Plenty of time left to apply to the Astro PhD program in Edinburgh! (Deadline in 2 weeks)

On this darkest solstice day of the year, my heart has dimmed, waking up to learn of the loss of dear colleague and mentor, Yannick Mellier. Yannick will be known to most as the lead of the amazing Euclid Space Telescope which will revolutionise our understanding of the Dark Universe 🧵🔭

Wishing you all a very happy holiday (as and when it starts for you) with this, the best-christmas-card-of-the-year, a gorgeous lino print of the Euclid Space Telescope! @eucliduk.bsky.social 🔭🎄 🙏👩‍🎨: @notverymedieval.bsky.social

Anyone want to send their name around the moon with Artemis-II? Sign-up before Jan 21st (it's all free). 🧪🔭 ℹ️: www3.nasa.gov/send-your-na...

How have I only just discovered google maps for space? If you, like me, did not know about this little piece of internet treasure, you must check it out! You can fly over moons and planets - and it's all real data <little happy skips> 🤗 🔭🧪 👉: www.google.co.uk/maps/space/ 👇: Dwarf planet Pluto!

“We wouldn’t have the Rubin Observatory today if [Tony Tyson] hadn’t had that vision, and also that dogged determination,” says @astroroyalscot.bsky.social. Find out why Tyson is on @nature.com's list of people who shaped science in 2025. 🔭 www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Working on an exciting & secret project with my good friend comic artist Edward Ross. What do we think of the first draft rough image of Cartoon Catherine 😂

I'm now an officially Big fan of #Biggar! Loved the xmas lecture vibe in the packed theatre - and so many cool questions in the Q&A 🥳. Huge thanks to the Biggar Science festival @biggarsciencefest.bsky.social team for organising!

🔊Big in #Biggar! If you're in the #Lanarkshire area, the Biggar Science Festival's Christmas lecture in the Corn Exchange, will be featuring yours truly. We'll be discussing the 4 questions that I'm most often asked! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🔭 ⏰: 11th Dec @ 19:30 🎟️: biggarce.yapsody.com/event/index/...

A big shout out to the P7 class of Stockbridge Primary who took these utterly awesome photos last night on their residential visit to the Lagganlia outdoor learning centre in the 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Highlands. Lagganlia is part of the Scottish Youth Telescope Network and I'm so proud of these kids! 🥳 🔭 #SYTN

Stonking sunspots photobombed by a departing flight this lunch break #Seestar 😎🔭. #AR4294

Pinch Punch first day of the month! And a🎄🎅 xmas month too! Here is your December Sky Diary courtesy of @astronomyedinburgh.bsky.social. Time to start planning your night jaunt away from the streetlights to appreciate the upcoming #Geminid Meteor Shower. Peaks Dec 14th! 🔭

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Wishing Scots all around the world a happy St Andrew's Day! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Note, you don't need to be Scottish to celebrate! How about a nice bowl of porridge for breakfast or a wee dram of whiskey at the end of your day? 🥃 📷: @tomduffinphotos.bsky.social "Saltire on the Moon"

Wishing all my American chums a very happy thanksgiving with this absolutely awesome image of the ❤️👾 Pacman Nebula! It was captured by the fab Gilmerton Primary School P7s on their recent residential visit to Benmore, which is part of our Scottish Youth Telescope Network. #SYTN 🔭🧪

Have you e-signed @sciencecentres.bsky.social's letter to the UKGov? Today is your last chance before it goes to Downing St! Join 1000s of us in calling for fairer funding for the UK's science centres currently excluded from UKGov infrastructure funding.🧪🔭 ✍️ www.sciencecentres.org.uk/openletter20...

Perks of the job: sneak previews of awesome books! This is a beautiful blend of travel & adventure; wonder & awe; 🧪STEM, #histsci, astronomy, art & nature. If you've ever looked up and wondered "what is that?", then the inimitable @drlucyrogers.com has written this for you!

Whole household is buzzing this morning - disagreements however over which one was the greatest 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿Scottish goal of all time! McTominay Scissor kick or McLean from the halfway line? Glorious! #Scotland #WorldCup www.bbc.co.uk/sport/footba...

