I've continued to add improvements to the O-type star map. Just added a line to highlight the interarm gap. The spiral structure is not very clear in Gaia but at least there is a clear gap between the local and inner galaxy. png file: gruze.org/ha_grid/o_st... pdf file: gruze.org/ha_grid/o_st...

The O-type star map is now in the cartography room in my Star Central VR world.

Just a reminder that no one pays me to do these maps and I've decided (so far anyway) not to put them behind a Patreon pay wall. If you like them, give me a tip here: tiptopjar.com/kevinjardine

I've created a new map of all known O-type stars out to 1250 parsecs. These extremely rare and ultra hot stars play an important role in ionizing hydrogen gas and reshaping dust clouds across the Milky Way. png file: gruze.org/ha_grid/o_st... pdf file: gruze.org/ha_grid/o_st...

I am working on an O-type star map. The detailed Edenhofer dust clouds and this year the new ionized hydrogen grid allows for more detailed and realistic maps so I tried a different style for this map. Comments welcome.

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For some reason I've never had a Facebook profile for Galaxy Map. As I'm working to promote my VR worlds, it makes sense to have one. Please follow it if you happen to have a Facebook account. m.facebook.com/615833478151...

Always good to see astronomy people excited about VR. 😆

🆕 Astronomers have wanted to spot a 'coronal mass ejection', or CME, on a star other than our own for decades. And now they have! 👇

There are now 28 people signed up for my Naos VR tour tomorrow. Very exciting to see the interest although this is more than my world can actually handle at once. I am hoping that I can ask some people to come back in an hour for a second tour.

Hilarious. By accident this is one of the very few things Trump has said that I agree with. The US should get rid of for-profit health care insurance companies and instead subsidize and regulate the cost of health care services directly. Like Canada and the UK does. www.axios.com/2025/11/08/t...

I am not a fan of Musk at all but I am puzzled at these stories about a trillion dollar salary. Isn't that contingent on him reaching several almost impossible goals? A bit like offering me a trillion dollars if I can jump to Mars.

And this kids is what we call “over-fitting”.

Wow! Two of astronomers' favourite indulgences in one play set! www.slashfilm.com/2018573/star...

See below if you're interested in doing a PhD on stars or clusters! Trumpler 14 is an especially awesome cluster in the Carina Nebula, and doing your PhD on it (or star cluster formation more generally) would be tons of fun 😉

We are releasing seven new science publications today, based on our Q1 data release earlier this year. All revolve around galaxies, from dust to interactions to active centers.These are accompanied by two new image collages drawn from the same release. 1/ 🔭 #astronomy #space #ESA

There are 8 people signed up for the November 11 tour of Naos. It should be a fun event. We can always squeeze a few more people into the starship if you want to join us (and we have a fleet of four starships!). horizon.meta.com/event/172889...

This is the Flaming Star Nebula. An emission / reflection nebula found in the constellation Auriga. I need to do more processing on this image but it is a spectacular looking nebula even without any processing.

Have you tied cords to the Pleiades, or loosened the bonds of Orion? Can you bring forth the Mazzaroth (constellations) in their season, or guide the Bear with her children? Do you know the ordinances of the heavens; can you put into effect their plan on the earth?

The Sun has produced four moderate (M-class) solar flares today. We expect solar activity to continue increasing for the next week or so, as busy regions on the Sun rotate to face Earth!

Would love it if people would like the Star Central VR world here: devpost.com/software/sta...

People are signing up for the VR starship tour to Naos (Zeta Puppis). This will involve travel to Naos, a look at the star from the star station observation deck, a talk about the star in the cartography room and a visit to the annotated sky view before returning to Star Central.

People are signing up for the VR starship tour to Naos (Zeta Puppis). This will involve travel to Naos, a look at the star from the star station observation deck, a talk about the star in the cartography room and a visit to the annotated sky view before returning to Star Central.

Here's a fantastic opportunity for a university student to work on outreach for cutting edge astronomical research: Gaia DR4. I'd argue that the Gaia Mission should have had a full time person in this role since before 2018, but at least this is something, right? jobs.esa.int/job/Noordwij...

