iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Mike Christie

Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

🥳 New Observatory alert! (Yes, she cuts ribbons!) Huge congratulations to Dr Charles Wang and all the wonderful #Aberdeen University team who have built the brand new Anne Cruickshank Observatory! 🔭🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 ℹ️: www.abdn.ac.uk/news/26204/ 🎥: Dave Galloway NorthSound1

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Mike Christie @mikechristie.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Combined data from a #Seestar S50 🔭 and a #Seestar S50Pro on the Pacman nebula. 55 minutes S50Pro, 40 minutes S50, processed in #PixInsight. #astrophotography

NGC281, otherwise known as the Pacman nebula. Reds, yellows and blues indicate different elements, with a background of stars.

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Reposted by Mike Christie

👻 Saavik ‘Spooky Season’ Ford 🎃 @saavikford.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Hey folks—this is doing really well—more than 90% raised!!! But they aren’t there yet! Can you help save the grave of the man who 1st recognized light is an electromagnetic wave??? It’s more than a little shocking this is down to private fundraising, but with your help, it will get done!!!

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Mike Christie @mikechristie.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

@dannydenfisch.bsky.social - I redid the S50 🔭 using the LP filter, and got much better results than the IRCUT filter. I'm pretty sure the previous result was caused by the bright LED streetlamp 6 feet away. I did shield the scope with the balcony wall and a lens hood, but nothing is perfect...

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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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Mike Christie @mikechristie.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

@dannydenfisch.bsky.social - here's a comparison of images from the S50 🔭 and the S50Pro on the Wizard Nebula last night. S50Pro using LP and S50 using IRCUT. S50Pro just under 50 minutes, S50 just over. Identical processing in PixInsight - SPCC, SPFC, MGC, BlurX, NoiseX, MAS. #astrophotograpy

Seestar S50 image of the Wizard Nebula NGC7380

Seestar S50Pro image of the Wizard Nebula NGC7380 showing the wider field of view.

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Mike Christie @mikechristie.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Clear in #Edinburgh after torrential rain this morning. Got a couple of Moon pictures. #CFF160 🔭, #TeleVue 2.5x Powermate, #Touptek ATR585MM camera. Best 10% frames from 2 minute video, stacked and sharpened in Strata (Mac app). #astrophotograpy

Southern highlands of the Moon. Tycho is the bright crater upper right.

Aristarchus (brightest crater on the Moon) and Schroeter's valley

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Reposted by Mike Christie

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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Reposted by Mike Christie

Brian G Weber Photography @briangweber.com · 20/09/2026

I finally got around to a full-on blog write-up about my magical humpback whale encounter with bubble net feeding this summer. Looking through pictures again made me so happy. I hope you enjoy it as much I did! buff.ly/8COdsB2 #humpbackwhales #whales #whalewatch #ocean #blog #nerd 🦑 🐳

buff.ly

Humpback Whale Magic

🚀 Photographer of the sea and sky, occasionally the land.

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Mike Christie @mikechristie.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

New books in the #cosmology section of my (home made) oak bookshelf by @astroroyalscot.bsky.social and @dreochapman.bsky.social. Both great reads. 🔭

“How to Design a Universe” by Catherine Heymans and “Radio Universe” by Emma Chapman in the cosmology section of my bookcase

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Reposted by Mike Christie

Dave Eagle @dave-stargazer.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Good morning, folks. Thank you very much to everyone who pre-ordered my new Deep-Sky Imaging Guide. They look fantastic in print. I will get them in the post to you today.

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Mike Christie @mikechristie.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Up early to let #astrocat out. Took opportunity for quick image of Saturn. #CFF160 🔭, #TeleVue 2.5x Powermate, #ZWO #ASI585MC camera. Captured with Laminar and processed with Strata, both Mac apps.

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Mike Christie @mikechristie.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Definitely recommend going to the show (and getting the book) if you're near one of the events.

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Mike Christie @mikechristie.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

I thought of this during your Dynamic Earth book launch yesterday when you showed the picture of Saturn. Maxwell showed that the rings must be composed of large numbers of particles and could not be liquid or gas. See clerkmaxwellfoundation.org/Saturn-s_Rin...

clerkmaxwellfoundation.org

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Mike Christie @mikechristie.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Just back from @astroroyalscot.bsky.social’s book launch with a signed copy in my hand. Fab evening! Congratulations to all involved! Great planetarium show @spacedoot.bsky.social, and very enjoyable music from the Sound Rays.

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Reposted by Mike Christie

Dr Lucy Rogers @drlucyrogers.com · 11/09/2026

Now this is really rather good. And very entertaining. Out now!

Copy of "How to Design a Universe" by Catherine Heymans held up. Background is water and willow tree.

