Prof. Ian Walker
@ianwalker
Environmental psychologist: transport, energy, water, buildings. "Woke scientist" (Daily Mail). Head of Psychology, Swansea University 🏴. Charity trustee x2. @locastproject.bsky.social My views World Record-breaking cyclist drianwalker.com
Anyway, just in case there are clear skies for the eclipse on 12 August*, I was checking the Sun was still there yesterday evening. It's good news *no chance
Managed to grab a little bit more Iris Nebula last night despite the moonlight and cloud...
Another hour and a bit last night, which really improved the faint detail. That's probably it for a week or two now, thanks to the moon and the weather turning
Think of these numbers whenever you see someone driving their huge off road vehicle to the supermarket
In other news, the clear nights have continued and I've got nearly 12 hours on the Crescent Nebula. This is a star shedding its outer layers, with a fast-moving layer colliding with a slower-moving layer that was ejected earlier
A very blurry image, as my telescope isn't designed for such tiny objects, but here's supernova 2026sqf in galaxy NGC3310, photographed last night
You remember that Terry Pratchett line about knowing how to spell banana, but not knowing how to stop? This is me typing on a Friday...
I'm finally done with the Elephant's Trunk Nebula after capturing 14 hours of light over 5 nights This cloud sits 2600 light years away, and is about 100 light years across. Full image, plus two crops
The clear but short nights mean my Elephant's Trunk Nebula is now up to 9.5 hours...
And very early version of the North American Nebula, with a bit of the Pelican looking in on the right
Still very early stages, and shared as a work in progress, I've photographed a few hours of the Elephant's Trunk Nebula these past two evenings. This is about 2400 light years away, and the 'trunk' here is about 20 light years long
Amazing how somebody can mash their face into their keyboard and produce what almost looks like actual thoughts Not often you see an infinite ratio on here
I know car parking is an inefficient use of space, but it's nothing compared to this terrible way of storing an orange
There are certainly some people who will go out and deliberately exercise, but most don't and Parkrun involves a fraction of 1% of the population. Overall levels of inactivity have remained pretty static for years. You have to really squint to see any change here
Worth remembering that when it comes to driving, crime IS the norm - we're just blind to it
If anyone's curious, this is from an email I wrote a couple of years ago trying to dissuade a large business from doing yet another active travel reward points system
Map nerds have probably heard of Baarle-Hertog and its bonkers borders, but I've just been looking at the map of that area and noticed that the Holy Roman wackiness extends well outside the town. Imagine being this Dutch farmer who can't harvest his wheat without invading Belgium
It is 9 years to the day since Donald Trump appeared in my friend's poppadom, thereby foretelling the second coming
The clear nights earlier this week enabled me to get another 7 hours on my Iris Nebula photo. Pretty happy with this now. You're looking at a cloud of dust that is 6 light years across, sitting 1300 light years from us - all photographed from my garden in Wales
Couldn't help checking Jaguar Land Rover's investor website on literally the hottest day in history
Too many motorists: "If you criticise car culture you're excluding disabled people!" Also too many motorists: