iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Jen Gupta @jengupta.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

I'm barely on social media anymore but thought I should pop up on here to say that my first book is out today! Your Expert Guide: The Universe for Young Scientists is now available anywhere you buy books, illustrated by the wonderful Ola Szpunar and published by Wayland in collaboration with the IOP

A selfie of me smiling at the camera and holding up a copy of my book

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Jen Gupta @jengupta.bsky.social · 20/01/2026

Last week marked 20 years since the first ever @officialjodcast.bsky.social episode was released, and I was stoked that Stuart managed to get the gang back together and revive @seldomsirius.bsky.social for a trip down memory lane! Check it out at seldomsirius.net/archive/024/

seldomsirius.net

Episode 24

David, Jen, Libby, Mark, Megan, Nick and Stuart present Seldom Sirius. Episode 24. In which we Jod on.

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The Cosmic Shambles Network @cosmicshambles.com · 05/12/2025

You can catch @jengupta.bsky.social on Times Radio tonight around 8:30pm tonight talking space and Nine Lessons. Tune in!

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Jen Gupta @jengupta.bsky.social · 30/09/2025

Calling all space fans! World Space Week starts on Saturday and we have a bunch of public events happening in Portsmouth and Gosport. Check out the listings at the link below and please spread the word! www.port.ac.uk/news-events-...

port.ac.uk

World Space Week 2025

Join us this October as we celebrate World Space Week 2025 in Portsmouth and discover more about the wealth of space activity taking place in our region.

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Jen Gupta @jengupta.bsky.social · 23/04/2025

I'm terrible at being online these days but last year I somehow persuaded STFC (the UK astrophysics research funding council) to give me one of their Leadership Fellowships in Public Engagement and today I had my first project meeting with my team and I'm very excited!

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Jen Gupta @jengupta.bsky.social · 25/01/2025

Honoured and excited to have been elected President of the Society for Popular Astronomy this afternoon, taking over from the wonderful Prof Lucie Green! The SPA is the UK's leading entry-level astronomical society, find out more at www.popastro.com

popastro.com

Welcome to the Society for Popular Astronomy - Society for Popular Astronomy

Click to find out more! Featured content

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Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 16/01/2025

Watching astronauts Suni Williams and Nick Hague work on repairs of our baby, X-Ray 🔭 NICER!! streaming live from space: www.youtube.com/live/RYPk8fz... 🧪

youtube.com

YouTube

Share your videos with friends, family, and the world

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Jen Gupta @jengupta.bsky.social · 16/01/2025

I talked about SaxaVord and UK vertical launches and the possibility of the first launch happening this year on the radio yesterday and then this news comes out today! It feels like there's so much happening in the space sector right now, it's hard to keep up!

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CosmicRami 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @rami.spaceaustralia.com · 15/01/2025

ICYMI … the NRAO is on The Sky! [radio astronomy is slowly taking over the socials and this is the future envisioned dot tumblr]

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Jen Gupta @jengupta.bsky.social · 15/01/2025

I had a blast talking to Chris Jarvis (of Cbeebies fame!) on BBC Radio Solent this morning about lots of exciting things that are happening in space this year. Putting this photo out there for when they get us to do the next series of Cbeebies Stargazing together 😉

A photo of me in the radio studio with Chris Jarvis the presenter. We are standing next to each other in front of a BBC Radio Solent background and smiling at the camera. Chris is on the left of the photo in a blue t-shirt and black trousers. I'm on the right of the photo wearing a red and black check shirt over a black t-shirt and blue jeans. The radio desk is in the foreground of the photo with a purple BBC Radio Solent microphone hanging down.

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Jen Gupta @jengupta.bsky.social · 15/01/2025

At the BBC Radio Solent studio this morning to talk about space in 2025. Think I'm on around 11.10, UK peeps should be able to listen online!

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Jen Gupta @jengupta.bsky.social · 14/01/2025

Spending a bit of time reading up on highly protected marine areas and I think this is another entry to "things I never thought would form part of my future job when I did a PhD in astrophysics"

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Jen Gupta @jengupta.bsky.social · 09/01/2025

A proper daytime moon spotted on today's lunchtime dog walk 🤩

A photo of a brilliant blue sky with a faint gibbous moon visible in the bottom right quadrant between phone lines. There are house roofs visible at the bottom of the photo.

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Jen Gupta @jengupta.bsky.social · 06/01/2025

The perfect ceiling lampshade doesn't exi-

A photo of a Saturn shaped lampshade hanging from the ceiling. It's made from rattan. The sphere of the planet is a natural light brown wood colour and the ring is a dark green/black colour.

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Jen Gupta @jengupta.bsky.social · 02/01/2025

Cold nights = clear skies! Driving to get the kids and spotted a gorgeous crescent moon with an incredibly bright Venus nearby, then Jupiter above Orion who's just peeking up over the horizon.

