Keith Smith

Call for applications: Editor-in-Chief, MNRAS The Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) is seeking to appoint a new Editor-in-Chief (EiC) of Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (MNRAS) to provide outst...

Reminder: ⌛ the deadline for applications to be the next Editor-in-Chief of MNRAS is 9th January 2026. Interested in applying? Find all you need to know here: ras.ac.uk/mnras-eic 🔭

Seeking greater independence, Europe boosts space agency budget X-ray observatory and mission to Saturn’s moon Enceladus win as ESA’s science program sees growth

Seeking greater independence, Europe boosts space agency budget | Science | AAAS 🔭🧪 @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

Curious gravitational wave may hint at primordial black holes—or just be noise Astronomers approach unusual observation with caution and excitement

It’s a long shot, but scientists may have spotted exotic primordial black holes formed just after the Big Bang. https://scim.ag/43QhxBD

I wrote a longer editor's summary of this paper than usual, for the #ScienceAdviser newsletter. Take a look if you'd like a popular-level explanation of how Hopp et al. determined where Theia came from. ☄️🧪 #planetsci
www.science.org/content/arti...

Did no-one tell the players that the Ashes are in Test format? Eng 172 all out, Aus 123-9, all in the first day.

‘This is censorship.’ Conference requires abstracts to comply with Trump anti-DEI order NASA-funded planetary science institute previously scrubbed hundreds of records from its archive

New from me for @science.org: A major planetary science conference will require submitted abstracts to comply with Trump's anti-DEI executive orders.

This conference, LPSC, is a big deal. It's been running since 1970 and is one of the biggest planetary science conferences out there. 🧪🔭

The Moon-forming impactor Theia originated from the inner Solar System The Moon formed from a giant impact of a planetary body, called Theia, with proto-Earth. It is unknown whether Theia formed in the inner or outer Solar System. We measured iron isotopes in lunar sampl...

A giant impact between proto-Earth and a planet called Theia produced the Moon. Hopp et al. use isotopic measurements of lunar samples and cosmochemical modelling to show that Theia formed in the inner Solar System, probably closer to the Sun than Earth. ☄️ #planetsci
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Editors have a really hard job, and the good ones can make something unreadable readable, and the great ones can make something unreadable into something good. But they're basically invisible, until someone tries to write without one.

Giant telescope project, long planned for Hawaii, gets cozy with Spain Spain’s €400 million offer could induce Thirty Meter Telescope to switch sites

Giant telescope project, long planned for Hawaii, gets cozy with Spain | Science | AAAS 🔭🧪 @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

Do you mean subscribe to Science or to MAUVE?

This paper is now available in final print format, with my editor's summary. #stellarastro #exoplanet ☄️
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

U.K. science sector is ‘bleeding to death,’ lawmakers say in report House of Lords committee urges government to stem exodus of science and technology companies

UK science and technology is suffering from a lack of investment, a hostile immigration system, and fragile university finances, reports @cathleenogrady.bsky.social 🧪 #scipolicy
www.science.org/content/arti...

Latest @theguardian.com cartoon
#BBC

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

🔭 ☄️ #instrumentation

Elon Musk is boosting the British right - and this shows how Elon Musk is boosting the British right - and this shows how

Vital piece of investigative reporting from Sky. They've uncovered the X algorithm which feeds users extremist right wing material from the moment they join the site. It is a far-right radicalisation engine, by design.

news.sky.com/story/the-x-...

No astronomy per se in this week's issue of @science.org, but there is a fascinating study by Pavia et al. that uses cosmic dust to trace sea ice coverage in the Arctic. 3He from micrometeorites records when the ocean was ice free, over the last 30,000 years. 🧪🌊
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Still from a time-lapse video of comet C/2025 A6 (Lemmon) by Michael Jäger and Gerald Rhemann. Shows the long wispy tail of the comet. The long exposure is marred by LEO satellites criss-crossing the image.

