Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 06/10/2026Today 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. 0103
Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 04/10/2026She'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 1279
Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 02/10/2026Stonker. STONKER!! Apologies I have a cat on my writing hand ... 110
Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 02/10/2026There'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? 250
Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 01/10/2026I know I'm biased, like every cat owner is, but seriously, just look how beautiful my girl Jess is... 2131
Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 29/09/2026Not 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. 220
Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 28/09/2026Photographed 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!").... 0132
Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 27/09/2026Interesting 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 0214
Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 27/09/2026Last night's gorgeous #HarvestMoon, photographed from Kendal using my Seestar S50 (mosaic of two images, cropped and processed)... 0206
Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 24/09/2026Paging @louiestowell.bsky.social ... date for your diary next year? 240
Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 23/09/2026So ended up with 12 mins of frames out of 35 mins... 190
Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 23/09/2026Weather 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... !!!! 370
Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 21/09/2026Had 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 ... 140
Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 20/09/2026Precious 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... 160
Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 20/09/2026Seestar 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 :-) 4487
Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 20/09/2026In 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... 080
Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 20/09/2026No, 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?) 0224
Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 20/09/2026A young Tygra, before they buffed up and discovered furr gel, surely? 100
Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 20/09/2026Clear sky earlier so had the Seestar S50 out in the yard, taking pics of the supernova in galaxy NGC 7331... 0255
Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 20/09/2026This 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? 1113
Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 19/09/2026Cats... Graceful, elegant, refined, mysterious... 060
Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 18/09/2026Lots 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. :-) 170
Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 18/09/2026You 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 512131
Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 17/09/2026Obviously an incredibly successful real life Mars rover isn't as important as make-believe Moon ships. 271
Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 17/09/2026The 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. 1201
Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 16/09/2026Close-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 390
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 050
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 1182
Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 14/09/2026It'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... 0317
Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 14/09/2026Whatever 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 67919
Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 14/09/2026As 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 13911
Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 14/09/2026Mars 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 03212
Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 14/09/2026Just 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? 171
Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 14/09/2026Some recent pics of my girl Jess, to cheer up anyone who needs it on this dreary, grey, damp Monday morning... 0112
Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 14/09/2026My 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... 0418
Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 13/09/2026To 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 07910
Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 11/09/2026Today, 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 1101
Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 11/09/2026But 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 081
Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 10/09/2026Congratulations @astroroyalscot.bsky.social !! 160
Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 09/09/2026Loving this new view sent back from Mars by Curiosity... Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/S Atkinson 0568
Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 09/09/2026Astrofolk! 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! 4224
Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 09/09/2026Just 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! 0497
Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 08/09/20269 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. 4161
Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 07/09/2026Here's the real thing, taken this morning, just to prove she's ok... 150
Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 07/09/2026No, 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! 190
Stuart Atkinson @stuartatkinson.bsky.social · 05/09/2026The 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 3296