Niamh Shaw

Ireland has chance to go boldly as European Space Agency aims higher with record funding Revised National Space Strategy could decide whether we continue on a steady path or match the ambition Europe has now embraced

Out today in The Irish Times: a long conversation at IAC about ESA Strategy 2040, Ireland’s role as a member state, and how this moment fits into something much bigger than us. #space #irelandinspace
🔗 www.irishtimes.com/science/spac...

Love Mitch’s TikToks parodying the theatre world. Worked in ‘The Arts’ for about 10 years and it is ‘on.point’!! Cringeingly marvellous! Waving from Ireland, dahling!! 🇮🇪☘️

YouTube video by Dr. Niamh Shaw, Space Reporter and Adventurer Town Scientist 🎬 Family Space Day 2025

Curiosity doesn’t start with confidence.

It starts w belonging.

Thinking of the Young Scientists this week & the power of finding your people. 1986 was my year.

It’s where science cultures are built.

Community is the infrastructure. Here’s how I try to help with that.

youtu.be/jVp7IDPE2gA?...

YouTube video by Dr. Niamh Shaw, Space Reporter and Adventurer Why do the New Year Celebrations happen at different times across the world?

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! Ever wondered why New Year is celebrated at different times across the world? Why does it happen sooner in Australia than in Ireland?

Check out this video I made back during COVID which explains it all. youtu.be/SWNHhfUjyAw?fe… #NYE2026 #timezones #livingonearth

The Winter Solstice marks the shortest day and longest night - it’s the precise moment when the Sun reaches its lowest point before the light returns.

Why care?

Because it reminds us that pauses matter, and even at our darkest point, the direction has already changed. #wintersolstice

Day at ESO’s Paranal Observatory: VLT, desert light, a sea of clouds at sunset, and lasers in the night sky. Unreal. ✨
#ESO #VLT #AtacamaDesert

From baking meringues to meeting an ESA astronaut —
What a weekend!
Baking in Space came to Dublin & Dundalk, ending with a packed house and families in awe as @ESA astronaut Rosemary Coogan took the stage.
This is why we do what we do. 💫
#TownScientist #STEMForAll #ScienceWeek2025 #DreamBig

🌐 Tomorrow. 4.30pm-we’re LIVE from Antarctica.
Jac Madsen joins us from Antarctica to share what it’s like living at the edge of the world… where the climate crisis is unfolding in real time.

Part of #ScienceWeek Town Scientist

🔗 Webinar link bit.ly/3LVrI1n

#Antarctica #TownScientist #COP30

Who gets to go to space? Orthopaedic surgeon and former British paralympian John McFall was chosen for a bold experiment to see whether a lower-limb amputee could meet the demands of space flight

My latest piece in today’s Irish Times- @esa.int’s John McFall challenges who gets to go to space.

www.irishtimes.com/science/spac...

I was in Texas and can confirm that the birds responded to the darkness & thought it was bedtime for those 4.5mins under the Moons shadow!! A phenomenal experience to witness

Total solar eclipse triggers dawn behavior in birds: Insights from acoustic recordings and community science On 8 April 2024, a total solar eclipse disrupted light-dark cycles for North American birds during the lead-up to spring reproduction. Compiling more than 10,000 community observations and artificial ...

🌒 Eclipse confuses birds into dawn songs

During the 2024 total solar eclipse, over half of bird species briefly sang as if it were morning, revealing how light shifts shape behaviour.

🔗 doi.org/10.1126/scie...

#Birds #SciComm 🧪

From Arctic ice back to Dundalk 🌍
This Sunday (19 Oct, 12 p.m.) join me for a walk & talk honouring Dundalk’s own polar explorer, Leopold McClintock, and hear stories from my Arctic mission.
🎟️ Free via Eventbrite: www.eventbrite.ie/e/dundalk-mc...

A person wearing a blue flight suit with "W. Shatner" and "Blue Origin" written on it, standing with hands clasped in front of a plain brown background. The suit features a patch with "NS-18" and a logo.

On this day in 2021, William Shatner took part in the flight of Blue Origin NS-18 and became the oldest person to fly in space at 90 years 205 days. That record has since been surpassed. Shatner described experiencing the overview effect seeing the Earth from space.

Earlier this morning SpaceX completed the 11th test flight of the Starship mega rocket. A successful landing of the heavy rocket, deployment of test satellites & splashdown of the Starship rocket. A good mornings work by team SpaceX but the pressures on- all eyes on Lunar launches soon.

LAUNCH!!!
Starship Booster 15-3 and Ship 38 have launched on Flight 11, the final light of V2 of Starship and the last flight to launch from Pad 1 at Starbase.

