Thomas Rintoul @thomasrintoul.bsky.social · 03/07/2026Might just be the methods section started for one of them. But I currently have 3 astrophysics papers on the go at once... With a 4th and 5th in planning/ideation stages Do I do too much? Maybe. Am I trying to make the most of my PhD while I still definitely work in astronomy? Absolutely! 🔭🧪 150
Reposted by Thomas RintoulAstronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 17/06/2026A long-shot: do any of you lovely people live in the North #Shropshire constituency? We had a super visit from your MP, Helen Morgan, to our drop-in event in Westminster about the impending cuts to UK astro & particle physics. We'd love her to hear that her constituents are as concerned as we are.🙏 42318
Thomas Rintoul @thomasrintoul.bsky.social · 03/06/2026I think I've decided that the worst section of my observations based paper to write is the discussion - and I'm not an observer by trade. This is worse than writing about the observations themselves! 010
Reposted by Thomas RintoulAstronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 06/02/2026🔊 Calling UK early career researches in astro, particle & nuclear physics. Please sign this open response to the proposed cuts at STFC ⚛️🧪🔭 "Protecting the UK's reputation as a science superpower requires not only investment, but continuity, confidence, and people" ✍️ ecr-openletter-stfc.github.io 36147
Reposted by Thomas RintoulChris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 02/02/2026Me, on astronomy funding crisis, on the @ox.ac.uk website: www.ox.ac.uk/news/2026-02... 🔭🧪ox.ac.ukExpert Comment: Cuts to fundamental research will hurt the UK’sChris Lintott, Professor of Astrophysics at Oxford’s Department of Physics, responds to the news that University funding for astronomy and physics research will be cut by almost a third. 38523
Thomas Rintoul @thomasrintoul.bsky.social · 02/02/2026I'm currently learning C++ and I keep coming across defined and codified things in C++ that I've been doing for years in Python by accident The latest one of these is using `del` in python to free up memory 000
Thomas Rintoul @thomasrintoul.bsky.social · 13/01/2026That they bang on about affordability is utter insanity. In Scotland, under 22s get free bus travel. There's discussion in about extending to under 30s. To not provide free bus travel to young people, and fair concessionary travel to disabled people, is an entirely political decision. 000
Reposted by Thomas RintoulSimon Clark @simonoxfphys.com · 09/12/2025OK we're back baby. I'm not exactly well, but well *enough* to attempt a quiz stream tonight. I'll be joined by some creator friends playing quiz games from games.city... who are offering a donation match up to £2000 during the stream! Tonight, 7:30PM GMT www.twitch.tv/drsimonclarkmedia.tenor.coma video of a wrestling match on make a gif .comALT: a video of a wrestling match on make a gif .com 0555
Thomas Rintoul @thomasrintoul.bsky.social · 30/10/2025Delighted to announce that the first paper of my PhD - "The role of magnetic fields in ram pressure stripping of satellite galaxies in the circumgalactic medium around massive galaxies" - has been published by MNRAS! Check out the paper here: academic.oup.com/mnras/articl... 🧪🔭 151
Thomas Rintoul @thomasrintoul.bsky.social · 30/09/2025What are the biggest pains with trying to make an introduction to astronomy video series is I know the things but I can't just be like "Trust me bro", I need references 😔 🔭🧪 020
Thomas Rintoul @thomasrintoul.bsky.social · 01/09/2025Today I pause my PhD to start an industry placement working with High Performance Computing in Bristol. Video coming on my channel soon talking about it! 020
Thomas Rintoul @thomasrintoul.bsky.social · 20/08/2025I'm less than 2 weeks out from going on a placement and pausing my PhD research - I've got a lot to do but there's nothing more terrifyingly motivating than a deadline! 🔭🌌 180
Thomas Rintoul @thomasrintoul.bsky.social · 15/08/2025For once, I haven't done a very simple silly error this morning. I'm reaping the benefits of past Thomas' effort. I set up my plot layouts in python in a very flexible way that's made making changes based on referee paper comments so much easier! 010
Thomas Rintoul @thomasrintoul.bsky.social · 13/08/2025In today's episode of even allegedly smart people make very stupid errors... I spent an hour trying to work out why my plots were well below the expected values... I had forgotten to change the units. 🔭🌌 050
Thomas Rintoul @thomasrintoul.bsky.social · 12/08/2025Some days I think I've really grown as a scientist and what I do now is really cutting edge and interesting... then there are days where I'm triple checking every parameter in the simulations I need to re-run... again... 🔭 160
Thomas Rintoul @thomasrintoul.bsky.social · 18/07/2025Does the apprehension around waiting for the reviewer report on a paper ever go away? Asking for a friend... 🔭 130
