Mark McCaughrean<p>In just under a fortnight, on 19 June, my book "111 Places in Space That You Must Not Miss", will be published by Emons in Germany, followed by the UK on 21 July & the US on 2 September 🪐✨📕</p><p>It's a tour guide of interesting places in our Solar System, the Milky Way, & Deep Space beyond, & describes what you'd find & learn if you were able to visit them 🙂</p><p>Here's a preview of the cover & a few chapters – it's available to order in all the usual places 🙇♂️</p><p><a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/SpaceScience" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>SpaceScience</span></a><br><a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/ShamelessSelfPromotion" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ShamelessSelfPromotion</span></a></p>
Recent searches
No recent searches
Search options
Not available on lingo.lol.
lingo.lol is one of the many independent Mastodon servers you can use to participate in the fediverse.
A place for linguists, philologists, and other lovers of languages.
Administered by:
Server stats:
60active users
lingo.lol: About · Profiles directory · Privacy policy
Mastodon: About · Get the app · Keyboard shortcuts · View source code · v4.3.8
#spacescience
1 post · 1 participant · 0 posts today
Mark McCaughrean<p>Today marks the 50th anniversary of the founding of the European Space Agency 🚀🛰️📡🪐✨</p><p>I'm privileged & honoured to have spent 15 of the intervening years working in the Science and Human & Robotic Exploration Directorates.</p><p>There are many great experiences on many missions working with many amazing people to share 🙇♂️</p><p>But 12 November 2014, the day that Rosetta deployed Philae to the surface of Comet 67P/C-G, will forever be my most cherished memory ☄️</p><p><a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/RosettaLegacy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RosettaLegacy</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/SpaceScience" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>SpaceScience</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/ESA50" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ESA50</span></a></p>
Mark McCaughrean<p>Time warp 😵💫</p><p>At the MPIA in Heidelberg <span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://wisskomm.social/@mpi_astro" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@<span>mpi_astro</span></a></span> today, Nienke van der Marel describing the reference science case for protoplanetary disks with the METIS mid-infrared instrument being built for the 39-m diameter European Extremely Large Telescope 🔭</p><p>The diagram she’s using to illustrate the stages of star & planet formation was made 30 years ago ✨</p><p>By me, when I was a staff member here at the MPIA 🙃👴</p><p><a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Science" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Science</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Astronomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Astronomy</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/SpaceScience" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>SpaceScience</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/AntiqueGraphics" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>AntiqueGraphics</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Photography" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Photography</span></a></p>
Mark McCaughrean<p>More ideological vandalism across the ocean – the Tangerine Tyrant shutters NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York & sends everyone to work from home. For "efficiency" reasons 🙄</p><p>Seems like a prelude to eliminating GISS altogether, given the seminal work done by Hansen, Schmidt, & others on climate change science there, & the ignorant denialism the far-right specialise in as they profit from burning our planet.</p><p>Appalling.</p><p><a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/SpaceScience" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>SpaceScience</span></a> <br><a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/ClimateChange" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ClimateChange</span></a> </p><p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/may/21/nasa-giss-lab-trump-shut-down-james-hansen" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">theguardian.com/environment/20</span><span class="invisible">25/may/21/nasa-giss-lab-trump-shut-down-james-hansen</span></a></p>
Mark McCaughrean<p>If you have clear skies & a way to observe the Sun safely, perhaps with eclipse glasses or by projecting through binoculars as I’ve done here, have a look: the huge sunspot group AR4079, is putting on a lovely show 🌞</p><p>A multi-spot group with dark umbral cores & a very large penumbra around them 🙂👍 </p><p>The smaller AR4076 is visible too.</p><p><a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Astronomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Astronomy</span></a> 🔭<br><a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/SpaceScience" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>SpaceScience</span></a> 🚀<br><a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Photography" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Photography</span></a> 📷<br><a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/iPhonePhotography" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>iPhonePhotography</span></a> 📱</p>
Mark McCaughrean<p>I'm saddened to have just heard the news that Svetlana Gerasimenko passed away last week, on 8 April.</p><p>She was the co-discoverer in 1969 of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko with fellow Ukrainian astronomer, Klim Churyumov (1937-2016).</p><p>This is the comet that was explored by ESA's Rosetta spacecraft from 2014-2016 & landed on by the Philae probe in November 2014. </p><p>A comet & events that changed my life 🙇♂️</p><p>Ad astra, Svetlana ✨</p><p><a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/SpaceScience" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>SpaceScience</span></a></p>
