Astronomer Royal for Scotland, Professor of Astrophysics, Edinburgh University. Director of the German Centre for Cosmological Lensing, RUB. @astronomerroyal on insta (She/her)
Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans
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The last time the two Astronomer Royals were at loggerheads was back in the 1990s. The Royal Greenwich & Royal Edinburgh Observatories were pitted against each other in a battle where only one would survive. 🔭
Read all about it in Ian Robson's Observatory Wars:
📖: www.obsmag.org/issues/publi...
On BBC Radio🏴 early-doors chatting to the ever-fab Laura Maciver. So much🤩 in this story: Mars becoming barren after losing its magnetic field 4 billion yrs ago, Aurora, 7 🥵/🥶 Jupiter-like planets with winds >10,000 mph, huge telescopes, human ingenuity, aliens & the Astronomer Royal of Zarg 😂🔭
Alarm over....
I've been searching for the official NASA comms on this, but nothing. Lots of sites reporting in the last hour the ISS crew got orders "to enter their Crew Dragon spacecraft...& don their spacesuits in case the air leak warranted an emergency evacuation". 🤞hoping they can fix this🤞🔭🧪⚛️🛰️
I was feeling quite glum that the whole going-to-the-moon thing had reverted back to an all-exclusive male adventure until @chelswhyte.bsky.social pointed out that it's now only fair for there to be an all-female crew for #Artemis IV - the important one (landing) - & now I'm feeling joyful again 🔭👩🔬🛰️
Another reason for feeling joyful is this total dude, Luca Parmitano #ItalianInSpace, who will be piloting the crew for @esa.int and showing that Artemis is an large international collaboration between NASA, ESA, JAXA, CSA and more 🥳
I should add that this is especially exciting, because only a year ago it looked like Roman was never going to be launched. So Go Roman! Go team! 🤗
bsky.app/profile/astr...
🫡Salutes to the ISS-crew! Good news - all is well again on the ISS, for now. Great to see such international collaboration and astronaut safety taking priority.
The ISS is sadly an aging leaky ship & as it gets closer to the 2030 de-commissioning, I fear we'll see this type of alarm more often.
Space projects running ahead of schedule? This is rare! Huge celebratory high-5's all round to the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope team, due for early launch this August 🥳 This beast will discover >100,000 planets orbiting distant stars and so so much more 🤩🧪🔭🛰️
ℹ️: science.nasa.gov/blogs/roman/...
A lovely day out in #York today talking to a super curious and engaged audience at the @yorkfestofideas.bsky.social. We discussed Science, Art, AI and aliens 🤗. The festival runs for another week, with loads of events. Worth checking out if you're in the area!
Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans
Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans
Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans
Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans
Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans
Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans
Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans
Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans
Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans
Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans
🫡Salutes to the ISS-crew! Good news - all is well again on the ISS, for now. Great to see such international collaboration and astronaut safety taking priority.
The ISS is sadly an aging leaky ship & as it gets closer to the 2030 de-commissioning, I fear we'll see this type of alarm more often.
A common "gotcha" question from the hitherto sleeping emeritus at the end of every academic astronomy seminar is "have you considered magnetic fields".
Coo-er: hints of magnetic fields on distant exoplanets 🤩 🔭
www.eso.org/public/news/...
I've been searching for the official NASA comms on this, but nothing. Lots of sites reporting in the last hour the ISS crew got orders "to enter their Crew Dragon spacecraft...& don their spacesuits in case the air leak warranted an emergency evacuation". 🤞hoping they can fix this🤞🔭🧪⚛️🛰️
ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano:
✈️ +2000 hours flying time on 40 types of aircraft
🌌 366 days in space, International Space Station commander, +30 hours spacewalking
👨🚀 ESA liaison at NASA Johnson Space Center, CAPCOM & training @esa.int astronauts
🌊 Artemis Underway Recovery Test 12
🚀 Artemis III pilot
Woah, this sounds bad.
www.theguardian.com/science/2026...
We've got the Artemis III crew members!
Now we just need a working Moon lander for them to rendezvous with in Earth orbit during their test run next year. 🧪
www.nasa.gov/news-release...
🔊Calling #York: Carlos Frenk and I will be discussing "Space: the Final Frontier" at the York Festival of Ideas. Do come along and say hello - tickets are free! 🔭
📅 Thurs 4 June 2026, 10.30-12.45
Free🎟️: yorkfestivalofideas.com/2026/calenda...
Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans
A team of astronomers has found the strongest evidence yet that some planets outside our Solar System may be magnetic. Using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO's VLT) and th...
The cuts "would kill the much-anticipated Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, an observatory seen as on par with [Hubble & JWST] that is already fully assembled and on budget for a launch in two years." Would also apparently close NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. Huge, HUGE loss for science.
Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans
Nasa says Russian crew trying to fix worsening air leak in its portion of orbital laboratory
I've been searching for the official NASA comms on this, but nothing. Lots of sites reporting in the last hour the ISS crew got orders "to enter their Crew Dragon spacecraft...& don their spacesuits in case the air leak warranted an emergency evacuation". 🤞hoping they can fix this🤞🔭🧪⚛️🛰️
Woah, this sounds bad.
www.theguardian.com/science/2026...
Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans
Chris Baraniuk
Corey S. Powell
Nasa says Russian crew trying to fix worsening air leak in its portion of orbital laboratory
With Astronomer Royal for Scotland Catherine Heymans and cosmologist Carlos Frenk, our panel asks where our knowledge, gleaned from our own small blue planet, fits in the vastness of an ever-expanding...
Woah, this sounds bad.
www.theguardian.com/science/2026...
Katie Mack
Hey! It's bad! arstechnica.com/space/2025/0...
2/3 cut in astrophysics
2/3 cut in heliophysics
50% cut in Earth science
30% cut in planetary science
This is just such an incredible self-own, what are we doing?
Nasa says Russian crew trying to fix worsening air leak in its portion of orbital laboratory
