markmccaughrean

markmccaughrean, 14 hours ago to Netherlands

Another lovely May evening ride, albeit with a brisk northerly wind 💨

Inland to Vogelenzang, including part of the Leidsevaart with its daisies, then back along the coast & past the beaches, then to Noordwijk & its new Ferris wheel, before the riding home through dunes to Wassenaar in the dusk 🎡

70km tonight, 200km for the week 👍

#CyclingLife 🚴‍♂️
#Netherlands 🇳🇱
#Photography 📷

The Sun very close to the horizon surrounded by an orange glow. The North Sea is seen below it, with a beach and some people in the foreground.
The Sun close to the horizon seen through some daisies and grasses on the back of a canal.

markmccaughrean, 18 hours ago to SciComm

Another “victim” of my sorting & clearing ahead of our move: five copies of my 1988 University of Edinburgh PhD thesis headed for recycling 😬✌️

But don’t panic: these are all water-damaged & I still have eight clean copies of the one hundred originally printed for me during my first postdoc at NASA Goddard 🚀🛰️

The rest were circulated to colleagues back in the early days of infrared arrays in astronomy 🔭

How far we’ve come 🙂👍

#Astronomy #Infrared #SpaceScience #SciComm #Astrodon #JWST

markmccaughrean, 1 day ago to random

When you realise you are just a brain in a vat 😬

Was busy yesterday & kept wondering whether I’d remembered to do the daily Wordle over breakfast as usual 🧐

Sort of assumed I did, because I always do, but forgot to check before going to bed 🤷‍♂️

Woke up this morning & realised I hadn’t 🙀

25 day streak lost 😭

Decided I should get back to it immediately 😤

Then this happened 😬✌️

Must be because it’s Jürgen Klopp’s last Liverpool game today 🙃

#WeGoAgain #YNWA

markmccaughrean, 1 day ago to Netherlands

Well, that was quite lovely 🙂

A sunset ride out along the Lisserdijk & Hillegommerdijk on the west side of the Haarlemmermeer polder, & back via Bennebroek & the Leidsevaart.

61km in total & beautifully cool by the time I got home in the dark 🙇‍♂️

I’m going to miss this 😬

#CyclingLife 🚴‍♂️
#Netherlands 🇳🇱
#Photography 📷

markmccaughrean, 1 day ago to climate

You are with friends in a forest at night. It is winter & snow covers the ground.

Wolves growl just beyond the faint light of your candles.

You are cold, hungry, & afraid.

You discover a wooden summer house in a glade. It is open & well-stocked.

Safety.

Then one of your friends runs inside, locks the door, & eats all the food.

Another sets fire to the house & dances joyfully in the warmth.

Sparks fly & ignite the trees.

You are hot, hungry, & afraid.

#Oil
#Capitalism
#ClimateCrisis

markmccaughrean, 3 days ago to random

I’ve been told someone on “the other place” wants to use my 2018 emoji synopsis of one of the all-time great films to promote a showing in Montreal.

I don’t post there anymore, but the answer is “sure, with credit, & please use the latest version”👇

Name the film 🙂

🎻🎺🥁🎹🌍🏜🌞🐵🌒🐆🙊⬛️🐵🔨🐗🍖🐵🔨🐵🙊🙉🙈🔨✨🛩🎻👱👩🛬🎡👱📞📺👧🏻🐒👴👩👱‍♀️👩🤷‍♂️🚀🌕👱👨‍💼👨‍🔧👨‍🔬🚀👨‍🚀👨‍🚀👨‍🚀🥪⬛️📡✨🛰👨‍🚀👨‍🚀🏃🖥🔴👨‍🚀📡😵👨‍🚀🖥🔌🗣🎶🌼🌼❤️🚲👫⚫️♃🌛⬛️🚀💫💥🌈🌚🏨👩‍🚀👴🍽🛌👶🌎🎻🎺🥁🎹

markmccaughrean, 3 days ago to random

I’ve lived the last fifteen years in The Netherlands & although I doubtless have a limited & biased view, I’ve been happy with what has seemed broadly to be a progressive, tolerant, & environmentally-conscious society.