The horror of the night sky being destroyed by Starlink (and other LEO) satellites.

Still from time-lapse video of comet C/2025 A6 (Lemmon) by Michael Jäger and Gerald Rhemann.

Video at spaceweathergallery2.com/indiv_upload...
Cleaned up images at skyweek.wordpress.com/2025/10/
#Astronomy #Comet

In Other Journals Editors’ selections from the current scientific literature

Editor's choice: Some spiral galaxies have a central bar feature. How do those form? Ewa Łokas uses cosmological simulations to show that bars can form after a flyby encounter with another galaxy. ☄️ #extragalactic
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Image of NGC 5335 from esahubble.org/images/heic2...

‘The Good Will Out’ album by Embrace?

Argentina’s move to woo Trump has derailed South America’s largest radio telescope U.S.-Chinese tensions have left nearly complete observatory in limbo, jeopardizing research into pulsars and other celestial objects

Construction of the 40-m China-Argentina Radio Telescope (CART) has halted, when already 90% complete.

The facility is caught up in Argentine president Javier Milei's attempt to secure an economic aid package from the US, which objects to China's involvement. 🔭
www.science.org/content/arti...

🚨Important announcement🚨

The @royalastrosoc.bsky.social is seeking to appoint a new Editor-in-Chief of Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society to provide outstanding leadership to the Journal and its Editorial Board. 🔭🪐

Want to find out more or apply?👇
ras.ac.uk/mnras-eic

Ancient origin of an urban underground mosquito Understanding how life is adapting to urban environments represents an important challenge in evolutionary biology. In this work, we investigate a widely cited example of urban adaptation, Culex pipie...

A new genetic study in Science overturns the myth of the “London Underground Mosquito,” revealing that this common urban insect originated not below the cities of modern Europe, but in ancient Mediterranean civilizations more than a thousand years ago. https://scim.ag/43xWovB

‘Green open access’ means the authors’ accepted manuscript is publicly available, without needing a subscription or membership. See
open-access.network/en/informati...

The authors choose which repository to put it on; popular choices include arXiv and PubMed Central.

Interstellar visitors: Smoking and nonsmoking As a third interstellar visitor, the comet 3I/ATLAS, has entered the Solar System, there is a huge community effort underway to study it.

In @science.org Expert Voices, @e-astronomer.bsky.social discusses the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS, which is currently passing through the Solar System. Where did it come from, and why is it exciting?
Spoiler: it’s not aliens.
☄️ #planetsci
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

(There is an *optional* colour printing fee for authors, but that can be avoided by providing black & white figures. There are waivers for authors in developing countries. If authors choose to pay, it works out as less than the cost of a typical paper in major astronomy journals ApJ, MNRAS etc.)

A reminder that @science.org is a learned society journal, owned & published by the non-profit @aaas.org. It's green open access, with no article processing fees for authors - compatible with all major funder mandates. All subscription revenue is reinvested in science, not paid to shareholders.
🔭⚛️🧪

☄️ #planetsci

Economics Nobel celebrates researchers who showed how science and technology drive growth Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion, and Peter Howitt explained why the last two centuries have seen sustained economic growth rather than stagnation

This year’s Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences has gone to three researchers who revealed how innovation drives economic growth. https://scim.ag/4745XUd

A US startup plans to deliver ‘sunlight on demand’ after dark. Can it work – and would we want it to? Satellites beaming sunlight down to Earth sound like science fiction – and they have astronomers very worried.

Do we really want 250,000 mirrored satellites in Low Earth Orbit? Hasn't the Starlink megaconstellation already done enough damage?
🧪 @mjibrown.bsky.social

How can we tell what's inside an #exoplanet? @timlichtenberg.bsky.social et al review how a planet's atmosphere interacts with its interior. Atmospheric observations can distinguish between lava worlds, water worlds, temperate surfaces or supercritical interiors. ☄️
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...