Mark McCaughrean

https://mastodon.social/@markmccaughrean

Adjunct scientist, Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Heidelberg / Former Senior Advisor for Science & Exploration at the European Space Agency / JWST Science Working Group Interdisciplinary Scientist / Co-founder Space Rocks / New worlds ahead / Opinions very much own   

Now living in a hilly part of Germany & very much missing regular cycling with the wide horizons & big skies of The Netherlands 😢🚴‍♂️

Personal website: http://www.markmccaughrean.net
Space Rocks: http://www.spacerocksofficial.com
111 Places in Space book: https://emons-verlag.de/p/111-places-in-space-that-you-must-not-miss-7517

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Last Notes

2026-05-01 19:35:18 GMT

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The other fly is an old favourite, one of the most common syrphid hoverflies.
It's a female thick-legged hoverfly (Syritta pipiens). In German, it's the Kleine Mistbiene, which hints at its other name in English, the compost hoverfly.
The thick and spiky thighs are easy to see in these pictures.
#Heidelberg 🏰
#Photography 📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️
#BugOfTheDay 🐞
#MacroPhotography 🔬
#InsectsOfMastodon 🪰
#BackGardenEntomology 🦋
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/500/951/189/247/278/original/05dfc97265e7d999.jpg
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2026-05-01 19:20:52 GMT

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This is also a sawfly, albeit not quite as cooperative photographically – I only managed this one shot.
It's in genus Athalia, the gloriously-named tigress sawflies: in particular, I think it's a bugle tigress (Athalia cordata). It doesn't have a specific name in German, but would be called a Pflanzenwespe.
#Heidelberg 🏰
#Photography 📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️
#BugOfTheDay 🐞
#MacroPhotography 🔬
#InsectsOfMastodon 🪰
#BackGardenEntomology 🦋
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/500/913/577/670/004/original/49fc6040be7c92c9.jpg

2026-04-25 14:22:38 GMT

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And at the other end of the spectrum of acceptable photographic quality, there's this beast, briefly-glimpsed while flitting around at high speed.
But as it's a completely new species for me, I'm claiming it – I think it's a broad-bordered bee hawkmoth (Hemaris fuciformis; 🇩🇪 Hummelschwärmer).
The overall colouration seems right 👍
#Heidelberg 🏰
#Photography 📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️
#BugOfTheDay 🐞
#MacroPhotography 🔬
#InsectsOfMastodon 🪰
#BackGardenEntomology 🪲
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/465/777/709/144/477/original/665f120bd9db006e.jpg

2026-04-25 14:07:59 GMT

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On a much smaller scale, but a lot more actively running around the garden, this green cucumber spider (Araniella cucurbitina; 🇩🇪 Kürbisspinne) was also kind enough to take a moment out of its busy day to pose 🙂
#Heidelberg 🏰
#Photography 📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️
#BugOfTheDay 🐞
#MacroPhotography 🔬
#ArachnidsOfMastodon 🕷️
#BackGardenEntomology 🪲
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/465/718/771/586/694/original/52a0c55bedf87b55.jpg
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2026-04-19 14:50:24 GMT

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Oh, you're good – I didn't spot that coming at all 🙇‍♂️🙂

2026-04-11 12:55:05 GMT

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A second, another favourite – a bee fly.
These mimic their namesakes, with their fuzzy bodies, but also hover in front of flowers like hummingbirds.
From the wing markings, this is likely a Greater Bee Fly (Bombylius major; 🇩🇪 Großer Wollschwebe), & while they're normally much ruddier, apparently this light colour is sign that it's very young.
#Heidelberg 🏰
#Photography 📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️
#BugOfTheDay 🐞
#MacroPhotography 🔬
#InsectsOfMastodon 🪰
#BackGardenEntomology 🪲
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/386/162/108/537/317/original/c14d40372f16d8dd.jpg
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2026-04-11 12:45:55 GMT

It's happening so fast 😱
More sunshine, warmth, & action.
Starting with Her Killer Highness, the goldenrod crab spider (Misumena vatia; 🇩🇪 Veränderliche Krabbenspinne).
I didn't expect to see adults this early & by the looks of it, neither did this drone fly when it landed on this tulip 😬
You can tell why they're also called "flower spiders" 🌷
#Heidelberg 🏰
#Photography 📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️
#BugOfTheDay 🐞
#MacroPhotography 🔬
#ArachnidsOfMastodon 🕷️
#BackGardenEntomology 🪲
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/386/119/605/124/147/original/c92295f0b42b5604.jpg
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2026-04-04 09:17:59 GMT

As I suspected, media are getting very confused about that #Artemis II Earth image, thanks to NASA’s poor original captioning.
This BBC article shows it as “Hello, world” without knowing / noting that it’s the dark side, illuminated by moonlight.
Then lower in the article it says NASA later released another image, this time showing Earth in near complete darkness with city lights.
Folks, it’s the same image, just differently processed 🙄
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce8jzr423p9o

2026-04-03 09:46:26 GMT

Yet another #Artemis II article (from a French press agency, no less) ignoring that propulsion, power, & life support to the Orion capsule is provided by ESA’s European Service Module.
Built in Bremen by Airbus, with parts from all over Europe, e.g. solar wings made in Leiden.
Also no mention of the fact that the ESM’s for the Moon-landing Artemis IV & V missions are to be supplied as part of ESA’s contribution to the Lunar Gateway.
Which NASA cancelled last week.
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/apr/03/artemis-ii-astronauts-rocket-towards-the-moon-after-breaking-free-of-earths-orbit

2026-04-01 22:50:43 GMT

Despite my many concerns & reservations, I can’t deny that this is a very cool image.
See? That’s how they get you 🤷‍♂️😬
#ArtemisII
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/331/889/202/082/172/original/e37600a4c06cbf1b.jpeg

2026-03-30 18:19:25 GMT

So, fans of space & LEGO (surely a strong overlap in the Venn diagram):
Matt Taylor, project scientist for ESA's Rosetta comet mission, tells me there's a proposed model of Rosetta & Philae on LEGO IDEAS, based on how they looked in the cartoon films we made in 2013-2016 🛰️☄️
It needs community support for a chance of official LEGO adoption, so do your thing (you need to create an account but it only takes a minute).
Please boost 👍
#RosettaLegacy
https://beta.ideas.lego.com/product-ideas/affb6092-91aa-4de9-9ceb-21d3926dc283

