On display this morning, parliamentary scrutiny at its very best with @chionwurah.bsky.social and her committee questioning Secretary of State Liz Kendall about the STFC funding cuts. Worth watching in full, but here are some of the highlights! 1: Doctoring the minutes!

Wild to see the detail revealed by the #Euclid #Galactic Bulge Survey. Right side of the ESASKY image below shows a zoomed in edge of the EGBS area on the right, with adjoining Gaia DR3 data to the left. EGBS gives HST WFC3 level detail, but over an area 2000 larger! @eucliduk.bsky.social 🧪🔭

You've seen Euclid's dazzling image of the Milky Way’s crowded heart. Now explore it yourself. Zoom in, zoom out, go wherever your curiosity takes you 🤩 – in #ESAsky 👇 sky.esa.int/esasky/?targ... 🔭 🧪 ☄️

It also made it as the “bit of good news at the bottom” in today’s Guardian newsletter: www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j... 😀

On the left: a 2014 mock weather forecast on French channel TF1 for a day in August 2050, based on climate forecast models of the time. On the right: the ACTUAL TF1 weather forecast for yesterday. Now try to tell yourself that climate change isn't happening.

Proud of the team I led during 2023-2025 when this survey was designed and executed. Very grateful to my @ec-euclid.bsky.social and @esa.int colleagues for allowing us to do something a little different from Euclid's day-to-day work. youtu.be/2DtFRq1cgcc?... Sound on, and ideally use a 4k screen!

What ESA says:

🤩 Gorgeous image drop from @ec-euclid.bsky.social! 60 million stars = (roughly) >60 million exoplanets too.... Anyone else gazing at this image wondering what might be out there gazing back? 🤗 🥳 Huge congratulations to @science.esa.int and the whole Euclid team! 🧪🛰️🔭

🚨 Clear space in your diary for 11:00 BST tomorrow… 🤩 #newimage

Just about recovered from last week's exertions at the #Bolton #Ironman 70.3. Struggled on the run with an IT Band flare up. Clearly need to work on strengthening and stretching the leg muscles. But an absolutely fab day and great atmosphere.

Space projects running ahead of schedule? This is rare! Huge celebratory high-5's all round to the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope team, due for early launch this August 🥳 This beast will discover >100,000 planets orbiting distant stars and so so much more 🤩🧪🔭🛰️ ℹ️: science.nasa.gov/blogs/roman/...

Bike racked, transition bags dropped off, ankle chip collected. I've munched my way through several thousand calories of sugary carbs (my favourite part of the prep). Now to try and get a decent sleep before a 3:30am alarm. In the morning I'll be taking part in the #Bolton Half #Ironman.

We now have a firm date for the launch of Roman: August 30th. Can't wait to get to work. science.nasa.gov/mission/roma...

Not bothered to find out the root to all these nested posts? Will issue.

#Triathlon day yesterday. The #Wilmslow Spring Triathlon. Entered the double sprint: 800m pool swim, 48 km bike leg and 13 km run. Got round and felt not too bad. A good snapshot for training towards the #Bolton half #Ironman in June and then an attempt at my first full Ironman in #Leeds in August.

Finally some clarity on the #STFC budget: it's falling in real terms as UKRI spending rises. A conscious decision has been made to decrease UK funding for fundamental physics, despite all the evidence that our blue skies research is key for economic growth. Thank you @resprofnews.bsky.social!

Just to crib Jan's great chart here a little bit - here are just a few of the headlines that came out when growth somewhat slowed in 2024 Many, many media outlets do not really know how to handle technological change like this

I'm going to call it. On top of capturing the far side of the Moon, Earthshine on the far side, the solar corona (maybe some zodiacal light), Saturn, Mars and Mercury... this #artemis2 photo includes Neptune!! Just out of frame on the left were Venus and Earth. I mean, mind-blowing! 🧪🔭🚀🌙👩‍🚀

I'll be on the #BBCBreakfast sofa tomorrow morning at around 8:15 talking about all things #Artemis2. Nice to see the crew squeeze in some Galactic #Astrophotography as they journey home. #CarinaNebula #LMC #SpiralArms 🧪🔭🚀🌙👩‍🚀

And for those wanting to know more about the region of space in the background, here's the image superimposed on top of a #stellarium view.

What a view from #Artemis2. A solar eclipse by the Moon, with the outer solar corona surrounding the Moon's far side. The Earth-lit crescent of the Moon. Saturn (nearest to Moon), Mars and Mercury (farthest from Moon). A photo right up as one of the most stunning images of our solar system.

I just love that moments before the crew of #artemis2 set a new record for the farthest distance travelled from Earth, a jar of #nutella decides to get in on the party.

Fossil fuel chaos is harming the planet and putting us out of pocket. I’m calling on the UK government to go all in on renewable energy. Add your name too: action.friendsoftheearth.uk/petition/bre...