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Jen Gupta @jengupta.bsky.social · 01/01/2025

My aurorawatch notifications have been pinging this afternoon - completely cloudy here (and possibly too far south) but if you're in the north and have clear skies it might be worth keeping an eye out!

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Jen Gupta @jengupta.bsky.social · 24/12/2024

When your kid has a different bedroom setup since last year and you suddenly realise you have nowhere to hang the stocking - it's an Institute of Physics lanyard to the rescue!

A photo taken from the floor looking up at the underneath of a top bunk bunk bed. There's a black Institute of Physics lanyard looped around the railing with a colourful Christmas stocking attached to the other end.

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Jen Gupta @jengupta.bsky.social · 19/12/2024

And that's me done with work for 2024! It's been quite the year - a challenging time for the UK higher education sector with redundancies and cost saving measures all over the place, but also a brilliant year personally for me as I grew my team and won grants to do exciting projects...

A selfie of me outside my office building. I'm to the left of the photo wearing a Christmas jumper with a black jacket over it. You can see the building behind me with a sign that says "Dennis Sciama Building" and "Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation".

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Jen Gupta @jengupta.bsky.social · 18/12/2024

Last week of work and everyone seemed to get their toys out! A mini Mars rover and a work in progress from @trayford.bsky.social

A photo of a mini Mars Rover model on a wooden desk.

A photo of a strip of coloured LED lights snaked around on a grey carpet. The first LEDs at the top are off and then the LEDs go from blue to orange as they go down.

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Jen Gupta @jengupta.bsky.social · 13/12/2024

I love the work that my colleague @trayford.bsky.social is doing with the sonification of astronomical data! Truly groundbreaking stuff. You can read more about it in the blog post he links in his post.

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Jen Gupta @jengupta.bsky.social · 10/12/2024

OK friends, can someone please tell me how to say in an email when I'm free so people actually understand me?? I say I'm free apart from 2-3pm, they send me an invite for 2pm. I say I'm free 9-11am or 12-5pm they ask to meet at 11am. I give up!

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Jen Gupta @jengupta.bsky.social · 03/12/2024

Co-presented our internal seminar on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion yesterday & it dredged up a memory of the time I was in the pub during my PhD and our visiting colloquium speaker (a senior academic) became convinced I was Latina and wouldn't let it go as if I didn't know my own heritage 🙃

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Jen Gupta @jengupta.bsky.social · 30/11/2024

It's the 30th November which means it's time to refill the most excellent advent calendar that has ever existed! 🚀

A photo looking down at a wooden advent calendar in the shape of a rocket, with two packets of small chocolates next to it on the right. The rocket is green with a glittery red top and fins. Most of the rocket has drawers on it which are either green or white with Christmas designs on them.

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Jen Gupta @jengupta.bsky.social · 30/11/2024

I had no idea about this - just up the road from where I am in Winchester! Will have to go see it next time we're in Andover!

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Jen Gupta @jengupta.bsky.social · 29/11/2024

Spending the morning in a school with a bunch of 9/10 year olds talking about space is one of my all-time favourite things to do. Questions today included "what happened before the Big Bang?" "how can birds fly if gravity is pulling them down?" and "how many stars are there in space?" 🤩

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Jen Gupta @jengupta.bsky.social · 29/11/2024

It's blooming cold out there but at least it means breathtaking views of the night sky! I had my first glimpse of the season of Orion last night when I popped outside before bed, and now Mars is looking lovely and red out of the back door while I make breakfast!

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Jen Gupta @jengupta.bsky.social · 26/11/2024

Another day, another beautiful daytime moon to keep me company while I wait for my car tyres to be changed before work!

A photo taken looking up into the pale blue early morning sky. A thin crescent moon can just be seen in the upper left quadrant of the photo and the top of a building is in the bottom right corner.

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Jen Gupta @jengupta.bsky.social · 22/11/2024

I moved into my own office at work recently (from a shared one) and have slowly been making it feel like mine. Finally got this poster to stay up today after many attempts (rumour has it these are sound proofing rather than pin boards) - what do we think are the chances it'll still be up on Monday??

A photo of an academic poster stuck up on a grey fabric board on the wall in the office. There are lots of pins stuck around the edge to make it stay up. The poster title is "Working Strategically at a Departmental Level) and there are several boxes on it with text and images.

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Jen Gupta @jengupta.bsky.social · 22/11/2024

We've got a little gang of ICG-ers on here now - all gathered together here if anyone wants to give my lovely colleagues a follow!

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Jen Gupta @jengupta.bsky.social · 22/11/2024

If you've followed me on other platforms you'll know I'm a big fan of a daytime moon and this mornings's was a particularly nice one!

A photo taken looking up into the sky this morning. The sky is bright blue. There is a tree on the right side lit up by the Sun and a half moon in the lower left quadrant.

