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Dr. Ryan French

@ryanjfrench.bsky.social
3.6K followers 152 following 645 posts

Solar astrophysicist | author | speaker ☀️ I research the Sun for a living. Let's talk about it! ☀️ Solar flares • aurora • eclipses 📚 *Space Hazards* and *Little Book of Eclipses* are out now!

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Dr. Ryan French @ryanjfrench.bsky.social · 11h
Wow, so this is actually insane! Check out some of the first data from the Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer (SMILE) mission, capturing the full northern lights oval around the north pole in ultraviolet light. All in daytime, whilst invisible to the naked eye!
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Dr. Ryan French @ryanjfrench.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Whilst solar activity is a bit quieter, I’ve been posting semi-regular explainer videos over on Instagram – covering fun Sun facts, science updates, and more. If you don’t already, I recommend following me over there! www.instagram.com/sun.scientis...
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Dr. Ryan French @ryanjfrench.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
I am honoured to announce that I have received the 2026 Athelstan Spilhaus Award from the American Geophysical Union (@agu.org)! The award is given annually to an honoree in recognition of their enhancement of the public's engagement with Earth or space sciences.
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Dr. Ryan French @ryanjfrench.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
A nice surprise to spot my book “Space Hazards” in the window of my local independent bookstore! The book just passed its first anniversary, and explores how the Sun, near-Earth objects and space junk (alongside other more obscure threats) can affect our lives here on Earth! ☀️ amzn.to/3ZLuL0f
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Dr. Ryan French @ryanjfrench.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
The Sun is NAKED, spending at least a few hours today without a single sunspot. This has only happened a couple of times since 2021, but will become more common in the next few years (although further strong activity in this period is still likely). This is bad timing, because…
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Dr. Ryan French @ryanjfrench.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Just walked in on my colleagues engaging in inappropriate workplace behaviour AT MY DESK. Should I contact HR?
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Dr. Ryan French @ryanjfrench.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Are any of my mutual scientists/science communicators here on Substack? 🤔
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Dr. Ryan French @ryanjfrench.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Great to see my new book “Cosmic Light” ranked number 5 in Amazon UK’s ‘popular astronomy’ chart!
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Reposted by Dr. Ryan French
Dr. Ryan French @ryanjfrench.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Wrapping up a busy year of publishing for me, I’m very happy to share that my next book, “Cosmic Light” releases next week in the UK/Europe with HarperCollinsUK (and a little later for North America).
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Dr. Ryan French @ryanjfrench.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Wrapping up a busy year of publishing for me, I’m very happy to share that my next book, “Cosmic Light” releases next week in the UK/Europe with HarperCollinsUK (and a little later for North America).
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Dr. Ryan French @ryanjfrench.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
A nice eruption of filament plasma from the eastern edge of the Sun this morning! The speed and direction of these eruptions are far easier to interpret when viewed side-on like this one (and not directed towards Earth in this case).
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Dr. Ryan French @ryanjfrench.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
It never gets boring seeing your books out in the wild!
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Dr. Ryan French @ryanjfrench.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
London folks - the launch event for my next book (more on that to come soon) is coming up this Wednesday 2nd Sept (6:30pm) at the National Maritime Museum! It would be great to see some of you there.
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Dr. Ryan French @ryanjfrench.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
A quick guide for the difference between solar and lunar eclipses!
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Dr. Ryan French @ryanjfrench.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Even small solar flares can be beautiful. Here is a video of today’s moderate #SolarFlare, displaying mesmerising ‘coronal rain’ and ‘supra-arcade downflows’!
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Dr. Ryan French @ryanjfrench.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
After a dry spell of several weeks, the Sun has finally woken up today – producing four moderate solar flares in 24 hours! The largest of these was a decent-sized M8-class #SolarFlare, pictured below. We should expect further solar flares this week!
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Dr. Ryan French @ryanjfrench.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Serendipitously aligned with the total solar eclipse and Perseid meteor shower, today is my 30th birthday! You should celebrate with me by treating yourself to my new eclipse book. Keep riding the eclipse buzz in preparation for next year’s event! amzn.to/49wqTGj
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Dr. Ryan French @ryanjfrench.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Google searches for “my eyes hurt” have surged in the United Kingdom!