Mark McCaughrean<p>The peak of solar maximum is behind us now, but the Sun is still putting on a decent show of sunspots 🌞👍</p><p>Here’s the current status, images by projecting through my binoculars on to some white paper & then photographing with my iPhone 📱</p><p>From top right (east) to bottom left (west), we have Active Regions 4055 & 4058, then 4056, 4061, & 4060. </p><p>Current snapshot from <a href="https://www.spaceweatherlive.com/en/solar-activity/sunspot-regions.html" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">spaceweatherlive.com/en/solar-</span><span class="invisible">activity/sunspot-regions.html</span></a> in the next toot. </p><p><a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/SpaceScience" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>SpaceScience</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Photography" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Photography</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/iPhonePhotography" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>iPhonePhotography</span></a></p>
Mark McCaughrean<p>A nice conjunction during dusk this evening between our Moon at 30% illumination, and Jupiter and its four Galilean moons. </p><p>I post this as an apology to Callisto, which was the last location to be axed from my forthcoming book, "111 Places in Space You Must Not Miss" during final edits last night 😬</p><p>I mean, it's a fascinating place & the chapter I'd written had some good stuff in it, but since I'd written 118 chapters, something had to give 🥴</p><p><a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Astronomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Astronomy</span></a> 🔭<br><a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Photography" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Photography</span></a> 📷<br><a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/SpaceScience" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>SpaceScience</span></a> 🚀</p>
Mark McCaughrean<p>Since this morning, the NASA/ESA/CSA <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/JWST" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>JWST</span></a> has been taking near-IR images of Sharpless 305, a star-forming region in the outer reaches of the Milky Way ✨</p><p>Below is an image taken with the ESO VLT many years ago in poor weather – the JWST images should be better 😉</p><p>When finished in a couple of hours, that'll be the last of my Guaranteed Time Observations, granted when I was selected as a member of the JWST Science Working Group in 2002 👴<br> <br>It has been a privilege 🙇♂️</p><p><a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/SpaceScience" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>SpaceScience</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Astronomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Astronomy</span></a></p>
Mark McCaughrean<p>Some memorabilia from yesterday’s event at ESOC as the ESA <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Gaia" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Gaia</span></a> spacecraft was deactivated after running out of propellant & moved off L2 into an Earth-trailing solar orbit.</p><p>One of these objects might last until the Sun turns into red giant five billion years from now; the other will be lucky to last the weekend 🤷♂️🍻</p><p>Thanks to my ESA colleagues for the former & the fine folk at Oedipus Brewing in Amsterdam for the latter 🙂👍</p><p><a href="https://oedipus.com" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="">oedipus.com</span><span class="invisible"></span></a></p><p><a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/SpaceScience" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>SpaceScience</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Astronomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Astronomy</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Photography" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Photography</span></a></p>
Mark McCaughrean<p>Planets, stars, clusters, & the Milky Way – the view in four directions from our rooftop terrace this evening ✨</p><p>The perfect way to reflect on the retirement of the astonishing Gaia spacecraft, its 11 year work scanning the skies now at an end 🛰️</p><p>It’s in one of those pictures 📷</p><p>And on time spent today with good friends & colleagues from ESA & beyond who made this all possible, celebrating the science, but also the shared purpose & endeavour for all humankind 🙇♂️</p><p><a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/SpaceScience" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>SpaceScience</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Astronomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Astronomy</span></a></p>
st1nger :unverified: 🏴☠️ :linux: :freebsd:<p>The <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/European" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>European</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/Space" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Space</span></a> Agency <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/ESA" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ESA</span></a> has powered down its <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/Gaia" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Gaia</span></a> spacecraft after more than a decade spent gathering data that are now being used to unravel the secrets of our home galaxy. On 27 March 2025, Gaia’s control team at ESA’s European Space Operations Centre carefully switched off the spacecraft’s subsystems and sent it into a ‘retirement orbit’ around the Sun. <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/SpaceScience" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>SpaceScience</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/Astronomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Astronomy</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/Science" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Science</span></a> <a href="https://www.esa.int/Enabling_Support/Operations/Farewell_Gaia!_Spacecraft_operations_come_to_an_end" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">esa.int/Enabling_Support/Opera</span><span class="invisible">tions/Farewell_Gaia!_Spacecraft_operations_come_to_an_end</span></a></p>
