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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 17h

One additional 'quick fact': if your name is John, the Nobel committee is twice as likely to award you the Prize for Physics, compared to scientists who are female - Number of physics prizes to a John: 10 - Number of female physics Nobel laureates: 5 Best wishes to all the John-hopefuls this yr 👩‍🔬⚛️

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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 17h

I got sent a lump of concrete in the post the other day, with a handwritten message "Is this of interest?" Ha! Take that AI, and your farm of AI-slop! The astronomer royal still gets real mail from lovely people and I'm so delighted they still want to share their mad wonderful weird world with me 🤗

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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

🔊Calling #Aberdeen #Elgin & #Inverness: I am heading North to come see y'all. There'll be grown-up book talks + school visits on route! Come & say hello. 🔭🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🎢 📘Th 1st: Aberdeen Science Centre 📗Fr 2nd: Moray Astronomy Club 📙Sa 3rd: Inverness Science in the Atrium ℹ️: www.roe.ac.uk/~heymans/H2D...

A crowd of people sat in a large marquee awaiting the start of the show at Wigtown book festival. The holding slide says Prof. Catherine Heymans. Reader - Catherine almost falls of the stage in surprise when she walks out to see a full house waiting to hear her speak!

Catherine is looking very excited, sat on a copy cushion with small people all around her. The text reads "Professor Catherine Heymans inspiring young minds about space" and "Attempting to explain the infinite universe to 5yr olds". Catherine is not afraid to tackle the biggest questions that the young people want answered!

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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

There is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing! Here's me and the wonderful Gill Khosla, braving the elements at the #CrawickMultiverse! 🤗. Well worth a visit. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🔭 ℹ️: www.crawickmultiverse.co.uk

Catherine standing at the Crawick Multiverse sign looking very damp but delighted with life. A rainbow is in the background.

Catherine living her best life, absolutely drenched, with a ring of cairns on top of a hill behind her. (That is a landscape representation of Andromeda)

Catherine and Gill, the dark grey raining sky behind hime. Stones are jutting up out of the landscaped grass. (This was part of the colliding galaxies sculpture)

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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

The wonderful & exceptionally talented 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿artist, Gillian Eilidh O'Mara (insta @light.on.the.sea), has created "this imagined corner of the cosmos" after having her "entire mind blown open" by my book. I'm absolutely blown away: all the love, joy and wonder I poured into the book, in a single picture.

Swirls of candyfloss pink, cherry reds, warm oranges and sparkly yellows and golds. A small rocket whooshes us away to discover new worlds together.

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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

I absolutely love the idea of everyone across the world, looking up at the cosmos, together. Join in the international fun for 100 hours of stargazing! The challenges start this Thursday! 🔭🎢🧪⚛️ ℹ️: 100hours.online

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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Off to the #WigtownBookFestival today, primarily so I get to meet Smudge👇 and Lee in the real world. Thanks to Lee I also get to drag the entire Festival Marquee audience into a full-blown existential crisis on Sat afternoon, and on Sun it's family "Ask the ARScot Anything" at the Primary School. 🥳

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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

"So we've got to make it look like she's in a simulation" "OK, got it. We'll make her shirt bright orange" "Fab! Float everyday objects in the background?" "I've got a chair, tennis ball and bat?" "What about an upside-down dog!" "Genius....and we're done" 😉🗞️: www.newscientist.com/article/2588...

Catherine smiling in black and white, with an artificially imposed alarmingly bright and pixelated orange shirt on. In the background floats a random selection of objects, a chair, tennis ball and bat, and upside-down dog that is very strangely proportioned - looks kind of cool but also kind of not.

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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

The two #Equinox are the only days when the Sun rises due East and sets due West, everywhere. At the Dec solstice the sun rises in the S-East. At the June solstice it rises in the N-East. As the days pass between the two, the sunrise position slowly changes passing due East each equinox.🤩 🔭🧪

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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

⏰ Start your countdown clock for the exact moment of the autumn #equinox, 01:06 (UK) 23rd Sept, when the Northern hemisphere and Southern hemisphere are equally illuminated. The day length in 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿Scotland will be ~the same as in 🇳🇿New Zealand 🤓🧪🔭 📷: National Maritime Museum, Greenwich

The main diagram shows the Earth's annual rotation around the Sun, surrounded by a zodiacal scale that gives the names, symbols and images of the signs of the zodiac. The seasons and the positions of the equinoxes and solstices are marked. Text at the corners describes the Zodiac and the Earth, and a longer text at the bottom explains the Phenomena of the Seasons.