With Flight 11 in the history books, the Pad 1 Chopsticks lower for the final time, as the sun sets on another day at Starbase, and this Era of the Starship program, with the deluge system giving Pad 1 a watery sendoff.
Launch livestream: www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bcp...

🚀It’s almost time to shape the next chapter of Europe’s journey in space.

The European Space Agency’s Council Meeting at Ministerial Level, known as #CM25, will take place in Bremen, Germany, on 26 and 27 November 2025.

Journalists register here 👉
www.esa.int/Newsroom/Pre...

Ramses: ESA’s mission to rendezvous with asteroid Apophis

Check out the new trailer for @esa.int's proposed Ramses mission! 🍿📽️

Ramses would escort the cruise-ship-sized asteroid Apophis through its safe but exceptionally rare flyby of Earth in 2029: www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed...

🚀 Just 2 sleeps till our Family Space Day in Dundalk!
So proud to bring this together with @researchireland.ie, Louth CoCo, Dundalk Credit Union, ABC & County Library.
If you’re in town Saturday, drop by — we’re full, but we’ll make ‘space’ for you! 🌌✨

The Poems of Seamus Heaney review – collected works reveal his colossal achievement The complete works, including previously unpublished poems and expert notes, are brought together in one volume for the first time

The Poems of Seamus Heaney review – collected works reveal his colossal achievement

As always, I hope Yuri Herrerra gets the nod. But either way it's a win.

Unless of course they follow last year's science winners' sweep and just award the literature prize to an LLM..

Watch Blue Origin launch its 15th space tourism mission on Oct. 8 - Canada News Beep Watch On

Watch Blue Origin launch its 15th space tourism mission on Oct. 8

https://www.newsbeep.com/ca/196683/

Watch live! Blue Origin to launch NS-36 crew to suborbital space – YouTube Watch On Blue Origin plans…

We’ve signed another Electron multi-launch agreement: three dedicated missions for Japan-based Institute for Q-shu Pioneers of Space, Inc. (@iQPS_Inc)!

This latest bulk buy brings the total number of upcoming missions for iQPS to seven.

More info: bit.ly/4o7a2hd

Captured between 10:43 and 10:59 CEST on 24 September, METimage’s very first image shows clouds connected with a cold weather front sweeping across central Europe and signs of convective storm activity developing over the Adriatic and central Mediterranean seas. High altitude, wispy cirrus clouds hint to potential turbulence over the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg, while thin aircraft contrails are clearly visible over cloud-free western Denmark. Where skies are clear, the Earth’s surface is revealed in fine detail: shimmering lakes can be seen in Türkiye, including the bright white salt flats of Lake Tuz, as well as the green landscapes of the Carpathians and Balkans, and Libya’s Waw an Namus volcanic caldera. Compared with AVHRR’s ~1 km resolution, METimage’s 500-metre view delivers about four times more detail, making it possible to pick out narrow cloud streets, thin valley fog and subtle coastal colour changes with far greater clarity.

🌎 🛰️ Check out the first data from the METimage instrument on board EUMETSAT's MetOp-SG-A1 satellite!

This advanced instrument observes clouds, land, sea and ice, providing key insights into weather forecasting, nowcasting, and climate monitoring. eumetsat.int/metimage-del...

📸 @eumetsat.int

☄️ 🔭 #3I/ATLAS comet update!

On 3 October, our ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) turned its eyes towards interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS as it passed close to Mars.

Read more: esa.int/Science_Expl...

Space Science Goes To Congress There's a big space space science thing on Capitol Hill today

Space Science Goes To Congress
nasawatch.com/activism/spa...

Big space space science thing on Capitol Hill today. Last minute media event. announced. So much for making sure that this whole save space science thing gets exposure. #NASA #NSF #SaveNASAScience #WorldSpaceWeek #WorldSpaceWeek2025

I love how you harvested that talk I gave- thanks for sharing!! Happy Space Week #spaceweek2025 👏🏻👏🏻

Back from #IAC2025 in Sydney — capturing the human stories shaping our future in space. My North Star is to bridge those rooms with the world beyond. Next stop: home to Dundalk for Family Space Day, Oct 11 — bringing space down to Earth. 🚀🌍 #SpaceWeek

Good morning from Sydney excellent public transport! After a short 33hr hop from Dublin, I’m excited to share the best space stories this week from IAC, the largest annual gathering of all the major space players, incl our very own @esa.int. Looking forward to the week ahead. #australia #iac2025

The capture is of a tree lined lane in the fog. The sun above casts a curious orange hue.

I don't know where my road is going,
but I know that I walk better when I hold your hand.
-Alfred de Musset

Friendships whatever form they take are everything, no?

Happy weekend friends💕

#BlueSkyArtShow #TheRoad #Bluesky #Photography #Nature #Quotes