🥳 13yo says he's too excited to ever sleep ever again - what a phenomenal final 10 minutes! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 #Scotland #WorldCup

Enquiry from an 8yo asking what the Fulton Orrery planets were? Apparently the #Kelvingrove museum staff didn't know, so he e-mailed the Astronomer Royal to find out! I also didn’t know, but the AstroSociety of #Glasgow did (after watching an old VHS recording on the topic!) 🔭 #histsci 1/2🧵

Want to make a wish on a shooting star? #DoLookUp! The #Leonids meteor shower is peaking, courtesy of the Earth ploughing through the debris left by Comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle. 🔭🧪 1 Get away from streetlights 2 Take blanket ☕ 3 Lie back - 10 mins 👁️ dark adapt 4 🌠Wow www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/me...

Had a few enquiries recently about #Seestar smart-telescopes for #scicomm or xmas gifts for keen-kids. If you are lucky enough to have the cash (£369), these are a great investment & super easy to use. 👇These images were all taken in just a few mins in the light polluted city of Edinburgh. 🤩🔭

What a happy sunshine-filled lunch break with the #Seestar telescope: the Sun is extra spotty today! 🔭🧪

🥳 Huge congrats to @sherwoodobs.bsky.social! Their hugely successful creation of the Sherwood Observatory and Planetarium has been recognised with a King's Award for Voluntary Service! If you're in the Nottingham/Derby/Sheffield area, they are well worth a visit! 🔭 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Astrophysics applications for this scholarship are open and due 24 November! ifa.roe.ac.uk/phds-jobs-fe...

Fellow #scicomm chums - just discovered this excellent "colour-in mood characters" resource to help you collect feedback on the impact of your activity from primary school classes. Thanks go to @sciencecentres.bsky.social for sharing this! ℹ️: inclusion.sciencecentres.org.uk/documents/9/...

The obligatory selfie from this morning's trip to the BBC Studios in Edinburgh: another awesome set of listeners questions answered for BBC Radio 4 Inside Science 🤓

Baby seal live solar-powered webcam anyone? Only ~one more week before they leave the rocks and head off into the sea. 📽️: www.seabird.org/webcams/crai... From the 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿Scottish Seabird centre team working on the small island of Craigleith, in the Firth of Forth.

So what is a #Supermoon? Well, the Moon is typically ~¼ million miles away (30 Earths in a row), but thanks to its elliptical orbit, that distance changes. Tonight the Full Moon is 2-Earths closer than normal (221,823 miles away), making it appear ~15% brighter than usual hence #Supermoon! 🔭🧪

Your guide to the November night skies courtesy of @astronomyedinburgh.bsky.social. Wishing you all clear skies and lots of lovely #Leonid 'shooting stars' (meteor shower peaks on the 17th)! 🤞🧪🔭🤩

🥳My 1st cosmic-comic-collab hits the shelves today in the "Geology Rocks" edition of Aquila Magazine (for 8-14yos). The amazing comic artist Edward Ross created "Galactro the Elder God", a chef who demos his (astrophysically accurate) neutron star recipe to make gold goujons! Dee-licious! #scicomm 🔭

This week I've been e-chatting with photographer Lynn Gilbert who took this stunning portrait of Grace Hopper (1906-1992) legend & pioneer of language-based computer programming. 🧪👩‍🔬 You can read Hopper's own words about her experience in Lynn's wonderful interview: www.lynn-gilbert.com/free-chapters

Happily drove through Auchtermuchty on the way home from Dundee yesterday….iykyk 🦊🎩 www.youtube.com/watch?v=kb0k...

Mind has been officially blown by seeing Saturn and its moon Titan through the Mills Observatory Victorian 10" Cooke telescope. WOW! Every time I've visited before, the clouds have come too, but not today! This old technology still works perfectly with a clockwork tracking mechanism. Stunning 🥳👌 🔭

Did I mention how much I love #Dundee! Having a super visit for the #Mills Observatory 90th b'day celebrations. Packed talk at the Steps Theatre last night, 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿STV this morning, Ancrum Rd Primary asking lots of space questions at lunch, & tonight a party at Mills🥳. Crossing fingers for clear skies! 🔭

Anyone looking for some #halloween costume ideas?