2026-03-24 14:44:18 GMT

Is it a beetle or is it a fly? 🧐
Hard to tell from a distance, but close up, it becomes obvious that Camarota curvipennis (Krummflügelige Halmfliege in 🇩🇪) is a fly, but one that wraps its wings around its bum in order to deceive.
Tiny little fellows, just 2-3mm in size, so hard to get super-crisp photos, at least handheld with my gear. But you get the idea 🙂👍
#Heidelberg 🏰
#Photography 📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️
#BugOfTheDay 🐞
#MacroPhotography 🔬
#InsectsOfMastodon 🪰
#BackGardenEntomology 🪲
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/284/669/027/631/498/original/23de48b834a0d3d1.jpg
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2026-03-23 15:03:09 GMT

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Now something that's definitely not new – a male Helina evecta fly. Decent pictures though.
#Heidelberg 🏰
#Photography 📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️
#BugOfTheDay 🐞
#MacroPhotography 🔬
#InsectsOfMastodon 🪰
#BackGardenEntomology 🪲
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/279/081/729/178/886/original/260682662d4978ff.jpg
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2026-03-13 22:29:19 GMT

Coming up soon: the 40th anniversary of the ESA Giotto probe’s flyby of Comet 1P/Halley, with closest approach at 00:03:02 UTC on 14 March 1986.
Giotto flew within 596 km of the comet at a relative velocity of ~250,000 km/h, so it was all over quickly, but remarkable views of the 14.5 km long dark icy monster were had.
Albeit not this composite made later by Nick Thomas on the Giotto team.
What happened as images streamed back to live TV is another story 😬✌️
Who remembers that night?
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/224/200/924/312/671/original/2adbbfc46339353d.jpeg

2026-03-05 17:19:38 GMT

A couple more sightings from the garden today, as the warmer, sunnier weather slowly brings more arthropods out 🌞
First, a bee sunning itself. Perhaps a mason bee (genus Osmia) or another mining bee (genus Andrena), although I don't think it's A. fulva, as I saw earlier – it doesn't look ruddy enough 🤨
If you have any thoughts, please let me know 👍
#Heidelberg 🏰
#Photography 📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️
#BugOfTheDay 🐞
#MacroPhotography 🔬
#InsectsOfMastodon 🪳
#BackGardenEntomology 🪲
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/177/706/696/153/174/original/f100e39add35a455.jpg

2026-02-27 19:12:48 GMT

Re: the newly reshuffled Artemis programme, here's the official NASA graphic laying out the architecture for missions II, III, IV, and beyond.
I suggest you hang upside down before trying to decipher it, to avoid a nose bleed 🙃
And no signs of any ESA logos anywhere, which is interesting, because they're already on the real Orion & ESM.
#Space #SpaceExploration
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/144/161/315/605/709/original/0acc5c1f2c94c6b2.jpeg

2026-02-26 16:19:23 GMT

Also enjoying the sunshine up at 570 metres at [@mpi_astro](https://wisskomm.social/@mpi_astro ) on the Königstuhl, this small beetle.
Likely a flea beetle (genus Psylliodes) thanks to its chunky thighs, but am not sure beyond that.
Possibly P. napi given overall similarities or P. chrysocephela, which is common, but both are associated with Brassicaceae, of which there aren't many atop this mountain 🤨
#Heidelberg 🏰
#Photography 📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️
#BugOfTheDay 🐞
#MacroPhotography 🔬
#InsectsOfMastodon 🪳
#BackGardenEntomology 🪲
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/137/830/190/697/352/original/114a2e9f8148f59a.jpg

2026-02-10 13:30:02 GMT

The good: a story in today’s @npub13yw…wwpf confirming the cancellation of the INNA project that endangered the pristine observing conditions of telescopes on Paranal & Armazones in Chile 👍
The bad: a final sentence that confuses two completely separate topics in astronomy, illustrating that we still have some way to with our messaging to journalists 🤷‍♂️
Or maybe ESO’s has some further magic up its sleeve for the ELT? 😉
#Science #Astronomy #SciComm
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/10/project-cancelled-chile-worlds-clearest-skies
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/046/560/293/796/002/original/3694f21a89114e40.jpeg

2026-02-07 15:50:58 GMT

Late afternoon sunshine brought out some small black flies to warm themselves 🌞
The three-spotted one is a cereal fly (Geomyza tripunctata; Glänzende Schwingfliege in 🇩🇪), & the single-spotted one is a lesser dung fly (Sepsis fulgens; Glänzende Schwingfliege in 🇩🇪).
I'm sure I'll get better pictures of both later in the year, but these will do for February 🤷‍♂️
#Heidelberg 🏰
#Photography 📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️
#BugOfTheDay 🐞
#MacroPhotography 🔬
#InsectsOfMastodon 🪳
#BackGardenEntomology 🪲
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/030/103/686/853/547/original/c626a4aed145697d.jpg
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2026-01-29 12:32:02 GMT

Enter the Dragon 🐉🥋
Here it is – my new JWST image of the young protostellar outflow system in Cassiopeia called HH288, aka The Dragon Jet.
We discovered it in the 1990s & the NASA/ESA/CSA JWST reveals stunning new detail, including several new jets crossing the main dragon 🙂👍
This is a 4K version – you can view & download the full 12K image here: https://www.flickr.com/gp/markmccaughrean/944q5814f8
For more coverage, see this by @npub1yn8…2vcu at: https://www.iflscience.com/dragon-jet-erupts-from-baby-stars-in-stunning-new-jwst-image-82374
#Space #SpaceScience #Astronomy #Photography
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2026-01-28 14:15:44 GMT

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That must have been quite shocking.
Indeed, if I recall correctly, many school children were watching the launch live, as Christa McAuliffe was on-board, to be the first teacher in space.
Very traumatic, I expect.

2026-01-24 12:00:04 GMT

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I originally discovered HH288 in 1991 using a telescope on Kitt Peak in Arizona. Follow-up observations included this image in the H2 line, taken from Calar Alto in Spain in 1996.
We also conducted millimetre observations of the jet from Plateau de Bure in France & the Sierra Nevada range in Spain, showing that there are at least two massive outflows.
You can read the 2001 paper I wrote with Frédéric Gueth & Peter Schilke here:
https://scixplorer.org/abs/2001A%26A...375.1018G/abstract

2026-01-24 11:55:19 GMT

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To give a little more background information, the picture above is a colourised monochrome image of HH288 taken in the 2.12 micron wavelength line of shocked molecular hydrogen.
This is a classic tracer of outflows & jets from very young, embedded protostars, including HH211 & HH212, other jets we discovered in the 90s.
But The Dragon Jet appears to be associated with a significantly more massive protostar, or more's the point, protostars – there are several outflows here in fact.

