The FCC just opened public comments on SpaceX's plan to launch a million satellites to do AI compute in space. Under the current proposal, an environmental review won't be required. Please consider submitting a public comment to oppose this damaging plan.
darksky.org/news/two-sat...
oh! good luck!
lasair.lsst.ac.uk Rubin alerts are now flooding in ! Millions of them. Get them here #astronomy
Another giant passed. I will line up some calming droney music for my day www.theguardian.com/music/2026/f...
Atmospheric pollution from falling SpaceX debris. Nice write up, with quote from yours truly squeezed in at end www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
keep pushing
Annoyingly LLMs etc are called "generative AI" because they make apparently new sentences or pictures. But all they do is re-assemble the world's online content. You could have done that given more time. It is trad machine learning that has the prospect of genuine novelty and insight
We urgently need public friendly terms that separate Machine Learning from LLMs etc, which these days all just get called "AI". The AI industry is conflating the two for greenwashing purposes www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
excellent shop window, Glasgow Southside.
Looks like a gravity dominated cosmological simulation. Find myself wondering what the power spectrum of initial fluctuations was.
spot on Professor Rice
More on catastrophic cuts to UK astronomy & particle physics. Costs of facilities & international subscriptions go up so grants line and individual projects are cut. If the Government is serious about backing science & technology, they need to fix this. www.space.com/astronomy/uk...
this letter is very well written, with all the right points... pure research is not just a diversion, it is an enabling infrastructure
Understood. Which makes Chapman's answers at the Parliamentary committee ("there are no cuts, just STFC coping with its increased costs") a little disingenuous
good advice John. And “political pressure” should involve *both* public awareness and behind the scenes information gathering and manoeuvring
That is worrying. So maybe more of a cunning strategy than a daft cockup.
Excellent guest post on Telescoper's blog about the UK astronomy funding crisis, by George Efstathiou. I added a comment. The core problem is "STFC governance structure" - we are being squeezed by being in bed with the national labs #astronomy telescoper.blog/2026/02/06/t...
Bad. I used to consult this everytime I travelled somewhere new… Maybe MI6 can step up :(
sigh
#astronomy UK funding panic: reading Chapman UKRI open letter its clear what we have is the classic stuff "overheating" problem. So the issue is where the course-correction hits: facilities, projects or grants? Where has the problem been *caused*? www.ukri.org/news/open-le...
My sea rower wife @emmalawrence.bsky.social has pointed out that spring tide lags the full moon by a day or two. I feel like I should know why… basic #astronomy
Crazier than ever! The Royal Astronomical Society has a “satellite constellation working group” and we will certainly be looking at this @royalastrosoc.bsky.social @robertmassey.bsky.social
Hamnet. Now the film is doing it all again
Just realised you can daisy chain XLR cables. Made my day. Don’t mock me. I’m new at the recording game
eek
The Jolly is great but stop telling people. Busy enough as it is
New Board of Peace shaping up nicely
An excellent summary by @startswithabang.bsky.social about the horror that is Reflect Orbital #astronomy Been out for a while but only just spotted it! bigthink.com/starts-with-...
Wait what you were an ionospheric physicist in them days? Many years ago I must have read your CV but don't remember this
Good luck Jonathan. One day in the distant future archaeologists will treasure the few remaining Smithsonian timesheets, desperately interpreting their smudged marks (or digital equivalent)