🔊Calling #Dundee! Mills, the UK's 1st public observatory, is about to turn 90! This time last year looming budget cuts threatened its closure forever, but overwhelming public support saved it🥳. Do join us for the 90th🎂birthday celebrations on the 27th Oct! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🔭 🎟️: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/professor-...

Started learning about the 1935 opening of Mills Observatory. Left knowing all about Lady Georgiana (the Earls' daughter), who was forced into a loveless marriage with Lieut Home Kidston instead of her true love Roger Bushell who masterminded the "Great Escape" from a WW2 POW camp. #ThanksBlueSky 🤗

Searching 1935 Newspaper archives in prep for the 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿Mills Observatory 90th bday party & 😲 it was opened with a kitty of £4000 (£¼ million today)! Philanthropist John Mills sure gave #Dundee a fine gift. Also 🥰 the Earl's glamourous daughter!🔭 Mon 27th Oct 🎟️: www.dundeecity.gov.uk/events/event...

"What would happen if you were to gather a mole (unit of measurement) of moles (the furry critter) in one place?" On Mole Day, enjoy @xkcd.com's classic what-if: A Mole of moles 🔗: what-if.xkcd.com/4/ "If these moles were released onto the Earth’s surface, they’d fill it up to 80 km deep" 🤔🤓

Congrats to @carersinstemm.bsky.social for a successful and insightful launch event in Edinburgh's grand Playfair library. They're calling for systemic changes to funding, policy & culture to support carers in STEM. Read more 👉 carersinstemm.co.uk & join future events in London/Manchester/Online 👩‍🔬🧪

Never one to be thwarted by a bit of patchy cloud cover 🤔 I am hereby joining the #Comet #Lemmon fanclub 😂 It's a cute one (and check out👇 @stuartatkinson.bsky.social's images to see how cute it really is when the Edinburgh streetlight-hazy clouds aren't photobombing it). 🔭 #seestar

A nice wee piece about my visit to the fab #Kirkcudbright Dark Space Planetarium in the 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿Daily Record. The Planetarium is near the Galloway Dark Sky Park (soon-to-be-built Scottish #DarkSky Observatory) & James Clerk Maxwell's grave. All well worth a visit! 🔭 www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/local-n...

🔊Announcing a new Physics/Astro PhD scholarship scheme in Edinburgh, for students from a Black heritage, inc mixed Black background. Please help me spread the word. The scholarship covers all tuition fees, living costs & research travel. #blackinSTEM 🔭👩‍🔬⚛️ ℹ️: www.ph.ed.ac.uk/studying/pos...

Well it's not every day that you get to stand on the site of a brand new Observatory! This is Clatteringshaws loch, in the Galloway Forest #DarkSky Park, home of the 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿Scottish Dark Sky Observatory. Construction starts soon and like a phoenix SDSO will rise from the ashes! Re-opening mid-2027. 🥳🔭🧪

Had a very happy morning at the #Kirkcudbright Dark Space Planetarium this week. A fab interactive exhibit plus a gorgeous immersive experience in the planetarium. It's so unique to have such a state-of-the-art science centre in this 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 rural setting, and the team there are just awesome. #scicomm 🔭

Amused by the 13yo's lexicon - just got a message from their train heading South "Dad has been a total donut" Turns out he forgot the railcard, but crisis averted thanks to a kind ticket inspector and a speedily sent photograph of it. Thanks @lner.co.uk

Went on a little pilgrimage today to Parton, the resting place of 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿Scotland’s very own Einstein, James Clerk Maxwell. Quite the pause when I realised he was only one year older than me (48) when he died. ⚛️🔭

Tomorrow is my youngest's 13th birthday: when the clock strikes midnight, will he lose the power of rational thought and the use of his arms? #HesBecomeATeenager 📺: www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLuE...

Me and my good pal Andrew from @astronomyedinburgh.bsky.social gatecrashed a local #supermoon gathering last night with his Dobsonian🔭. Minds were blown as we looked at the lunar mare and craters through patchy holes in the cloud cover. Pop-up sidewalk astronomy at its best - loved it!

I love it that everyone loves a #supermoon. Tonight is the night so #DoLookUp! Fine print: this astronomical event comes with a expectation-management disclaimer: *The Supermoon is only 15% brighter than a normal full moon and I personally can not tell the difference 🤔 *Every moon is SUPER🔭🥳