Andy Newsam

Initial conditions:
m1=13.2 m2=12.9 m3=133.7 (solar masses)
v1x=-1.187 v1y=2.544 v2x=-5.123 v2y=-4.347 v3x=-6.976 v3y=-0.785 (km/s)
x1=7.0 y1=21.0 x2=30.0 y2=21.0 x3=11.0 y3=-15.0 (AU from center)
Music: Nocturne in C-Sharp Minor (Posthumous) – Chopin

28.07.2025 06:20 — 👍 79    🔁 14    💬 5    📌 7

..is trying to think of a suitable way to celebrate todays (rare) #PythagoreanDay (24^2 + 7^2 = 25^2)...

24.07.2025 15:31 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

A pizza on a plate. The pizza is cheese-less but with mushrooms and nasturtium flowers and a piece of vegan "slice" in the middle cut into the shape of the letter π.

This year for π-approximation day, I am πgging-out on a πece of πzza.

22.07.2025 18:11 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Looking forward to chatting tomorrow. We have another special guest as well - the medical physicist Dr Harold Stockdale.

17.07.2025 11:52 — 👍 0    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0

a timelapse photo of stars circling around a dragon tree

ZWO Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2025 has just released its shortlist of remarkable images for this year’s competition. See them now:

www.thisiscolossal.com/2025/07/zwo-...

08.07.2025 20:17 — 👍 46    🔁 15    💬 0    📌 2

Name our Storms

The Met Office is currently looking for people to suggest up to 5 names for storms...

It would be great if thousands all suggested the same 5 names (in alphabetical order as that's how storm names appear):
BigOil, BP, Equinor, Exxon, Shell.

www.metoffice.gov.uk/forms/name-o...

25.06.2025 13:58 — 👍 115    🔁 43    💬 8    📌 2

two life-size wire sculptures of deer in a museum exhibition

a detail of a life-size wire sculpture of a wolf

From a simple material, Kendra Haste brings us face-to-face with wild animals. “I try to capture the living, breathing model in a static 3D form and convey its emotional essence without slipping into sentimentality or anthropomorphism," she says.

www.thisiscolossal.com/2025/06/kend...

24.06.2025 15:58 — 👍 30    🔁 4    💬 0    📌 0

‘Get ready to sweat!’ The animal mega-marathon stampeding from the Congo to the Arctic Why is a huge pack of puppet animals, from tiny monkeys to towering elephants, making a 20,000km cross-planet odyssey? As The Herds nears the UK, our writer spends a week as an antelope to find out

"We need to rewild nature, but we also need to rewild our imagination, rewild our political systems.”
www.theguardian.com/stage/2025/j...

23.06.2025 07:50 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

In the foreground, a brass Orrery with lots of cogs and model planets showing. The orrery sits on a cloth with constellations and stars marked. Behind the orrery are two people, the closer wearing glasses, and further one who is too out-of-focus to see clearly.

Excellent conversations on Friday with guest scientist Steve and his beautiful #Orrery.
#QuestionOfTheMonth - How did they know that the planets moved like the Orrery?

22.06.2025 10:14 — 👍 1    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0

Auctioneum Ltd - East Bristol & Bath | THE MUSEUM OF ELECTRICITY - POWERING THE PAST - BATH - TIMED Bid Live at Auctioneum Ltd - East Bristol & Bath's THE MUSEUM OF ELECTRICITY - POWERING THE PAST - BATH - TIMED auction

The former Museum Of Electricity are auctioning off some of their collection: www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auctio...
So many lovely things, so little self-control ;-)
#Auction #MuseumOfElectricity #WantNotNeed

22.06.2025 07:21 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Deputy VC slipping on a wet floor

We have discovered overnight that our new £400k Smart Window™ system at Kent Campus opens automatically to the sound of thunder.

A clean up operation is currently underway.

14.06.2025 06:21 — 👍 16    🔁 4    💬 1    📌 0