2026-01-01 11:31:54 GMT

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To be clear, the seemingly unrestricted nature of New Year’s Eve fireworks here in Germany can be problematic too, as elsewhere in Europe. I remember the utter mayhem in the streets of Berlin on New Year’s Eve 1999 😬
But in my 15 years living in NL, lobbing fireworks around carelessly tapped into that particular Dutch attitude of “I’ll do whatever the frak I like”, also evident during the pandemic in some people’s behaviour.
Still, there’s much good about the country that I miss 😘🇳🇱

2026-01-01 11:22:11 GMT

There’s a lot I miss about living in The Netherlands, but not their wilfully irresponsible attitude to New Year’s Eve fireworks.
The destruction of the Vondelkerk in Amsterdam, other fires, two deaths, & violence last night are consequences of that.
A legal ban on the general public buying anything beyond sparklers & indoor fireworks will likely be in place this time next year.
But the carnage will probably continue with fireworks smuggled in from Germany 🙄
https://www.rte.ie/news/europe/2026/0101/1551088-amsterdam-fire/

2025-12-25 09:53:07 GMT

Happy #JWST Launch Day Fourth Anniversary, everyone 🚀🛰️🔭✨
Oh, & the other thing too 🎅🏻🙂
#Science #SpaceScience #Ariane5 #Astronomy #Photography #NASA #ESA #CSA #SpaceRocks
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/115/779/575/213/485/199/original/b3d45fca96b156cc.jpeg

2025-12-21 12:58:55 GMT

Just a reminder, folks – northern winter solstice is at 16:03 CET / 15:03 UTC today, the moment at which Earth’s North Pole is maximally tilted away from the Sun 🌞🌍
That makes today the shortest day of the year in the northern hemisphere, so I need to get out on the bike asap 😬👍
Tell you what – take a picture at the exact moment of the solstice wherever you are & let’s see what you see 🙂🖖🤘
This is my view right now 👇
#WinterSolstice #WinterSonnenwende #Photography
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/115/757/668/341/198/038/original/38da646b0942fd07.jpeg

2025-12-20 13:57:41 GMT

Weekend update for folk interested in image processing & open source software – the second GIMP 3.2 release candidate is out.
Like RC1, RC2 features one of my JWST images as the splash screen, this time the short-wavelength infrared view of the inner Orion Nebula & Trapezium Cluster.
The original image is 21,000 pixels wide, & GIMP + G'MIC were key in preparing it. And I'm working on a new JWST image with GIMP's help now – you'll see it in 2026 🙂👍
#GIMP #OpenSource #Photography #Science
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/115/752/230/060/312/753/original/808e41e9140ebcad.jpg

2025-12-16 21:32:15 GMT

The Main Control Room at ESA’s European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt today 🛰️
This room sees launches, landings, mission sims, & more, & has been the scene of some of the greatest days in ESA’s history (& mine).
The spacecraft the MCR talks to are in, err, space 🤷‍♂️, but several have siblings at ESOC, engineering models with the same electronics & software, used to test procedures before uplinking to the real thing.
A few pictures below 👇
#Space #SpaceScience #Photography
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/115/731/370/200/614/053/original/6c61eba23ba8c540.jpeg

2025-12-10 14:04:37 GMT

I’ve travelled to the US more than a hundred times for work, lived there for five years, & was a Green Card holder.
I always found it to be a fascinating & often beautiful country, & one that can achieve astonishing things.
And despite being a mess of contradictions, including many aspects that I personally disagree with, it always felt self-confident enough to allow discussion & debate about those issues.
No more, it seems, so I doubt I’ll be going there again.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1dz0g2ykpeo

2025-12-04 13:24:58 GMT

I've been using the open source image processing tool, GIMP, as part of my work for many years 👍
So it was an honour to be asked to create a splash screen for the latest version release candidate, GIMP-3.2RC1 🙇‍♂️
Thanks to Jehan, GIMP project maintainer, & David Tschumperlé, project manager for the G'MIC plugins, for the conversations that led to the invitation 👏
And yes, the main release GIMP-3.2 will feature another of my JWST images (you can probably guess which 😉).
https://www.gimp.org/news/2025/11/17/gimp-3-2-RC1-released/
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/115/661/507/568/035/182/original/c80d447fba59fe1d.jpg

2025-12-03 19:03:55 GMT

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Here are the links to Meredith's opinion piece and Nature's podcast, for further background.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-03725-x
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-03968-8
There's a pretty scary visualisation by Alejandro Borlaff in Meredith's piece showing what ESA's future ARRAKIHS mission would see in a single wide-field exposure if all currently proposed LEO constellations containing 560,000 satellites (!) actually get built. I've added screenshots here.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/115/657/182/932/778/910/original/b34f174cfb3b0aa4.jpg
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/115/657/183/340/312/864/original/8fbb72ccaaa3b5db.jpg

2025-12-03 18:53:13 GMT

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For today's paper by Borlaff et al., Nature have also published a news article by Jenna Ahart, as well as podcast & a News & Views opinion piece by Meredith Rawls.
I'm quoted at the end of Jenna's piece, but as it's behind a paywall, you may not be able to see what I said, so I'll add it below.
You won't be at all surprised to discover that I'm very pessimistic about this issue, seeing it as part of a wider picture of environmental over-exploitation & collapse.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-03953-1
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/115/657/132/914/468/427/original/1982d67965efa15f.jpg

2025-12-03 18:43:23 GMT

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That paper was preceded by another I was involved in led by Andy Lawrence, with many other astronomers including @npub1dgc…cla4 & @npub1qu9…8ycg, focusing on the wider environmental impacts of the the goldrush to monetise low-Earth orbit with massive constellations of wifi routers.
Also published in Nature Astronomy in 2022:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-022-01655-6

2025-12-03 18:38:59 GMT

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While the effect of megaconstellation comms sats on ground-based astronomy has been discussed extensively, the fact that some space telescopes are also affected has had less coverage.
This new paper extends work that I did with Sandor Kruk & a nice group of ESA summer students, assessing satellite trails seen in images taken by Hubble as a function of time – the number rose sharply after Starlink started to be launched.
That was published in Nature Astronomy in 2023:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-023-01903-3