I guess this new centre- & far-right government coalition is about to trash all of that with its reactionary populist bullshit 🤮

https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/may/16/new-dutch-coalition-aims-to-reintroduce-80mph-limit-in-cull-of-climate-goals

markmccaughrean, 3 days ago to random

Sayonara, faithful old sofa friend 👋🙇‍♂️

Make the most of your night out on the streets, before the bin men come to take you away tomorrow 🫠

(It’s yours in the meantime if you want to pick it up, but it’s not in a good state 😬)

#TimeToMove 🚛

markmccaughrean, 4 days ago to random

That could so easily have gone very badly.

There were at least two more options I could have tried, but only one remaining row … 😬✌️

Wordle 1,062 5/6

🟩🟩🟩⬛⬛
🟩🟩🟩⬛⬛
🟩🟩🟩⬛⬛
🟩🟩🟩⬛⬛
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

markmccaughrean, 4 days ago to random

Ouch 😬

Fingers crossed for my friends in the ESA #BepiColombo mission operations team & colleagues from industry as they work to restore the solar electric propulsion system to full power 🤞

The SEP system is critical to adjust Bepi’s trajectory between the various Mercury flybys, slowing the spacecraft down ahead of entry into orbit around this enigmatic innermost planet in December 2025.

#SpaceScience #SpaceExploration

https://www.esa.int/Enabling_Support/Operations/Glitch_on_BepiColombo_work_ongoing_to_restore_spacecraft_to_full_thrust

markmccaughrean, 6 days ago to Astro

Just received this piece of #JWST memorabilia through the post from an ESA colleague (thanks, kainoeske@x.com 🙇‍♂️).

It has a Northrop Grumman logo, is tightly packed, & says “XL” on the side, so I’m hoping it might be a flight spare sunshield 🤞

I’m afraid to open it though, as my living room isn’t quite as big as a tennis court 🤪

#SpaceScience #SpaceExploration #Astrodon #SpaceDadJoke #Photography

markmccaughrean, 7 days ago to Netherlands

Such a lovely sunset during this evening’s 58km ride, you get three pictures, not just one 🥳

Add yesterday’s 67km ride & others earlier, and that makes for 232km this week. Which is decent, all things considered 🤷‍♂️

#CyclingLife 🚴‍♂️
#Netherlands 🇳🇱
#Photography 📷

A zoom photo of a colourful sunset with light cloud and reds, blues, and whites. Seen over the lake at Zoetermeer. There are two ducks on the water in the foreground.
A colourful sunset with light cloud and reds, blues, and whites. The sun has just set and there are some cows in the field in the foreground.

markmccaughrean, 7 days ago to Netherlands

Good grief 🫠

Up at 04:30 this morning to take my wife to the station & thence the airport for an early flight to Edinburgh, to help our daughter again in her post broken kneecap surgery recovery 🤕🩼

If you know me & my night owl habits, you’ll know how much fun that was 😬✌️

So have some pre-dawn clouds: I’m going back to bed 🤷‍♂️

#Netherlands 🇳🇱
#Photography 📷
#CloudAppreciationSociety ☁️

markmccaughrean, 7 days ago to Netherlands

Y’know, macro mode on the iPhone 15 is pretty decent 🤷‍♂️

Well, at least if your subject is very chilled & lets you get within a centimetre, like this brimstone butterfly (Gonepteryx rhamni) just did 🙂👍

#Butterflies 🦋
#Netherlands 🇳🇱
#Photography 📷
#BackGardenEntomology 🪰

markmccaughrean, 9 days ago to Netherlands

Not bad; not bad at all 🙂

Especially for 52°N 🤷‍♂️

#AuroraSelfie
#Wassenaar
#Netherlands 🇳🇱
#Photography 📷
#SpaceWeather 🚀☁️
#AuroraBorealis

markmccaughrean, 8 days ago to Netherlands

Looking through my DSLR photos from last night, it's clear I was more interested in watching the aurora than photographing it 😬

And I thought about binning this shot for being massively out-of-focus 🙄

But y'know, it has a certain colourful charm, not least because Ursa Major is writ large in the corner, & maybe it's fine to just go with the flow 🤷‍♂️

Enjoy 🙂

#Aurora #AuroraBorealis #NorthernLights #SpaceWeather #Wassenaar #Netherlands #Photography

markmccaughrean, 8 days ago to Netherlands

Luminosity 🙇‍♂️

Freshly-emerged soft green leaves on the beech tree in the garden, backlit by the Sun.

