomorrow. I very much hope this is covered... One for @chionwurah.bsky.social to consider.

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. 🔭 🧪

💯🧪🔭

This letter more or less confirms that once again the need to fund the ‘fixed’ costs of STFC - essentially the labs - those of us who work in areas funded by the council can go swivel. So stupid and shortsighted.

Excellent title. Finally a headline that doesn't say "oldest galaxy" for such objects! 😀🧪🔭 #academicsky

We should party.

Indeed 🧪🔭 #academicsky

Some worrying stuff from UKRI/STFC in terms of funding today. "we will be asking individual projects...how their project would respond to flat cash and reductions of 20%, 40% and 60%, and also identify the funding point at which the project becomes non-viable." 🧪🔭 #academicsky

This is frightening

1. The thing about science that these jokers don't understand is that science cannot be vibe-coded. Whatever its flaws, the point with vibe coding is that you're trying to quickly make something that sorta works, where you can immediately sorta see if it sorta works and then sorta use it.

Rainbow as seen from my adoptive #astro desk yesterday! :)

The Prime Minister of Belgium speaks:

Trying to blackmail an allied country to give up its sovereign territory, by charging his own consumers more for imported goods. I'm beginning to understand how this moron managed to bankrupt himself *six* times.

It’s a tremendous honour, really tremendous - to be presented with a ‘World No.1 University’ ranking from Oxford. Very smart people. The best. Everyone knows it. Nobody thought it could happen, but here we are. Absolutely incredible.

Can the BBC not at least state facts along with this?... Greenland is in NATO and therefore is covered by article 5 so it seems highly unlikely that it would be invaded by anyone. Plus being in NATO means that the US can already put military bases there... in fact they already have one.

Incredible article which points out that it often collectively costs more to apply for scarce research funding than the funds awarded to the successful proposals. What an absurd system we've built in the service of efficiency and competition. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

My airplane display has the Milky Way aligned with the Earth's equator and this really bothers me.

A lottery system would be far more resource-efficient, and I dare say just as equitable

Wales had four television channels before anywhere else in the country.

So far, we have too much oxygen in some early galaxies. We have evidence of direct collapse SMBH. We have other indicators of rapid galactic evolution. Also, discrepancies in speeds measured relative to the CMB and distant radio galaxies. Now this finding. Just how much are we missing? 🔭

This year's Herschel Medal, which honours investigations of outstanding merit in observational astrophysics, has been won by Prof Andrew Bunker, of @oxfordphysics.bsky.social. He called the accolade a "great honour", adding: "It's been a very exciting time to work on incredible data from JWST." ⤵️

Happy New Year! It's cold out there but Lancaster University Press Office is back in action and ready to roll into 2026.

Someone hurry up and cite this so I can stand on 2 legs again. #extragalactic 🧪🔭 #academicsky 🏏

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and please complete your mandatory e-learning by 31 December.

I’m sorry, but it is disgraceful to be an academic who uses this technology to conduct research. It should be prohibited in all of our scholarly institutions, including universities and journals.

I pointed out 3I/ATLAS was a comet on national TV. Heading to the bunker to avoid the crank emails. Picture on the right is one I got at Alston. Looks like a comet to me.

My morning. Though hopefully with less swearing. Though I did say "urine" on national breakfast TV...

The proper motion on those stars is wild 😉 🔭🧪

Short timelapse of 3I/ATLAS observed from the Alston Observatory on Saturday morning. The number of satellites visible is already seriously annoying. One passes almost directly over the comet. youtu.be/cfkVNk8mYBc

At the @royalastrosoc.bsky.social getting very excited about future sample return missions, including JAXA's MMX - launch next year, bringing back bits of Mars' moon Phobos. The hope is we'll get Martian samples sitting on the surface of the moon too. www.mmx.jaxa.jp/en/

Similarly the answer to life the Universe and everything (H0) is 42 miles per second per Megaparsec (or 68 km/s/Mpc for the metric fans) 🧪🔭 #cosmology

Halifax bank unwrapped 😩 “you spent 50% of your wages in Lancaster University Greggs” #academicsky