Join us for the next JHI Public Lecture (Dec 4th) as Professor Clive Ruggles (Leicester) explores the idea that our ancestors used "ancient observatories" as part of their ritual lives. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/sun-stones...

Did you know that because space is expanding time appears to slow down when we observe distant galaxies? I made a short video explaining cosmological time dilation, how we measure it, and what effects it has on how we view the universe. Makes a change from comets. youtu.be/mwtiHhVUALA

Well that’s a first. My only mildly sarcastic answer to a question about how we know 3I/ATLAS is a comet made it onto Have I Got News For You. 😂😂😂

Nice lunar rainbow while observing during the public stargazing night at the Alston Observatory.

It’s #supermoon time! If you have clear skies tonight (not likely in NW England…!) do have a look. Your brain is not good at measuring the size and brightness of things on the sky, so you might not be able to tell, but a full moon is always nice to look at! 🌕 Spoke to BBC 5 Live about it at 6.55am.

Quick update video on the real science (plus some hopefully not ill-informed speculation) of 3I/ATLAS around it's closest approach to the Sun. Rapid brightening! Changing colour? non-gravitational acceleration! It is Aliens yet? No. But it's still cool. youtu.be/oX8vBXhFQ5o

Can anyone remind me how to extract previous estimates of orbital elements from the minor planet center? i.e. how do I see how the numbers have changed as measurements have improved?

I made a (relatively) short video looking at the 8 reasons Avi Loeb thinks 3I/ATLAS has a 40% chance of being aliens. I’m not impressed. youtu.be/y-oQ44pQdCU?...

Morale in some areas of UK academia might be a bit low right now, but some people still have a (good) sense of humour.

What are the odds that the plans for this look xeroxed with Falcon 9 crudely crossed out and Zhuque-3 written in the corner in biro?

Loeb latest: “If 3I/ATLAS is a massive mothership, it will likely continue along its original gravitational path and ultimately exit the Solar system.” Getting his excuses in early. Even if moves like a comet and leaves the solar system it’s still aliens. 🤦‍♂️ avi-loeb.medium.com/the-imminent...

Can’t help but feel that Trump focussing on his golden monstrosity will not be a great look politically if there is a recession, or a stock market crash…

Irritated by all the publicity hungry nonsense about 3I/ATLAS and aliens I made a video describing what we actually know about this unusual tourist from deep space and deep time that is racing through our solar system. Spoiler: it's a comet, a cool one, but still a comet. youtu.be/clrp8aW4RJk?...

Will Sam Altman and the other AI leaders be able to walk off into the sunset with their riches when the AI bubble explodes? Or will the powerful whose wealth got vapourized find something, anything, to charge them with? Might explain the desperate attempts to keep the bubble inflated.

We have ~5 companies spending a collective trillion plus (and having to spend hundreds of billions a year in perpetuity) in hopes of cornering what is optimistically currently a $20 billion market. No plausible amount of growth can prevent this being a financial disaster for most involved.

Made the mistake of upgrading MacOS. Don’t think a single package has escaped unscathed. Excuse me while I spend hours cursing my way through dozens of stackoverflow posts explaining why one obscure library after the other no longer works. All so Anaconda will maybe, sort of, work again.

Vice Chancellors/Heads of British/Australian/European Universities right now.

I guess that would buy him 3 months in the job, until Trump fires him. Assuming he still planned to give honest numbers of course…

Never heard of Twilio before noticing that every scam caller number I get is registered to them. It can’t be great for their business that the iPhone now seems to flag any Twilio associated number as suspected spam. They might want to try stopping their service being abused…

They were supposedly best friends for more than a decade. He invited Epstein to his wedding. He flew on Epstein’s notorious plane multiple times. I suspect even someone as dense as Trump knew he was in the files. A lot.

A diversity of viewpoints. From the far right to the far far right. It’s news. It doesn’t need viewpoints.

We had a set of drawers that was surplus to requirements so I turned it into a desk. It only cost £20 and a couple of hours.

He wants it to give honest factual information except where those facts go against his specific ideological tastes. I feel like sci-fi has explained what happens when you make an AI schizophrenic with conflicting rules.

