markmccaughrean

markmccaughrean, 11 months ago to animals

Look who just walked in after almost four weeks 😱🥰

He’s lost a lot of weight & scarfed down a plateful of food in seconds, but otherwise apparently very noisily happy to be home 😺

I’m speechless & hugely grateful that the universe continues to move in mysterious ways 🙇‍♂️

#Tigger
#Unbelievable
#CatsOfMastodon

markmccaughrean, 6 months ago to Astronomy

Morning.

Here it is, several thousand years in the making: the protostellar jet HH212 as seen in the infrared by #JWST.

We discovered this jet in 1993, glowing in the light of shocked molecular hydrogen at 2.12 microns, as gas emerges symmetrically at about 100 km/s from the two poles of a young protostar not far from the Horsehead Nebula in Orion.

Our new JWST image spans six wavelengths & is ten times sharper than any previous infrared image.

#Astronomy #SpaceScience #Astrodon

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markmccaughrean, 11 months ago to animals

If you’d asked me just twelve hours ago whether I hoped to be able to post a picture for #Caturday, I would have said “no”.

I would have said I’d given up all hope of #Tigger coming home after 26 days away 😿

And I would have been wrong 😱

As it is, I’m just amazed & grateful that he returned shortly after midnight last night. Very skinny, but otherwise seemingly well & very loud 😺🥰

Thank you to everyone who kept hoping 🙇‍♂️🙂👍

#CatsOfMastodon

markmccaughrean, 8 months ago to random

It's paper time!

The first results from my #JWST time, in a project shared with Tom Ray et al. from the MIRI consortium, a study of the extremely young protostellar outflow, HH211, in Perseus, published in advance form in Nature today.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06551-1

Here's the headline image, a composite of three of the NIRCam filters we used.

#Astrodon #SpaceScience

markmccaughrean, 8 months ago to random

Note to media & journalist friends:

Giving endless uncritical column inches to the current Astronomical Charlatan-in-Chief to push their unfounded claims, to rubbish their professional critics, to play the martyr card, & to promote their books makes you complicit.

Helping delusional narcissists cash in on conspiracy theory nonsense further undermines the credibility & vital role of serious rational science in today’s society.

It’s not funny, it’s not entertainment – it’s dangerous. Stop it.

markmccaughrean, 11 months ago to animals

It has been a very difficult week.

Our cat Tigger has been missing since last Sunday.

He was wandering unsupervised in the back garden in his jacket & leash as he often does, but got tangled, wriggled free, & was off before we spotted him.

He usually comes back within an hour when this happens, although once in 2018, he was gone for 4 days.

It has been 7 days this time already.

We’re worried sick.

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#CatsOfMastodon

markmccaughrean, 7 months ago to random

“The threat is here; the time Orwell warned about is now.”

It never ceases to amaze & terrify me that in under 80 years, less than a human lifetime, we have allowed the putrid, lethal stench of fascism to return.

In the countries that destroyed it, in those that were destroyed by it, & in many others seemingly inspired by it.

And the populists will exploit the looming disaster of climate change to stoke hatred for their own narrow, short-term power & profit.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/oct/07/orwellian-nightmares-george-orwell-rage-culture-rewriting-1984

markmccaughrean, 2 months ago (edited 2 months ago) to random

An unexpected “tribute” at my leaving do at ESTEC this evening that I’m sure comes with a degree of ribbing that’s entirely deserved 🤷‍♂️🤪

It’s people that design, build, & operate space missions & do the science which opens our eyes to the universe, & I’ve had the privilege to work with many amazing scientists, engineers, managers, administrators, & communicators over the past 15 years.

I shall miss my friends & colleagues here deeply, but very much hope we stay in close touch 🙇‍♂️

markmccaughrean, 1 year ago to random

We are a lethally stupid species 🙄

To avoid being castigated for visibly burning off methane from fossil fuel production, Turkmenistan is simply invisibly venting it, creating far more damage: CH4 has 80 x the greenhouse impact of CO2 🤦

They thought no-one would notice. They were wrong 🛰️

#ClimateCrisis

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/may/09/mind-boggling-methane-emissions-from-turkmenistan-revealed

markmccaughrean, 6 months ago to random

Well, at least the sunrise was nice.

Emergency day trip to the UK to say farewell to my brother Ian.

Fuck cancer, honestly 🙁

markmccaughrean, 4 months ago to random

万丈！/ Banjō! / Congratulations!

JAXA's SLIM spacecraft has successfully landed on the Moon 🙇‍♂️

Not an easy feat, as other recent mission attempts have demonstrated 😬

#SpaceFlight #SpaceExploration

https://mastodon.social/@markmccaughrean/111783242960416367

markmccaughrean, 2 months ago to random

Aaaand … done 🥵

My 44th & final presentation of recent results from ESA’s missions to the Science Programme Committee in our Paris HQ today 🚀🛰️✨

Why final? Because after 15 years, I’ll be retiring from ESA in just a few weeks from now 😱

It has been a privilege to be involved in so many history-making spaceflight moments over that time, with Rosetta & JWST perhaps primus inter pares, & I will miss my amazing colleagues 🙇‍♂️

Future plans? Many, but more on all that soon 😉

#SpaceScience

A screenshot of the Keynote slide deck from my final science highlights presentation to ESA’s SPC, featuring results & events from EnVision, LISA, Einstein Probe, XRISM, INTEGRAL, XMM-Newton, Solar Orbiter, SOHO, Cluster, Mars Express, Euclid, Gaia, HST, CHEOPS, JWST, & (kind of) Rosetta.

markmccaughrean, 4 months ago to random

Some reasonable observations from the stage: the essential goal of soft landing on the Moon was achieved, along with other technology demonstrations & steps towards future missions.

