Tim O'Brien
@proftimob
Astrophysics professor, Director Jodrell Bank Centre for Engagement, exploding stars, science bluedot festival, red, two dogs rule the roost.
...still burbling, expecting first contact about 18.14 or thereabouts. One issue is when will the Sun be eclipsed by the Lovell Telescope from the point of view of the 7 metre 🤔 should be ok....
Eclipse ready here. 1500 visitors expected. The Sun is out (as always at Jodrell of course). I have the 7-metre telescope tracking the Sun and measuring its radio power. Since I last tried this 11 years ago I don't know if it will work. I will share updates.
Thanks to all for huge support 🙏. Many petitions, change dot org, parliamentary, MEN etc. A few misconceptions about: - Lovell Telescope/e-MERLIN is old tech: NOT TRUE! Continually upgraded. - Cut is not to Lovell Telescope/Jodrell: NOT TRUE! e-MERLIN funding essential to operate all our telescopes.
AI still.getting confused. I googled mountain hares in the Peak District whilst watching Countryfile yesterday. Check out the advice on best time to spot: apparently after snow when their white coats will stand out better 😖
Sadly, cloudy here. If its clear for you, worth a look for #aurora aurorawatch.lancs.ac.uk
Very enjoyable evening last night @jodrellbank.bsky.social with @teresa-anderson.bsky.social and @hannahpeel.bsky.social discussing re-release of Hannah's Mary Casio and her new commission for BBC Radio 4 with BBC Philharmonic inspired by 80 years of Jodrell Bank.
Terrible events in US but this guy really needs to reconsider his approach
Anybody wondering about the reports that the day length has become a bit less than 24 hours could do worse than look at this figure I made last week for the Astronomy textbook I'm writing. Time is a lovely, but complicated, thing.
Solsticial celebrations at Jodrell today! Cloudy at local noon so the meridian line not at it's best but we knew the Sun was there, behind the clouds, and we gave thanks 🌞
Very helpful of these satellites to mark my target galaxy with a X. Note to self, don't image at twilight. 🙄
Superb Lovell Lecture by Phil Diamond @jodrellbank.bsky.social this evening. Giving us the latest update on the SKA Observatory. Lovely night sky as well.
In Salford 2 days running. Today bbc breakfast. More Asteroid chat. Managed to avoid explaining the Yarkovsky Effect but got mixed up on the age of the Solar System. I'm letting myself off though. Animation of changing impact uncertainty region (currently 0.2%) from blogs.esa.int/rocketscienc...
Just had a chat to BBC Radio Manchester about Asteroid 2024 YR4 (the one that has a 98% chance of missing the Earth on 22 Dec 2032). Image from ESA NEO orbit visualisation tool. It's just passed us and is heading off past Mars orbit. Returns in 2028, 2032 etc...
Had Time for a coffee in @jodrellbank.bsky.social cafe whilst waiting to do a little interview about planet viewing for BBC Northwest Tonight
Giving a talk to a local astro soc tonight about GK Per (Nova Per 1901). Thought I'd take a quick photo of the sky where it is whilst it was clear last night. Handheld mobile phone so apologies for shakiness. I've added some labels to it to help orientation.
Venus and Saturn looking good in southwest, Jupiter high and bright in southeast and Mars low down in east. Note ,Mars won't be through a tree for all observers.
Down to -10C here in High Peak. Beautiful day, and our ASHP continues to do a sterling job of extracting heat from the 263K air and preventing us turning into icicles.
Jupiter is shining brightly above Orion tonight. The other photo was my first attempt, not realising I had the phone in selfie mode because it was dark 😂
We have some beautiful old kit in the Physics teaching labs. Here's a resistance box by the Croydon Precision Instrument Company (Cropico). Beautiful comb joints in that wooden box! This link describes what seems like exactly these type of boxes.... www.richardsradios.co.uk/cropico1960....
Did a (slight) tidy of my office and found this thank you card from a primary school class I did a talk to a long time ago 😀 👽 yes that's me in the drawing