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Reposted by Mike Christie

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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Reposted by Mike Christie

Marcus Chown @marcuschown.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Good to see my book, THE MAGIC FURNACE, still being recommended nautil.us/an-astrophys... Just got the rights back. If anyone in the UK would like a signed copy, let me know. And if another publisher would like to publish it, similarly. Here’s what it’s about… marcuschown.com/book/the-mag...

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Reposted by Mike Christie

Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Astrofolk! Tomorrow is a very special day for @astroroyalscot.bsky.social - it's her book's publication day! The best astro books are written by Outreachers, and she is one of the very best there is, so you should definitely check it out. Jess says it's available from your local bookshop or online!

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Reposted by Mike Christie

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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Reposted by Mike Christie

Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 07/09/2026

Very sad to see the Church of Scotland turn its back on this property of historical significance to physics and put it at risk 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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Mike Christie @mikechristie.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

A couple more pictures from the @collective-edin.bsky.social open day at Calton Hill on Saturday 5 September. The Cooke 🔭 and the @astronomyedinburgh.bsky.social team. A great, fun day, with 10 tours given to 8 to 10 people per tour.

Looking up at the 6" Cooke telescope with the dome open in the background.

At the Astronomical Society of Edinburgh team with the Cooke Telescope (except me - I took the picture!)

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Reposted by Mike Christie

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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Reposted by Mike Christie

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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Reposted by Mike Christie

Astronomical Society of Edinburgh @astronomyedinburgh.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

The Cooke telescope on Calton Hill, between tours given by @astronomyedinburgh.bsky.social on the @collective-edin.bsky.social open day.

The Cooke telescope in Edinburgh with the dome partially opened.

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Reposted by Mike Christie

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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Reposted by Mike Christie

Emma Chapman @dreochapman.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

I’m heading to #NewScientistLive to dig into the hidden universe! Radio waves let us excavate cosmic history, uncovering black holes, the first stars, dark matter, and the deepest layers of spacetime. Come and explore what’s buried in the sky on 11 October. live.newscientist.com @newscientist.com

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Reposted by Mike Christie

SkyCalPro | Kev @skycalpro.com · 30/08/2026

Yellow Balls in W33 Yellow balls represent the stage before newborn massive stars clear out cavities in their surrounding gas and dust and appear as green-rimmed bubbles with red centers in the Spitzer image. #Astronomy

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Reposted by Mike Christie

Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Calling all #Glasgow & #Edinburgh Planetarium, space and all-round Matrix-movie enthusiasts. We're going to be re-considering what it means to be real! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Sept 11 Dynamic Earth dynamicearth.org.uk/event/how-to... 🔭 Sept 23 Glasgow Science Centre www.glasgowsciencecentre.org/whats-on/dav...

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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

BlueSky! I dusted off my rusty old html coding skills..... 🤓 The UK "tour" starts in 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Dumfries and Galloway next week for the #Kirkcudbright Fringe! If you're in the area, do come along! 🗓️: www.roe.ac.uk/~heymans/H2D...

roe.ac.uk

How to Design a Universe: Events

Join Catherine Heymans, Astronomer Royal for Scotland, at events across the UK celebrating her new book, How to Design a Universe: The Science of Real and Virtual Worlds.

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Mike Christie @mikechristie.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Used a brief period of somewhat clear skies in #Edinburgh for some white light #solar imaging. #CFF160 🔭, #Baader Herschel wedge, #Televue 4x Powermate, #Touptek ATR585MM. Processed with Laminar and Strata (Mac apps), coloured with Solar Toolbox in PixInsight. #astrophotography #heliophysics

A zoomed in white light image of the sun showing a complex set of sunspots

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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

🔊 #Edinburgh! Join me to celebrate the launch of my new book at Dynamic Earth. With live music from the Sound Rays + a full-dome planetarium experience, we'll be reconsidering what it means to be real! 🔭 Fri 11th Sept 18:30 Bar opens 19:30 Show + Book signing 🎟️: dynamicearth.org.uk/event/how-to...

A massive purple explosion appears to have occurred above Catherine's head (it's a dark matter map) as she gazes off in to the distance while holding her book. A nice old telescope in propped on the table (not that she'd be able to see the invisible dark matter with it).

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Reposted by Mike Christie

Emma Chapman @dreochapman.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Radio astronomy as a scientific field was born thanks to this field! 📡 In 1935, the Daventry Experiment demonstrated that radio waves could be used to detect aircraft. A generation of physicists became experts in radar and, when WW2 ended, some turned those skills towards the invisible Universe 🔭

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Mike Christie @mikechristie.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

Tried some white light imaging of the #Sun. #CFF160 #Televue 2.5x powermate, #Touptek 585 mono #Baader Herschel wedge. Best 35% of 1500 frames, captured with #Laminar and stacked in #Strata.

