Chris Lintott
@chrislintott.bsky.social
Astronomer, writer and zookeeper. Oxford, Gresham and the Zooniverse. The human half of the Dog Stars podcast. New book: 'Our Accidental Universe' (UK/rest of world) and 'Accidental Astronomy (US) now out.
Pinned
Chris Lintott
@chrislintott.bsky.social
· Jul 24
As a present for my 25th anniversary on #SkyatNight, the team made a montage for me, complete with dodgy hair, odd shirt choices and all the rest... Enjoy! 🔭 🛰️ 🧪
Reposted by Chris Lintott
November 27, 2025 at 8:57 PM
#Humblebrag. Today is my 45th birthday. This is a completely arbitrary number. However, as it turns out it is also the day I got my #realtennis singles handicap under 30 (to 29.9), also an arbitrary number. But one I’m very pleased about; the result of a lot of sweat, some tears, & a little blood.
November 26, 2025 at 5:26 PM
#Humblebrag. Today is my 45th birthday. This is a completely arbitrary number. However, as it turns out it is also the day I got my #realtennis singles handicap under 30 (to 29.9), also an arbitrary number. But one I’m very pleased about; the result of a lot of sweat, some tears, & a little blood.
Tag yourself.
I’m roundish beaky guy, second down on the right.
I’m roundish beaky guy, second down on the right.
These #worms fell down from the sky, maybe, in 1672 Europe, and lived for another couple of days. However fantastic the #earlymodern story of the falling "Würmer" is, I do like the alien-freakish styled insects a lot. Zoom in and choose your favorite:
November 26, 2025 at 8:15 AM
Tag yourself.
I’m roundish beaky guy, second down on the right.
I’m roundish beaky guy, second down on the right.
For more than a decade now the government’s answer to how to fund universities has been to make money from overseas students.
The last lot then tried to discourage students from coming here.
This lot just want the money back.
But then how do we fund ourselves?
Crazy.
The last lot then tried to discourage students from coming here.
This lot just want the money back.
But then how do we fund ourselves?
Crazy.
i: Reeves to unveil £600m raid on foreign student
university fees #TomorrowsPapersToday
university fees #TomorrowsPapersToday
November 24, 2025 at 7:43 AM
For more than a decade now the government’s answer to how to fund universities has been to make money from overseas students.
The last lot then tried to discourage students from coming here.
This lot just want the money back.
But then how do we fund ourselves?
Crazy.
The last lot then tried to discourage students from coming here.
This lot just want the money back.
But then how do we fund ourselves?
Crazy.
The cricket score.
i googled that thing that people said not to google and i do not know what i was expecting but sometimes you actually really should listen to your internet friends
November 22, 2025 at 6:36 AM
The cricket score.
Cambridge! We’re bringing a Universe of Music to you next Thursday.
This show features shells, black holes, music, planets and more - do come if you can!
www.junction.co.uk/events/linto...
This show features shells, black holes, music, planets and more - do come if you can!
www.junction.co.uk/events/linto...
Lintott & Pretty's Universe Of Music | Cambridge Junction
Book tickets for Lintott & Pretty's Universe Of Music at J3 at Cambridge Junction. What’s the connection between astronomy and jazz? From William Herschel (discoverer of Uranus and professional musici...
www.junction.co.uk
November 21, 2025 at 9:21 AM
Cambridge! We’re bringing a Universe of Music to you next Thursday.
This show features shells, black holes, music, planets and more - do come if you can!
www.junction.co.uk/events/linto...
This show features shells, black holes, music, planets and more - do come if you can!
www.junction.co.uk/events/linto...
Dressing room debris after my Universe of Music Show with Steve Pretty in Cambridge last night. The suspicious white powder is from conch sawing. Honest.
November 21, 2025 at 9:18 AM
Dressing room debris after my Universe of Music Show with Steve Pretty in Cambridge last night. The suspicious white powder is from conch sawing. Honest.
Reposted by Chris Lintott
This is a real image of a real thing that exists in the universe! And because a bunch of humans decided to get together and build a space telescope, we get to see it! 🤯
Very excited to share the NASA/ESA/STScI press release of our team's work on Apep! It's a terrific writeup, complete with a brand new beautiful visualisation of the nebula geometry.
1/? ⚛️🔭🧪
science.nasa.gov/missions/web...
1/? ⚛️🔭🧪
science.nasa.gov/missions/web...