From https://collections.rmg.co.uk/media/501/182/l1073_001.jpg

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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

#TopOfThePops (well - top 10 - momentarily - in the Amazon 🔭Astronomy audio book best seller chart!). Beaten by the several books authored by your main man Brian, G.O.A.T Sagan, and deGrasse Tyson. I'll take that. 🥳 📻: amzn.eu/d/06m17g9B

The front cover of Catherine's Book (moody dark with stars, but peachy-pink and golden at the same time). Ranked #10 in the Audible Audiobook rankings.

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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

NASA picture of the day today is a real 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿beauty! This is a composite image of the ~5000yo Callanish Stones on the Isle of Lewis. The amazing Giuseppe Petricca has only gone and photographed the Sun at noon there, every few days, for a whole year. #Dedication 🔭🧪👌 ℹ️: science.nasa.gov/image-articl...

The imposing Callanish Stones stand talk with their shadows spanning out across the glass. It's a super clear sky, but looks cold. Above the central stone is a strange figure-of-8 shape of dots. This is the location of the Sun, at noon, on various different days across the year.

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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

BlueSky! Any Sunday chores on your to-do list today that would benefit from an audio accompaniment? Here is me & Jason Goodyer (editor of BBC Science Focus) having a lovely long blether about reality. Suitable for both cooking and cleaning activities. You're welcome 🤗🧪🔭 🔗: pod.link/1296673906/e...

Podcast episode
Are we living in a simulation? How to tell if reality is fake.
Instant Genius.
A picture of a spooky face with plants in its brain....???

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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

My first 5* review! Now David hasn’t clarified what the score was out of, but I’m nevertheless taking this as a major win 🥳🥳. Thank you so much David for your very kind words - made my weekend 🙏

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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Currently being ear-wormed by "You a'int nothing but a Hound Dog" 😵‍💫 ....could this be because the train I'm on just passed through Glasgow Prestwick Airport station? (The only place in the UK where Elvis ever visited after a military plane he was on stopped in to re-fuel 🥰).

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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

🔊 Calling #Ayr! You have the most amazing #astrophotography event happening right on your doorstep between now and Sunday! 📍Cutty Sark Centre ⏰ 10:30-17:30 every day until 20th Sept 🎟️ Free! Just turn up 🤗 I'll be there on Friday - come and say hello! ℹ️: photonica.co.uk

Photonica 26 "A journey through the cosmos"
A picture of a nebula with a Seestar S30 up for the chance of winning

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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

🥳 First-light doughnuts from the very recently launched Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope! 🔭 Fear not - it will all look a lot prettier when focused!

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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

🔊Calling my #astrophotography friends. Look see! An exciting new competition from @royalastrosoc.bsky.social sponsored by First Light Optics. The judging panel will be in for an absolute treat, based on all the amazing images you already post on my timeline. 🔭 Sign-up ✍️: www.rastrophoto.ras.ac.uk

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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

🥳The book launch was the most amazing night at Dynamic Earth! @spacedoot.bsky.social knocked it out of the park when it came to the visuals! If you missed it, the planetarium show will be repeated * @glasgowscience.bsky.social 23 Sept * Winchester Planetarium 13 Oct * @sherwoodobs.bsky.social 9 Dec

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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

👇A little piece of pure joy for your timeline. Just look at their excited/awestruck wee faces 🤗 🔭 #scicomm

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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

👇At the #DynamicEarth book launch last night, a rare sighting of me with me fella. This was the 1st time we've ever been on stage together despite both of us often being on stage independently! @spacedoot.bsky.social was a total legend with the awesome planetarium visuals. An epic night had by all 🤩

Catherine tiny under a giant twisting turning Sun in the planetarium

Guy playing bass guitar looking up at the craters on the moon in the planetarium

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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

The 13yo just came home from his paper-round with this! I think I might have finally impressed him 👌 Vogue next? 🤣 👩‍🔬

Photo of the Scotsman newspaper. On the front cover of the magazine section it says "A star is born, make space for Astronomer Royal Catherine Heymans", and Catherine is vaguely smiling infront of a massive supercomputer of wires!

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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Book launch tech rehearsal at Dynamic Earth complete! @spacedoot.bsky.social is officially amazing: his planetarium show is going to be awesome! Sound check with the 🎸Sound Rays was fantastic. There are only a few tickets left - come - it's going to be🤩 Fri 11th: dynamicearth.org.uk/event/how-to...

