My review of the incredible Sun and Moon-themed exhibit currently on at the Saatchi Gallery in London. Get there before it closes on 8 September. 🌞🌚 nightfallandelsewhere.substack.com/p/inspired-b...

Inspired by the celestial

Sky-themed art in London

nightfallandelsewhere.substack.com

It’s one week until the eclipse! You’ve still got time to sort out your glasses! Many good brands available, just make sure they have the ISO 12312-2 international safety standard! www.theastroholic.co.uk/august-solar...

August Solar Eclipse Prep!

On August 12, 2026, Iceland and Spain will experience a total eclipse of the Sun. I have been asked by a few people for advice and suggestions about glasses and locations for the eclipse, so here are ...

theastroholic.co.uk

Next week, I'll be in Spain to see the solar eclipse along the path of totality. 🌞🌚 I wrote some advice and ways to book a trip for the iPaper back in January. If you've left it very last minute but still want to go, reply or DM and I'll try to help with advice and info. inews.co.uk/inews-lifest...

The bucket list trip that sells out years ahead and how to take part this summer

Expert-led tours prove popular with some travellers booking years ahead, but it's still possible to experience the solar eclipse

inews.co.uk

How truly thrilling to walk into @waterstones.bsky.social flagship Piccadilly store and find my book displayed together with works by incredible writers like @calflyn.bsky.social, Olivia Laing and Michael Palin. Still living in a dream come true. 📚🌌💖

Check out today's iPaper (with cover teaser!) for my story on how to view next week's solar eclipse from the UK! inews.co.uk/inews-lifest...

It is kind of funny how I can know by heart the name of every cat, dog and horse of everyone I've pretty much ever met or even encountered online, but I have absolutely no idea what the names of some of my supposedly good friends' babies are. 😬🤷‍♀️😆

The Perseids, one of our best annual meteor showers, has already started and will peak around Aug 22. If you're in the US, I've rounded up some of the best national parks in which to watch them. ☄️ www.nationalparktrips.com/national-par...

These 6 National Parks Make the Perfect Place to Watch the Perseid Meteor Shower

From the Colorado Rockies to the coast of Maine, these are the national parks to visit during this year’s Perseids.

nationalparktrips.com

Italy is maddening but also

LGW ✈️ PSA 🚅 Lucca

The candy floss sky in SE London tonight

For anyone traveling to Kazakhstan after August 24, you’ll now be required to get an electronic travel authorization 72 hours prior to arrival through an app called QazETA

In my latest work for the Outside Magazine network, I tackle the worrying issue of how many SpaceX and similar satellites are littering our skies and what the impacts are on nature and people's experience of the wonder of the night sky. www.nationalparktrips.com/national-par...

Starlink is Changing the Night Sky. How Much Longer Will We Be Able to Stargaze?

Park rangers and astronomers warn that stunning dark skies over America's national parks could be changed forever.

nationalparktrips.com

It's the final day here at NAM2026... but the science isn't over yet! Could alien signals be hiding on a different radio channel? 👽️📻️ That's what @manchester.ac.uk PhD student Louisa Mason will be exploring later this afternoon. 1/2 ⤵️

The Royal Astronomical Society awards dinner every year at the National Astronomy Meeting is a fun excuse to get into glad rags, and what a location this year in the Great Hall at the Univ of Birmingham.

I plucked this research out of nearly 800 conference abstracts and wrote the press release. The astronomer is a 1st-year PhD student. His headline has now been covered by media all over the world. Grateful to do this job! 🙏🙏🌌

I've got to get myself off Monorail Music's newsletter. Signed new Teenage Fanclub vinyl? 💸

Cool stories from day 1 are: The stellar disk of our own galaxy (basically where we live) might have been flipped like a pancake about 10 billion years ago during the merger with the Gaia-Enceladus-Sausage galaxy (real name, I'm afraid). 🔭🥞 www.iflscience.com/collision-wi...

Collision With "Sausage Galaxy" Might Have Rotated The Milky Way By More Than 90 Degrees

The Gaia-Enceladus-Sausage merger 10 billion years ago could explain an unusual feature of our galaxy.

iflscience.com

Dr Alfredo Carpineti@drcarpineti.bsky.social · 2w ago

Day 2 of #NAM26 🔭 Come find me to tell me about your cool research, unexpected discovery, and what space object you’d send a probe to right now if money and physics were no issue!

