Paul McMillan
@mcmillan-astro.bsky.social
Astrophysicist working on Milky Way dynamics and Gaia data. University of Leicester. Views expressed are my own.
Website: https://paulmcmillan-astro.github.io/
Website: https://paulmcmillan-astro.github.io/
Martin Luther. Simon Alinder. Some other people too, no doubt.
There's a great history of nailing theses to things and Simon did that yesterday ahead of his thesis defense next month. I watched on zoom, and it turns out quite hard to get a good screenshot!
There's a great history of nailing theses to things and Simon did that yesterday ahead of his thesis defense next month. I watched on zoom, and it turns out quite hard to get a good screenshot!
October 29, 2025 at 8:11 AM
Martin Luther. Simon Alinder. Some other people too, no doubt.
There's a great history of nailing theses to things and Simon did that yesterday ahead of his thesis defense next month. I watched on zoom, and it turns out quite hard to get a good screenshot!
There's a great history of nailing theses to things and Simon did that yesterday ahead of his thesis defense next month. I watched on zoom, and it turns out quite hard to get a good screenshot!
The University of Leicester's marketing department know that it's the staff who are the lifeblood of the university. Leaving staff under threat of firing for months on end, with no negotiation with our representatives, is awful management
October 3, 2025 at 10:30 AM
The University of Leicester's marketing department know that it's the staff who are the lifeblood of the university. Leaving staff under threat of firing for months on end, with no negotiation with our representatives, is awful management
I'm not usually a much of a protestor, but I will try to defend the University of Leicester, and my colleagues, from the bad decisions made by our management. The proposed cuts unneeded, unfair and backed by cherry picked metrics. I support the @leicesterucu.bsky.social strike action.
September 30, 2025 at 7:43 AM
I'm not usually a much of a protestor, but I will try to defend the University of Leicester, and my colleagues, from the bad decisions made by our management. The proposed cuts unneeded, unfair and backed by cherry picked metrics. I support the @leicesterucu.bsky.social strike action.
Related note: Warthogs are delightful to watch because they prance when they run
September 12, 2025 at 12:24 PM
Related note: Warthogs are delightful to watch because they prance when they run
Personal opinion: Squirrels are cuter than other rodents because of the bouncy way they run, not because of the tail
September 12, 2025 at 12:24 PM
Personal opinion: Squirrels are cuter than other rodents because of the bouncy way they run, not because of the tail
🔭 One of the greatest pleasures of my job is when someone I helped and enthused at the start of their astrophysics studies finds success.
Congratulations ot Aayush Desai on publishing his first paper! arxiv.org/abs/2509.03216 🔭
"Magnetic Atmospheres and Circumstellar Interaction in
J1901+1458"
Congratulations ot Aayush Desai on publishing his first paper! arxiv.org/abs/2509.03216 🔭
"Magnetic Atmospheres and Circumstellar Interaction in
J1901+1458"
September 4, 2025 at 8:47 AM
🔭 One of the greatest pleasures of my job is when someone I helped and enthused at the start of their astrophysics studies finds success.
Congratulations ot Aayush Desai on publishing his first paper! arxiv.org/abs/2509.03216 🔭
"Magnetic Atmospheres and Circumstellar Interaction in
J1901+1458"
Congratulations ot Aayush Desai on publishing his first paper! arxiv.org/abs/2509.03216 🔭
"Magnetic Atmospheres and Circumstellar Interaction in
J1901+1458"
A sighting of Leicester's @spacecentre.bsky.social Thor Able rocket during a really interesting (and last minute replacement!) talk by Dr Bleddyn Bowen on the politics of space at the UK's National Astronomy Meeting #NAM2025
July 7, 2025 at 11:31 AM
A sighting of Leicester's @spacecentre.bsky.social Thor Able rocket during a really interesting (and last minute replacement!) talk by Dr Bleddyn Bowen on the politics of space at the UK's National Astronomy Meeting #NAM2025
Interesting start to #NAM2025 at a session dedicated to Galactic dynamics, and how "Basis function expansions" are useful tools for this. Speakers keep abbreviating this as BFE, pronounced "Beefy", which is a touch distracting
July 7, 2025 at 10:46 AM
Interesting start to #NAM2025 at a session dedicated to Galactic dynamics, and how "Basis function expansions" are useful tools for this. Speakers keep abbreviating this as BFE, pronounced "Beefy", which is a touch distracting
Some student feedback on my lecturing described it as "S-tier", which I assumed meant it was very bad. It turns out to be the opposite, but I remain a bit baffled. The S does not stand for the word I would expect.
July 2, 2025 at 1:44 PM
Some student feedback on my lecturing described it as "S-tier", which I assumed meant it was very bad. It turns out to be the opposite, but I remain a bit baffled. The S does not stand for the word I would expect.