Now that I've launched Star Central, I thought that I'd try organizing an event in the world. In this case, it is a tour group travelling via starship to Naos (Zeta Puppis). Up to 15 people can visit this world at once. So we'll see who turns up! horizon.meta.com/event/172889...

Excited to speak this coming Tuesday at the DAI in Heidelberg! I'm hosting a panel discussion on life in the universe - from the origin of life on Earth, to how we could recognize it on other planets, to prospects for interstellar space travel. Tickets on sale now: dai-heidelberg.de/en/events/li...

My huge new Star Central world is now officially launched. You can visit it in mobile or VR here: horizon.meta.com/world/775774...

So tired to see headlines like this. The Netherlands does not have a first-past-the-post system and after the last election there were 14 parties in the parliament. Even the largest party has a small fraction of the vote. There are no "winners" in Dutch elections.

I might look at the new all-in-one Affinity app next week. I've been a loyal GIMP user for years but have been disappointed with the new version 3.

Experimenting with an intro to the Star Central trailer. Here is what I have so far. The video tools in Horizon Worlds are limited so I had to improvise.

Done coding the Star Central VR world for now. Today I am collecting video clips and screen shots for the trailer.

My wife and I often watch science videos on YouTube, especially from Hank Green's Complexly empire and paleontology news from Moth Light Media and Ben G. Thomas and friends. Yesterday we watched a wonderful video on Polaris on the Astrum channel: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTX6...

Hurray! The From Milky Way to Earth video has passed 200 thousand views.

Spent the day adding labels, popup text and images to Star Central. I might start work on the video trailer tomorrow.

Sad about the Dutch election this week. Despite the predictable failure of the last government, polls show that the electorate have barely changed their intensions. Right wing voters are at most changing to an essentially identical right wing party and support for the centre left has barely changed.

The From Milky Way to Earth video has reached 199710 views. I am thinking of some kind of celebration when it reaches 200K. Any suggestions? www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRSK...

Ahem. I'm not a sports fan, but anyway, go Jays go.

I've made my new Star Central VR world public for anyone who would like a peek. horizon.meta.com/world/775774...

My Star Central VR site (launching at the end of next week) now has my full Gaia 3D map. Can you spot the Sun?

This is actually a good question. I believe that stones are made out of rock. Geologists, did I get that right?

While looking for 3D models that I could use in VR I found my own Fly 10pc site: gruze.org/fly_10pc/ allowing you to fly around the nearby stars (and brown dwarfs and exoplanets). Written in three.js. Project today: import this data into Blender and export a model for VR.

My Star Central VR world is starting to come together.

This article baffles me. If banks want more European tech investment, why don't they pay for it? From my point of view, the European tech sector is starved for cash compared to the US tech sector. nltimes.nl/2025/10/20/d...

My Star Style VR clothing shop is coming together. Will launch as part of my new Star Central VR world at the end of the month.

One of the things that I've learned over the years is to work to create simple versions of my maps. Here is one out to 500 pc that I use as part of a star show in my new VR world launching at the end of the month.

Gearing up for the launch of my Star Style VR clothing shop. I never thought that I would be selling space suits online.

It occurred to me while working on my walkable VR galactic atlas that many people will be completely unfamiliar with galactic structures like the Orion-Eridanus bubble or the Ophiuchus dust cloud. So I thought that I'd add a solar system map so people could start with something more familiar.

Today's arXiv day brought us a really cool paper that analyzed the two stars of 55 Cancri. It detected the known planets around A, and found TWO new planets around the B. arxiv.org/abs/2510.11523 Here's my quick art of Harriot, one of the planets around A. #astronomy #space #exoplanet #planet #art

I love this project, which is an attempt to create a 3D scalar field of ionization values out to 1250 parsecs, currently based on the Edenhofer dust extinction field and the location of 82 O-type stars.

Someone was asking what the interstellar medium around the Sun looks like in 3D. Here's a quick render. I might add an improved version of this to a room in my Star Central VR world. Brown: dust, red: ionized gas, blue: hot stars.