Beautiful morning at the Mullard Space Science Laboratory

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

The Goddard Space Flight Center has played a central role in America’s success in space exploration. It’s shocking to see what is now happening to it edition.cnn.com/2025/11/04/s...

#WorldSpaceWeek 🚀 PhD student Aida Seye (UCL Mullard Space Science Laboratory) and Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell discuss shared passions and challenges in chasing cosmic dreams on BBC's Sky at Night programme (from 20 mins 23 secs): bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis.... #wsw2025 #WomenInScience #SkyAtNight #STEM

On Oct 31st, the London Philharmonic Orchestra will be celebrating the ocean, and the ace @lizbonnin.bsky.social and I will be speaking on stage beforehand about all things ocean. Tickets are available here, if you'd like to join us and immerse yourself in our water world: lpo.org.uk/event/harmon...

“In an anonymous survey of (UK Physics) department heads by the Institute of Physics (IoP), 26% said they faced potential closure of their department within the next two years, while 60% said they expected courses to be reduced.” www.theguardian.com/education/20...

🌞🎶 Experience the aurora like never before! Aurora — an immersive exhibition turning May 2024 aurora into sound 🔊 📅 Opens 10 Sept, 5–6.30pm 📍 Gallery North, Northumbria Uni, NE1 8QE #Aurora #SpaceWeather #Sonification #NorthumbriaUni #NewcastleUni #WeAreAllSolarOrbiters

What an incredible journey Solar Orbiter is on!

For over 25 years, science and discovery centres have been at the heart of inspiring millions of people to explore, question, and be part of UK science and technology. But they're seriously under threat… 1/3

There were some nice features on the Sun yesterday. I have posted more on my Flickr site: www.flickr.com/photos/eagle...

Yesterday the Sun produced this moderate-class #SolarFlare. Despite its smaller size, it was a long duration event, continuing for several hours and providing this hypnotic view of beautiful coronal rain (seen in yellow) and Supra-arcade Downflows (seen in cyan). Mesmerising!

The success of the UK space sector, and the role that the UK Space Agency plays in this, requires proper resourcing. Something the government must still commit to when the UKSA is absorbed by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology next year.

Don’t worry, I won’t be colliding with the Earth 🤣

Harsh but true

This is great news! Congratulations Michele! www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Complex and completely mesmerising!

Dazzling first images from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory mark the start of a 10-year mission to build a high-definition time-lapse record of the Universe and help pin down what dark energy might be. The mission involves Dr Ellen Hang, Prof Benjamin Joachimi and Prof Jason McEwen @uclmaps.bsky.social

Happy solstice!

NEWS JUST IN >> Liverpool Cathedral had an incredible 85,473 visitors to the Sun artwork~Helios~ when it was there for just one month ! www.my-sun.org

👏👏

Fantastic to see these images from the @esa.int Proba-3 formation flying spacecraft! Beautiful views of the Sun’s atmosphere, at the maximum phase of activity www.esa.int/Enabling_Sup...

Each summer I look out for swifts arriving back to the valley I live in. This year their number is notably, and sadly, depleted. @hannahbournetaylor.bsky.social’s brilliant book tells us why, and what we can do to support these tiny heros.

Viewing the Sun's poles in the next years with @science.esa.int #SolarOrbiter is of massive importance for a better understanding and prediction of the solar cycle and to unravel how #solarstorms travel away from the Sun. This is a major milestone for this mission!

@esa.int have today released the first images of the poles of the Sun. Thanks to Solar Orbiter, these previously uncharted regions are revealed! www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Hey! Lookie what PUNCH (@punch-mission.bsky.social) just saw! Two different solar storms crossing the entire inner solar system! NASA's site doesn't thumbnail well, so click the link for the movie and other images. ☀️🔭🛰️🧪 science.nasa.gov/blogs/punch/...

Great to spend today at the UCL observatory, which opened in 1929 and is where a supernova that occurred in the Cigar Galaxy was discovered!

This is literally what is about to happen to the U.S. scientific space fleet. If the President's budget is enacted by Congress, nearly all functioning heliophysics space missions will be canceled or severely cut, squandering decades of work and ceding the U.S.A.'s hard-won space leadership. 🧪🛰️🔭☀️

Astronomers at the Mullard Space Science Laboratory @uclmaps.bsky.social and the University of Warwick have discovered a giant planet orbiting a tiny star – it shouldn't exist according to planet formation theories www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2025/ju...