Catherine reading from a lecture on stage, amazing graphics of the Australian outback behind her

A base guitar sits under a galaxy-filled sky.

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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Good news - I come in audiobook format too. 📻: www.audible.co.uk/pd/How-to-De... Here is me totally losing my mind with excitement after 6 1/2 days in the studio. Shout out to the most amazing producer, Beeg Al, Canongate studios, who kindly laughed at all my jokes and was just the nicest guy ever🙏

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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Happy publication day morning to me!! Dear friend @chrislintott.bsky.social said on record that it was "Truly unique! Sparkling with charm and interest & uncompromisingly clear". In person he said "I don't want you to take this the wrong way, but it was surprisingly good" 🥳 Major compliment! 🤗🧪

"Sparkling with charm and interest".
Chris Lintott present of The Sky at Night
Catherine's book is below it, looking dark and moody, but with peachy-pink tones.

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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Mutuals from twitter times will remember my very dark yrs of Long Covid 😵‍💫 I lost so much, but found a wonderful silver lining to the dark cloud: I decided to use all the time in bed to v slowly write a book. It took 3yrs. I can't quite believe that tomorrow is publication day & Fri is book launch! 🥹

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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

A total heart-sink moment this morning when I saw this over on LinkedIn from a colleague who transitioned to corporate data science 8yrs ago. I have politely pointed them to @hogg.bsky.social's excellent piece on AI-use in academia, but internally I'm screaming "Why? Why? Why would you do this?" 🫣🧪

On my own I have written 6 papers in the past 2 weeks, all of them PhD-quality or higher, with the help of Fable 5.1 and other models. The AI got a research draft done in tens of minutes for most of those, I just guided it the rest of the way.

Note that I have been out of the field for 8 years, I have no grad students, no grants, no compute, nothing but my 5 year old desktop and AI. For those who have left the field but still want to contribute, this is a godsend.

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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

A big shout out to the fab #Kirkcudbright Dark Space Planetarium who hosted me this w/end for a sneak preview of the book ahead of its official launch this Thurs! Did I give a science talk about the chances that we're living in a simulated universe in the Parish Church? 😵‍💫 Yes BlueSky, I did. 😎

Catherine sat next to a massive pile of books inside a very funky looking science centre, which is the Kirkcudbright Dark Space Planetarium

The inside of a massive church. Catherine is sat in the middle of the audience, looking rather out of place!

A planetarium, Catherine pointing up an image of Europa - moon of Jupiter.

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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Another morning with an inbox full of scam e-mails that say the nicest things about the new book: it's a wonderful pep-talk until you remember it's all just a hallucinating AI-agent 🥺 Thank goodness then for the wonderful @richbamford.bsky.social who is 100% human and is already up to Chpt 2 🥳

A message from Rich.
"Thought I'd have a quick glance at the prologue before bed ... just stopped myself in chapter two"

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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

#Edinburgh! What are you doing on Friday night? Come to my book launch at Dynamic Earth! There will be: 🍺 A bar 🎶 Music 💃 Dancing (well, I'll be dancing from all the excitement) 🪐 Planetarium 360 visuals 🧪 Science + a little bit of philosophy 🎟️: dynamicearth.org.uk/event/how-to... 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🔭

How to Design a Universe: Planetarium Show
Prof. Catherine Heymans Boos Launch
Readings and live music with Planetarium visuals.
Text on a cool pink version of the Andromeda Galaxy

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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Scientists - read this super useful guide from @elisecutts.bsky.social. The best way to share our work with the world is via our wonderful journalist friends! "Dinosaurs, cute animals, black holes — if it is something you can imagine a child going through a "phase" about, it's probably a winner."🤗

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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Excitedly counting down to official publication day (Thursday 10th Sept), although I see she is already out in the wild 🥳 for some of you who were ever so lovely and pre-ordered it 🙏. Here is a snippet from How to Design a Universe Chpt 6: The Quantumverse! www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-t4...

youtube.com

Chapter 6! ⭐⭐The Quantum verse ⭐⭐

YouTube video by Astronomer Royal Scotland Prof Catherine Heymans

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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Go to Carrick Beach at high tide, they said. It's a gorgeous place for a swim, they said.... Well I've never been one for the weather Gods spoiling my plans.... 🤗 #SwimmingInTheRain

Catherine in the murky waves looking delighted!

A dreich day on a Scottish beach. A small pink hat can be seen - a made woman swimming in the water.

