iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Marc Cooper

This will never stop blowing my mind. A 12-year sequence of real telescope images of a star 133 lightyears away. And around it, four planets slowly orbiting. Four real exoplanets, each more massive than Jupiter, imaged as they move around their host star.

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Marc Cooper @ortgard.com · 01/10/2026

I wasn't born, so much as I fell out… —The Clash, Lost in the Supermarket

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Bookish Scifi & Fantasy @bookishsff.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Happy anniversary to Thunderbirds! It aired again throughout my childhood and I watched it obsessively. One of those kids who desperately wanted to make the Blue Peter DIY version of Tracy Island but my parents (probably rightly) assumed I would get distracted half way through and leave a mess...

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New-Cleckit Dominie @ncdominie.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Great moments in Scottish engineering history: James Watt tries to work out how his phone attaches to his selfie stick.

Statue of James Watt. In his right hand he holds a telescopic stick with a frame at the top; in his left he holds a flat object about the size of a large smartphone. He is scowling at the possibly-not-a-smartphone as if he is tempted to yeet it into the sea. On that basis, it probably _is_ a phone.

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Old British Telly @oldbritishtelly.co.uk · 27/09/2026

[1963] Snow – Hypnotic British Transport Film showing the efforts of railway workmen to keep trains running in hazardous snowy conditions.

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Arp Bot 🤖 @arpbot.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

JWST MIRI image of Arp 107, also known as UGC 5984. In this pair of interacting galaxies, only the one-armed spiral glows brightly in mid-infrared light. Young, forming stars surrounded by dusty silicates and soot-like molecules glow in blue. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STSc Source

$A pair of interacting galaxies. The larger of the two is slightly right of center. It is a one-armed spiral galaxy with a hazy, bright, white center and a ring of blue, gaseous filaments. The center of this galaxy shows JWST’s eight-pronged diffraction pattern. The single spiral arm begins at about the 7 o'clock position and spirals counterclockwise to the 12 o'clock position, forming a ring structure. Toward the bottom left and right of the ring are filaments of gas spiraling inward toward the core. At the top left of the ring is a noticeable gap, bordered by two large, blue pockets of dust and gas. The smaller galaxy is made of hazy, light blue gas and dust. Many red, green, blue, and yellow galaxies are spread throughout, with some being hazier in composition and others having more defined spiral patterns.$

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Randall Munroe @xkcd.com · 22/09/2026

Tyrannosaurus xkcd.com/3300/

Comic. [Person with long hair pointing to diagram with Tyrannosaurus Rex standing next to a person.] PERSON: We now believe the primary prey of Tyrannosaurus Rex was these humans who kept standing next to it for scale.

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Richard K Broughton @richardkbroughton.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Quite emotional to report that we've just found our amazing survivor Marsh Tit, still here in his ancient woodland kingdom. He's now 11 yrs 4 months old, survived the 2026 heatwaves/drought and smelt the wildfires of nearby Holme Fen. I ringed him in my 30s and I'm now in my 50s.

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Marc Cooper @ortgard.com · 22/09/2026

It's till not til ;-)

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Raptor Persecution UK @raptorpersuk.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Excellent use of FoI by @guyshrubsole.bsky.social reveals some large discrepancies in the so-called 'official' statistics on Pheasant rear & release in England. What? The UK gamebird shooting industry not complying with the law? Shurely shome mishtake. raptorpersecutionuk.org/2026/09/21/r...

raptorpersecutionuk.org

Reported Pheasant numbers in England don’t add up

Earlier this month, researcher, writer and campaigner Guy Shrubsole blogged about his latest examination of reported Pheasants numbers in England. Pheasant (photo by Ronnie Gilbert) As he’s d…

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CosmicRami 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @rami.spaceaustralia.com · 19/09/2026

Last year, astrophotgrapher Adam Block pointed a 24" telescope for a very long time at this. And he took a colour H-alpha image of the bow shock around the pulsar! 🤯 This is EXTREMELY NEAT work and I think the first / only colour image of the J0437 bow shock. www.aapod2.com/blog/pulsar-...

Wide angle field of stars and a few galaxies. Near the centre is a red bow shock showing the J0437-4715 system.

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Hildur Knútsdóttir @hildur.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

This post is making the rounds again for some reason and therefore I feel I must inform you that they’ve hired another one so there are now TWO forensic pathologists working in Iceland.

