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Dr. Nick Attree

@nickattree.eurosky.social
1.5K followers 720 following 1.1K posts

Planetary scientist @iaacsic.bsky.social, working on @esa.int Rosetta & @cometinterceptor.bsky.social (Nucleus WG chair). Prev @TU-Braunschweig.de, @LAM, @QMUL, @physicsuol.bsky.social 🇬🇧🇪🇸🇪🇺 sites.google.com/view/nickattree ORCID: 0000-0003-3344-6693

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Dr. Nick Attree @nickattree.eurosky.social · 16h
Rainy couple of days in #Granada, but then the sun comes out to reveal the season's first snow on the #SierraNevada!
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Dr. Nick Attree @nickattree.eurosky.social · 17/10/2026
Luckily I have a pair of 3D glasses for just such cases! 🕶️
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Dr. Nick Attree @nickattree.eurosky.social · 15/10/2026
The full coupling turns out to be quite complex, for a variety of technical and scientific reasons, and requires more work. So we put together a new team @issibern.ch to do this, and look forward to other comets like the unknown target of @cometinterceptor.bsky.social! bsky.app/profile/nick...
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Dr. Nick Attree @nickattree.eurosky.social · 15/10/2026
So this paper (also available on the #Arxiv here) is the first part about coupling these two models: investigating the ability of the thermal model to match #comet #67P's observed outgassing and non gravitational forces and torques arxiv.org/abs/2610.13230
arxiv.org
Towards a coupled activity-fallback model for comets I) 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko's water activity from a microphysics model with dynamic dust-depth
We apply a two-layer thermophysical model, with water sublimating from below a dust-crust with dynamically varying depth, to simulate the water outgassing rate, dust-ejections, and non-gravitational f...
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Dr. Nick Attree @nickattree.eurosky.social · 15/10/2026
For this we need a fast but realistic thermal model. Well it just so happened that Yuri Skorov, who was visiting me @iaacsic.bsky.social, had just that! bsky.app/profile/nick...
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Dr. Nick Attree @nickattree.eurosky.social · 15/10/2026
The first is about tracking the trajectories of dust particles around #comet #67P and led to this publication by Abhinav Jindal, @browngeomorphlab.bsky.social, and @spacemarschall.net. Lots of dust falls back on the surface, changing it's properties, which we want to model bsky.app/profile/nick...
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Dr. Nick Attree @nickattree.eurosky.social · 15/10/2026
Our latest paper on #comet activity ☄️ is out in Monthly Notices @rasjournals.bsky.social! Quite excited by this work, which marks the confluence of two separate projects and with more to follow (hence the I 🙂) academic.oup.com/mnras/advanc...
academic.oup.com
Towards a coupled activity-fallback model for comets I) 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko’s water activity from a microphysics model with dynamic dust-depth
Abstract. We apply a two-layer thermophysical model, with water sublimating from below a dust-crust with dynamically varying depth, to simulate the water o
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Dr. Nick Attree @nickattree.eurosky.social · 15/10/2026
obligatory Simpsons did this comment
static.klipy.com
Dr Nick: Inflammable Means Flammable? Simpsons
ALT: Dr Nick: Inflammable Means Flammable? Simpsons
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Dr. Nick Attree @nickattree.eurosky.social · 14/10/2026
which, incidentally, sounds a bit like the tittle of a Fall Out Boy song
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Reposted by Dr. Nick Attree
European Space History @eurospacehistory.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
#OTD 14 October 2014, part of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko as seen by ESA's Rosetta spacecraft from a distance of about 8 km🧪🔭 sci.esa.int/web/rosetta/... @operations.esa.int @science.esa.int @dlr-de.bsky.social
Black and white photo of a section of the smaller of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko's two lobes as seen through Rosetta's narrow-angle camera from a distance of about 8 km to the surface.
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Andrea Luck @andrealuck.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
Phobos (including Saturn and Deimos) in the latest release of @esa.int Mars Express Can you spot Saturn? Full size & more info: flic.kr/p/2sFoFaS 🔭🧪 Credit: ESA/DLR/FUBerlin/AndreaLuck CC BY ESA Mars Express Release September 15, 2026 Note: Saturn has been enlarged by 300%
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Reposted by Dr. Nick Attree
Astronomy Picture of the Day 🪐 @apod.shinyakato.dev · 09/10/2026
🔭 Stickney Crater Credit: HiRISE, MRO, LPL (U. Arizona), NASA ap261009
A color enhanced close-up image of Stickney Crater on Phobos.