(Yes, the same Sun that made a violent mess of the sky last night 🤷‍♂️)

#Wassenaar
#Netherlands 🇳🇱
#Photography 📷

markmccaughrean, 9 days ago to Netherlands

You'll definitely see much better pictures, but this is mine 🌞🤷‍♂️🙂

The massive sunspot group AR3664, one of the largest for years, has been flaring & chucking out massive amounts of particles towards us for days 💥😬✌️

Which is why there's a severe geomagnetic storm warning for tonight & a good chance of seeing aurorae way down south in Europe 🥳🤞

#SpaceWeather 🖖
#Netherlands 🇳🇱
#Photography 📷

markmccaughrean, 9 days ago to random

It’s on, sports fans 🙂

That said, it’s a couple of hours before sunset still here in The Netherlands, but this is definitely worth keeping an eye on 👍

#AuroraWatch
#SpaceWeather

markmccaughrean, 10 days ago to Netherlands

Very nice 🙂

Lovely weather for this evening’s 60km ride: some warmth left over from the sunny day, but cool enough to be comfortable, & only a slight breeze 🌞🌬️🙇‍♂️

#CyclingLife 🚴‍♂️
#Netherlands 🇳🇱
#Photography 📷

markmccaughrean, 11 days ago to climate

Nothing else matters.

Almost 80% of IPCC climate scientists believe we're heading for 2.5ºC of warming this century; 50% say 3ºC.

These are objectively disastrous numbers.

Over 70% say that lack of political will is to blame; 60% also blame vested corporate interests.

I'd add the demagogues, populists, & their cronies, weaponising denialism for their own short-term selfish gains.

History will judge our generation very harshly.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/may/08/world-scientists-climate-failure-survey-global-temperature

#ClimateCrisis

markmccaughrean, 11 days ago to apple

I’m an Apple shareholder & have lived in the Apple ecosystem for more than 20 years. I am a big fan of the company.

But this advert for the latest iPad is a travesty, a cloth-eared & heartbreaking metaphor for the way that Silicon Valley & get-rich-quick tech bro culture are homogenising, monetising, & even destroying true human creativity, not liberating it as they love to claim.

Delete it, Tim Cook.

https://youtu.be/ntjkwIXWtrc?feature=shared

#Apple

markmccaughrean, 12 days ago to Netherlands

I had a feeling that I’d see my first #dragonfly of the year today & I was right 🙂

A new species for me too – a male hairy hawker (Brachytron pratense) sunbathing in the grass 😻

Initially similar to other hawkers, like the migrant (Aeshna mixta) which I see a lot of, the hairy hawker flies much earlier in the year & is, well, hairy 🤷‍♂️🙂

Anyone know what the pink blob is under the anal appendages?

#Odonata 🐉🪰
#Wassenaar
#Netherlands 🇳🇱
#Photography 📷
#BackGardenEntomology 🐜

markmccaughrean, 12 days ago to random

Good grief.

Our Dutch moving company just called to tell us they have to pull our move to Heidelberg a few days forward, because guess what?

May 30 is Corpus Christi / Fronleichnam & public holiday in the southern Catholic states of Germany.

Trucks are not allowed to drive on Sundays & public holidays.

So they need to be unpacked & back in Nordrhein-Westfalen by midnight that day 🙄

I've always hated May in Germany – so many batty religious holidays getting in the way of secular life 😬

markmccaughrean, 12 days ago to Netherlands

Sunny & warm during the day for dragonflies, so of course it clouded over & was cold & windy by the time I went out for my 47km evening ride around the Vlietland 🥶💨

Not very photogenic, so here’s a picture taken #OTD six years ago – sunset over the North Sea as seen from the Buitensluis in Katwijk.

#CyclingLife 🚴‍♂️
#Netherlands 🇳🇱
#Photography 📷