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Ennius @enniusredloeb.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

The autumnal equinox is only a few days away and here's what Stonehenge looked like in the 16th century. BL Add MS 28330; Lucas De Heere, Corte Beschryvinghe van Engheland, Schotland, ende Irland; 1573 CE-1575 CE; England (London); f.36r @blmedieval.bsky.social

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Arp Bot 🤖 @arpbot.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Hubble image of Arp 321, also known as Hickson 40. This group of galaxies include three spiral galaxies, an elliptical galaxy, and a lenticular (lens-like) galaxy. Credit: NASA, ESA, STScI, A. Pagan Source

Five galaxies appear close to each other in the sky. At upper left, a spiral galaxy is tilted, appearing wider than it is tall. It has a glowing yellow center and reddish-brown dust trails that spiral clockwise around it. Above the center is a large elliptical galaxy. Its round, glowing yellow center is surrounded by a fuzzy yellow halo that fades away from the core. Toward the bottom right are three galaxies that appear to touch. The largest is in the center: a nearly vertical, edge-on spiral galaxy. Its glowing yellow core is mostly obscured by reddish-brown dust trails dotted with blue stars. To its bottom left is a smaller, tilted spiral galaxy with a glowing yellow center. Reddish-brown dust trails are dotted with blue stars. One spiral arm appears to touch the vertical galaxy to its right. At the spiral’s bottom right is a lenticular galaxy with a glowing central core in the middle of a hazy yellow disk, appearing almost face-on. It seems to touch the large spiral galaxy above it.

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Marc Cooper @ortgard.com · 18/09/2026

Looks like the Ennerdale Fence from Haycock ;-)

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Leslie Levings @leslielevings.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Fossil mugs in the works

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Arp Bot 🤖 @arpbot.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Spitzer, Hubble, and Chandra image of Arp 26, also known as M101 or the Pinwheel Galaxy. Spitzer's infrared light shows dust, Hubble's visible light highlights stars, Chandra's X-rays show things like hot gas and black holes. Credit: NASA, ESA, CXC, JPL, Caltech, STScI Source

A three-panel image, showing Spitzer, Hubble, and Chandra views of the same Spiral Galaxy M101. On the left is the Spitzer view. From a small central core, several arms spiral clockwise. They are defined by a network of yellow-green filamentary dust lanes, which look somewhat like a cross section of a nautilus. The arms are dotted with pink star-forming regions and filled in with a haze of blue stars. One spiral arm curls from about 6 o'clock to 9 o'clock and is mostly separated from the body of the galaxy. The other spiral arms are less distinct. In the middle is the Hubble view. A face-on spiral galaxy has a yellow core. Several spiral arms, dotted with blue stars and star clusters, spiral clockwise around the core. They are crossed by filamentary dust lanes. The arms are somewhat well-defined but asymmetric. One arm curls from about 6 o'clock to 9 o'clock and is mostly separated from the body of the galaxy. Another arm follows more closely to the core, from about 6 o'clock to 12 o'clock. Three other arms cover the area from 12 o'clock to 6 o'clock. On the right is the Chandra view. In this panel, blue and purple splotches partially define spiral arms. These arms are smaller and less distinct than in the other views. White dots are scattered throughout the image, including a concentration of points at the galaxy's core. Credit: NASA, ESA, CXC, JPL, Caltech, STScI. ssc2009-03b

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Michelle says: Be kind. Always. ❤️ @snarkysillysad.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Rare occurrence of heavy rains over Uluru (Ayer's Rock), the sacred sandstone monolith of the Australian desert: #AGoodPlace Source: www.reddit.com/r/NatureIsFu...

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Juliet E McKenna @julietemckenna.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Fun fact a falconer told me. A hawking glove's primary purpose is to stop the bird feeling the pulse in the hawker's wrist, otherwise it will tighten its grip with its talons until the pulse stops because that's how it kills prey. There's no way to override this instinct without hurting the bird.

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Guy Shrubsole @guyshrubsole.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Today about 100 people took part in a mass trespass in the Prime Minister’s constituency. There’s a right to roam over just 1% of Makerfield, & today the landowner proved our point for us: putting up fencing & calling the police. @andyburnham.bsky.social - please open the door to the countryside!

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Hassinator @hassinator.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

a great letter in the times today. perhaps worth sharing in these troubled times. #RNLI #heroes

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By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 12/09/2026

If you showed up at Defcon and gave talk about how your autonomous malware did something unexpected and damaged someone else's computers, the first question from the audience would be "Why are you so shit at making secure sandboxes?" It wouldn't be "How are you so awesome at making hacking tools?"

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Philip Ball @philipcball.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

In case you were in any doubt physics' holy trinity is Einstein, Newton, and Maxwell. A Great Man trope, yes, but also a way to convey Maxwell's real status.

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Philip Ball @philipcball.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

This nails it. (But inevitably, it seems some are totally missing the satire, which is a bit depressing.)

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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

The way I explained the suppression of Atlantic hurricane activity to my students is that El Niño chops off the heads of hurricanes by altering global atmospheric circulation, generating strong upper-level westerly winds across the tropical Atlantic and Caribbean.

bbc.co.uk

New hurricane season record as 'historic' El Niño leaves Atlantic eerily quiet

The Atlantic hurricane season has reached its climatological peak, but a strong El Niño means no hurricanes have formed this year.