Thomas Rintoul @thomasrintoul.bsky.social · 08/07/2025This week I presented my research on the "Role of magnetic fields in simulations of ram pressure stripping of satellite galaxies" at @nam25-durham.bsky.social I also chaired a session at the conference which was a great experience to take on that responsibility as a PhD student! #NAM2025 🔭🌌🧪 1101
Thomas Rintoul @thomasrintoul.bsky.social · 02/07/2025🌌🔭 Excited to announce my first paper is out now! We use simulations to explore the effect of magnetic fields on satellite galaxies in the circumgalactic medium (CGM) - the reservoir of gas around galaxies. Read the paper here: arxiv.org/abs/2506.18983 See thread for remaining images. 180
Reposted by Thomas RintoulDr. Skylar Grayson @skylargrayson.bsky.social · 29/05/2025"Why should my tax dollars go to fund your astrophysics research?" A thread. 🔭🧪 Brushing aside how absurdly little of the federal budget goes to science (according to the Planetary Society NASA accounts for only 0.3% of federal spending), the benefits of funding astronomy fall into two camps. (1/n) 525087
Reposted by Thomas RintoulEmily Hunt @emily.space · 17/04/2025Reading more about this, I'm disappointed in the authors of this study & how they've turned a very marginal result into worldwide press releases. In this climate, we as scientists have a responsibility to lead by example and represent our work accurately to the press. This is not that. ☄️🔭🧪 917238
Thomas Rintoul @thomasrintoul.bsky.social · 10/04/2025Yesterday went great! Today's off to a less great start... Went to go work on a project on my laptop in the office, to discover I had not uploaded the latest version to github from my desktop at home... Guess I'll do that tonight and do this work tomorrow! 020
Thomas Rintoul @thomasrintoul.bsky.social · 09/04/2025Something I'm really enjoying in my PhD in Astrophysics is that my actual work is presenting me all these opportunities to learn new skills for coding/software/data science/etc. Today, my work has weaved its way to the point that I think it makes sense to learn CUDA so I can run my code on GPUs 🔭🧪 1260
Thomas Rintoul @thomasrintoul.bsky.social · 01/04/2025April Fools papers on ArXiV are always a good bit of fun, but this one from @sophienewman.bsky.social and Ana Sainz de Murieta on the Astrophysical implications of the Eras Tour is one of the best I've seen. arxiv.org/abs/2503.24188 🔭arxiv.orgA Swift analysis of the Eras tour set list and implications for astrophysics research (Taylor's version)Popular culture plays a significant role in shaping public interest in science, and Taylor Swift's discography frequently incorporates astrophysics terminology. This study examines the occurrence of a... 172
Thomas Rintoul @thomasrintoul.bsky.social · 28/03/2025Working on a video about light pollution and dark skies, anyone know of any public datasets of light pollution maps? Ideally worldwide but would settle for UK, Continental Europe and North America (ideally not just the US) 🔭🧪 210
Thomas Rintoul @thomasrintoul.bsky.social · 27/03/2025Goodbye Gaia. Thanks for everything. Gaia might never have been as flashy as Hubble or JWST, but it was one of the most amazing and most accessible missions. I worked with Gaia data in my undergrad and I hope we see more missions like it. 🔭🧪 0283
Reposted by Thomas RintoulStand Up for Science! @standupforscience.net · 07/03/2025TODAY IS THE DAY! 🧪☀️⬇️ Join us at the Lincoln Memorial or your local site to Stand Up for Science! 151165401
Thomas Rintoul @thomasrintoul.bsky.social · 05/03/2025I criticised the "echo-chamber" aspect of the BlueSky feeds initially. But right now when the world is just a bit too much to be constantly reminded of it all, it is nice to be able to filter down to just astronomy for a bit 010
Thomas Rintoul @thomasrintoul.bsky.social · 30/01/2025My first science video of 2025 is now available to my patrons over on Patreon. General release tomorrow! www.patreon.com/posts/my-top... 000
Thomas Rintoul @thomasrintoul.bsky.social · 30/01/2025Big win today in PhD land - I got my code to run in parallel (using more cores so it goes faster)! I spent all day yesterday fighting with this trying to get it to work. Came back to it today with a slightly different approach and it worked so much better! 🔭🧪 1380
Thomas Rintoul @thomasrintoul.bsky.social · 28/01/2025Ahhhhh!!! So much research to do... so little time...🔭 1100
Thomas Rintoul @thomasrintoul.bsky.social · 27/01/2025Having that strange out of body experience this morning of coming back from an astronomy conference with loads of ideas, no idea what I'm supposed to be doing, and far too many impending deadlines... 🔭🧪 1310
Reposted by Thomas RintoulRep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez @ocasio-cortez.house.gov · 22/01/2025SHARE WIDELY. KNOW YOUR RIGHTS. With mass deportations starting today across the country, it is vitally important - for both citizens and non-citizens - to know your rights. You have the right to remain silent. Assert it. You have the right to a lawyer. Ask for one. (1/3) 9275172328523