2025-12-03 18:32:36 GMT

Another canary in the collapsing coalmine.
A paper today in Nature by Borlaff et al. on the impact of ever-increasing numbers of satellites in low-Earth orbit on space telescopes like Hubble, SPHEREx, & CHEOPS today, & Xuntian & ARRAKIHS in the future.
The number of proposed satellites is eye-watering, & the effects on astronomy horrendous – there are wider effects on pollution of the upper atmosphere & safety of key orbital assets as well.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09759-5
#Science #SpaceScience

2025-12-03 11:21:08 GMT

Another sign of anthropogenic #climatechange unravelling our ecosystems.
Iron & other heavy metals are leaching out of the melting permafrost in Alaska & elsewhere in the Arctic & high mountains as they warm.
This turns the rivers red, acidifies them, pollutes the water, & breaks the food chain.
Deposits of metals that have taken millions of years to form disperse into the environment – the process is irreversible on human timescales.
We’re so frakked.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/alaska-orange-rivers-rusting

2025-11-20 20:46:43 GMT

#OTD 30 years ago, 20 November 1995, Bob O'Dell & I released these Hubble images of protoplanetary disks around young stars, seen as silhouettes against the bright background of the Orion Nebula ✨🔭
Given the beautiful disk images made since with Hubble, SPHERE, GPI, ALMA, JWST, & other instruments, it's hard to imagine that some eminent astronomers at the time didn't believe that disks like these existed 🤨
These pictures changed everything 🥳
Tempus fugit, indeed 😳
https://science.nasa.gov/asset/hubble/planetary-systems-in-the-making-dust-and-gas-disks-around-young-stars-in-orion-nebula/
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/115/583/907/862/445/483/original/5b17bd35d26b6fd9.jpg
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/115/583/908/391/824/713/original/902dbdf356fa5164.jpg

2025-11-16 17:03:44 GMT

Autumnal weather for this afternoon’s 54km ride – cooler temperatures, somewhat overcast, & lots of leaves on the bike paths, thankfully mostly dry 🍂
Back home just in time to avoid the road up the hill to our house being blocked by the annual St Martin’s day parade – lots of children carrying lanterns, reminding me of when our kids were young in Berlin 👦👧
(Yes, St Martin’s Day is 11 November, but the Ziegelhausen parade is today.)
#CyclingLife 🚴‍♂️
#Heidelberg 🏰
#Photography 📷
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/115/560/449/483/152/347/original/6df165234eba9d0a.jpeg

2025-11-07 14:57:49 GMT

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That said, there are some insects, hence this bonus picture, albeit not a new species.
This is likely a wood gnat in the Sylvicola genus, & from the body & wing colouration, perhaps S. fenestralis, the window gnat (Fenstermücken in 🇩🇪).
#Heidelberg 🏰
#Photography 📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️
#BugOfTheDay 🐞
#MacroPhotography 🔬
#InsectsOfMastodon 🕷️
#BackGardenEntomology 🪲
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/115/508/993/972/525/298/original/c0fd3fbab206539a.jpg

2025-11-07 14:49:58 GMT

Harder & harder to find insects in the garden as we move deeper into November, but there are a few spiders out there 🍂
Although only spotted briefly, the big white stripe down the back & the speckled abdomen of this one suggests it's likely a common forest wolf spider (Pardosa lugubris).
iNaturalist lists P. lugubris both as a single species & as a complex of species.
#Heidelberg 🏰
#Photography 📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️
#BugOfTheDay 🐞
#MacroPhotography 🔬
#ArachnidsOfMastodon 🕷️
#BackGardenEntomology 🪲
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/115/508/957/936/584/890/original/3883515db327fca6.jpg

2025-11-01 16:27:06 GMT

Tigger (2010–2025)
It has been a week since he left this world, eight months since he was diagnosed with an inoperable tumour, & fifteen years since he became a cherished part of our family.
The raw grief at watching him slip away at the vet's has subsided a little, although I'm in tears again as I write this.
He was loved by us all, a beautiful presence, & the fount of much laughter & quiet comfort.
I can't believe that he's gone.
Ad astra, my beloved boy 😿✨
#Caturday
#CatsOfMastodon
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/115/475/311/635/558/920/original/d3c9b918f0ddbf2a.jpg

2025-10-05 19:59:21 GMT

Capitalism – the great con game wrought by those who rake in billions & billions by claiming they make people’s lives better while the only winners are them 🤑
Well worth reading this piece by @npub1fdr…lvhs on “enshittification” & in particular deep pile of ordure that Amazon has buried us all in 💩
Cory’s thesis is almost entirely vindicated by the pompous & deliberately obfuscational response by Amazon at the end 🙄
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/oct/05/way-past-its-prime-how-did-amazon-get-so-rubbish

2025-09-15 14:02:01 GMT

Absolutely incredible – this guy 🙇‍♂️
Mondo Duplantis clears yet another new world record pole vault height, 6.30m, with his last attempt at the World Athletics Championship in Tokyo 🇯🇵
Worth remembering that he has broken this record 14 times since 2020 – the current men’s long jump, high jump, & triple jump world records were all set in the 1990s.
We are seeing one of the true legends of athletics making history 👏
#MondoDuplantis #WorldAthleticsChampionships
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/115/208/663/590/102/662/original/3a0e4e618ffea9e7.jpeg

2025-09-06 11:39:15 GMT

This extract from Jonathan Freedland’s new book “The Traitors Circle” is a chilling read.
And it asks a question that is arguably more relevant today in the western world than it has been for eighty years.
How far are you or will you be willing to go to resist the authoritarian fascists in or rising to power in so many countries?
History teaches us that the answer for the great majority is “not enough” or even “not at all”.
And that is beyond chilling.
#NeverAgain
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/sep/06/astonishing-story-german-rebels-defied-nazis-jonathan-freedland-the-traitors-circle

2025-09-05 16:08:22 GMT

After the rains, out came the sunshine, & the insects with it 🌞🐝
Here's something new: a common tachnid (Tachina fera; Igelfliege in 🇩🇪).
I only managed to get one quick shot before it flew off, but I think it shows enough detail to classify it as T. fera rather than T. ferox, which I photographed earlier in the summer.
#Heidelberg 🏰
#Photography 📷
#BugOfTheDay 🐞
#MacroPhotography 🔬
#InsectsOfMastodon 🦗
#BackGardenEntomology 🪲
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/115/152/546/375/182/191/original/df79c8e8e597f9c2.jpg