Yes. Plot everything. (Do not put all of those plots in your paper/lab report!)
A favourite exercise when I taught stats was to get students to calculate the mean and std deviation of one set each from the 'Datasaurus dozen', and then get them to plot their data! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datasau...
A favourite exercise when I taught stats was to get students to calculate the mean and std deviation of one set each from the 'Datasaurus dozen', and then get them to plot their data! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datasau...
June 6, 2025 at 2:02 PM
Yes. Plot everything. (Do not put all of those plots in your paper/lab report!)
A favourite exercise when I taught stats was to get students to calculate the mean and std deviation of one set each from the 'Datasaurus dozen', and then get them to plot their data! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datasau...
A favourite exercise when I taught stats was to get students to calculate the mean and std deviation of one set each from the 'Datasaurus dozen', and then get them to plot their data! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datasau...
I'm incredibly proud of my sister, Dr Beth McMillan, who graduated on Saturday. To have completed her PhD in computational cardiovascular science despite her illness is a huge achievement. I had the honour of helping her through the ceremony itself.
June 2, 2025 at 10:58 AM
I'm incredibly proud of my sister, Dr Beth McMillan, who graduated on Saturday. To have completed her PhD in computational cardiovascular science despite her illness is a huge achievement. I had the honour of helping her through the ceremony itself.
This, from the conclusions, hit particularly close to home.
May 20, 2025 at 8:36 AM
This, from the conclusions, hit particularly close to home.
I finally got around to reading "Made in Britain" which talks in general terms about the nature, strengths, and weaknesses of the UK economy as it was back in 2011. Reading some parts of it just make me sad.
May 20, 2025 at 8:36 AM
I finally got around to reading "Made in Britain" which talks in general terms about the nature, strengths, and weaknesses of the UK economy as it was back in 2011. Reading some parts of it just make me sad.
Making some art for my 4th year lectures
January 31, 2025 at 3:47 PM
Making some art for my 4th year lectures
Thanks for all the data, Gaia!
We've still got a lot of work to do to turn the data into science, but Gaia's last science observation today marks the end of a decade of incredible data gathering.
We've still got a lot of work to do to turn the data into science, but Gaia's last science observation today marks the end of a decade of incredible data gathering.
January 15, 2025 at 11:32 AM
Thanks for all the data, Gaia!
We've still got a lot of work to do to turn the data into science, but Gaia's last science observation today marks the end of a decade of incredible data gathering.
We've still got a lot of work to do to turn the data into science, but Gaia's last science observation today marks the end of a decade of incredible data gathering.
🔭 Most impressively of all, my ingenious PhD student @seti-astro.bsky.social gifted me this wonderful crochet Gaia that he designed and made himself! 🔭
January 14, 2025 at 3:11 PM
🔭 Most impressively of all, my ingenious PhD student @seti-astro.bsky.social gifted me this wonderful crochet Gaia that he designed and made himself! 🔭
🔭 For DR3 it was time to make one really big Gaia cake. 🔭
January 14, 2025 at 3:11 PM
🔭 For DR3 it was time to make one really big Gaia cake. 🔭
🔭 For DR2 we decorated biscuits 🔭 🍪
January 14, 2025 at 3:11 PM
🔭 For DR2 we decorated biscuits 🔭 🍪
🔭 To mark the first Gaia data release, Louise & I made some Gaia cupcakes 🔭 🧁
January 14, 2025 at 3:11 PM
🔭 To mark the first Gaia data release, Louise & I made some Gaia cupcakes 🔭 🧁
🔭 Tomorrow is the last day of observations for @esa.int's Gaia. It has observed for over a decade, revolutionising our view of the Milky Way.
The work is far from done. Thus far only 3 years of data are reflected in the public release. Nonetheless this is a moment to celebrate Gaia... 🔭 #MilkyWay
The work is far from done. Thus far only 3 years of data are reflected in the public release. Nonetheless this is a moment to celebrate Gaia... 🔭 #MilkyWay
January 14, 2025 at 2:50 PM
I remain curious whether these sort of models produce phase spirals that are as coherent as we look around the galaxy as the ones we see. Mostly though, I just really like that plot
December 6, 2024 at 2:49 PM
I remain curious whether these sort of models produce phase spirals that are as coherent as we look around the galaxy as the ones we see. Mostly though, I just really like that plot
In summary, yes they can make some disturbances in the vertical velocities and positions of stars by sending dark matter subhalos swooping through the disc, but not enough to explain all that we see when we plot them out
December 6, 2024 at 2:49 PM
In summary, yes they can make some disturbances in the vertical velocities and positions of stars by sending dark matter subhalos swooping through the disc, but not enough to explain all that we see when we plot them out