Meet Smile. The soon-to-be newest member of our space science mission fleet. Employing X-ray and UV vision to see how Earth reacts to relentless streams and bursts of particles from the Sun. Dive into the mission here 👉 www.esa.int/Science_Expl... 🔭🧪 #planetsci

I love the fact that on a star 150 million km away, which is 110 times as wide as the Earth, we have the ability to resolve features just 20 km across nso.edu/press-releas...

There's a fast CME heading into some fast solar wind and some pre-existing slower CMEs. We're currently putting arrival at noon-to-midnight tomorrow, but this forecast may change as more observations become available. Updates here: research.reading.ac.uk/met-spate/hu...

🛰️ 🛰️ ☀️ #Proba3 is now officially the world’s first precision formation flying mission! The mission team has achieved the desired precision – with the two spacecraft maintaining their relative position down to less than a millimetre while flying 150 metres apart! www.esa.int/Enabling_Sup...

A 495 kg Venus landing capsule, launched in 1972 by the Soviet Union, will undergo an uncontrolled atmospheric reentry this week. Part of the Venera programme, the object, known as Cosmos-482, failed to escape low-Earth orbit and is now returning to its home planet 53 years after launch.

A nice surprise to find Gaia and Mars (by @lukejerram.bsky.social) at Curtin University’s public event last night

Such lovely detail! Zoom in and discover the varied features of the Sun’s atmosphere.

It's not just Columbia, it's not just DEI, and it's not just biomedical research: Trump's war on universities has frozen crucial science at institutions like Princeton, Cornell, Northwestern, and more. Our @nature.com team spoke to some of the affected scientists: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

This is the project led by @astronamir.bsky.social last year, organizing hundreds of volunteers to image the solar corona! I can't wait for the premier next week. If you're in the greater Denver area, consider registering and coming to watch! ☀️🔭🧪

It's all about sunspots, solar flares and CMEs over at our other SDM at the Royal Irish Academy today! Speakers this afternoon at the 'Advancing Space Weather Forecasting: Bridging Gaps in Machine Learning' meeting include 2024 RAS award winner Dr Andy Smith, of Northumbria University.

The Planetary Society's reponse: www.planetary.org/press-releas...

If you want to know more about our space lab in the Surrey Hills, home to 200 scientists & engineers, catch us on the BBC Two programme Great British Railway Journeys. 6:30pm tonight or on iPlayer www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...

Catch us on BBC Two next week!

Lovely view of today’s partial solar eclipse courtesy of Guildford Astronomical Society. Photo through the telescope eyepiece!

BOOM! What a beautiful #SolarFlare (just now). This eruptive event reached the X-class level, and produced this stunning coronal mass ejection. The flare source region will rotate to face Earth in the coming week. Further strong solar activity is likely! #spaceweather

This Saturday, 29th March, we’ll be able to see a partial solar eclipse (if we have clear skies!). Find out the timing and how to view the eclipse safely: www.popastro.com/blog/2025/03...

The Coronagraph spacecraft of the #Proba3 project captured by a camera onboard the Occulter spacecraft during the mission's first autonomous formation acquisition - both spacecraft maintained their relative position for several hours without any control from the ground: www.esa.int/Enabling_Sup...

The final commands have been sent to Gaia. This is the last time that the spacecraft will ever hear from its team on Earth. The final commands include those to shut down the spacecraft's communication systems and central computer.

Goodbye Gaia! What an incredible mission.

Many protoplanetary discs – discs of dust and gas where new planets form – are much smaller than previously thought, finds a new study involving Dr Paola Pinilla (Mullard Space Science Laboratory @uclmaps.bsky.social) and led by @leidenscience.bsky.social www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2025/ma...

This Saturday, 29th March, we’ll be able to see a partial solar eclipse (if we have clear skies!). Find out the timing and how to view the eclipse safely: www.popastro.com/blog/2025/03...

There are 3 space-weather posts opening up at the UK Met Office Space Weather Operations Centre. Please circulate - it would be great to further strengthen the MOSWOC team. careers.metoffice.gov.uk/join-us/sear... careers.metoffice.gov.uk/join-us/sear... careers.metoffice.gov.uk/join-us/sear...