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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Help! Parton Community Council has 60 days to raise £70k to buy Parton Kirk (resting place of James Clerk Maxwell). They plan to turn it into a visitor centre celebrating our great hero! The other buyers could turn it into long-term storage 😬 Even £5 would help 🙏🧪⚛️ www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding...

justgiving.com

Help raise £70000 to Save Parton Kirk – JustGiving Crowdfunding

Iʼm raising money to Save Parton Kirk. Support this JustGiving Crowdfunding Page.

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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

FAQs 🤗 * Yes @astrokatie.com & I did know that we'd accidentally landed on similar book titles a while back, but it was too late to change them. Apologies for confusion! * Yes you should read both - highly complementary * No plans yet for a joint book event, but the next time Katie is in the UK....🤞

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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

In my mind David Attenborough is narrating: "After a 3yr gestation, the elusive freshly published book has been spotted in the wild for the very 1st time. And what a specimen she is. A truly magnificent creature!" 😂 Alistair, I'm hoping that you enjoy reading it, as much as I enjoyed writing it!🤗

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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

🥳 Congrats to MOONS which saw its first light last night! The STFC CEO described it as a "tremendously exciting..landmark moment". I agree! So why has STFC cut all funding for the MOONS data processing archive that UK-folk were planning to use to carry out their "transformational science"? 🤔🤷‍♀️🔭

A computer screen showing spectra from the 1000 robotic eyes of the MOON spectrograph

A team of happy people in hardhats standing in front of the massive MOONS instrument.

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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

It's official: the ARScot is rated 9.9/10 - I thank you #Kirkcudbright Primary! 😊 A fab morning full of questions from an absolutely wonderful and curious group of young minds. From P1-P7 we talked about aliens, astronauts, black holes, exploding stars, and the beginning & end of space and time 🤗🔭

a coloured-in happy character with a score 9.9/10!

A curious character, writing on a book.
"I was taking notes and was interested in all the topics you talked about"

A relaxed happy character
"I think that I really want to be an astronomer"

A relaxed happy character
"I learned that stared exploded - I didn't know that!"

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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

'the Astronomer Royal for Scotland and a vocal critic of the cuts, called Burnham’s intervention “wonderful news” but said Jodrell Bank was a “high-profile casualty of a much larger funding crisis” that goes beyond particle physics and astronomy.'🧪⚛️🔭👩‍🔬 Vocal critic 🙋‍♀️ should print that on a ti-shirt👌

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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Who knew that author-scam e-mails would be more prolific than predatory journal e-mails? If you are a real person trying to contact me: ditch all the praising flowery language, and make your contact details public on an official webpage. That way I can check that you are who you say you are. <sighs>

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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Not every day your opinion piece gets published by @newscientist.com (indeed this is my first 😊). Apologies that it's behind a paywall, but hopefully some of you are subscribers and can now enjoy the existential crisis that I’m about to drag you into. 🧪🔭⚛️ www.newscientist.com/article/2586...

newscientist.com

Are you made of real-world quarks or virtual-world qubits? | New Scientist

Is it possible we’re living in a virtual simulation? Professor Catherine Heymans, the Astronomer Royal for Scotland, does the maths on whether anything is actually real

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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Incase you missed this last night .... thank you PM! This is an excellent start which I hope will lead to the reversal of the very damaging UKRI policy decisions that have resulted in countless first-class research projects facing significant funding cuts.

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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Well I think I am liking this new +ve PM! In response to @sarahrussellmp.bsky.social on Jodrell: "there must be a way to save #JodrellBank and I give her a commitment at this dispatch box - we will find it" Brilliant Burnham! Can you now save all the other epic projects that have also been cut 🙏🔭

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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

😃Have my particle physics cousins spotted an actual #DarkMatter particle? I'm v excited! The chances of this 16 June 2023 blip just being noise, are about the same as the chance that today is my birthday (which it is not, but it is for some of you). We need more data to know for sure!!!! 🤞🧪⚛️🔭

A slide from a talk entitled "A single event - LZ230616). It shows some plots. I honestly don't know what the axes are, because particle physicists never label their axes in human readable form - one of my pet peeves. But anyway, far away from the main body of data is a tiny dot, something unusual. Is it dark matter? Who knows. But it's definitely something special!

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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

That was a v fast-paced debate on the STFC funding cuts! Good things: * The minister did not trot out the infuriating "there are no cuts" line * Lots of MPs there passionately standing up for their constituents who are directly impacted * Everyone there seemed to genuinely love the work we do!

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