Dr Tara Hayden

This is figure 2, which shows field photographs of rocks on the flanks of the North Pole Dome.

Shatter cones in rocks in the Pilbara craton, in Western Australia, provide evidence for oldest known impact crater on Earth, which struck 3.5 billion years ago, according to a paper in Nature Communications. https://go.nature.com/3DrWafY ⚒️ 🧪

This makes it all worth it! Proud of my group at #LPSC2025 😀 MSc students Lauren & Mack; PhD students Ananya, Axel & Jack, and postdoc Tara @westernu.bsky.social

I ran "head first" into that joke 🤣

Happy International Women's Day 2025!
This last year was at some points extremely challenging, yet it was also marked with incredible opportunity and unforgettable experiences. Reflecting back, I am proud to have been resilient through the hardships to enjoy the opportunities! ⭐

We're at a crossroads in planetary science, and now really is the the right time to think about new ways to do what we do.

That's why I'm holding a meeting at 12:00 pm in Creekside Park at LPSC on Wednesday, March 12 to talk about setting up a new professional society.

I hope to see you there!

So pleased to finally be able to share what we did during our #ArtemisIII geology training in November 2024! Virtual reality simulations will be vital in our return to the Moon. See if you can spot me in the photo of the Artemis III Geology Team below!

Check it out: science.nasa.gov/uncategorize...

How NASA is Using Virtual Reality to Prepare for Science on Moon - NASA Science The Artemis III Geology Team, led by principal investigator Dr. Brett Denevi of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland,

Great to be able to finally share what our #ArtemisIII Science Team got up to at NASA JSC last November!

science.nasa.gov/uncategorize...

Missions, meteorites, and moons - GEOSCIENTIST Planetary geoscience is a vast and growing field, with research that spans from the core to atmosphere of different planetary bodies and through billions of years of history. Rapid advances in technol...

Read Marissa's, Ana's and my ponderings on the @geolsoc.bsky.social GeoFutures: Planetary Geoscience conference in November. Lovely to see the community come together and a fantastic opportunity to hear about some really cool space and mission science! 🚀 🌌 🛰️ ☄️

geoscientist.online/sections/une...

A mystery upon a mystery, this is great!

Sundials having IIII makes a lot more sense when considering Ancient Egyptian numerals, though it would be interesting to know if/why this would have been adopted when using Roman numerals for clocks.

a man in a tuxedo and suspenders is holding a baton and says science ALT: a man in a tuxedo and suspenders is holding a baton and says science

In any case, this is why I love being a scientist. Focusing on the seemingly smallest (and not obvious!) detail, exploring the reasons behind it, and expanding my overall knowledge (along with those around me, this made for fun lunchtime conversation!)

Why Do Clocks and Watches Use the Roman Numeral IIII Instead of IV? – The Watch Pages Have you noticed that almost all clocks and watches with Roman numerals on the dial use IIII instead of IV? Here’s why.

A number of other theories have been cited to explain why some clocks have IIII in place of IV. Check out this cool summary :

www.thewatchpages.com/why-do-clock...

a man in a red sweater is sitting in a chair with a book ALT: a man in a red sweater is sitting in a chair with a book

Theory 3: Ease of Reading. In the middle ages where education was not as commonplace for the majority of the population, IIII as the literal number 4 (due to the number of lines) may have been used to respect everyone regardless of educational background.

a man in a red shirt is surrounded by clocks and says you wanna buy a sundial ALT: a man in a red shirt is surrounded by clocks and says you wanna buy a sundial

Theory 2: Mythology/Deity Reverence. The Roman God Jupiter was represented in Latin as IVPPITER. Romans avoided the use of IV on clocks or sundials so as to not insult the Gods.

a black and white photo of a clock with the word aliyas on the bottom right ALT: a black and white photo of a clock with the word aliyas on the bottom right

Theory 1: Aesthetics. IIII looks more visually pleasing. Clocks were once considered a luxury and a centrepiece, where the appearance of the clock would be more important than accuracy.

Looking into this, we have found several theories for why IIII is used in place of IV, and I thought these would be cool to share:

Now I was thoroughly confused. After confirming the Roman numeral for 4 is indeed IV, I discussed this weird observation with friends. They had never noticed this on these clocks either.

You can see in the photo, 4 is represented by IIII as opposed to IV (the standard roman numeral for 4). I thought it was odd but as the bus moved on, so did I. Until I saw it on a second clock the next street over.

On my way home from work the other day I glanced out of the bus window and looked at the clock outside a local market. Something struck me that I had never noticed before looking at this clock: it had roman numerals but the number 4 didn't look quite right. 🧵

A group of ducks looking up at the sky as the meteor passes over, creating a green glow over them.

did anyone else forget that the ducks witnessing a meteor happened this year

Reflecting on an amazing week at NASA Johnson Space Center at #Artemis III science team training. Immersive experiences like this really put into perspective what we are all working so hard towards - the exciting moment Artemis astronauts set foot on the Moon once again!

Allow me to introduce myself on here! I'm a planetary scientist/astronomer at the University of Reading (UK), researching Jupiter & Saturn. I've worked at JAXA, NASA, Boston Uni and Uni of Leicester. On the side, I create space animations to share the wonders of our corner of the universe, such as:

To accompany this #PlanetaryScience starter pack, I make this guide to 12 Types of Planetary Science Papers!!! Based on the original #XKCD comic

Enjoy!

Detection of apatite in ferroan anorthosite indicative of a volatile-rich early lunar crust - Nature Astronomy This Article provides evidence for apatite in a ferroan anorthosite clast in a lunar meteorite, allowing direct measurement of the volatile systematics of the primary products of the lunar magma ocean...

If you'd like to learn more about me, please check out my research! I published the first paper from my PhD earlier this year in Nature Astronomy 🌠 Focused on the discovery of apatite in a fragment of lunar crustal material and looking at water in early lunar history!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

This marks my first post on BlueSky - I'm Tara, a Postdoctoral Researcher working on lunar geoscience! I love what I've been able to participate in since the beginning of my PhD, this community is wonderful and exciting to be a part of 😊⭐