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Dr. Ryan French @ryanjfrench.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Everyone should aspire to see the solar corona with their own eyes at least once in their lifetime! Even if you don’t care about science or astronomy, a total solar eclipse is the most beautiful natural phenomena available to us on planet Earth.
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Dr. Ryan French @ryanjfrench.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Great success from Spain! Crazy. Bring on 2nd August 2027!
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Dr. Ryan French @ryanjfrench.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
I appeared on BBC News today, in-place for tomorrow’s total solar eclipse! With everything now sorted (barring unexpected changes in weather), I have 24 hours left with little to do except: 1) Eat good food, 2) Drink good wine, 3) Swim in that pool with friends. Life is tough!
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Dr. Ryan French @ryanjfrench.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
ECLIPSE TIMING: When is the upcoming solar eclipse for your location? This thread contains the timings and eclipse percentage for many major cities across Europe, North America and northern Africa:
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Dr. Ryan French @ryanjfrench.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
I tried my best, but Ember is clearly not interested in eclipse eye safety.
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Dr. Ryan French @ryanjfrench.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
For anyone wanting to get into the eclipse spirit, I’ve compiled a 3.5-hour Spotify playlist full of songs about the Sun, Moon, or shadows! Available here: open.spotify.com/playlist/5T6...
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Dr. Ryan French @ryanjfrench.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
Any guesses as to where I’m heading to tomorrow? (With a few exciting stops along the way!)
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Dr. Ryan French @ryanjfrench.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
NEW SOLAR FLARE RESEARCH: Supra-arcade Downflows (SADs) are bizzare tendril-like plasma flows that we see above solar flares, but their origins are still uncertain. (1/4)
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Dr. Ryan French @ryanjfrench.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
Is it safe to use a welding mask to look at the Sun during an eclipse? I break it down in a short YouTube video here: youtu.be/y28g8C3InHE?...
youtu.be
Can you use a Welding Mask to Watch a Solar Eclipse?
YouTube video by Dr. Ryan French | Solar Astrophysicist
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Dr. Ryan French @ryanjfrench.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
Just got out from watching The Odyssey in IMAX (opening night). A phenomenal film, Christopher Nolan has done it again! Probably an immediate top 5 of all time for me.
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Reposted by Dr. Ryan French
The Aviation Show @theaviation.show · 16/07/2026
🚀 New Episode Klaxxon! 🚀 Today we are joined by @ryanjfrench.bsky.social to chat about the hazards in space that affect us today. Starting with the Sun doing sunny things, the problems with the stuff we put up there and how we could clean things up. Join us! 📺 youtu.be/oJJvetgdjh0 🎧 pod.fo/e/44bd5d
Thumbnail for our latest episode discussing Space Hazards with Ryan French, which shows the remarkable ClearSpace1 system capturing a defunct satellite.
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Dr. Ryan French @ryanjfrench.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
Two decent-sized filaments (channels of plasma suspended in the Sun’s atmosphere) erupted from the Sun’s western edge yesterday. Although eruptions from this location on the Sun rarely create enhanced aurora at Earth, they are (in my opinion) the most visually-spectacular events to watch on the Sun!
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Dr. Ryan French @ryanjfrench.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
Spotted at the vet’s office. Thinking it through, these things are actually pretty decent models of how magnetic fields and particles work in the Sun’s atmosphere! (See random example scientific diagrams I found for comparison)
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Dr. Ryan French @ryanjfrench.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
I am very happy to share that my newest book, “Little Book of Eclipses”, is now available worldwide! The book is a comprehensive guide to solar and lunar eclipses, including everything you need to know for the three upcoming European solar eclipses in 2026/2027/2028!
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Dr. Ryan French @ryanjfrench.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
Last night the Sun produced a huge eruption of filament plasma. The eruption is not heading towards Earth, but certainly beautiful to watch!
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Dr. Ryan French @ryanjfrench.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
Here’s a closer look at the July 4th X-class solar flare! A beautiful off-limb event, complete with coronal rain and supra-arcade downflows.