It was great to finally meet @planet4589.bsky.social today after following each other on social media for years. And great to hear him this evening arguing to make the far side of the Moon a protected site of scientific interest preserved for telescopes & protected from commerical development.

As every year, I've had a fabulous time working as part of the @royalastrosoc.bsky.social press team for NAM this year, and got to write a press release about this really cool discovery of how our galaxy likely flipped on its side! www.theguardian.com/science/2026...

Milky Way flipped in collision with dwarf galaxy 10bn years ago, astronomers say

Durham University researchers find cataclysmic direct hit with Gaia Sausage sent Milky Way into its current position

theguardian.com

Good morning from Day 2 of NAM2026 🌞👋 The first talks of the day are now under way, including a session on protecting dark and quiet skies from the growing issue of satellite constellations. It is being chaired by the Royal Astronomical Society's Policy & Diversity Officer Marieta Valdivia Lefort.

NAM2026 is here! 🎉🚀 Welcome everybody to the @unibirmingham.bsky.social for this year's National Astronomy Meeting, the largest astronomy conference of its kind in the UK. 💫🪐🔭 We've got a jam-packed week of talks – see the programme of what's on and where via the link in the comments. 🔗👇

Pleased and grateful to have been interviewed by Wildsam about my darkness research, my world travels in search of the night sky and my new book, NIGHTFARING. www.wildsam.com/stories/nigh...

I'm now 6 press releases into prep for the National Astronomy Meeting next week & I can tell you we've got some cool stories coming: stuff on the Sun, space weather, mysterious cosmic explosions, galactic gymnastics, alien signals. DM if you're a journalist & want to report on these next week!

Cute Spinning Space Kitten Animation

ALT: Cute Spinning Space Kitten Animation

static.klipy.com

If England get into the final, I'm going to need to find somewhere decent and not too insane to watch in Birmingham. Any suggestions are welcome.

I've just received my first-ever travel writing brief asking me to appeal to a Gen Z audience and to use pop culture references like Percy Jackson, Dune (the new one obvs) and Assassins Creed to describe ancient historical sights.

Bilbo's Heartfelt Confession to Gandalf

ALT: Bilbo's Heartfelt Confession to Gandalf

static.klipy.com

I'm very grateful to Wanderlust Magazine for putting NIGHTFARING on their list of the best travel books of 2026! www.wanderlustmagazine.com/inspiration/...

I really wanted to write about pretty space things in this newsletter, but once again, I had to rant! www.theastroholic.co.uk/craven-decis...

Craven Decisions That Affect Us All

Better writers and thinkers than me have been discussing the concept of institutional capture. This is a form of political corruption that involves placing ideologically motivated people in particular...

theastroholic.co.uk

Dr Alfredo Carpineti@drcarpineti.bsky.social · 4w ago

I think it was such a cravenly approval by the FCC because the report says that it disagrees with the risks put forward, but, at the same time, it also states that evaluating the risks is beyond the scope of the FCC. So who should be assessing these risks? 🔭🧪 www.iflscience.com/fcc-approves...

I think it was such a cravenly approval by the FCC because the report says that it disagrees with the risks put forward, but, at the same time, it also states that evaluating the risks is beyond the scope of the FCC. So who should be assessing these risks? 🔭🧪 www.iflscience.com/fcc-approves...

FCC Approves Extremely Controversial Space Mirror Satellite That Could "Flash Blind" Drivers And Ruin Astronomy

The Federal Communications Commission picks commercial interests over the public’s concern.

iflscience.com

Anyone interested in the astronomy (and particle and nuclear physics) funding crisis should watch this. I'm delighted at the work that @chionwurah.bsky.social and the SIT Committee did this morning. She's quite right that it won't assuage the deep concerns of researchers, and no hint it'll be fixed.

Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans@astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 4w ago

On display this morning, parliamentary scrutiny at its very best with @chionwurah.bsky.social and her committee questioning Secretary of State Liz Kendall about the STFC funding cuts. Worth watching in full, but here are some of the highlights! 1: Doctoring the minutes!