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Dr. Nick Attree @nickattree.eurosky.social · 08/10/2026
Yes, I don't like reading on the spot. But I also don't like homework! Would be interesting to try both tho.
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Dr. Nick Attree @nickattree.eurosky.social · 08/10/2026
Very interesting idea. I kinda hate the idea of reading something on a timer with other people during a meeting, but I do like the idea of digesting something written down and then discussing it.
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Dr. Nick Attree @nickattree.eurosky.social · 08/10/2026
in many ways [the pressure] here should be zero, but it should not be zero #ThingsActualScientistsSay
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Dr. Nick Attree @nickattree.eurosky.social · 07/10/2026
Forgot to repost this yesterday, but yes, the attack on Weathertop happens on my birthday!
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Dr. Nick Attree @nickattree.eurosky.social · 07/10/2026
also, when people join the web meeting from inside their labs in the middle of tests!
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Dr. Nick Attree @nickattree.eurosky.social · 07/10/2026
you can tell a spacecraft is getting closer to launch when the ESA project updates actually start getting interesting! 😅
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Reposted by Dr. Nick Attree
Tom Gauld @tomgauld.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
My latest cartoon for @newscientist.com
As we join the great theoretical scientist, he is deep in thought. So still, quiet and focused that he might almost be asleep. But inside that brilliant mind, what new idea is forming? What certainty is being meticulously interrogated? What ingenious theory is ready to change our world forever? (the scientist snores lightly) Ah, it seems he actually is asleep. And that's fine. Science is hard and not every day can be a success. We will come back another time.
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Dr. Nick Attree @nickattree.eurosky.social · 06/10/2026
Well I did not win the Nobel prize on my birthday, but it is astrophysically related so I'll take that as a win! 🌠 bsky.app/profile/nobe...
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Dr. Nick Attree @nickattree.eurosky.social · 06/10/2026
It's my birthday! So naturally Granada's typical beautiful weather has been replaced by thunderstorms and a gigantic downpour! Maybe the weather's actually better in 🇳🇱 where I'm logging in to a @cometinterceptor.bsky.social SWT meeting later? ☄️🛰️
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Dr. Nick Attree @nickattree.eurosky.social · 05/10/2026
Oh my god yes! I am more efficient than I've ever been, ticking multiple things off my to do list every day and yet I'm so deep into so many projects that it still gets longer every day! Feels like more and more work just to stay still
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Dr. Nick Attree @nickattree.eurosky.social · 05/10/2026
"In addition to the General Conditions of Participation... proposals need to: ... Not violate fundamental laws of physics ..." No perpetual motion machines? You got it boss!
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Dr. Nick Attree @nickattree.eurosky.social · 05/10/2026
I don't think my drawing is that good! But I'll settle for somewhere in the solar system 😉
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Dr. Nick Attree @nickattree.eurosky.social · 05/10/2026
Some impressive artwork here. Gonna have to up our game for my next ISSI Team! 🙂
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Dr. Nick Attree @nickattree.eurosky.social · 03/10/2026
Yeah, I really enjoyed reading Dracula, but found Frankenstein obtuse and repetitive so that tracks 😅 the non linear storytelling through letters and stuff in Dracula tho, I though was very modern and interesting
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Reposted by Dr. Nick Attree
Simeon Schmauß @stim3on.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
I hinted that there would be more images from the Juice flyby, so here is the timelapse of the full event! It's always amazing to get these views of our fragile Blue Marble from the spacecraft we send out to explore the solar system! 🔭🧪 #planetsci
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Dr. Nick Attree @nickattree.eurosky.social · 29/09/2026
On my birthday! A good omen? 🤞
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ESA Space Science @science.esa.int · 28/09/2026
A successful Earth flyby improves Juice’s course to Jupiter Earlier today, Juice flew just 8640 km above the Indian Ocean and snapped these images with its onboard monitoring cameras. 1️⃣Africa, by Juice monitoring camera 2️⃣Madagascar, by Juice NavCam 3️⃣Moon, by Juice NavCam 🔭 🧪 #planetsci
Mostly black space, most of Earth visible at the top right of the image. Part of a spacecraft visible on the left.Part of the island of Madagascar in black and white.A crescent Moon, with about a quarter of the Moon showing. Many craters are visible.
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Dr. Nick Attree @nickattree.eurosky.social · 28/09/2026
a collaborator told me about a useful statistical measure and I went to look it up on wikipedia to find it was "prompted by the problem of identifying the similarities of skulls based on measurements"... oh...umm... right...!
