Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Jen Gupta @jengupta.bsky.social · 12d

Calling all space fans! World Space Week starts on Saturday and we have a bunch of public events happening in Portsmouth and Gosport. Check out the listings at the link below and please spread the word!

www.port.ac.uk/news-events-...

World Space Week 2025

Join us this October as we celebrate World Space Week 2025 in Portsmouth and discover more about the wealth of space activity taking place in our region.

www.port.ac.uk

Jen Gupta @jengupta.bsky.social · Apr 23

I'm terrible at being online these days but last year I somehow persuaded STFC (the UK astrophysics research funding council) to give me one of their Leadership Fellowships in Public Engagement and today I had my first project meeting with my team and I'm very excited!

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Jen Gupta @jengupta.bsky.social · Jan 25

Honoured and excited to have been elected President of the Society for Popular Astronomy this afternoon, taking over from the wonderful Prof Lucie Green! The SPA is the UK's leading entry-level astronomical society, find out more at www.popastro.com

Welcome to the Society for Popular Astronomy - Society for Popular Astronomy

Click to find out more! Featured content

www.popastro.com

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Reposted by Jen Gupta

Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · Jan 16

Watching astronauts Suni Williams and Nick Hague work on repairs of our baby, X-Ray 🔭 NICER!!

streaming live from space:
www.youtube.com/live/RYPk8fz...

🧪

YouTube

Share your videos with friends, family, and the world

www.youtube.com

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Jen Gupta @jengupta.bsky.social · Jan 16

I talked about SaxaVord and UK vertical launches and the possibility of the first launch happening this year on the radio yesterday and then this news comes out today! It feels like there's so much happening in the space sector right now, it's hard to keep up!

UK Space Agency @ukspaceagency.bsky.social · Jan 16

Congratulations to Rocket Factory Augsburg who have received the first licence for vertical orbital launches from Europe from the UK Civil Aviation Authority. 🚀

Another step forward for UK launch capabilities, supporting jobs and growth across the space sector. 🛰️
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Shetland Spaceport: Firm secures vertical rocket launch licence

Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA) have been awarded a licence allowing them to launch rockets from Shetland.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Reposted by Jen Gupta

CosmicRami 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @cosmicrami.com · Jan 15

ICYMI … the NRAO is on The Sky!

[radio astronomy is slowly taking over the socials and this is the future envisioned dot tumblr]

National Radio Astronomy Observatory - NSF NRAO @thenrao.bsky.social · Jan 13

Hi Bluesky! 👋 We are the NSF National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NSF NRAO). #RadioAstronomy

Telescopes:
📡 Very Large Array (VLA)
📡 Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA)
📡 Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA)
📡 Green Bank Telescope (GBT)
📡 Next Generation VLA (ngVLA)

🔗: public.nrao.edu

Photograph of the VLA telescope array. The silhouettes of the dishes can be seen against a colorful sunset sky.

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Jen Gupta @jengupta.bsky.social · Jan 15

Also doing the radio today made me realise how much I miss doing this kind of thing! Hit me up if you too need an enthusiastic astronomer to nerd out about space on your show!

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Jen Gupta @jengupta.bsky.social · Jan 15

I had a blast talking to Chris Jarvis (of Cbeebies fame!) on BBC Radio Solent this morning about lots of exciting things that are happening in space this year. Putting this photo out there for when they get us to do the next series of Cbeebies Stargazing together 😉

A photo of me in the radio studio with Chris Jarvis the presenter. We are standing next to each other in front of a BBC Radio Solent background and smiling at the camera. Chris is on the left of the photo in a blue t-shirt and black trousers. I'm on the right of the photo wearing a red and black check shirt over a black t-shirt and blue jeans. The radio desk is in the foreground of the photo with a purple BBC Radio Solent microphone hanging down.

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Jen Gupta @jengupta.bsky.social · Jan 15

At the BBC Radio Solent studio this morning to talk about space in 2025. Think I'm on around 11.10, UK peeps should be able to listen online!

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Jen Gupta @jengupta.bsky.social · Jan 14

Spending a bit of time reading up on highly protected marine areas and I think this is another entry to "things I never thought would form part of my future job when I did a PhD in astrophysics"

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Jen Gupta @jengupta.bsky.social · Jan 9

A proper daytime moon spotted on today's lunchtime dog walk 🤩

A photo of a brilliant blue sky with a faint gibbous moon visible in the bottom right quadrant between phone lines. There are house roofs visible at the bottom of the photo.

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Jen Gupta @jengupta.bsky.social · Jan 6

(link to buy here - www.dunelm.com/product/satu...)