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Jen Gupta @jengupta.bsky.social · 19/11/2024

My three year old asked for "all the books about space" at bedtime tonight and I feel like his indoctrination has finally commenced...

A selection of the books we read at bedtime. Clockwise from top left there's 8 Little Planets, Pop-Up Space, Hey Duggee: The Space Badge, Bizzy Bear: Space Rocket and To The Moon.

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Jen Gupta @jengupta.bsky.social · 18/11/2024

Welp, I hit 1000 followers at some point overnight! That's a lot of you! I should probably think of something interesting to say...

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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 18/11/2024

Just off BBC Radio Scotland, talking about 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿ScotRail's decision to sign up to Elon Musk's Starlink satellite internet for all their Highland trains. I think I rather upset presenter Kaye Adams with this story of space junk falling from the sky...😬🔭 ℹ️: www.scientificamerican.com/article/spac...

scientificamerican.com

When Space Junk Fell on My Neighbor’s Farm, the Law Had Few Answers for Us

A Saskatchewan farmer’s near miss with potentially lethal debris falling from orbit highlights the skyrocketing risks and murky politics of space junk

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Jen Gupta @jengupta.bsky.social · 16/11/2024

Not gonna lie, I'm feeling pretty overwhelmed in here at the moment with the rate of new follows and figuring out a new platform. If I followed you in the other place and am yet to do so here please give me a shout!

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Randall Munroe @xkcd.com · 15/11/2024

The Future of Orion xkcd.com/3012

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Jen Gupta @jengupta.bsky.social · 15/11/2024

My brain is still processing yesterday's Institute of Physics Communicators and Outreach conference - so many great presentations and lots of food for thought. Did feel like our keynote speakers were trolling me slightly with the number of photos of me that they included though...

A photo of our keynote speaker Trent Burton standing on the stage at a podium, with a slide on the screen behind him that's showing a photo of me on stage at the Latitude music festival.

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Jen Gupta @jengupta.bsky.social · 15/11/2024

Very happy to see the Lovell Telescope pop up in my feed this morning - my first academic home ❤️

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Jen Gupta @jengupta.bsky.social · 14/11/2024

Out of the house early to get to the Institute of Physics Communicators and Outreach conference (that I help organise). Standing room only on the train up to London...

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Jen Gupta @jengupta.bsky.social · 13/11/2024

Earlier this week I collected my 6 year old on my way home from work, got home, and went to open the front door to realise she hadn't followed me from the car. I looked back and she was staring up at the stars in wonder, trying to pick out the Big Dipper. That's my girl 🤩

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Jen Gupta @jengupta.bsky.social · 12/11/2024

OK I think I'm ready to dabble in here a bit more... Who's around?!

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Jen Gupta @jengupta.bsky.social · 09/11/2024

It's the big Bonfire Night fireworks display in my hometown tonight and I forgot to bring some diffraction grating glasses home so I rooted around and found these that have definitely seen better days but will have to do!

$Two pairs of white cardboard diffraction grating glasses with the University of Portsmouth logo in black on the arm. They've both got several folds and tears on them and look quite battered.$

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Jen Gupta @jengupta.bsky.social · 20/10/2024

I seem to have gained a few new followers today so hello 👋🏾👋🏾👋🏾 I don't tend to post much on here at the moment so please manage your expectations accordingly!

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Jen Gupta @jengupta.bsky.social · 02/10/2024

I'm in a couple of episodes of this! For US friends only unfortunately but I had a blast filming for it (in the studio and on location!)

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The Cosmic Shambles Network @cosmicshambles.com · 29/01/2024

One year since we released our first feature documentary, Rapid Motion Through Space. If you've not seen it yet, tis FREE on YouTube! "The trademark Cosmic Shambles mix of ultra-nerdy science discourse and unabashed silliness" - Physics World Watch: www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYDd...

youtube.com

Rapid Motion Through Space: An Incomplete History of Speed [Full Feature Documentary Film]

13.8 billion years ago, the Universe began with a bang. A Big Bang. And it has been expanding at an ever increasing speed ever since. This is the story of ou...

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Jen Gupta @jengupta.bsky.social · 03/01/2024

New year, new job?? We're looking for an Outreach & Public Engagement Fellow to join my team at the Institute of Cosmology & Gravitation, main responsibilities to deliver our schools outreach and develop new space-related engagement activities. Find out more & apply at mss.port.ac.uk/ce0732li_web...

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Jen Gupta @jengupta.bsky.social · 27/12/2023

Went to IKEA today and they have a new kids space range and it's epic and I need it all! Check it out here - www.ikea.com/gb/en/cat/af...

A screenshot from my Instagram stories showing IKEA furniture on display in a shop with a space background painted on the wall behind. There's a range of boxes on the furniture unit including white ones with a space print on them, and the top of the unit has been made to look like a rocket.

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