Mark McCaughrean<p>Here’s the moment that we lost radio contact with Gaia today 📡🛰️</p><p>The memories of the same happening here at the end of the Rosetta mission in 2016 are strong 😭</p><p>A sad day, but the science continues 👍</p><p>Ad astra, Gaia ✨</p><p><a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/SpaceScience" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>SpaceScience</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Astronomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Astronomy</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Gaia" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Gaia</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Science" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Science</span></a></p>
Mark McCaughrean<p>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 😭</p><p>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 🛰️✨</p><p>They were turned off in a special sequence … 😕</p><p><a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/SpaceScience" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>SpaceScience</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Astronomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Astronomy</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Science" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Science</span></a></p>
Mark McCaughrean<p>A bittersweet but celebratory day at ESOC, the European Space Operations Centre, in Darmstadt 😭🎉📡</p><p>Later this morning, the final commands will be sent to ESA’s Gaia spacecraft, ending the operational phase of its mission after 11 years 🚀🛰️ </p><p>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 🙂👍</p><p><a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/SpaceScience" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>SpaceScience</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Astronomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Astronomy</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Science" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Science</span></a></p>
Mark McCaughrean<p>Niche question for astronomers & historians of astronomy, particularly those at Harvard perhaps.</p><p>Can anyone tell me the birth & death dates of Edith F. Reilly, who worked with Bart Bok in the 1940's & co-authored the discovery paper on "small dark nebulae", now called "Bok globules"?</p><p>I've looked online, but have drawn a blank. They'd be good to have for my book. </p><p><a href="https://adsabs.harvard.edu/pdf/1947ApJ...105..255B" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">adsabs.harvard.edu/pdf/1947ApJ</span><span class="invisible">...105..255B</span></a></p><p><a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/SpaceScience" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>SpaceScience</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Astronomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Astronomy</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/HistoryOfScience" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>HistoryOfScience</span></a></p>
Mark McCaughrean<p>Well, since it’s my binary 1000000th birthday today 🎉👴, it’s time let you know about the book I’ve been writing 📖</p><p>Titled “111 Places in Space That You Must Not Miss”, it’s a tour guide to some fascinating locations in the Solar System, Milky Way, & beyond. Each “chapter” comes with a full page image & a description of what you’d see & learn if you could travel there 🚀🧑🚀</p><p>Published by Emons Verlag, it’s out in July in the UK, September in the US 👇</p><p><a href="https://www.accartbooks.com/uk/book/111-places-in-space-that-you-must-not-miss/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">accartbooks.com/uk/book/111-pl</span><span class="invisible">aces-in-space-that-you-must-not-miss/</span></a></p><p><a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/SpaceScience" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>SpaceScience</span></a></p>
Mark McCaughrean<p>Have been playing around a bit this evening with some data from Akatsuki (aka JAXA's Venus Climate Orbiter): when needs must 🤷♂️ </p><p>This is a 2-colour composite of images taken on 11 August 2017 through the 283nm (blue) & 365nm (red) UV filters, which nicely reveal structure in Venus' sulphuric acid clouds. </p><p>Work in progress ... 👷♂️</p><p><a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/SpaceScience" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>SpaceScience</span></a> 🛰️</p>
Mark McCaughrean<p>I'm pretty sure I've posted about this before, but I remain baffled.</p><p>In the ESA Euclid Early Release Observation image of the Perseus Cluster, there are two strange objects close to the big galaxy, NGC1275.</p><p>One appears to be a "double loop" galaxy, with large symmetric loops above & below the plane of an edge lenticular(?)</p><p>The other is a pair of reddened point sources wrapped in a loop of nebulosity, at the end of a filament coming out of NGC1275.</p><p>Any thoughts on either?</p><p><a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/SpaceScience" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>SpaceScience</span></a></p>
Mark McCaughrean<p>Following yesterday's defocussed colours of Orion, here's something slightly different:</p><p>The Colours of Sirius 🌈</p><p>Here the colours don't reflect the temperature of Sirius directly – they're due to atmospheric turbulence changing the refractive index of the air. </p><p>That bends different wavelengths towards or away from the line of sight in a constantly changing way, creating this coloured "twinkling" ✨</p><p>Also best seen by defocussing 🙂</p><p><a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/SpaceScience" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>SpaceScience</span></a> 🛰️<br><a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Photography" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Photography</span></a> 📷<br><a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Astronomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Astronomy</span></a> 🔭<br><a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/SoundOn" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>SoundOn</span></a> 🎧</p>
ExploreLive feeds
Mastodon is the best way to keep up with what's happening.
Follow anyone across the fediverse and see it all in chronological order. No algorithms, ads, or clickbait in sight.
Create accountLoginDrag & drop to upload