Reaching net zero by 2050 ‘cheaper for UK than one fossil fuel crisis’

Building up my training load at the moment as I prep for my first attempt at a full Ironman distance in August. However, I have a secret weapon - a superb support crew in the shape of my wife, Kate. Look at this amazing woolly hat she's just knitted for me!!

5 years ago today - one of the most remarkable landings of all time. youtube.com/watch?v=y8rY...

Today the astro-community discussed the devastating proposed 30% cuts to our research funding, cuts that will be offsetting (some of the) rising costs at UK facilities that we don't use. Hard not to feel victimised when those same facilities make a fanfare announcement about an expensive facelift. 🔭

📣"RAS Fellows urged to lobby against unprecedented cuts" 📣 🔭The @royalastrosoc.bsky.social is calling on its members to help force the Government to reconsider its proposed cuts to astronomy and space science.🧪⚗️🚀🛸🛰️🌌 #stfc #ukri #saveSTFC Read and share: www.ras.ac.uk/news-and-pre...

UK Solar Physics early career researchers rightly deeply concerned at the savage cuts to #STFC science (and I'd add apparent contempt for their plight by #UKRI). They have an open letter... uksolphys.org/general-news...

I'm a Dr in physics, but in the UK... 📣Many researchers are facing the same reality: contracts ending, careers cut short, talent lost. 👥📉 UKRI needs to change course — now. 🧪🔭⚗️ If you’re affected, post your own photo and share this message. Visibility matters. #stfc #ukri #saveSTFC

I've signed up to 4 mass participation events for 2026. In date (and insanity) order: April: Wilmslow Olympic distance Triathlon June: Bolton half Ironman August: Leeds full Ironman September: The North East Skinny Dip (charity fundraiser for MIND). Already starting to worry...

@iop.org found in 2019 alone #physics generated 11% of UK GDP. Now #STFC, which overseas much of UK physics public research funding, aims to cut curiosity-driven research by 30%. Robbing the future to pay for the present will never be a successful economic strategy. 🧪 www.science.org/content/arti...

A New STFC Funding Crisis The outlook for UK astronomy now looks even more bleak than the dark days of the funding crisis following 2008. It looks like a return to the Bad Old Days.

The Royal Astronomical Society is gravely concerned at the drastic cuts to support for UK astronomy outlined by the Science and Technology Facilities Council. Read our statement 👉 ras.ac.uk/news-and-pre...

Why #nasa #artemis is important and why today's words from Artemis II astronaut #ChristinaKoch really spoke to me. Segment from #BBCNews channel.

This letter could do with YOUR signature 🫵 superintelligence-statement.org

Proud to be part of this amazing team.

Attending (virtually) a @nasaromantelescope.bsky.social collaboration meeting this week where we are getting our heads around the science we'll do with 100,000 new exoplanets over its five year nominal mission. For perspective, the last 30 years has delivered 6000. Roman will be mind blowing! 🔭🧪🪐

How to hasten the AMOC collapse and make Britain uninhabitable (or at least really miserable).

Global investment in new renewable energy a record $386bn in first half of 2025, according to BloombergNEF - Global offshore wind and small-scale solar spurred growth about.bnef.com/insights/cle...

I like the way that the four #exoplanet detection methods are relatively well separated when plotting their bulk properties as ratios relative to their host. The scatter shape also reminds me of a hovering #hummingbird. So, I'm going to call this plot the hummingbird plot. 🧪🔭🪐

Been bad mouthing #AI engines recently. So, for balance, i got #GPT4 to do some useful #exoplanet stuff today. From a csv i downloaded from the #NASA #ExoplanetArchive it made a clickable version of the plot below that takes you to the info page on that planet. Damn useful! 🧪🔭🪐

I guess some are better than others - Claude Opus 4.1 is not so easily fooled, it seems. Not on this test anyway.

Something else #GPT5 is really bad at is updating the content of lecture slides on #exoplanets. I thought it might actually do a reasonable job on this type of task, so i fed it one lecture of content. Nope, it was awful! It either made no changes whatsoever, or it completely ruined everything.

So, #GPT5 is supposed to have "PhD level" intelligence, according to the hype. Every time a new #AI chatbot is released, I test it with a fictitious situation in which I attempt to con a friend out of £5. A ten year old could easily spot the con. GPT5, like its predecessors, cannot.

And here's what it looked like - magical!

I mentioned on #BBCBreakfast yesterday that I would see in the #SturgeonMoon with a moonlight dip. Being in water is a wonderful vantage point to observe the sky. #nightswimming #fullmoon

If you're in the UK and hoping to catch the #PerseidMeteorShower over the next few days, here's some pointers from my chat on #BBCBreakfast this morning with Charlie and Naga.

My daughter did this sketch a few years ago. Seems an appropriate evening to give it an airing. #OasisLive25