Webb First to Show 4 Dust Shells 'Spiraling' Apep, Limits Long Orbit - NASA Science
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has delivered a first of its kind: a crisp mid-infrared image of a system of four serpentine spirals of dust, one expanding
science.nasa.gov
November 20, 2025 at 12:19 AM
This is a real image of a real thing that exists in the universe! And because a bunch of humans decided to get together and build a space telescope, we get to see it! 🤯
Reposted by Chris Lintott
@lsstuk.bsky.social and @vrubinobs.bsky.social need your help to train our computing systems to sort through the tens of millions of alerts we will detect every night during the Vera C. Rubin Observatory #LSST survey. www.zooniverse.org/projects/ebe... #capturethecosmos
Zooniverse
The Zooniverse is the world’s largest and most popular platform for people-powered research.
www.zooniverse.org
November 14, 2025 at 9:59 AM
@lsstuk.bsky.social and @vrubinobs.bsky.social need your help to train our computing systems to sort through the tens of millions of alerts we will detect every night during the Vera C. Rubin Observatory #LSST survey. www.zooniverse.org/projects/ebe... #capturethecosmos
I know it’s hard. But you can’t possibly go to an academic conference that imposes restrictions on freedom of speech like this.
Abstracts submitted to LPSC 2026 are required to comply with White House (non-legally binding) executive orders forbidding mention of topics related to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
At least USRA/LPI isn't hiding it.
But is this what our community wants? Or deserves? I don't think so.
At least USRA/LPI isn't hiding it.
But is this what our community wants? Or deserves? I don't think so.
November 17, 2025 at 9:24 PM
I know it’s hard. But you can’t possibly go to an academic conference that imposes restrictions on freedom of speech like this.
@oldenoughtosay.com Heard a new Oxford building story today. Allegedly Magdalen Tower was almost entirely replaced, stone by stone, in the eighties. Any truth to it?
November 17, 2025 at 11:19 AM
@oldenoughtosay.com Heard a new Oxford building story today. Allegedly Magdalen Tower was almost entirely replaced, stone by stone, in the eighties. Any truth to it?
Astronomers: I'm having trouble installing the SPARCL-client. Is this a known problem?
November 14, 2025 at 3:28 PM
Astronomers: I'm having trouble installing the SPARCL-client. Is this a known problem?
New paper's out! First result from excellent DPhil student Brian Rogers - machine learning for scientific discovery. (I'll post a thread explaining in a bit). arxiv.org/abs/2511.09433
What We Don't C: Representations for scientific discovery beyond VAEs
Accessing information in learned representations is critical for scientific discovery in high-dimensional domains. We introduce a novel method based on latent flow matching with classifier-free guidan...
arxiv.org
November 13, 2025 at 4:24 PM
New paper's out! First result from excellent DPhil student Brian Rogers - machine learning for scientific discovery. (I'll post a thread explaining in a bit). arxiv.org/abs/2511.09433
Opening of Star Trek Voyager's 'Death Wish':
CHAKOTAY: Its trajectory is erratic, & our sensors aren't detecting any stellar or planetary gravitational fields that could account for its motion
JANEWAY: Then you're saying it isn't a comet
CHAKOTAY: And yet it looks, feels, & tastes just like a comet
CHAKOTAY: Its trajectory is erratic, & our sensors aren't detecting any stellar or planetary gravitational fields that could account for its motion
JANEWAY: Then you're saying it isn't a comet
CHAKOTAY: And yet it looks, feels, & tastes just like a comet
November 12, 2025 at 11:27 PM
Opening of Star Trek Voyager's 'Death Wish':
CHAKOTAY: Its trajectory is erratic, & our sensors aren't detecting any stellar or planetary gravitational fields that could account for its motion
JANEWAY: Then you're saying it isn't a comet
CHAKOTAY: And yet it looks, feels, & tastes just like a comet
CHAKOTAY: Its trajectory is erratic, & our sensors aren't detecting any stellar or planetary gravitational fields that could account for its motion
JANEWAY: Then you're saying it isn't a comet
CHAKOTAY: And yet it looks, feels, & tastes just like a comet
Get outside into a dark place if you can tonight - no guarantees, but a possible brilliant display of the northern lights.
We have upgraded our geomagnetic forecast today (12 November 2025) to the highest intensity level amid an ongoing solar storm.
Current predictions suggest that the activity will result in potentially the largest solar storm to hit our planet in over two decades.
Current predictions suggest that the activity will result in potentially the largest solar storm to hit our planet in over two decades.
November 12, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Get outside into a dark place if you can tonight - no guarantees, but a possible brilliant display of the northern lights.
Sky at Night always used to have an early repeat - and we're back, with our collaboration with the Curious Cases team on at 7pm tomorrow on BBC4. Please watch if you possibly can - support your local science program! www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
BBC Four - The Sky at Night, Space Mysteries: The Sky at Night Meets Curious Cases
Hannah Fry and Dara Ó Briain join the team to answer viewers' burning queries about space.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 12, 2025 at 10:44 AM
Sky at Night always used to have an early repeat - and we're back, with our collaboration with the Curious Cases team on at 7pm tomorrow on BBC4. Please watch if you possibly can - support your local science program! www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
Londoners! Drink excellent wine and chat with me about space, next week: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/cosmology-...