2025-08-30 17:15:56 GMT

For obvious reasons, this fellow is known as a thick-legged hoverfly (Syritta pipiens; Gemeine Keulenschwebfliege or Kleine Mistbiene in 🇩🇪).
Apparently one of the most common members of the Syrphidae family, originally from Europe but now found across Eurasia & North America).
And yet it's the first time I've knowingly seen & photographed one 🤷‍♂️
#Heidelberg 🏰
#Photography 📷
#BugOfTheDay 🐞
#MacroPhotography 🔬
#InsectsOfMastodon 🦗
#BackGardenEntomology 🪲
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/115/118/827/625/180/027/original/755ff4bfe410720a.jpg

2025-08-29 12:43:59 GMT

I love jumping spiders – their huge eyes & engaging behaviour always makes them look curious about the world around them 🧐
Which they probably are 🙂
This fellow was tiny, about 3mm in size, & showing lovely iridescence in the sun 🌈
Not 100% sure, but I think it's a woodland jumping spider (Evarcha falcata; Bunte Sichelspringer in 🇩🇪). If you have a better ID, please let me know 👍
#Heidelberg 🏰
#Photography 📷
#BugOfTheDay 🐞
#MacroPhotography 🔬
#ArachnidsOfMastodon 🕷️
#BackGardenEntomology 🪲
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/115/112/098/741/982/867/original/91142171d8c3d099.jpg
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/115/112/099/066/778/228/original/a25f5eefef228e78.jpg
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/115/112/099/352/867/972/original/a92ed9b9eae256c6.jpg

2025-08-23 13:05:55 GMT

Unfortunately not a new species in the garden, but pretty all the same, so worth sharing 🤷‍♂️
This is a privet leafhopper (Fiberiella florii; Südliche Strauchzirpe in German).
This a focus stack of six macro pictures – the leafhopper was very still, making it possible to use the tripod.
#Heidelberg 🏰
#Photography 📷
#BugOfTheDay 🐞
#MacroPhotography 🔬
#InsectsOfMastodon 🦗
#BackGardenEntomology 🪲
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/115/078/211/010/220/630/original/0db0a4675da63497.jpg

2025-08-17 09:44:54 GMT

The world is not black and white.
Feel free to make your own metaphor.
#Photography 📷
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/115/043/417/893/554/342/original/073abe6df438ddf1.jpeg

2025-08-12 17:19:19 GMT

Why you shouldn't use AI-derived "facts" for anything serious, part 5912.
The galactic coordinates of the Orion Nebula are l~209º, b~-19º.
That puts it in the third galactic quadrant: the four quadrants are l=0–90º, 90–180º, 180–270º, & 270–360º.
Wikipedia has this correct, & yet Google's AI, citing that very source, says "nope, it's in the second galactic quadrant."
Just imagine how many actually important things this software is fucking up daily with its fake authoritativeness 🙄
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/115/016/918/607/067/440/original/6cd795655b00f3f3.jpg
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/115/016/919/402/406/165/original/5215818571c26fb5.jpg

2025-08-08 22:15:56 GMT

Ad astra, Jim Lovell ✨
I've been lucky enough to meet & work with four of the Apollo astronauts still with us, namely Aldrin, Haise, Duke, & Scott.
Along with Schmitt, they are the last men remaining who went to the Moon.
A feat that grows more distant & yet more remarkable by the day.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cl7y8zq5xpno

2025-08-04 18:16:27 GMT

In addition to the larger & more exotic species in the garden, I've also been trying to capture decent shots of some of the many smaller insects.
Frankly, they're irritating because they move fast & often run away from the camera 😡
But I will persevere ... 🤷‍♂️
In the meantime, here's a female German scorpionfly (Panorpa germanica), showing a hint of her huge beak.
#Heidelberg 🏰
#Photography 📷
#BugOfTheDay 🐞
#MacroPhotography 🔬
#InsectsOfMastodon 🦗
#BackGardenEntomology 🪲
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/971/854/841/011/511/original/20e9db56775936c0.jpg

2025-07-27 11:00:12 GMT

Coming soon to a valley near you. Or me 😬
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/924/839/344/585/663/original/fd7f78130ed0b4a0.jpeg

2025-07-18 18:44:46 GMT

Bokeh overload 😻
I thought about cropping this picture more tightly on the bee ... for about a nanosecond 🤪
For once, more is more, framing the bee against the lovely creamy background of the trees beyond our garden in the sunset golden hour 🌞
It's likely a carder bee, although the species evades me – we have lots in many colours & sizes, & I'm constantly flummoxed when trying to ID them 🤷‍♂️
#Photography 📷
#BugOfTheDay 🪰
#MacroPhotography 🔬
#InsectsOfMastodon 🕸️
#BackGardenEntomology 🪲
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/875/700/584/706/548/original/139d94e78108b9a8.jpg

2025-07-12 13:04:38 GMT

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And although this picture of another carpenter bee is nothing like as crisp overall, I can't resist sharing it too.
Not only does it illustrate the wings in their full metallic violet-blue glory, but it also captures a fleeting moment of garden drama, as a small spider crawls on the bee's head & a honey bee cruises in from behind.
It just goes to show how big the carpenter bees are 🙀
#Photography 📷
#BugOfTheDay 🪰
#MacroPhotography 🔬
#InsectsOfMastodon 🕸️
#BackGardenEntomology 🪲
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/840/396/603/476/525/original/babf144b33e30716.jpg

2025-07-12 12:58:58 GMT

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Since photographing these bees, I've learned that it's very difficult to differentiate between the violet carpenter bee (Xylocopa violacea) & the splay-footed one (X. valga), hence the fuzzy ID here.
And I should point out that this is a macro stack of two shots, one for the in-focus antennae, & the other for everything else.

