Sera Markoff

⭐️✨🔭The ASPIRE 2026 summer astronomy research programme runs Jun 15th-Aug 7th, with applications due 17 Dec! Please help us get the message out! apply at: aspire.science.uva.nl! [2/2]

⭐️🔭Applications open at Anton Pannekoek Institute in Amsterdam for the 7th ASPIRE program: aspire.science.uva.nl. This 2026 summer school provides astronomy research experience for talented MSc students from countries where opportunities to move into a PhD program are limited. [1/2]

On the way up to #ALMA around 4000m we had to make way for one of the two massive telescope dish transporters, “Otto”. It weighs 130 tons and can lift 110 ton telescope dishes to reconfigure the array! 🔭🧪

Photo of woman with hat and oxygen tube under nose in front of stunning desert landscape with an array of white telescope dishes spread out behind. In the background the iconic Licancabur volcano in the background.

Photo of a desert landscape with white telescope dishes scattered across the plane, with the Licancabur volcano cone looming over

Close up of the APEX single dish telescope with spikey sheets of ice in vertical formation in front and a dramatic sky behind.

Photo of three guanacos, a type of Andes camelid related to alpacas and llamas, with cute black faces and tan hides, on a scrubby plain with valley in background.

An unbelievable privilege and experience today visiting the world leading #ALmA telescope at 5000m in Chile! 🧪🔭 Plus we saw some local fauna!

Yes! We are wearing oxygen tanks and get to walk around out there next 🎉

My first ever view of the amazing #ALMA telescope 🧪🔭 at 5000m in Chile, that forms the core of the @ehtelescope.bsky.social!

(or tbh no government which is what we keep having...) 😅

Yes it's not resounding but to me it's a better outcome than what I feared in terms of ruling party, since as we've seen both here and the US the ruling party does make a big difference

Oh I didn’t say it was black and white but at least it’s a setback for the far right and shows it’s not inevitable.

Woke up to some unexpected good news today in the Netherlands: the centre-left party D66 won over the far right who were the lead party last election. Big sigh of relief. Also means: don’t listen to the polls.

HURRICANE EMERGENCY: Save lives with your gift now Hurricane Melissa is hitting the Caribbean as an extremely dangerous Category 5 storm. This is the strongest storm seen anywhere in the world this year and the 5th strongest ever in the Atlantic. Fami...

Hey all if you feel like helping ppl make ends meet post Hurricane Melissa, a Jamaican friend suggested this group is reliable
donate.wfpusa.org/page/Hurrica...

Dear Sir Oswald, Thank you for your letter and for your enclosures. I have given some thought to our recent correspondence. It is always difficult to decide on how to respond to people whose ethos is so alien and, in fact, repellent to one's own. It is not that I take exception to the general points made by you but that every ounce of my energy has been devoted to an active opposition to cruel bigotry, compulsive violence, and the sadistic persecution which has characterised the philosophy and practice of fascism. I feel obliged to say that the emotional universes we inhabit are so distinct, and in deepest ways opposed, that nothing fruitful or sincere could ever emerge from association between us. I should like you to understand the intensity of this conviction on my part. It is not out of any attempt to be rude that I say this but because of all that I value in human experience and human achievement. Yours sincerely, Bertrand Russell

A letter from the age of truth. Bertrand Russell to Oswald Mosley. We need more of this in our public discourse. Call vile ideologies and the people who peddle them out for who and what they are.

Photo of fluffy orange cat lying sideways facing camera, belly fluff softly lit, front paws extended and looking a bit plaintive.

End of a long #caturday here

This ‘extra credit’ also awards people who put themselves first instead of eg promoting the careers of their students and junior collaborators. 🧪

We cannot wait! 🖖🤘

🔤EHT A–Z
We’re breaking down the science behind the Event Horizon Telescope - one letter at a time.

📡 J is for Jet
Black holes can launch powerful streams of particles moving at nearly the speed of light - we call these jets.

Just look at the striking one in M87!

#blackholes #EHTAZ #astronomy

3 colour illustration/visualisation of a talk about black holes. There is a drawing of a woman in a jacket holding open an interstellar like black hole that says "What will an 'activated'" black hole look like? Surrounding this drawing is a dynamic panorama of text and images relating to quotes and questions from the talk like "Black holes spend most of their time being rather harmless..." with cartoons of adorable little black holes with arms and legs being cute, and eating (with text "...until they get hungry!").

Just one week until the @mayodarkskies.bsky.social festival! I'm excited to give a public talk, but also to see @paraphrasestudio.bsky.social again. Rae achieves the impossible by making insane visualisations of talks in real time! 🔭🧪Here's the one she made during my #blackhole talk back in 2022:

Martin Rees opens the event and many talks by astronomers! But geared towards the public.

Wait a minute.

Why aren't we celebrating the hundredth anniversary of Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin's dissertation.

There’s a three day celebration being held at Cambridge in December hosted by her college!

Starting Grants 2026 applications: Facts and figures The ERC Starting Grants 2026 call closed for applications on 14 October 2025. These are the preliminary data on submitted proposals:

📈 Record interest in ERC Starting Grants 2026!

4,807 proposals - a 22% increase compared to last year’s call.

👩‍🔬 Women submitted nearly 43% of proposals - the highest share ever recorded in an ERC call.

More stats 👉 bit.ly/4hcYJln

#ChooseEurope

Photo of orange fluffy cat in profile with one back leg stuck in the air, as if caught in the act

Leg up on a #caturday night

Ah thanks for posting Detlef! It's too bad you can't see that I'm drinking one of your famous homebrews in that picture 🍺 😀

It’s starting!! @spacerocksofficial.bsky.social stage at #ESAOpenDay with mission update by ESA DG, Joseph Aschbachen. 🧪🔭 We’re up next!

COME SEE US AT THE ESTEC OPEN DAY — Space Rocks The ESTEC Open Day in the Netherlands isn’t far away, and we’re incredibly proud to be returning to host the Space Rocks stage on Sunday with a programme that’s guaranteed to bring space down to Earth...

Gearing up to channel my inner goth for the "Dark Side of the Universe" panel at tomorrows #ESAOpenDay, on the Space Rocks stage, together with JWST scientist Mark McCaughrean and EUCLID project scientist Valeria Pettorino! 🧪🔭

www.spacerocksofficial.com/news/come-se...

Fluffy orange cat lying belly up on a wooden floor, looking at the camera, with a bit of a twist so she can drape he arms over some house slippers.

Bandida has a serious foot fetish. Caught in the act on a lazy #caturday.

I’m excited to be part of this event for #ESAOpenDay tomorrow, also celebrating their 50th bday! And I def need a photo op with the alien egg!

... For a snapshot of the awesome weekend ahead, hit the link below, and may the force be with you.
www.spacerocksofficial.com/news/come-se...

We’re hard at work prepping for the ESTEC Open Days this weekend. As @esa.int celebrates its 50th, come see the Creative Space near the Space Rocks stage in Escape on Sunday to see a concept for long-term deep space travel...

I love it.