Several sunspots in a white light image of the Sun

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Reposted by Mike Christie

Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

Back in 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 & delighted to see that my little gift of 300 eclipse glasses to my local high school went down well! Councillor Dalgleish:"Seeing a solar eclipse is a life event & could well inspire a whole new generation of astronomers for #Edinburgh” 🤞🤞🔭 www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/edinbur...

edinburghnews.scotsman.com

Edinburgh pupils gifted solar eclipse viewing glasses on return to school

Pupils at Portobello High School were given the chance to view the historic moment safely

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Emma Chapman @dreochapman.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

Genuinely happy for all those that had beautiful clear skies for the solar eclipse, but I’m currently enjoying feeling COLD for the first time in ageeees. I’ll take that as a silver lining to the clouds of yesterday! 🥶☁️☀️

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Mike Christie @mikechristie.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Best image just before totality. Cloud gap disappeared for totality, so it got dark and then light again but no view of the corona. #eclipse 🔭

A very cloudy sky with a sliver of sun visible in a small gap

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Mike Christie @mikechristie.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Not looking promising for clear skies off Iceland. #eclipse 🔭 😢

View forward from a cruise ship with grey skies and a moderate sea breeze

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Mike Christie @mikechristie.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

And a stacked image from the #Dwarf3 smart 🔭 showing a sunspot rotating into view on the left limb.

An image of the sun in white light showing a sunspot at about 9 o’clock

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Mike Christie @mikechristie.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

A trial timelapse imaging run for the #Dwarf3 smartscope on board the @fredolsencruise.bsky.social ship #Balmoral in preparation for tomorrow’s total #eclipse. I have tried the #Dwarf3 🔭 at sea in a calm sea and the tracking worked there, but tomorrow depends on clouds and sea state.

A Dwarf3 smart telescope on a cruise ship balcony imaging the sun in preparation for tomorrow’s total solar eclipse.

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Mike Christie @mikechristie.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

A tight turn berthing in #Reykjavik onboard @fredolsencruise.bsky.social ‘s Balmoral. Hopefully we’ll see #totality on Wednesday, though forecasts are still uncertain. #eclipse

Blue skies in Reykjavik as we turn at 90 degrees to another cruise ship to berth a couple of hundred metres ahead.

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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Very kindly @newscientist.com have listed the new book in their "best new popular science books of August 2026" list. The summary made me chuckle - I suppose I kind of always have been a "go big or go home" type of girl. 😂

No small ambition in this next book, either. Astrophysicist Catherine Heymans’s latest is, according to its subtitle, no less than a look at the “science of real and virtual worlds”. At its heart is that wonderful, death-defying question: could we be living in a computer simulation, and how would we even know? It all sounds fascinating, as Heymans, the astronomer royal for Scotland, takes us “on a humorous and mind-bending journey through the science of reality itself”.

From subatomic particles and the cosmic mysteries of dark matter to the secrets of the human senses, we are promised an exploration of “whether humanity could ever create a virtual universe as rich and diverse as our own – and what that means for our sense of self, free will and consciousness”. Not much going on here, then.

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Andrew Pontzen @apontzen.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

📣 @durham.ac.uk’s Institute for Computational Cosmology has a faculty vacancy (assistant or assoc prof level, deadline 28 Sep). aas.org/jobregister/.... Our observer friends in the Centre for Extragalactic Astronomy have a vacancy too (aas.org/jobregister/...). Drop me a line with any queries!

aas.org

Assistant or Associate Professor in Computational Astrophysics or Cosmology | American Astronomical Society

The Institute for Computational Cosmology (ICC), part of Durham University Department of Physics, invites applications for a permanent faculty member at the level of Assistant or Associate Professor.

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Reposted by Mike Christie

Megan Eaves-Egenes @meganeaves.com · 03/08/2026

Check out today's iPaper (with cover teaser!) for my story on how to view next week's solar eclipse from the UK! inews.co.uk/inews-lifest...

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The Dark Sky Ambassador @darkskyambassador.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

Wow what a resource! We’ve just had a private tour 😉 and I maybe doing a talk from here in winter ⭐️🔭🪐#DarkSkyAmbassador #astro #darksky

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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

A busy morning filming with BBC Breakfast at Jodrell Bank! Photos/vids to follow, but in the meantime enjoy me locked inside @philbull.bsky.social's RHINO cage: a brand new radio telescope designed to detect the light emitted by neutral hydrogen gas, between galaxies, in the v v early Universe 🤗🔭👩‍🔬

Catherine is locked in a large metal cage which has a horn at the top. She looks happy though. In the background is a radio antenna.

Catherine, in sunspecs, is hooting with laughter, inside the cage, looking at the antenna reciever inside the new radio telescope. It looks like an old car radio antenna sticking out into the cage - radio astronomy is wonderful.

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