2025-07-12 12:56:16 GMT

The huge carpenter bees in the garden (genus Xylocopa) continue to fascinate me, & this is one of my favourite pictures to date 🙂👍
It shows the subtle dichotomy of the gorgeous wing colouring – a bright metallic violet-blue in reflection & a deep crimson in transmission ❤️
The light dusting of yellow pollen offsets the otherwise dark head & body nicely 🙇‍♂️
#Photography 📷
#BugOfTheDay 🪰
#MacroPhotography 🔬
#InsectsOfMastodon 🕸️
#BackGardenEntomology 🪲
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/840/345/461/836/358/original/dece472f11284676.jpg

2025-07-11 18:11:31 GMT

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That said, I did manage a couple of half-decent pictures of some of the many bees of various species feeding on the lavender.
I think this is a red-tailed bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius), which looks lighter than normal thanks to the strong back illumination from the sun.
#Insects 🐝
#Photography 📷
#BugOfTheDay 🪰
#MacroPhotography 🔬
#BackGardenEntomology 🪲
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/835/941/641/431/604/original/5e8b14655a9ba1cd.jpg

2025-07-11 18:02:44 GMT

When all else fails, you can always rely on the Queen of the Lavender Bush, Misumena Vatia, to put on a show 🙂🙇‍♂️
Captured just before the sun set over the hills across the valley, our goldenrod crab spider seemed to be readying herself for an evening feast 😬
#Arachnids 🕸️
#Photography 📷
#BugOfTheDay 🪰
#MacroPhotography 🔬
#BackGardenEntomology 🪲
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/835/887/520/118/432/original/02519c3d64132692.jpg

2025-07-09 12:23:44 GMT

A different bug in a different environment.
Up at my current home institute [@mpi_astro](https://wisskomm.social/@mpi_astro ) in the forest above Heidelberg, the wasp-mimic colours of this spotted longhorn beetle (Rutpela maculata) caught my eye as it landed on a flower 🪲🌼
Known in German as the Gefleckter Schmalbok 🇩🇪
They spend most of their 2-3 year lives as larvae & just 2-4 weeks as adults like this one.
#Insects 🪳
#Photography 📷
#BugOfTheDay 🪰
#MacroPhotography 🔬
#BackGardenEntomology 🪲
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/823/230/179/875/358/original/8febfe47cab798f6.jpeg

2025-06-30 17:54:27 GMT

Another hot, busy day is coming to an end for this pollen-dusted carpenter bee 🌞🥵🐝
I'm not even going to try & guess whether it's a violet carpenter (Xylocopa violacea) or a splay-footed one (X. valga), but either way, I'm always happy to see these beautiful bees 🙂
#Insects 🪳
#Photography 📷
#BugOfTheDay 🪰
#MacroPhotography 🔬
#BackGardenEntomology 🪲
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/773/589/916/800/886/original/ae66e46bb830cfd0.jpg

2025-06-28 21:14:27 GMT

I don't take many macro photos of bees – they're big & fuzzy, so hard to get much depth of focus, & they dash around madly, making it hard to grab a sharp picture 😬
And when it comes to huge carpenter bees, I also get nervous, scared I'm going to fluff the moment before they bomb off next door 🙀
Still, these shots of (I think) a pollen-covered female splay-footed carpenter (Xylocopa valga) aren't horrible 🙂🤷‍♂️
#Insects 🪳
#Photography 📷
#BugOfTheDay 🪰
#MacroPhotography 🔬
#BackGardenEntomology 🪲
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/763/041/716/321/646/original/d59199f1c0babf56.jpg
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/763/041/996/717/690/original/85eebd987fd91b74.jpg

2025-06-24 18:30:56 GMT

Seems to be the day for capturing hoverflies, this time one doing exactly what it says on the tin 🚁🪰
It’s a different species to the one I photographed earlier & is likely a male marmalade hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus).
#Insects 🪳
#Photography 📷
#BugOfTheDay 🪰
#MacroPhotography 🔬
#BackGardenEntomology 🪲
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/739/756/703/690/032/original/649dbc61d6f709d7.jpg

2025-06-22 17:27:23 GMT

The heat of the afternoon seems to have either scared the insects into hiding, or made them hyperactive & impossible to photograph 🤷‍♂️
So here instead is a daylily (of the Crimson Pirate variety, I think) from a cooler time earlier in the day, before the sun bleached all the colours 🌈
#Photography 📷
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/728/175/371/938/926/original/d1c684e17ffc645b.jpg

2025-06-22 14:48:06 GMT

Hot pictures for a hot afternoon 🥵
Most of the images in my book, "111 Places in Space That You Must Not Miss", came from space agencies & observatories, as well as talented archive image processors & amateur astronomers, most released with CC licences.
But I made quite a few too, also processing archival data, from my JWST observations, or from my back garden.
I've made them all available with CC BY-SA licences here:
https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjCbdAn
#SpaceScience
#111PlacesInSpace
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/727/553/323/392/694/original/e3527cfe4ca23fac.png

2025-06-21 16:37:27 GMT

A fly having its moment in the sunshine spotlight on this summer solstice day 🌞
#Insects 🪳
#Photography 📷
#BugOfTheDay 🪰
#MacroPhotography 🔬
#BackGardenEntomology 🪲
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/722/324/057/157/317/original/b5699ec703649664.jpg

2025-06-16 20:06:20 GMT

Set the controls for the heart of the sun 😎
After lots of rain & stifling heat, this evening was sunny & cooler, proving perfect for a 46km ride, out until just after sunset 👍
#CyclingLife 🚴‍♂️
#Photography 📷
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2025-06-11 23:32:46 GMT

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The images released today from Solar Orbiter were taken at an angle of 15°, roughly double that available due to the Sun’s obliquity. So not the first, but much better.
And with further Venus flybys, Solar Orbiter will move further out of the ecliptic, & will end up seeing the Sun from an angle of 33° inclined to the poles.
That’s a game changer – the foreshortening effect will be greatly reduced & we’ll finally have a better insight into what’s happening at the Sun’s poles.
Expect surprises.

2025-06-11 23:29:25 GMT

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Apologies for the delay in continuing this thread – Mastodon went doolally for a while.
Anyway, to reiterate: other missions including PROBA-2 *have* imaged the Sun’s poles before, thanks to the axial tilt or obliquity of the Sun.
But those images have always been at a very shallow grazing angle & that makes it hard to get a good handle on what’s happening at the poles.

2025-06-11 21:48:29 GMT

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Regardless of how it happened, the Sun’s 7.25° obliquity is a reality. And that means that as Earth & its spacecraft orbit around the Sun, we can indeed see both poles at different times six months apart, albeit at a glancing angle of just 7.25° at best.
That greatly foreshortens things & gives a distorted view, but nevertheless, you *can* see the Sun’s poles from Earth.
Indeed, ESA even issued a PR about its PROBA-2 mission having done so in 2018 🙂
https://www.esa.int/About_Us/ESAC/An_artificial_Proba-2_view_of_the_solar_north_pole

2025-06-11 21:43:41 GMT

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One theory is that the Sun and its planetary system were born in a dense cluster. As the stars move around, they can encounter the each other & their gravity works perturbs each other.
If the Sun had a close flyby from another star out of plane, then that may have warped the protoplanetary disk, changing its angle relative to the young Sun’s rotation axis.