Cosmology and Wine: An evening with Chris Lintott
Super excited to welcome you for an evening of wine, cheese & cosmological
conversation with one of the UK’s most celebrated cosmologists
www.eventbrite.co.uk
November 12, 2025 at 10:42 AM
Londoners! Drink excellent wine and chat with me about space, next week: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/cosmology-...
I wonder if the @jodrellbank.bsky.social gift shop sells socks.
November 12, 2025 at 8:04 AM
I wonder if the @jodrellbank.bsky.social gift shop sells socks.
Reposted by Chris Lintott
I will need £1 for the socks.
November 12, 2025 at 7:54 AM
I will need £1 for the socks.
Reposted by Chris Lintott
And here's this morning's 3I/ATLAS image from Italy ☄️ www.virtualtelescope.eu/2025/11/11/i...
Interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS (aka C/2025 N1 ATLAS): the ion tail is getting longer - 11 Nov. 2025. - The Virtual Telescope Project 2.0
Interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS is showing a nice ion tail in this 11 Nov. 2025, taken by Gianluca Masi, Virtual Telescope Project.
www.virtualtelescope.eu
November 11, 2025 at 8:50 PM
And here's this morning's 3I/ATLAS image from Italy ☄️ www.virtualtelescope.eu/2025/11/11/i...
Reposted by Chris Lintott
Here is a great review from @leebillings.bsky.social on the actual science around 3I/Atlas. It seems like lots of folks won't care about this amazing object unless it turns out to be aliens - which it won't (though I'd be psyched too be wrong).
www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-...
www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-...
The Race to Study an Interstellar Comet from Deep Space
Astronomers are hustling to use interplanetary spacecraft to study the interstellar comet dubbed 3I/ATLAS while the sun is hiding it from Earth
www.scientificamerican.com
November 11, 2025 at 5:57 PM
Here is a great review from @leebillings.bsky.social on the actual science around 3I/Atlas. It seems like lots of folks won't care about this amazing object unless it turns out to be aliens - which it won't (though I'd be psyched too be wrong).
www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-...
www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-...
Reposted by Chris Lintott
Hey look it's a @vrubinobs.bsky.social difference imaging zooniverse game! Help us classify real vs bogus detections with REAL RUBIN DATA! www.zooniverse.org/projects/ebe...
November 11, 2025 at 7:09 PM
Hey look it's a @vrubinobs.bsky.social difference imaging zooniverse game! Help us classify real vs bogus detections with REAL RUBIN DATA! www.zooniverse.org/projects/ebe...
If you don’t do research you’re not an observatory, you’re a tourist attraction. Solidarity to the excellent astronomers at Lowell.
Flagstaff’s Lowell Observatory plans to cut nearly all its research funding and reduce the number of paid science staff to just two positions next year.
Lowell Observatory slashes research funding in the midst of financial struggle
Flagstaff’s Lowell Observatory plans to cut nearly all its research funding and reduce the number of paid science staff to just two positions next year.
buff.ly
November 11, 2025 at 4:28 AM
If you don’t do research you’re not an observatory, you’re a tourist attraction. Solidarity to the excellent astronomers at Lowell.
Reposted by Chris Lintott
🔭
The first surviving successful image of Jupiter was taken in 1879 by Andrew Ainslie Common in Ealing, London, using his 36-inch Newtonian reflector and the wet collodion process invented in 1851 by portrait photographer Frederick Scott Archer
November 10, 2025 at 7:38 PM
🔭
Reposted by Chris Lintott
New image of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS by M. Jäger, G. Rhemann & E. Prosperi.
Avi Loeb's: "Is the network of jets associated with pockets of ice on the surface of a natural cometary nucleus or are they coming from a set of jet thrusters used for navigation of a spacecraft? We do not know."
Avi Loeb's: "Is the network of jets associated with pockets of ice on the surface of a natural cometary nucleus or are they coming from a set of jet thrusters used for navigation of a spacecraft? We do not know."
November 8, 2025 at 6:35 PM
New image of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS by M. Jäger, G. Rhemann & E. Prosperi.
Avi Loeb's: "Is the network of jets associated with pockets of ice on the surface of a natural cometary nucleus or are they coming from a set of jet thrusters used for navigation of a spacecraft? We do not know."
Avi Loeb's: "Is the network of jets associated with pockets of ice on the surface of a natural cometary nucleus or are they coming from a set of jet thrusters used for navigation of a spacecraft? We do not know."