Stuart Atkinson
@stuartatkinson
Amateur astronomer and author of science fiction and science reference books, including "A Cat's Guide to The Night Sky". Fascinated by Mars since knee high to R2D2 and owned by a very demanding rescue cat called Jess.
Hey, Curiosity, where ya goin? I thought you were heading on up the valley? Did you forget something?
Can I have another? I fell head over heels in love with this book when I read it. It's my own "The Princess Bride".
50 years ago Viking 1 sent back this first colour view of the surface of Mars. Yesterday the Perseverance rover sent back these new views of the landscape outside Jezero Crater... As the song says, "It's been a long road getting from there to here..."
Gorgeous new view from Perseverance, looking back over her shoulder at her tracks in the martian dust as she continues to explore the terrain outside Jezero Crater... Processed mosaic of July 16th images, Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/S Atkinson
Scientists "surprised" by discovery of huge onion bhajis on Mars... (Not actually onion bhajis, of course, just very knobbly rocks, imaged by Perseverance on July 14th) Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/S Atkinson
34 years after Kim Stanley Robinson's "Red Mars" was published, Curiosity is *finally* showing me the Mars that Ann, Sax, John, Nadia, Maya and Frank saw - the Mars that has always been in my heart. Thank you, NASA. Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/fredk/S Atkinson
Stunning new mosaic view of The Clayborne Range (note: *my* unofficial nickname, and I'll keep using it until NASA either adopts it or bans me from using it!) sent back by Perseverance... Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/fredk/S Atkinson
Thinking of going on Dragons Den to ask for £50k and offering a 1% stake in my catering firm, which would supply my Bacon Fries/Chilli Chicken and Mint Mayo sandwich to major high street retailers...
I'm a little bit obsessed with this cable on Perseverance. In a landscape painted a million different hues & shades of red, brown & sepia, this is one of the only flashes of such beautiful, pure blue for many thousands of miles... Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/S Atkinson
Stunning new view of The Clayborne Range (note: my nickname, not NASA's!) looming ahead of Curiosity, high up on the slopes of Mt Sharp in the centre of Gale Crater on Mars. July 9th images NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/fredk/ additional processing S Atkinson
Oh, I'm going to *devour* this... Forget your "Breaking Bad", "Sopranos" and "Game of Thrones", **this** is the best TV series ever made. Fact.
Nice display of Noctilucent Clouds visible from Kendal, Cumbria now (00.15 9 July)
On July 5th Curiosity took new images of the yardangs up ahead. I think this view is Mars at its magnificent best. PLEASE, rover team, call this "The Clayborne Range" in honour of geologist Ann Clayborne from Red Mars! Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/fredk/S Atkinson
True. After years of relying on guilt-tripping me with The Sad Eyes Look she learned how to close my laptop's lid with her paw and never looked back. I now have to go to library/cafe to write. But looks at that face...
Jess and I are up at you're-having-a-laugh o'clock to watch the England game and here are my match-appropriate snacks. Review to follow!
Today is a very important anniversary - no, not *that* one. Today is the 9th anniversary of the day we brought Jess home from the rescue centre's fosterer. That means it's also her 11th birthday. So, happy birthday, my gorgeous little witch, and Happy Gotcha Day too. Luv ya x
I don't know the actual height myself, but I'm sure one of my more knowledgeable Followers will be happy to enlighten us..?
...meanwhile, on Mars, high up on the slopes of a mountain in the centre of an ancient crater, a nuclear-powered robot geologist is working its way up a valley, continuing its - and our - quest to learn about the red planet's past... Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/S Atkinson
Still very warm here, but we've made sure that even if we're uncomfortable Jess is *very* comfy with a fan of her own...
I wrote the Noctilucent Clouds Observing Guide in the new issue of @astronomynow.bsky.social magazine, in shops now, but missed gorgeous displays the last two nights running because of (insert swear word of choice here) cloud. Jess thinks I should give Alannis Morisette a ring...
I did a little more work on my image of the yardangs as seen by Curiosity on June 24th. This landscape is... incredible... Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/fredk/S Atkinson
Since Pathfinder landed on Mars 30 years ago I must have created many thousands of martian views by processing images from NASA. This new one, made using recent Curiosity images, is def one of my very favourites! Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/fredk/S Atkinson
No compression, those are yardangs, very steep-sided, we've been watching them grow larger up ahead for months now...
Stunning new view of "Mira Flores" butte on Mars, taken by Curiosity, high up on the slopes of Mt Sharp. I'll really miss this feature when Curiosity leaves it behind... NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/fredk/S Atkinson
Gorgeous new view sent back by Curiosity from up on the slopes of Mt Sharp on Mars... Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/S Atkinson