2025-06-11 21:41:15 GMT

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In fact, the Sun’s rotation axis is tilted by 7.25° with respect to perpendicular to the ecliptic – this is known as the Sun’s obliquity.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axial_tilt
Quite why this is remains a mystery, as it doesn’t fit the picture of planets forming from a disk of gas & dust rotating around a young protostar: angular momentum considerations would suggest the star’s rotation axis would be perpendicular to the disk where the planets are made.

2025-06-11 21:37:25 GMT

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All prior solar missions with cameras such as SolarMax, SOHO, SDO, & PROBA-2 have been in orbits close to Earth and thus the ecliptic – this is the plane in which Earth orbits the Sun.
If you make the reasonable assumption that the Sun’s rotation axis is perpendicular to the ecliptic, then you wouldn’t be able to see the Sun’s poles from a spacecraft in the ecliptic.
However, that assumption would be wrong.

2025-06-11 21:33:27 GMT

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Now for a starter, we’re going to ignore the ESA/NASA Ulysses mission (1990-2009), which used a huge gravity assist at Jupiter in 1992 to lift it completely out of the ecliptic. It then orbited far above the Sun’s north and south poles.
But it didn’t have cameras on-board, so couldn’t take images. It rather measured particles and magnetic fields in the solar wind.
The mission ended shortly after I arrived at ESA.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulysses_(spacecraft)

2025-06-11 21:29:01 GMT

I’m enjoying all the coverage the ESA/NASA Solar Orbiter mission is getting today for its first images of the Sun’s poles 🌞🛰️
This is a key part of the mission, using Venus gravity assists to lift the spacecraft out of the ecliptic plane where it can look down (or up 😬) on the poles. The physics there is expected to be very interesting 🤨
However, the pedant in me feels compelled to point out that these are not first *ever* images of the poles 😬
Let me explain.
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2025/jun/11/suns-south-pole-revealed-for-first-time-in-images-from-solar-orbiter-spacecraft

2025-06-09 11:06:17 GMT

Smart enough as a species to alter our entire planet.
Smart enough too to realise that doing so poses us existential danger.
But not smart enough to act decisively on the warning signs.
And dumb enough to fall for the lies of those who would simultaneously deny & exploit the crisis.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jun/09/sea-acidity-ecosystems-ocean-acidification-planetary-health-scientists
#ClimateCrisis

2025-06-04 21:41:57 GMT

“Hey, you-hoo: why did you put that stupid window there for me to fly into?!”
This owl seemed a little shocked after hitting the living room window, which is three floors up, just now, but after a few moments on the windowsill, it seemed ok & flew away 🦉
#BirdsOfMastodon 🕊️
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/627/260/644/063/499/original/d6b23b10b65e6d31.jpeg

2025-05-24 14:22:35 GMT

Bonus #BugOfTheDay before I go out cycling.
A German scorpionfly (Panorpa germanica). This one is a female, with a rather small tail – the male of the species has a very scary looking appendage down there 🙀
And both have a huge schnozzle upfront, not seen from this angle 🤥
Quite the garden monster 😈
#Photography 📷
#BugOfTheDay 🪰
#InsectsOfMastodon 🦗
#BackGardenEntomology 🪲
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/563/248/940/774/852/original/7ec13188508c9201.jpg

2025-05-24 13:49:47 GMT

Our garden is on a steep slope & I take most of my pictures standing on steps.
That makes it awkward to use a tripod when taking macro shots.
In turn, that means I use fast speeds & an open aperture , making it hard to focus accurately & to get a nice depth of field.
That said, this image of a charmingly-named marmalade hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus) has some redeeming qualities 🤷‍♂️
Plus, I'm reflected in its thorax 😉
#Photography 📷
#BugOfTheDay 🪰
#InsectsOfMastodon 🦗
#BackGardenEntomology 🪲
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/563/117/822/589/820/original/564288ce5cf2dfd2.jpg

2025-05-20 10:14:19 GMT

The door is closed – there is no going back.
We now live in a world where anthropogenic climate change is driving a significant, increasing, & unstoppable rise in sea levels.
The oceans may not fall again until the next ice age.
The question is whether we’re willing to act with urgency to slow the catastrophic impacts on humankind & the biosphere we utterly depend on.
Given current global political trends, arguably also driven in part by climate change, I doubt it.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/may/20/sea-level-rise-migration

2025-05-13 09:51:22 GMT

I’m sorry.
As much as I want to love Deutsche Bahn, who were very efficient when I last lived in Germany twenty years ago, they’ve been run into the ground by appalling (govt) mismanagement & lack of investment.
Am trying to get to Frankfurt Airport & my first train to Mannheim broke in Heidelberg. So I’ve missed my ICE connection there.
Good job I built in an extra hour, knowing how bad DB have become. Every single journey I make with them has a problem somewhere.
<rant mode off>

2025-04-29 11:30:57 GMT

There are days when the clamour of the eight billion people on this planet becomes overwhelming – so many voices, opinions, successes, needs, desires, failures, & tragedies, so many cries for attention & for help.
It can be hard to process.
Sometimes you need to tune it all out to avoid going mad.
#Silence 😶
#Photography 📷
#MacroPhotography 🔬
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/421/019/359/506/733/original/01dac534dd999129.jpg

2025-04-16 20:12:25 GMT

I'm saddened to have just heard the news that Svetlana Gerasimenko passed away last week, on 8 April.
She was the co-discoverer in 1969 of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko with fellow Ukrainian astronomer, Klim Churyumov (1937-2016).
This is the comet that was explored by ESA's Rosetta spacecraft from 2014-2016 & landed on by the Philae probe in November 2014.
A comet & events that changed my life 🙇‍♂️
Ad astra, Svetlana ✨
#SpaceScience
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2025-04-15 17:29:38 GMT

One hundred & fifty million kilometres away, the Sun released photons 🌞
They travelled for eight point three minutes across space, mostly undisturbed.
In the last hundred kilometres & point three milliseconds, they lost some high & low energy companions to our atmosphere.
Then in just ten centimetres & point three nanoseconds, water, life, & the magic of reflection, refraction, diffraction, absorption, & iridescence created a whole new universe.
#Science 🔭
#Photography 📷
#MacroPhotography 🔬
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/343/150/123/980/261/original/c22f9ba7baabfb34.jpg

2025-04-12 00:39:47 GMT

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I have a 20x20cm section of one of the flown BAe solar wings, returned in the shuttle after a servicing mission, in my office downstairs: always cool to think it helped power some of those iconic early HST images.
And there’s a full flown wing in storage in NL, & I’ve been working for years to try & get that to the Science Museum in London, given its UK heritage. Am still hopeful now they’re finally hoping to proceed with their new space gallery.

