Sarah Watson
@sarahrosewatson.bsky.social
Final year PhD student at Uni of Reading.
Studying solar wind interactions with minor planetary bodies☀️☄️
Studying solar wind interactions with minor planetary bodies☀️☄️
Reposted by Sarah Watson
We're finishing up the rollout of Version 0j of the #PUNCH data, and several very cool science papers are in progress. Here's a very cool result on #Comet #Lemmon and the #solarwind! 🔭☀️🛰️🧪
NASA’s Illuminate: Sun Rips Comet’s Tail in Half
YouTube video by NASA Goddard
www.youtube.com
January 23, 2026 at 5:34 PM
We're finishing up the rollout of Version 0j of the #PUNCH data, and several very cool science papers are in progress. Here's a very cool result on #Comet #Lemmon and the #solarwind! 🔭☀️🛰️🧪
A whole days worth of background reading to write just one line of my thesis. Not sure if that's productive or not🙃
January 7, 2026 at 3:48 PM
A whole days worth of background reading to write just one line of my thesis. Not sure if that's productive or not🙃
Reposted by Sarah Watson
PUNCH @punch-mission.bsky.social found out we are good at comet tracking, even as we calibrate/refine our solar wind imaging pipeline. In the last 3 months, we've tracked 3 notable comets with images every 4 min, around the clock: SWAN, Atlas, and Lemmon. PUNCH data are free to get and use. ☀️🛰️🧪🔭
NASA's PUNCH Tracks Comet Discovered by SOHO Spacecraft - NASA Science
From August to October, NASA’s PUNCH (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere) mission tracked comet 2025 R2 (SWAN) — one of the thousands of comets
science.nasa.gov
December 3, 2025 at 6:02 AM
PUNCH @punch-mission.bsky.social found out we are good at comet tracking, even as we calibrate/refine our solar wind imaging pipeline. In the last 3 months, we've tracked 3 notable comets with images every 4 min, around the clock: SWAN, Atlas, and Lemmon. PUNCH data are free to get and use. ☀️🛰️🧪🔭
Excited for this! The comet may cross the heliospheric current sheet, which can affect the tail of a comet, so will be interesting to see if we see any evidence of this.😍☄️
Interstellar comet 3I/Atlas is flying past Mars today. Might get some cool views!
skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-ne...
skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-ne...
Mars Orbiters Will Have Front-row Seats to Interstellar Comet
Spacecraft orbiting the Red Planet will aim a suite of instruments at Comet 3I/ATLAS to capture details about this enigmatic object.
skyandtelescope.org
October 3, 2025 at 9:59 AM
Excited for this! The comet may cross the heliospheric current sheet, which can affect the tail of a comet, so will be interesting to see if we see any evidence of this.😍☄️
Thought I would go say hi to the thing that is currently providing me with content for my PhD thesis ☀️😍
August 27, 2025 at 3:12 PM
Thought I would go say hi to the thing that is currently providing me with content for my PhD thesis ☀️😍
Reposted by Sarah Watson
One of my favourite stories I’ve written this year.
A third known interstellar object is flying through our solar system right now. What are the 7 biggest questions we want to answer about it?
Story by me in @sciam.bsky.social
www.scientificamerican.com/article/new-...
A third known interstellar object is flying through our solar system right now. What are the 7 biggest questions we want to answer about it?
Story by me in @sciam.bsky.social
www.scientificamerican.com/article/new-...
New Interstellar Object Is Full of Mysteries. Here’s What Scientists Most Want to Learn
Scientists are racing to learn as much as possible about the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS before it fades from view forever
www.scientificamerican.com
July 17, 2025 at 3:55 PM
One of my favourite stories I’ve written this year.
A third known interstellar object is flying through our solar system right now. What are the 7 biggest questions we want to answer about it?
Story by me in @sciam.bsky.social
www.scientificamerican.com/article/new-...
A third known interstellar object is flying through our solar system right now. What are the 7 biggest questions we want to answer about it?
Story by me in @sciam.bsky.social
www.scientificamerican.com/article/new-...
Reposted by Sarah Watson
LOOK AT THE FUZZY LITTLE COMET
So, what do these observations from @vrubinobs.bsky.social show us about 3I/ATLAS? Well, from as early as June 21, ten days prior to discovery and the earliest that any large-aperture telescope has imagery — it's a comet. The July 3 stack shows it really clearly
July 21, 2025 at 7:17 AM
LOOK AT THE FUZZY LITTLE COMET
A GIF of my images of the eclipse this weekend, using the SeeStar telescope! ☀️🌕 😍(The most spectacular thing about it being that there were no clouds in Reading throughout!!)
March 31, 2025 at 9:45 AM
A GIF of my images of the eclipse this weekend, using the SeeStar telescope! ☀️🌕 😍(The most spectacular thing about it being that there were no clouds in Reading throughout!!)
Check out my recent paper, just published in ApJ! ☄️
@sarahrosewatson.bsky.social has just published a nice study of how comet tail disconnections are associated with particular structures in the solar wind (the heliospheric current sheet). And how data assimilation enables us to better forecast these structures.
iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3...
iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3...
March 27, 2025 at 1:52 PM
Check out my recent paper, just published in ApJ! ☄️
Reposted by Sarah Watson
Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) spotted in full glory by #SolarOrbiter.
The #comet was observed with the SoloHI instrument from the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory.
The encounter happened on 14-25 January, while Solar Orbiter was heading toward #Venus and the comet coincidentally swung by the #Sun.
🔭 🧪
The #comet was observed with the SoloHI instrument from the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory.
The encounter happened on 14-25 January, while Solar Orbiter was heading toward #Venus and the comet coincidentally swung by the #Sun.
🔭 🧪
March 21, 2025 at 2:00 PM
Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) spotted in full glory by #SolarOrbiter.
The #comet was observed with the SoloHI instrument from the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory.
The encounter happened on 14-25 January, while Solar Orbiter was heading toward #Venus and the comet coincidentally swung by the #Sun.
🔭 🧪
The #comet was observed with the SoloHI instrument from the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory.
The encounter happened on 14-25 January, while Solar Orbiter was heading toward #Venus and the comet coincidentally swung by the #Sun.
🔭 🧪