I don't think 'definitive' is quite right, maybe 'standard', but if you want an estimate of the Milky Way's gravitational field, then I've got you covered: ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2017MNRA...

I'm on the downslope towards 50, and am not looking forward to becoming racist.

A thoroughly enjoyable piece about the excessive reaction to any minor 'controversy' in professional football by @maxrushden.bsky.social, with a possible explanation for why I've never gotten too annoyed about them. 🔭 #everythingisshowbiz #everythingisshorterthanaHubbletime

In fairness the spectral type naming sequence makes about as much sense as the real one! ✨ (I'll concede that the repeated 'M' is worse)

🌌 🔭 2nd December 2026 will be a huge day for astronomy: Gaia DR4 is coming out! 5 years of data bringing better measurements and allowing new science 🔭🌌 www.cosmos.esa.int/web/gaia/news

When I first read this I was sad I hadn't heard about it and will miss it. Now I've found an invitation deeply hidden in my spam email folder and I'm just furious at our filter!! 🤬🤬🤬 Sorry to miss it Matthias! I hope it's a great meeting

Sanity prevails for once.

I've seen where this leads. We're a few steps away from this guy:

Covid + 14 years of Conservative underfunding of the NHS = www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

🔭 Paper day x2! What would #GaiaNIR tell us about the Milky Way's bar? Óscar Jiménez-Arranz's paper sets out how much it will improve our picture of the Milky Way's central kiloparsecs 🔭 arxiv.org/abs/2604.18329

🔭 Paper day! Love ESA's Gaia mission, but hungry for more? #GaiaNIR is the future, taking astrometry into the hidden dusty regions of the Galaxy. Isabella Henum's paper looks at what it will allow us to learn about globular clusters, including any dark matter haloes! arxiv.org/abs/2604.18265 🔭

The team captain had an amazing semi-final and final. Interesting to see what happens when you put astrophysicists on a TV quiz team! #AdAstra

My week has been almost entirely full of reading scientic write-ups, from student reports to papers I'm refereeing, and I've realized there is one hill I will die on: We should ban the use of the word "exhibits" except when referring to multiple items in a museum.

I don't think I know anyone who's entertained by it. I can think of lots of other descriptions first.

🔭 Others who understand the process better than me will give a clearer account, but I've listened to a little of Patrick Vallance being questioned by the MPs about the threatened cuts to Astronomy & Particle Physics (among other things) parliamentlive.tv/event/index/...

🔭 Reposting for the morning people. A damning indictment of the decision making that has threatened astronomy and particle physics funding in the UK. 🔭 committees.parliament.uk/publications...

Parents overreact to something that to kids is just a joke. 'Twas ever thus www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

This is tragic news. Carl Grillmair is a legend in the field. He discovered streams of stars around the Milky Way that no one else could with the data available

🔭 Reposting for the feed 🔭

1000 citations for something I made a decade ago. I'm going to allow myself a little moment of pride that my work has been useful to so many people

A rather grim read from the head of UKRI. Basically, the facilities run by STFC that support research across the UKRI's remit have become too expensive. Rather than cut those costs or spread the pain across research areas, the astro and particle physics unlucky enough to be in STFC gets slashed

How is it possible that North East Somerset and Hanham managed to elect an MP even worse that the previous incumbant, Jacob Rees-Mogg? www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

Lost a little in the last paragraphs of articles about the cuts to astronomy and particle physics: UKRI are trying to shift the blame on to STFC itself for commiting too much money back in 2022: www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-r...

These cuts are a disastrously bad idea, that surrender the notion of the UK being among the world leaders in fundamental physics

Unless the training is mainly "DO NOT TRUST IT" over and over again, it won't be doing much good. It can be a useful tool, but only if you're prepared to check everything that comes out of it very carefully.

It's one of those occasional days where I learn more about Swindon Town Football Club than I need to, as I look to see if anyone is sharing info on STFC grant results www.ukri.org/councils/stfc/

Space science has been saved, by a large margin, from the dire state that the original proposal would have created.

Genuinely delighted by this news. Mock had become one of my favourite places to discover new comedians in its later years

I have to agree with this. Astro twitter was a great resource for keeping up with the field and making connections. It's a shame we didn't all congregate in one new space but instead went into different silos.

Since my eyes were opened to how common harassment is at universities, I have become hard to shock. "he propositioned a junior academic when she went to him for support having reported being raped" managed it though. Fucking hell.

Movie you’ve watched more than six times with a gif. Hard mode: no Stars (Wars nor Trek), LOTR, or Marvel, Disney Animated or Pixar.

🔭 Catching up on arXiv in a quiet moment, I enjoyed this from the abstract of Balser & Burton (arxiv.org/abs/2511.00720). The inner Milky Way is a disorganised shambles, I've always thought that. Not the most disorganized shambles I've ever seen in a bar, but that's a different matter. 🔭

Interesting journal club with the Exoplanets group at @physicsuol.bsky.social, looking at the transition from giant planets to brown dwarfs (arxiv.org/abs/2511.11818). They don't mention it, but is the gap at 2-3 MJ & [Fe/H]~0.2 called anything? If not, I'm calling it the Leicester doughnut hole 🔭

Alternative possibility: YouTube prank show of some kind

This is going to turn out to be an incredibly brilliant performance art satire about left wing politics

And if you too want to do a PhD with me, then there's an opportunity at the University of Leicester!

So no one is left in suspense: that's Dr Simon Alinder now! 🎉🎉🔭💫

I'm back at Lund University to support/watch Simon Alinder defend his PhD thesis. Simon has studied the Milky Way's disc, especially the 'phase spiral' across the disc.

I've spent much of the last decade trying to convince my family that Sweden isn't the constantly snow-covered and freezing place they think it is. So why does it always look like this when I visit?

"97% of people surveyed found they were regularly or sometimes distracted by oncoming vehicles and 96% thought most or some headlights were too bright" Finding 96% of people agreeing on anything must be very rare. It seems like an easy win to regulate these (meaing I doubt that it will happen!)

The way that university adminstration can pretend that letting an agressor or predator near undergrads is more safe than having them around their colleagues blows my mind. In my past experience, the Prof was not allowed back into the department building, but was given new teaching duties...

Good news for our colleagues in Nottingham! A reminder that industrial action can work, and universty management can negotiate with a union that represents their staff.

Please come and march alongside us tomorrow in the national demonstration called by @ucu.org.uk. We will be on the pickets 9-10.30, and assemble for the demonstration in De Montfort Square at 11. All welcome!

English article version: www.uu.se/en/departmen...

Great show from @5teviem.bsky.social at the firebug this evening. Not just laughs alone, also horse lamps.

Martin Luther. Simon Alinder. Some other people too, no doubt. There's a great history of nailing theses to things and Simon did that yesterday ahead of his thesis defense next month. I watched on zoom, and it turns out quite hard to get a good screenshot!

The University of Leicester's marketing department know that it's the staff who are the lifeblood of the university. Leaving staff under threat of firing for months on end, with no negotiation with our representatives, is awful management

I'm not usually a much of a protestor, but I will try to defend the University of Leicester, and my colleagues, from the bad decisions made by our management. The proposed cuts unneeded, unfair and backed by cherry picked metrics. I support the @leicesterucu.bsky.social strike action.