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Dr. Ryan French @ryanjfrench.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
The Sun produced some Fourth of July fireworks this evening, with an X-class solar flare on the Sun’s eastern edge. This region on the Sun will rotate to face Earth in the coming days!
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Dr. Ryan French @ryanjfrench.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
The Sun has really woken up over the past 48 hours, producing multiple solar flares (including an “X-class” event), across 4 different regions. Further large flares are likely in the coming days!
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Dr. Ryan French @ryanjfrench.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
Early yesterday the Sun produced multiple large eruptions of filament plasma from opposite sides of the Sun. My research investigates solar flares, but I’ll readily admit that filament eruptions like this are the most beautiful show the Sun provides!
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Dr. Ryan French @ryanjfrench.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
I’ve started sharing my best solar flare movies on YouTube. My most recent video just posted! youtu.be/Lv5--UYPcvw?...
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Dr. Ryan French @ryanjfrench.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
Is the Sun firing blanks? In my most recent “Sunny Sci’d Up” Substack post, I discuss why it’s so hard to predict the arrival time of Earth-directed eruptions on the Sun! Link here: ryanjfrench.substack.com/p/is-the-sun...
ryanjfrench.substack.com
Is the Sun firing blanks?
Sunny Sci'd Up: A monthly update on what the Sun's been up to in May/June.
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Dr. Ryan French @ryanjfrench.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
A beautiful filament of plasma erupted from near the Sun’s north pole today! Beautiful stuff.
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Dr. Ryan French @ryanjfrench.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
‘B is for Bird’, spotted in Boulder Colorado!
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Dr. Ryan French @ryanjfrench.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
Yesterday the Sun did this, and today we have the world’s largest solar telescope (the 4m diameter ‘Inouye Solar Telescope’) pointing at the same region for a few hours – as part of our solar flare observing proposal! Fingers crossed that the Sun’s fireworks continue today.
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Dr. Ryan French @ryanjfrench.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
For those who hadn’t seen already, there are currently three coronal mass ejections en route to the Earth (launched by solar flares on the Sun yesterday). We are expecting these eruptions to merge together, reaching Earth and triggering a strong geomagnetic storm tonight!
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Dr. Ryan French @ryanjfrench.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
The Sun has really woken up today, with some beautiful edge-on filament eruptions addition to the Earth-directed solar flares we just experienced. Our local star is certainly beautiful!
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Dr. Ryan French @ryanjfrench.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
The Sun just produced a large Earth-facing solar flare, almost surpassing the threshold for the ‘strongest solar flare’ category. However, it appears this flare produced no notable eruption, meaning the event is now over with (probably) nothing currently heading our way.
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Reposted by Dr. Ryan French
Dr. Ryan French @ryanjfrench.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
My new book releases next month!! ‘Little Book of Eclipses’, co-authored with the brilliant Tom Kerss, explores the science, history and culture of both solar and lunar eclipses, alongside over a decade of eclipse maps for upcoming eclipses.
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Dr. Ryan French @ryanjfrench.bsky.social · 30/05/2026
For anybody interested, I am starting (in ~1 hour) a Reddit “Ask Me Anything” in r/sun. If you have any question about the Sun, space weather, eclipses, etc – stick them in over there! www.reddit.com/r/sun/s/Eh8N...
reddit.com
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Dr. Ryan French @ryanjfrench.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
This eruptive solar flare (from March 2025) is one of my favourite solar events in recent years. I’ve been revisiting this flare recently, as I’ve been analysing some exciting data (not pictured here) of the event! I’ll share those observations later this year.
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Dr. Ryan French @ryanjfrench.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
Today I (alongside 54k other runners) ran Bolder Boulder : “America’s All-Time Best 10K”. Today’s race marks a year since my first run beyond 5k, having since progressed to running a marathon earlier this month. I’m still not quick by any means, but thrilled with my progress!
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Dr. Ryan French @ryanjfrench.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
My new book releases next month!! ‘Little Book of Eclipses’, co-authored with the brilliant Tom Kerss, explores the science, history and culture of both solar and lunar eclipses, alongside over a decade of eclipse maps for upcoming eclipses.
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