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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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Andrew Locking @andrews-walks.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Today's short walk on the Isle of Mull to Traigh na Cille, The Black Beach

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Robert "The Bobby Yaga" McNees @mcnees.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

This is shocking to hear! Einstein kept a picture of Maxwell on his office wall and admired him more than any other scientist. Every fall I teach a whole course about his work. This is like hearing that Westminster Abbey might be purchased so a new car rental place can built on Newton’s grave.

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Paul Byrne @theplanetaryguy.com · 09/09/2026

Astrophotographer Adam (AJ) Smadi caught this image a few hours ago from Washington state. A thin crescent Moon, sunlight illuminating the rugged lunar surface. And 2,400 times farther away—and on the other side of the Sun—mighty Jupiter, and its moons Io (left) and Ganymede (right).

A crescent Moon seen during the day, arcing from upper left to lower right of the frame. At lower centre is the full disk of Jupiter; the small dots to its upper left and lower right and Io and Ganymede, respectively.

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Marc Cooper @ortgard.com · 08/09/2026

Interested to see whether this is an original proof or brute-forced from past work.

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Marc Cooper @ortgard.com · 08/09/2026

Here in the UK, a handful of months into Covid, the government created Eat Out to Help Out: a scheme intended to support the hospitality industry. The result: tens of thousands of deaths. The architect, Rishi Sunak, later became Prime Minister. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eat_Out...

en.wikipedia.org

Eat Out to Help Out - Wikipedia

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Marc Cooper @ortgard.com · 07/09/2026

Yes, and the benefit is the sum, not the single biggest payoff.

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Marc Cooper @ortgard.com · 07/09/2026

@philipcball.bsky.social Hi Philip, Would you consider reposting this, please? bsky.app/profile/astr...

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Rima I Anabtawi @rimaanabtawi.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Radars across the eastern half of the U.S. States exploded with reflectivity ~22 hrs ago. Most is the result of birds with current estimates now over half a BILLION actively in flight. This is part of the annual fall migration southward and appears to be the busiest night of the season underway.

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Tom Cox @dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

I like Oxford a lot. Its architecture, and bookshops, and cafes, plus its all-pervading ambience of history and learning, but I think what I most like about it is its commas.

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Marc Cooper @ortgard.com · 06/09/2026

Such a fabulous lump. You can wander all over it, explore its nooks and crannies, and at the end of it is one of the best views in the Lakes. There's nowhere else like it.

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Marc Cooper @ortgard.com · 06/09/2026

Excellent. And thank you.

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Marc Cooper @ortgard.com · 06/09/2026

HI Catherine, Do you know if Aberdeen University have been contacted/contributed? I was taught Maxwell by (now) Emeritus Prof Graham Hall, whom I know would be very supportive. I see the JCM Foundation have linked to the appeal on their site. Perhaps we could appeal to their trustees.

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👻 Saavik ‘Spooky Season’ Ford 🎃 @saavikford.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

I just donated, & y’all physicists & astronomers… & probably chemists & many other scientists… should too! James Clerk Maxwell was an enormous & under appreciated figure in the history of science—he really should be up there with Newton & Einstein—it’s incomprehensible that his grave is in jeopardy!

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Marc Cooper @ortgard.com · 06/09/2026

And – to get very nerdy – he can be credited with creating the first tensor. Though because he didn't name it, he's often omitted from the historical retelling. homepages.abdn.ac.uk/j.s.reid/pag...

homepages.abdn.ac.uk

Maxwell's legacy: Maxwell Stress Tensor

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Marc Cooper @ortgard.com · 06/09/2026

As in my profile, he wrote: "My life’s an amphicheiral knot Upon a liquid vortex wrought" — ∂p/∂t Like you, I visited. An exquisite spot. Well, the whole area. Can't believe the Scottish government isn't buying it for the nation. But then his work is hugely underappreciated. A genius & lovely man

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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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Andrew Locking @andrews-walks.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Light on Lanthwaite Green

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Marc Cooper @ortgard.com · 03/09/2026

That's a cracking angle. Without your clue, I think I would have struggled to name what I was looking at.

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Arp Bot 🤖 @arpbot.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Hubble Space Telescope image of Arp 147, also known as IC 298. The clumpy, blue ring in the galaxy on the right likely formed when the companion galaxy to the left crashed through its center. Credit: NASA, ESA, and M. Livio (STScI) Source

Two ring-like galaxies. On the left is a galaxy with a bright core surrounded by a yellow ring. There is a gap between the core and ring where the black background of space shows through. The galaxy is tilted so that the circular ring appears oval-shaped. On the right is a another circular galaxy, made mostly of a ring of bright blue dots, which are star clusters. On the bottom left part of the ring is a haze of white stars and orangish dust. The center of the ring is empty and the black background of space shows through. This galaxy looks a little like the writing of the aliens from the movie Arrival.

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BluesMusic @bluesmusic.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Chris Rodrigues & Abby the Spoon Lady 🎶'Angels In Heaven' #bluesmusic

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