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Dr. Nick Attree @nickattree.eurosky.social · 25/09/2026
I don't think it matters... but my funding agency does! Approximately how long did it take/how difficult was it to get that ranking? Thinking of @coop.planetary-research.org ...
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Dr. Nick Attree @nickattree.eurosky.social · 23/09/2026
Clearly a true Dutchmam only eats grilled cheese sandwiches and bitterballen
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Dr. Nick Attree @nickattree.eurosky.social · 23/09/2026
Enjoyed your take on #EPSC2026 Chris! I had exactly the same experience at the bistro. Ordered the pea soup and ended up scoffing down something else in 5 mins, but on a different day! Dunno why they leave it on the menu when it clearly doesn't exist 😅
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Dr. Nick Attree @nickattree.eurosky.social · 23/09/2026
Fascinating thread on comparative planetology for rocky #planets, the results of an interesting sounding @issibern.ch meeting!
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Dr. Nick Attree @nickattree.eurosky.social · 22/09/2026
Yay (old) Hampshire! Also, New Zealand is biiiiig! Also, New Jersey... huh! Never thought about that
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Jasmine 🌌🔭 @astrojaz.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
these are cliffs on a comet that we landed a spacecraft on btw
Black-and-white view from the surface of a comet, showing rugged, dusty terrain in the foreground and a massive dark cliff-like wall rising across the upper half of the image. Bright, sunlit ridges and rocks contrast sharply with deep shadows.High-contrast black-and-white view of a comet’s rugged surface, with a towering, steep cliff on the right and a narrow, shadowed valley below. Jagged rock formations and scattered debris are illuminated against the blackness of space.
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Dr. Nick Attree @nickattree.eurosky.social · 19/09/2026
Last night I literally spent 10 mins looking for my glasses and my wife said I should get smart glasses just for that 😂
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Dr. Nick Attree @nickattree.eurosky.social · 18/09/2026
hear hear!
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Dr. Nick Attree @nickattree.eurosky.social · 17/09/2026
"Slurm keeps killing my children" #ThingsActualScientistsSay
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Dr. Nick Attree @nickattree.eurosky.social · 16/09/2026
#Earthquake! Well I missed the big ones here in #Granada over summer, but I've definitely felt one now!
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Dr. Nick Attree @nickattree.eurosky.social · 11/09/2026
#stroopwafel! To round out @europlanetmedia.bsky.social #EPSC
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Dr. Nick Attree @nickattree.eurosky.social · 10/09/2026
Made it to #Pluto and was almost eaten by seagulls! Walking the #planet tour all the way from the Sun at the #EPSC2026 conference venue out to #Scheveningen beach in my afternoon off.
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Dr. Nick Attree @nickattree.eurosky.social · 10/09/2026
Talk done. Some good questions, and that concludes my contributions to #EPSC2026, after 2 talks and a session chairing! Phew, now I can relax and enjoy the rest of the conference 😅
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Dr. Nick Attree @nickattree.eurosky.social · 10/09/2026
Comets be crazy...
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Dr. Nick Attree @nickattree.eurosky.social · 10/09/2026
In the Sun room this morning for active bodies session, including my talk on coupling #comet ☄️ activity and surfaces through modelling. The biggest room in the whole #EPSC2026, but the morning after conference social...so looking rather empty at 8.30 in the morning 😅
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Dr. Nick Attree @nickattree.eurosky.social · 09/09/2026
Closing out the day with Michael talking about @vrubinobs.bsky.social finding targets for @cometinterceptor.bsky.social. Sporting a nice Comet Interceptor t-shirt! I need to get me one of those :) #EPSC2026
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Dr. Nick Attree @nickattree.eurosky.social · 09/09/2026
"they were in orbit around the moon, so they're basically at earth" #ThingsActualScientistsSay #EPSC2026
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Dr. Nick Attree @nickattree.eurosky.social · 09/09/2026
Busy small bodies day all in room Earth at #EPSC2026 today. First interstellar objects, then I'll be chairing a session of our SB5, computational and experimental astrophysics of small bodies. Finally, science with @vrubinobs.bsky.social later this afternoon!
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Dr. Nick Attree @nickattree.eurosky.social · 08/09/2026
Glorious, as ever
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Dr. Nick Attree @nickattree.eurosky.social · 08/09/2026
Ah great! It would be great to catch up! See you in the comets session? Or around at coffee or posters
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