Saturn Rattan Easy Fit Pendant Shade | Dunelm

* Saturn/Planet Design * Made from Rattan * Easy Fit - No Electrician Required Brighten up your child's room with the Saturn Rattan Easy Fit Pendant Shade. Its fun planet design adds a playful touch ...

www.dunelm.com

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Jen Gupta @jengupta.bsky.social · Jan 6

The perfect ceiling lampshade doesn't exi-

A photo of a Saturn shaped lampshade hanging from the ceiling. It's made from rattan. The sphere of the planet is a natural light brown wood colour and the ring is a dark green/black colour.

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Jen Gupta @jengupta.bsky.social · Jan 2

Cold nights = clear skies! Driving to get the kids and spotted a gorgeous crescent moon with an incredibly bright Venus nearby, then Jupiter above Orion who's just peeking up over the horizon.

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Jen Gupta @jengupta.bsky.social · Jan 1

My aurorawatch notifications have been pinging this afternoon - completely cloudy here (and possibly too far south) but if you're in the north and have clear skies it might be worth keeping an eye out!

Prof Jim Wild @jim-wild.bsky.social · Jan 1

New Year’s Day Geomagnetic activity is building up, so if you have clear skies and a view of the northern sky between the clouds from northern England or Scotland it would be worth a peak.

Austrian Space Weather Office @aswogeosphere.bsky.social · Jan 1

Central Europe, if there are no clouds in your area, watch out for #aurora tonight! The 4th strongest geomagnetic storm in cycle 25 as measured by Dst is ongoing and likely persisting into the night. A #solarstorm magnetic rope with a very favorable west-south-east configuration sweeps over Earth.

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Jen Gupta @jengupta.bsky.social · Dec 24

When your kid has a different bedroom setup since last year and you suddenly realise you have nowhere to hang the stocking - it's an Institute of Physics lanyard to the rescue!

A photo taken from the floor looking up at the underneath of a top bunk bunk bed. There's a black Institute of Physics lanyard looped around the railing with a colourful Christmas stocking attached to the other end.

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Jen Gupta @jengupta.bsky.social · Dec 22

Aw thanks! ❤️

Jen Gupta @jengupta.bsky.social · Dec 19

...I can't wait to get stuck into things in 2025 but first a much needed break for 2 weeks where I'm going to switch my brain off!

(only joking, I've got a super exciting secret freelance thing to work on over the Christmas break!)

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Jen Gupta @jengupta.bsky.social · Dec 19

And that's me done with work for 2024! It's been quite the year - a challenging time for the UK higher education sector with redundancies and cost saving measures all over the place, but also a brilliant year personally for me as I grew my team and won grants to do exciting projects...

A selfie of me outside my office building. I'm to the left of the photo wearing a Christmas jumper with a black jacket over it. You can see the building behind me with a sign that says "Dennis Sciama Building" and "Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation".

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Jen Gupta @jengupta.bsky.social · Dec 18

Last week of work and everyone seemed to get their toys out! A mini Mars rover and a work in progress from @trayford.bsky.social

A photo of a mini Mars Rover model on a wooden desk.

A photo of a strip of coloured LED lights snaked around on a grey carpet. The first LEDs at the top are off and then the LEDs go from blue to orange as they go down.

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Jen Gupta @jengupta.bsky.social · Dec 13

I love the work that my colleague @trayford.bsky.social is doing with the sonification of astronomical data! Truly groundbreaking stuff. You can read more about it in the blog post he links in his post.

James Trayford @trayford.bsky.social · Dec 13

Check out this article from STFC about our sonification of astronomical data, and beyond! including a new sonification at the end - perceive multi-scale information about galaxy formation in our cosmological simulations... 🧪🔭⚡🐡. medium.com/big-science-...

The sound of silence: how sound brings space to life

The vacuum of space is famously silent, but what if you were able to use sound to help you visualise the Universe? What would a black hole…

medium.com

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Jen Gupta @jengupta.bsky.social · Dec 11

I think I'm going to have to look into something like this, thanks for the recommendation!

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Jen Gupta @jengupta.bsky.social · Dec 11

Yeah I do the former for internal one-on-one but this often happens when trying to arrange meetings with externals and/or when my team have looked at our availablity first and then are offering times we can all do. Will look into fantastical, thanks!

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Jen Gupta @jengupta.bsky.social · Dec 11

Thank you! I was beginning to doubt myself - it's happened twice this week already!

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Jen Gupta @jengupta.bsky.social · Dec 10

OK friends, can someone please tell me how to say in an email when I'm free so people actually understand me?? I say I'm free apart from 2-3pm, they send me an invite for 2pm. I say I'm free 9-11am or 12-5pm they ask to meet at 11am. I give up!

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