Lord Dover

Planetary scientist Michele Dougherty made UK’s first female astronomer royal Physicist who worked on Nasa Cassini mission ‘absolutely delighted’ after being awarded 350-year-old title A planetary scientist whose research revealed the possibility of extraterrestrial life on one of Saturn’s moons has been made the first female astronomer royal. Prof Michele Dougherty, a leading space physicist who was a researcher for the Nasa Cassini mission, has been awarded the 350-year-old honorary title. Continue reading...

Planetary scientist Michele Dougherty made UK’s first female astronomer royal

I always found it weird that these guys used to own IDL.

All the files are on my old computer, but I’ll take a look at digging it out and publishing it somewhere!

Might be time to revive this 🔭

#subpost

"What if this spacecraft in Jupiter orbit magically had four more tons of hydrazine" is not something to be taken seriously by anyone.

I was just about to post about this, but evidently you spotted it first!

A clear case of “I am an expert on everything” syndrome.

Comet Interceptor is now on Bluesky!! ☄️🚀🛰️

Petition: Repeal the Online Safety Act We want the Government to repeal the Online Safety act.

These petitions don’t seem to achieve much, but it’s still worth a shot.

If you’re trying to work out why: the Online Safety Act is stupid.

A graph showing interest against time, for the past seven days. There is a sharp spike in the past 24 hours.

Google searches for “VPN” in the UK:

The weirdest thing about this astronomer thing is how the astronomical community keeps thinking “wait do we know him?”

@ianbetteridge.com’s law now extends to astrophysics pre-prints

Amplifying the call from Marc Delcroix and co. over the weekend: the team are looking to verify/refute a potential impact on #Saturn on July 5th, 09:00-09:15UT. Videos taken by amateur observers at that time might hold the key. This 📸 credit: Mario Rana

pvol2.ehu.eus/pvol2/news/v...

For any asteroid observers who have not heard about it already:

Newly-discovered #A11pl3Z is a candidate interstellar object.

cneos.jpl.nasa.gov/scout/#/obje...

WHAT

A sprawling, textured field of galaxies scattered across the deep black of space. It is filled with the delicate smudges and glowing cores of galaxies of many shapes, sizes and colors, as well as the bright multi-colored points of stars. The image focuses on a collection of interacting galaxies connected by delicate streams of stars. At top center lies a large elliptical galaxy that is dense and smooth, like a polished stone glowing with golden light. Like delicate spider silk or stretched taffy, these stellar bridges link the large elliptical to the few larger galaxies beneath, evidence of past collisions. All throughout the image, thousands of galaxies gather in clusters or are spread throughout, like glittering gems strewn on a table. Some are sharp-edged and spiral, like coiled ribbons; others round and diffuse, like polished pebbles. Still others are just smudges of various colors against the black of space. The background is peppered with pinpoint stars in reds, yellows, and blues, crisp against the velvet black.

A cosmic tapestry of glowing tan and pink gas clouds with dark dust lanes. In the upper right, the Trifid Nebula resembles a small flower in space. Its soft, pinkish gas petals are surrounded by blue gas, and streaked with dark, finger-like veins of dust that divide it into three parts. It radiates a gentle, misty glow, diffuse and soft like the warmth of breath on a cold hand. To the lower left, the much larger Lagoon Nebula stretches wide like a churning sea of magenta gas, with bright blue, knotted clumps sprinkled throughout where new stars are born. Both nebulae are embedded in a soft tan backdrop of gas that is brighter on the left than on the right, etched with dark tendrils of dust and sprinkled with the pinpricks of millions of stars.

A sprawling, textured field of galaxies scattered across the deep black of space. It is filled with the delicate smudges and glowing cores of galaxies of many shapes, sizes and colors, as well as the bright multi-colored points of stars. To the lower left is a region filled with the hundreds of golden glittering gems of a distant galaxy cluster. In the foreground, below and right of center, two blue spiral galaxies look like eyes beneath the entangled mass of a triple galaxy merger in the upper right. A few bright blue points of foreground stars pierce the glittering tapestry. All throughout the image, thousands of galaxies gather in clusters or are spread throughout, like glittering gems strewn on a table. Some are sharp-edged and spiral, like coiled ribbons; others round and diffuse, like polished pebbles. Still others are just smudges of various colors against the black of space. The background is peppered with pinpoint stars in reds, yellows, and blues, crisp against the velvet black.

Introducing...your sneak peek at the cosmos captured by NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory!

Can you guess these regions of sky?

This is just a small peek...join us at 11am US EDT for your full First Look at how Rubin will #CaptureTheCosmos! 🔭🧪

#RubinFirstLook
ls.st/rubin-first-look-livestream

I wouldn’t recommend it!

I drank 1.2 L of iced coffee the day I submitted my thesis 😂

Nope. I agree these guys aren’t appropriately dressed or displaying ID clearly enough, if they are legitimate agents. We’re on the same side here.

I was just pointing out the story is inconsistent. It’s important to be accurate, lest we undermine the point we’re trying to make.

I know. I was just pointing out that the article has an inaccuracy, which is important because the far right will jump on that sort of thing to try and discredit the whole thing.

Don’t want to undermine the story, but the article says they weren’t displaying badges. They’re clearly visible in the photo.

The command or the Trump? 😅

\texttt{} for Tiffany Trump

Good point

Everyone else can see the face in the middle, right…?

I can’t believe this meme from 2018 is relevant again

Scunthorpe problem - Wikipedia

This phenomenon has a name:

Ever wondered what the rain sounds like inside one of our steel 🔭 domes?