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Stuart Atkinson

@stuartatkinson.bsky.social
2.2K followers 342 following 1.4K posts

Amateur astronomer and author of science fiction and science reference books, including "A Cat's Guide to The Night Sky". Fascinated by Mars since knee high to R2D2 and owned by a very demanding rescue cat called Jess.

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Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Today the Perseverance team will be celebrating 2000 sols on Mars, an *incredible* achievement. I hope NASA's Administrator acknowledges it, and pays proper respect to the mission, but sadly I think that's unlikely. "No Moon, No Swoon" is the policy now.
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Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
She's in a hollow, so the Clayborne Range - my 100% unofficial name for the jagged hills at the top of this valley - are beneath the ridge on the skyline still, but soon Curiosity's view from the top of it is going to be *glorious*... NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/fredk/S Atkinson
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Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Stonker. STONKER!! Apologies I have a cat on my writing hand ...
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Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
There's a British phrase, "I've had a pig of a day!", describing a bad day. Well, today I've had the kind of bad day an actual pig would describe as "a pig of a day". Home now, defusing, and of course J jumped right up to curl up in my arm. They know, don't they?
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Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
I know I'm biased, like every cat owner is, but seriously, just look how beautiful my girl Jess is...
Jess, Stuart Atkinson's rescue cat, now 11 years old...
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Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
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Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Not going to happen, sadly. The new NASA Administrator has *zero* interest in Mars other than as a post-Artemis destination for a nuke-powered crew in a few decades. Didn't even acknowledge Curiosity's **5000"* sols on Mars. NASA is a Moon Settlement Office now. Those tubes have been abandoned.
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Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Photographed the Moon last night with my Seestar after getting home from work. Always fun. ("What are you DOING? Why are you pointing THAT way?? Look! It's right THERE! That big bright round thing!")....
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Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Interesting rock seen by Perseverance on Mars yesterday (sorry, don't know the scale, just thought it looked cool!) Processed mosaic of several images. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL/CNES/IRAP/S Atkinson
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Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Last night's gorgeous #HarvestMoon, photographed from Kendal using my Seestar S50 (mosaic of two images, cropped and processed)...
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Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Ok...
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Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
25 miles :-)
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Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Paging @louiestowell.bsky.social ... date for your diary next year?
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Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
So ended up with 12 mins of frames out of 35 mins...
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Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Weather apps... seriously FUPPING useless... TWO told me clear sky thru to midnight so I left my Seestar out taking pics of Veil Nebula... Just went out after 30 mins to check and... !!!!
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Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Had a loooooong list of writing jobs to do today on my so-called "day off" but they're all done, so time now to just chill with J and probably fall asleep like this ...
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Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Precious time with Jess last night, she dozed in my arm, "you're not going anywhere" paw clamped firmly on my knee while I binge-watched Neagley...
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Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Seestar S50 image of the Pacman Nebula, taken in the early hours of Sept 20th. I know, I must be the last Seestar user on the planet to take a pic of this nebula, but it was worth waiting for :-)
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Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
In the early hours of this morning I set up my vintage Seestar S50 to take some more images of the galaxy NGC 7331 with the supernova shining near its centre...
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Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
No, seriously - whatever you're doing just stop and take a moment to admire the pure beauty of these ancient Martian rocks, seen by Curiosity just a few hours ago... Images: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/fredk/S Atkinson (that big twisty, dark, knobbly one HAS to be a meteorite, surely?)
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Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
A young Tygra, before they buffed up and discovered furr gel, surely?
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Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Clear sky earlier so had the Seestar S50 out in the yard, taking pics of the supernova in galaxy NGC 7331...
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Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
This TEMU Bond villain simply will not be satisfied until the night sky is totally f***d. Who the **** made him Emperor of Earth with the right to destroy the ground beneath our feet and the sky above our heads?
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Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Cats... Graceful, elegant, refined, mysterious...
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Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Lots to do tonight, clearing the Admin decks before starting a Big Writing Job tomorrow morning... so of course J had other ideas. She was there curled up in my arm with her head in my hand for almost an hour. But that's ok, it's in my Cat Dad Contract. :-)
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Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
You might want to sit down for these... 5,014 days after it landed, the Curiosity rover sent back these absolutely stunning images of Mars. The rover's incredible team deserves some credit from NASA's bosses for their achievement. Images: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/fredk/Additional processing S Atkinson
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Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Obviously an incredibly successful real life Mars rover isn't as important as make-believe Moon ships.
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Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