There are loads of interesting interactions and apparent tidal features in the first look LSST data. Not sure if the narrow feature in the first image is a background tidal feature or an artefact. The second image definitely shows a possible compact elliptical in formation. skyviewer.app/explorer

Nothing will convince you that crypto is a bubble more quickly than talking its loudest advocates. Apparently the main advantage a “stable coin” has over real money is that it is stable because its value is tethered to real money…

It does seem like the US government is trying its very best to discourage investment in the US. We don’t like you charging a few percent tax on tech giant profits, so we are going to tax you 20%+ on your investments… youtu.be/tlPBDH2_z60?...

Ukraine has released an extensive video in which the destruction of several strategic bombers of the Russian Air Force during the „Spiderweb“ operation is documented.

Completely nuts how inventive and effective the Ukrainians have been. 3 years into an existential war against a much larger enemy and they are blowing up dozens of completely irreplaceable strategic bombers using cheap drones.

The European competition places for this years Premier league are hilarious. Champions league 1st to 5th and…17th. Europa league 6th and 12th. Conference league 7th.

In 1961 the world population was less than half of what it is now. Either what people drink has changed significantly over time, or people in the 60's must have been absolutely sozzled all the time. www.theguardian.com/food/2025/ap...

If the US survives in its current form it will be because Trump is a moron. Unfortunately he is uncovering all the flaws in the system that a more competent authoritarian would exploit, and no attempt will be made to close the loopholes to prevent them.

Finally wrote something for @theconversation.com! Together with Prof Derek Ward-Thompson, I wrote about the significance of the discovery of long-chain carbon molecules on #Mars, as found by SAM on the #Curiosity rover in Gale crater. Read the article 👇

About the most shocking thing here is that Trump correctly says he “couldn’t care less” rather than that awful American expression that he “could care less”.

Happy Eid. Used our Planewave DeltaRho to capture an H alpha image of the Moon at 4PM from the Alston observatory. It is currently 2% illuminated, and very close to the Sun, so do not try this at home.

The JHI and Study Astronomy's Megan Argo and Derek Ward Thompson debate the significance of the latest "life" signals from Mars theconversation.com/nasas-curios...

Given his repeating of Russian propaganda almost verbatim he was probably freely sharing the info with the Russians, no need for them to intercept anything.

Any idea what just launched in the last half hour?

Just saw a satellite plume above Alston.

On May 12th, the JHI Public Lecture will be given by Prof. Andrew Pontzen (Durham University). Entitled "The Universe in a Box", this lecture will describe how modern cosmological simulations work. Free tickets are available from www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-univer... #preston #darkmatter #darkenergy

So Putin publicly jokes about making Trump wait to talk to him. Then he refuses to sign up to the ceasefire Trump wants. Yet Trump will pretend he won some concessions. Pathetic.

The non-Russian controlled parts of the west are soon going to be forced to admit that the US they’ve known is gone. At very best the US is now a zero-sum exploiter who might occasionally do the right thing if the interests of their ruler aligns. At worst it is an active enemy.

“And girl, it looks so pretty to me Like it always did Oh, like the Spanish city to me When we were kids” Not looking too bad for 115.

At space-comm expo today. Very relevant to world affairs. The UK should not be in a position where it is reliant on one capricious partner.

Given that Trump is making the US uninvestible (good luck getting a contract enforced if one of his oligarchs is the counterparty), I hope people in the UK government are working to grab the business. Our laws are predictable and apolitically enforced is a big selling point.

The indecision of uncertainty is over now. Our enemies have revealed themselves. Now we just have to deal with them without any wishful thinking about avoiding the task.

Even if the US somehow survives these imbeciles, the fact they elected them means they can only ever be temporarily trusted. Europe has to develop into an independent economic, diplomatic and military power. If/when the US can be an ally great, but we have to be able to look after ourselves.

Just clipped the baby’s nails. I think I’m qualified for the bomb squad now.

Everywhere they go. Everywhere any member of the Republican Party or their Oligarch owners shows their face. The only way this doesn’t end in bloodshed is to make their fear outweigh their greed.

When the world gets too much, remember: Keep Calm and Study Astronomy!

What a truly shameful day for America. Will enough Americans notice, or care if they do though? I suspect not until they come looking for help against China and find none.