2025-04-12 00:27:41 GMT

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There’s a nice two part article on the trials & tribulations of those first generation solar arrays, albeit with no mention of that dark US test data (so it probably is apocryphal):
https://www.esa.int/Enabling_Support/Space_Engineering_Technology/How_Hubble_got_its_wings
As for JWST, yes, ever since I first got involved in 1998, there were endless nudge nudge wink wink stories about miracle military technology that no-one could talk about, certainly not to a smelly European like me.

2025-04-11 23:49:32 GMT

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The “high side” story reminds me of a perhaps apocryphal one about the Hubble solar arrays.
They were built by British Aerospace in Bristol to plans from a US company who’d developed them for dark work. But apparently they didn’t buy all the testing data & didn’t know that they’d thermally “twang” when Hubble crossed the terminator, making it vibrate & lose observing time.
After two sets of twangy arrays, HST now has rigid ones using double Iridium panels, IIRC.

2025-04-11 20:42:16 GMT

A small treat for the weekend.
In the late evening of 24 April 1972, Apollo 16 left lunar orbit carrying John Young, Thomas Mattingley II, & Charlie Duke back to Earth.
The Apollo Metric (Mapping) Camera took a sequence of still images looking back at the Moon, initially the lunar farside & then the nearside as it rotated into view.
Here's a 10 fps movie sequence showing 90 of those images without any processing or alignment.
Credit: NASA/JSC/Arizona State University
#SpaceExploration
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/321/257/600/788/127/original/afa043ac84bedb03.mp4

2025-04-07 11:12:29 GMT

I don’t know who needs to hear this, but it seems to come up in my life weekly:
1. NASA images *are not* in the public domain;
2. They *are* generally free to use for most non-commercial, educational, & informational purposes without permission, but acknowledgement of NASA is needed (which true PD would not require);
3. For commercial use, no endorsement by NASA can be implied;
4. Images featuring people, e.g. astronauts, need explicit permission for commercial use.
https://www.nasa.gov/nasa-brand-center/images-and-media/

2025-04-02 14:45:08 GMT

Still one of the coolest machines ever built.
Ending the shuttle programme felt to me the same way grounding Concorde did. Both gone, but in many ways, unsurpassed.
I know all the arguments about cost, safety, & govt vs private. I also know that we absolutely have more pressing concerns in the world than human spaceflight & supersonic jet liners.
But still ...
OV-105 as seen from the ISS on 9 December 2000, ISS-001-E-4571
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/268/869/892/650/544/original/6e4dfab8af87dfd2.jpg

2025-03-29 11:46:32 GMT

Phew – despite heavy cloud cover here in Heidelberg, there were a few breaks about 20 minutes after maximum partial eclipse, allowing me to get some pictures 🌞👍
Bonus large sunspot to the top left as well 🙂
Taken with my iPhone 15 through the eyepiece of my 15 x 70 binoculars.
#Heidelberg 🏰
#Photography 📷
#iPhonePhotography 📱
#SolarEclipse 🌞🌚🌍
#SolarEclipse2025
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2025-03-27 09:07:44 GMT

Here’s the moment that we lost radio contact with Gaia today 📡🛰️
The memories of the same happening here at the end of the Rosetta mission in 2016 are strong 😭
A sad day, but the science continues 👍
As astra, Gaia ✨
#SpaceScience #Astronomy #Gaia #Science
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/233/602/450/251/972/original/6446569044c4729f.mp4

2025-03-27 08:49:38 GMT

Wow – didn’t think I’d be in tears today, but this message sent home from Gaia as it was shut down forever today hits hard 😭
What you’re seeing is a map of the 106 CCD detectors that Gaia used to measure the positions of billions of stars in the Milky Way for the past 11 years 🛰️✨
They were turned off in a special sequence … 😕
#SpaceScience #Astronomy #Science
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2025-03-27 07:51:21 GMT

A bittersweet but celebratory day at ESOC, the European Space Operations Centre, in Darmstadt 😭🎉📡
Later this morning, the final commands will be sent to ESA’s Gaia spacecraft, ending the operational phase of its mission after 11 years 🚀🛰️
But the mission is by no means over – the mission’s amazing scientific insights into the formation & evolution of our Milky Way galaxy will only increase as new data catalogues are released in coming years 🙂👍
#SpaceScience #Astronomy #Science
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2025-03-25 19:53:00 GMT

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And the connections in Bok's oral history to "my" world of astronomy are quite something – even though I started my PhD in 1982 only, the star formation conference in Geneva in 1976 was already famous & he mentions Liz Sim, who indeed I knew at the Royal Observatory Edinburgh, working on UK Schmidt Telescope plates. I even did some work on plates ... blimey ...

2025-03-25 19:48:37 GMT

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And that oral history with Bok doesn't come across as particularly sympathetic to Reilly & her physical problems either – jeez.
Imagine being denied a PhD place because you can't lift photographic plates. The past was a different place in so many ways.

2025-03-25 19:45:53 GMT

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Ah, @npub1cq5…77g2 solved it, finding this history of the Flower Observatory at the University of Pennsylvania.
Reilly lived from 1917-1988, but was denied entry to PhD programmes two or three times because she was deemed physically incapable of completing a doctorate.
Doesn't make for happy reading (see page 79).
https://gravic.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/observational-astronomy-at-up-1751-2007-revision-b.pdf

2025-03-25 19:37:18 GMT

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No, don't worry – that was just me trying to scratch my memory.
I've found it – it was R J Mitchell, assistant to Lord Rosse at Birr Castle in Reland and responsible for the discovery of NGC169 aka Arp 282, along with many other galaxies.
I sent an email to a historian who has written about Birr Castle, but never received a reply.
Unleash your search tendrils ... 🙂

2025-03-25 19:25:42 GMT

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Brilliant – thank you. And indeed, quite the story, if not exactly sympathetically told. To be told that you're *physically* incapable of completing a PhD is quite something ...
I have another astronomer I need dates for, if only I can find them in my book again. Was the assistant to someone more famous ... aargh ...