The Curiosity team just marked, and I'm sure celebrated, a huge milestone in the mission: 5000 days on Mars! HUGE congratulations to them - and shame on NASA bosses, including Administrator Jared Isaacman, for totally ignoring it. New NASA is "Moon! Moon! Moon!", and pretending Mars doesn't exist.
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Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Close-up of the beautifully-layered, wind- and time-sculpted rocks currently being cracked and scrunched beneath Curiosity's weary wheels... Love how abstract this looks... Image credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/S Atkinson
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Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
...meanwhile, on Mars, Curiosity is driving over some fascinating-looking rocks as she works her way up the valley high up on the slopes of Mt Sharp in the centre of Gale Crater... Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/S Atkinson
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Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
"Mars is boring. It's just covered in rocks and they all look the same!" Oh yeah? The Curiosity rover begs to differ. Look at this amazing view taken yesterday. (No, I don't know the scale, or what they are, I'm just *showing* you!) Images: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/fredk/S Atkinson
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Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Martian cuisine!
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Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
It's a popular astronomy cliche that there are more stars in the universe than there are grains of sand on all the beaches on Earth. Hard to visualise that, of course, but look at these two images with very different fields of view... Mind-blowing, right? And very beautiful too, I think...
On the left: extreme close up of the surface of Mars seen by the Curiosity rover. On the right: cluster of galaxies seen by the James Webb Space telescope.
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Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Whatever you're doing, please, just stop for a moment to imagine you're kneeling down on the surface of Mars and trailing your gloved fingers through this beautifully coloured grit covering the ground around you... (Curiosity image) NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/fredk/S Atkinson
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Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
As you read this, 261 million km away on Mars, a nuclear-powered robot geologist/astrobiologist called Curiosity is looking down at the ground between its torn and weary wheels and seeing this beautiful sight... NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/fredk/S Atkinson
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Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Mars has some spectacularly insanely huge features - towering volcanoes, deep valleys, vast deserts - but kneel down in the cinnamon-hued dust and you'll also see it has exquisitely beautiful smaller features on its surface too... Sept 14th Curiosity images credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/S Atkinson
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Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Just over a month to go until the 63rd anniversary of the flight of Felicette, the first & only cat to fly into space, on Oct 18th 1963. I'll be making an extra effort to commemorate it this year, so I hope all my cat-people Followers will help me with that?
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Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Some recent pics of my girl Jess, to cheer up anyone who needs it on this dreary, grey, damp Monday morning...
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Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
My gorgeous girl Jess, now 11, we've had her 9 years and I bless every moment I share with, even when she's being a floofwitch diva...
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Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
To be honest, I'm not really sure why, but I *love* this new image from Curiosity showing Martian rocks and pebbles covering a low dust dune, high up on the slopes of Mt Sharp... Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/fredk/S Atkinson
Image taken by the Mars rover Curiosity, currently working its way up a valley, high up on the slopes of Mt Sharp in the centre of Gale Crater.
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Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Today, on the 25th anniversary of the 9-11 attacks, it’s good to remember that the Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity carried small pieces of wreckage from the fallen World Trade Centres, as tributes to those who were murdered. Image NASA / JPL-Caltech / Cornell/S Atkinson
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Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
But when she climbs back up onto the higher ground boy, she is going to have a heck of a view...! Images credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/fredk/S Atkinson
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Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Congratulations @astroroyalscot.bsky.social !!
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Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Loving this new view sent back from Mars by Curiosity... Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/S Atkinson
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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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Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Just been out photographing the supernova in NGC 7331 (47m LY away!) with my Seestar S50. Better pics later after processing but for now here's a zoomed-in screenshot. The supernova is the bright "star" near the galaxy's centre. Quite chuffed with this!
Seestar S50 image of a supernova which has exploded in the faraway galaxy NGC 7331
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Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
9 years ago today, four *months* after we brought her home from her fosterer at the rescue organisation, Jess came to me, curled up in my arm and went to sleep for the first time. It was a moment I'd started to believe would never come. Now she's superglued to me every day.
Images taken 9 years apart showing Jess, Stuart Atkinson's rescue cat.
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Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Here's the real thing, taken this morning, just to prove she's ok...
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Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
No, Jess hasn't been turned into an inflatable balloon by a freak transporter accident. This was one of the hundreds of amazing kites we saw yesterday at the St Annes Kite Festival!
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Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
The Perseverance rover team are paying a lot of attention to this rock.Just look at the stunning detail visible in this close-up image, taken just a few hours ago on Mars... Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/S Atkinson
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