Thomas Rintoul @thomasrintoul.bsky.social · 09/01/2025My first video of 2025 setting out my goals for the year just went live for my patrons on Patreon. Sign up at the link below for early access, or wait for general release tomorrow! www.patreon.com/posts/2025-w... 010
Thomas Rintoul @thomasrintoul.bsky.social · 03/01/2025Last year I was too ambitious with my #StoryGraph reading challenge. This year I'm being more realistic: 12 books in 12 months. However, I'm reading a lot of long fantasy books so I've also added a page target of 3600 pages. Really enjoying getting back into reading! 040
Reposted by Thomas RintoulPeter Coles 🏳️🌈 🏳️⚧️ 🇮🇪 @telescoper.bsky.social · 19/12/2024Many problems in mathematics and physics can be simplified by assuming that any solid body is approximately a sphere, but this approach is likely to lead to a rounding error. 38314
Thomas Rintoul @thomasrintoul.bsky.social · 13/12/2024Been doing a bit of an audit of the many many analysis functions I've written over the first year or so of my #Astrophysics #PhD. 2 main takeaways: 1) I wrote A LOT of functions - thousands of lines on top of all the scripts using them. 2) I have got SO MUCH BETTER at coding in the last year! 🧪🔭 160
Thomas Rintoul @thomasrintoul.bsky.social · 11/12/2024Okay I'm pretty new to TikTok, but I'd just like to say that it's dumb that when uploading on desktop I have to type in hashtags and then click from a list of suggestions - rather than what EVERY OTHER PLATFORM DOES and just accept that going #tiktok would trigger the hashtag!!! 010
Thomas Rintoul @thomasrintoul.bsky.social · 11/12/2024I'm constantly amazed at how different fields (particularly subfields of #astronomy) can interact. I firmly work in large scale galaxy evolution, but today I'm reading a solar physics paper of all things to try and understand a process important on large scales 🔭🧪 0211
Thomas Rintoul @thomasrintoul.bsky.social · 05/12/2024Ever wondered why Venus is so hellish while Earth is a sanctuary of life - I look at answer as part of my #AdventOfAstronomy series - 24 #astronomy shorts on YT, IG and TikTok over 24 days! youtube.com/shorts/mkcda... 🧪🔭youtube.comVenus: Why is "Earth's Twin" so hellish!? - #AdventOfAstronomy Day 4YouTube video by Thomas Rintoul 0103
Reposted by Thomas RintoulKatie Mack @astrokatie.com · 04/12/2024I honestly believe all LLM results should come with a disclaimer reminding people that the thing doesn’t (and absolutely cannot) know any facts or do any reasoning; it is simply designed to *sound* like it knows facts and frequently sweeps some up accidentally in the process. 1313022647
Thomas Rintoul @thomasrintoul.bsky.social · 03/12/2024Had a great time tonight playing some tunes in aid of the Jingle Jam. If you didn't catch the stream but want to hear the tunes, then here's the video: www.twitch.tv/videos/23175...twitch.tvTwitchTwitch is the world 000
Thomas Rintoul @thomasrintoul.bsky.social · 03/12/2024This month, @katdoesmaths.bsky.social and I (+some friends) are raising money for the Jingle Jam! For the next two weeks, we'll have a mix of streams on Twitch. Donations are greatly appreciated and over £35 will get you a brilliant collection of games! tiltify.com/+the-sci-com... 021
Thomas Rintoul @thomasrintoul.bsky.social · 02/12/2024It's true! I'm posting 24 short videos in 24 days for #AdventOfAstronomy on YouTube! Also available on Instagram and TikTok 020
Thomas Rintoul @thomasrintoul.bsky.social · 01/12/2024Has anyone figured out how to organically get the fun side of BlueSky yet? Almost everything I've ended up following is about Astronomy - which I love, but it feels like work sometimes? 130
Thomas Rintoul @thomasrintoul.bsky.social · 29/11/2024I posted my latest video last night asking a rather odd question given I do astronomy as a day job... Given how much money and effort is spent on #astronomy - along with a few other factors, should we even bother with it anymore? 🔭🧪 youtu.be/uujwvF0vkv0 (Thumbnail background from www.ig.space)youtu.beWhy even bother doing Astronomy?YouTube video by Thomas Rintoul 4141
Thomas Rintoul @thomasrintoul.bsky.social · 28/11/2024Quite possibly one of the most inspiring people in #astronomy, #science and life more generally - certainly a big inspiration to me 🔭🧪 18015
Thomas Rintoul @thomasrintoul.bsky.social · 24/11/2024Loving this trend! Let's give it a go! 1 like = 1 piece of Thomas lore 170
Thomas Rintoul @thomasrintoul.bsky.social · 19/11/2024I'm giving a talk to our galaxies group next week on the research I've spent the first year of my #Astrophysics #PhD doing. Not much has changed since I gave a high level talk to the department in Sept, but having more time and a specialised audience let's me go into more detail! Very excited!!! 🔭 180