The pinpoint landing said to be successful, albeit it may take up to a month to determine exactly how accurate.

markmccaughrean, 1 year ago to random

Speaking as someone who is a republican, an atheist, & a citizen, not a subject, this can seriously 🤬 right off.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/apr/29/public-invited-to-swear-their-allegiance-as-king-is-crowned

markmccaughrean, 9 months ago to random

Well, today didn’t turn out quite as expected 😬

I’ve been feeling some swelling & pain in my left calf recently, & have worried it might be a recurrence of the deep vein thrombosis I had in 2019.

Was quite sore this morning so called GP at 2pm & got appointment for 3.15pm. In hospital in The Hague by 4.30pm, two ultrasound exams & more test by 5.30pm. Seen by four doctors & two nurses, home by 7.30pm.

Not 100% certain it’s a new DVT, but back to anti-coagulants it is 🤷‍♂️

#NotGettingAnyYounger

markmccaughrean, 10 months ago to random

Good grief, Outlook is an unmitigated pile of crap.

I have a colleague whose email address is (e.g.) xx@yy.zz, but for some reason, his emails show up in my inbox as coming from:

xx <xx@yy.zz>

If I search for "from: xx@yy.zz", I get nothing.

But if I search "from: xx", I get every single email where "xx" appears in the sender's address.

Which is a huge amount, given what my colleague's real username is.

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markmccaughrean, 5 months ago (edited 5 months ago) to random

#OTD ten years ago – the launch of our amazing Gaia mission from Kourou 🚀

It has been mapping the positions, distances, & motions of two billion Milky Way stars & extragalactic objects since, revolutionising astrophysics ✨

I watched the launch with ESA's Director for Human Spaceflight & Operations, Thomas Reiter, & Head of Mission Operations, Paolo Ferri, at the VIP & media event at our European Operations Centre, ESOC, in Darmstadt: my job was to explain the mission science.

#SpaceScience

markmccaughrean, 7 months ago to random

Aloha everyone.

I promise to do a deep dive into the #JWST Orion Nebula & Trapezium Cluster images & results we released today.

But I’ve been running ever since, fighting LaTeX problems to get the papers on arXiv tomorrow.

The one on the free-floating planetary-mass binaries or JuMBOs will be there. The big overview paper is proving harder as we struggle to convert from A&A formatting to arXiv.

I didn’t think it’d come to this today 😬✌️

markmccaughrean, 10 months ago to Astro

Here it is – a small part of the Rho Ophiuchi star-forming region, published today to celebrate the first anniversary of the initial science images released from the NASA/ESA/CSA #JWST.

There's a lot going on in this small region, as young stars are born & make their presence felt on the gas & dust surrounding them.

And perhaps the most important thing in here is invisible, even to #JWST.

Some insights below.

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The full release is here: https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Webb/Webb_celebrates_first_year_of_science_with_close-up_on_the_birth_of_Sun-like_stars

#Astrodon

markmccaughrean, 5 months ago to Astronomy

Comet 1P/Halley is at aphelion today, its furthest from the Sun, starting the long journey back towards its next close encounter in 2061.

I saw Halley in 1986 & it has long been my hope to see it again.

I’ll be 100 in 2061.

And while we’re at it, let’s build a new mission to Halley in the footsteps of ESA’s Giotto, Rosetta, & Comet Interceptor.

To rendezvous with it, fly alongside, & return again in 2134.

Our message to the future.

Artwork: Don E Davis

#Astronomy
#SpaceScience

markmccaughrean, 1 year ago to random

Draw a one centimetre square on your finger & hold it towards the Sun 👆

Now consider that some 60 billion neutrinos hit it every second, created by nuclear fusion in the solar core 500 seconds ago 🙀

Even if it’s nighttime & your finger has to point down through Earth’s surface – they don’t care 🙃

But if it makes you feel better, there are only about 2 solar neutrinos in each cubic centimetre of you at any given instant 🤷‍♂️

Well, plus another 300 from the Big Bang 😬

#Astrodon #BigNumberology

markmccaughrean, 12 days ago to Netherlands

Not bad; not bad at all 🙂

Especially for 52°N 🤷‍♂️

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

markmccaughrean, 3 months ago to random

“If you’ve ever been blown away by an image of outer space, it’s a pretty safe bet it was taken by a spacecraft.”

Not the best opening for an article on modern astronomy 🙄

Amateur & professional ground-based astronomy continues to generate spectacular imagery & scientifically, cutting-edge ground-based telescopes will play a vital role well into the future, as the construction of the wide-field Rubin Observatory & the 39-m diameter European ELT demonstrate.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024/feb/11/space-telescopes-hubble-james-webb-nasa-astronomy

markmccaughrean, 3 months ago to random

Vulture club.

Six large lappet-faced vultures over at the waterhole in the Namib desert just now, with temperatures around 39ºC.

But don't go there – it's very addictive 😉

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydYDqZQpim8

markmccaughrean, 7 months ago to Astro

And we are live 🙀

It has only taken 25 years to get to this point, but here we are.

I'll post much more soon, but first I think need a moment.

#JWST #PiecesOfOrion #Astrodon

https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Webb/Webb_s_wide-angle_view_of_the_Orion_Nebula_is_released_in_ESASky