Birmingham’s Rubin First Look Watch Party begins in just one hour at 15:30 BST, with a taste of the science that our postdocs and students are excited about. #RubinFirstLook @lsstuk.bsky.social @vrubinobs.bsky.social www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/2025/bi...

Today's the day — it's officially T-0! GET READY: Your full First Look at images from NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory is just hours away! We're about to reveal the preview of the greatest cosmic movie ever made 🎬 #RubinFirstLook #CaptureTheCosmos 🔭🧪 ⌚️ 11am US EDT 🔗: ls.st/rubin-first-look-livestream

Stunning first images from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory @vrubinobs.bsky.social have been revealed today🤩🔭 Supported by a £23m investment from STFC, the Rubin Observatory’s Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) will create a 10-year time-lapse of our Universe. More: www.ukri.org/news/uk-gets...

The first images from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory will be revealed today. This image of the Virgo cluster, which incudes 2 spiral galaxies and 3 merging galaxies, gives a sneak preview of what we can expect. Read how EPCC is supporting Rubin's Legacy Survey of Space and Time: edin.ac/40f1n2F

Yes, more beautiful images from the revolutionary @vrubinobs.bsky.social will be revealed at 4pm UK time today, including a live stream. #RubinFirstLook #CaptureTheCosmos @lsstuk.bsky.social

It's incredible to think how much the incoming cohorts of grad students will have to work with - tbr (time before Rubin) will feel like such a different era

Can’t wait for all the exciting science from our current / next generation of PhD students as they explore the Rubin data @lsstuk.bsky.social #RubinFirstLook

You’re not the only one, @astroroyalscot.bsky.social!! Big thumbs up for Virgo and Sinclair Smith (no relation 😂) from me too! #RubinFirstLook

Buckle up folks, this is gonna be huge.. #RubinFirstLook is just the beginning!!

If there's one thing you should know about NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory, it's this: ✨It's going to build the greatest time-lapse movie of the cosmos ever made✨ And tomorrow is the world's first preview of how Rubin will #CaptureTheCosmos in the coming decade! 🔭🧪

We're only TWO WEEKS out from NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory's first images! Get ready for the first preview of how Rubin will #CaptureTheCosmos in its 10-year survey in a live streamed #RubinFirstLook event on June 23, 2025 at 11am EDT! Stay up to date at rubinobservatory.org/news/rubin-first-look 🔭🧪

Good news if you're a fan of websites... we've relaunched ours! If you're curious about what we do and how the UK is contributing to @vrubinobs.bsky.social, take a look! www.lsst.ac.uk 🔭

New earliest galaxy just dropped thanks to JWST, only 280 million years after the Big Bang! But we still aren’t quite sure why bright galaxies are so abundant so early on. What’s going on? Story by me in New Scientist www.newscientist.com/article/2480...

🔭🧪 Congratulations to Prof Nial Tanvir who has been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society for his work studying gamma-ray bursts, the most violent explosions we've ever seen. le.ac.uk/news/2025/ma...

This gives the telescope ENORMOUS light-collecting power while being compact! 🔆 The primary mirror is 8.4 m in diameter – taller than the height of a two-story house. Yet, the telescope also has a compact design so it's fast enough to cover the entire visible sky in just a few nights. 🔭 🧪

We're worth the hype 😎 The 8.4-meter Simonyi Survey Telescope is part of what makes NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory so unique. Why? Its primary mirror is the first of its kind, with two differently curved optical surfaces to direct light into the car-sized LSST Camera. 🔭 🧪

NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory is about to do something never done before: #CaptureTheCosmos with a 3200-megapixel image every 40 seconds, all night, every night, for 10 years. That's 60 petabytes in raw images alone! 🔭🧪 How do you handle that much data?💾 rubinobservatory.org/news/rubin-data-deluge

Astrophysics sometimes takes you to extreme, remote places— like San Pedro de Atacama for the SWGO collaboration meeting, including a visit to the future high-energy gamma-ray observatory site. At 4775 m above sea level! 🔭🧪☄️

Yours truly with the cover story on New Scientist this month 😎 Do pick up a copy! I need to eat.

Part two of the issue 'Multi-messenger gravitational lensing (Part 2)' is now live! Read the new #PhilTransA issue here: royalsocietypublishing.org/toc/rsta/202...

What is the timeline on NASA's "skinny budget"? When could it be approved/watered down by Congress? And say for, like Mars Sample Return, if the budget was approved when could that mission be officially cancelled? spacenews.com/nasa-budget-...

📞 Your voice matters! Today, call your senators and representatives to tell them why funding science and space is critical for America's future. It only takes a few minutes — and it can have a huge impact. #WeekOfAction ow.ly/m0oO50VN0Nm

The preface to Part 1 of Multi-messenger gravitational lensing gives a brief overview for busy people royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/... @royalsocietypublishing.org

I feel privileged to have collaborated with a large and talented team (including @drgavinplamb.bsky.social, @anachoponte.bsky.social, @laurauronen.bsky.social, @dkeitel.bsky.social) to write this article, published today by @royalsocietypublishing.org: royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

We’re creating a massive, 3200-megapixel group photo…and it won’t be complete without YOU! NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory’s LSST Camera — the largest camera in the world — began on-sky engineering tests this month. So let’s celebrate! 🔭🧪 Join by May 14: rubinobservatory.org/explore/acti...

Having this detector on Indian soil, on the other side of the world from the American observatories, will dramatically improve our ability to localize the sources of gravitational waves www.nature.com/articles/d44...

🚨 Last chance! 🚨 The deadline to get applications in for the Caroline Herschel Prize Lectureship is TOMORROW (Wednesday 30 April). If you're a woman astronomer keen to apply, find out what you need to do at: herschelsociety.org.uk/caroline-her...

📢 Very happy to share new #OA paper w Michael Tomlinson that unpacks valued and diverse ways ND grads engage in employment following #uni. bit.ly/42YxQfm Data show importance of grad capitals and choice for meaningful work. But also how context can either enable or constrain outcomes. Pls share! 📑

NEW on Wonkhe: Can you assess students without exams or set questions? As Stephen Brown explains, we've been doing it for years bit.ly/3GpIa7F

First week of on-sky engineering tests with the huge LSST Camera: ✅ From continuing to fine tune our complex systems and improve data quality, to successfully testing mechanical systems like the camera filter changer, we’re getting ever closer to being ready to #CaptureTheCosmos! 🔭 🧪 🧵

If you're new to all things @vrubinobs.bsky.social, check out the new media kit, full of fascinating facts. E.g. the images Rubin will produce are so large that it would take 400 ultra-high-definition televisions to display one of them at full size. rubinobservatory.org/media 🔭

so happy to begin on bluesky by reposting this amazing exciting news from @vrubinobs.bsky.social, even if it happened 10 days ago!