Dr James O'Donoghue 🪐

Why on Earth is the planet’s day getting shorter? August 5 was a whole millisecond shorter. Strap in for the full explanation.

August 5 was a whole millisecond shorter. Strap in for the full explanation.

Yeah, haven't seen any reports just yet about that. Earthquakes appear to change LOD on the microsecond level, rather than millisecond, so it's a really small signal to detect. Looks like we could only do so by looking at Quasars(?!), which is just a wonderful connection

Time nerds! This is def. one for you!

Today was/is one of the shortest days of the year.

@interplanetary.bsky.social has got you covered as to many of the reasons why this is likely happening.

Bonus - how quasars, and #RadioAstronomy lead to precision timing, orientation, etc. that gives us GPS!

Oh my god, it was such a pleasure to dig into, but so hard to contain myself! If I had more time, I would've made it shorter. Must stop making time puns, there's no time for it today...

Why on Earth is the planet’s day getting shorter? August 5 was a whole millisecond shorter. Strap in for the full explanation.

It's about time that I wrote this:

theconversation.com/why-on-earth...

💯.

Tiny black dot on Saturn. Early this morning, I photographed a rather rare astronomical event, a shadow transit of Saturn’s largest moon Titan across its parent planet. This is a composite of two frames. Questar telescope /Olympus camera. Observed from metro Chicago. #astrophotography

Does Avi not believe rocks are present outside the solar system

Our global petition to save NASA science closes this Thursday, and we’re just shy of 15,000 signatures! Every name counts, this petition will be hand-delivered to members of Congress. Add yours today, Save NASA Science.
planet.ly/petition

The auroral oval seen from space during the early morning on June 1 - captured by the NOAA-21 satellite flying over North America

Update on the ongoing geomagnetic storm: the main magnetic core of the 31 May #solarstorm has arrived at Earth starting around 1 June 12 UTC, BUT it is one of those kinds that are VERY unfavorable for #aurora - the field is entirely northward and very likely to remain so for the next few hours.

Implications of Using Spheroidal “Cone Model” CMEs in Solar‐Wind Models Slow spheroidal CMEs produce much longer transit times to 1 AU than observed Wide spheroidal CMEs produce much faster speeds at 1 AU than observed Fixed-duration CMEs, which mimic observed CME e...

Looks like that fast CME is here already, about 2.5 hours before our predicted window.

Funnily enough, we've *just* worked out why fast CMEs are often earlier than predicted and will be rolling this into the forecast soon!

agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/...

Proposed NASA cuts to space science: “Staggering”

The WH proposes $6 billion cut in NASA budget, an overall 24% reduction from previous year – and a shocking 47% cut in funding for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate [reductions to to NASA’s fleet of spacecraft already in space, or proposed], an extinction-level event for the Earth & space sciences.

This Wrexham lad made good

There's a fast CME heading into some fast solar wind and some pre-existing slower CMEs. We're currently putting arrival at noon-to-midnight tomorrow, but this forecast may change as more observations become available.

Updates here: research.reading.ac.uk/met-spate/hu...

Please, please, please contact your representatives. Jobs like mine are on the line. 🔭🧪☄️

www.planetary.org/save-nasa-sc...

Sorry, I hope it doesn't go through like this. Any idea when everyone will know?

Not great.

Here's hoping this 'request' is ignored somewhat by congress. It tends to be for NASA, if memory serves, but things are different now, and I'm not sure how the NSF requests usually play out. It's important to be optimistic, but equally important to show that this is outrageous!

BREAKING: The president's budget request just hit Congress, which could usher in a dark age for NASA space science.
Congress has the final say, but you can help shape the outcome by adding your name to our global petition.
This is just the start of our fight.
Sign the petition: planet.ly/petition

The NASA planetary science fleet chart. It shows two spirals with missions to Moon/Mars and the Solar System. I’ve crossed off all of the missions that will be cancelled in the president’s budget… and there are a lot of them.

The NASA planetary science fleet chart if the president’s budget is enacted.

Is that the NASA allocation to Keck, NexSci?

Taking the mission cancellations alone: decades of engineering and scientific craft through millions of hours of work are at stake. The Juno spacecraft for example is the only active spacecraft at *any* outer planet, by any nation. Switching off that spacecraft is basically surrendering the frontier

The proposed NASA and NSF cuts feel like when ISIS destroyed the monuments of Palmyra with sledgehammers. These things not only pay for themselves, they return several dollars for every $1 spent. Kill the science, kill the spin-offs, startups, patents, talent pool and global influence.

Space research pays for itself, but inspires fewer people To say space research is a waste of money is wrong. For every US$1 put into US space agency, its citizens get US$10 as payback; in Japan and the European Union that amount is more than US$3. The growi...

You don't even like the additional money it generates? theconversation.com/space-resear....

The Presidents Budget Request for NASA is out. It’s a bloodbath

Canceled are DAVINCI, VERITAS, Juno, OSIRIS-APEX, US participation in ExoMars and EnVision…

Huge cut to R&A. No funding to begin development of the Uranus Orbiter.

If you’ve ever cared about NASA, time to contact congress.

NASA’s Perseverance Mars Rover Spotted a Northern Lights-Like Green Glow

NEW: Mars, like any world with an atmosphere, has aurora—but they’re ultraviolet, invisible to the human eye.

Scientists wondered if visible, green, aurora did exist though. And thanks to Percy the rover, they’ve finally seen them! 🤩

Me @nytimes.com www.nytimes.com/2025/05/14/s...

We’ve just had the largest #SolarFlare of 2025! Is the Sun waking up? Newly appeared active region AR 14087 has been very active today, producing an X2.7-class event (alongside two other M-class flares) in the past 12 hours. This region will rotate to face Earth in coming days.

The Moon at waxing gibbous phase on a dark background.

Waxing Gibbous Moon. 2002UT 7 May 2025. 🔭 🧪 🎨 #astrophotography #SciArt #photography #StormHour #ThePhotoHour