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Reposted by Chris Lintott

Rowan Hooper @rowhoop.bsky.social · 2h

“Thank you for coming to the weirdest night in London,” said @chrislintott.bsky.social - a wake for the end of the universe, with @astrokatie.com channeling Carl Sagan and a New Orleans send off ❤️

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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 1h

Thanks for coming!

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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 1d

Congratulations!

Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 1d

Thank you!

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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 1d

This will be a very special show - a complete one off - so do make it to Jamboree if you possibly can.

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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 1d

Last call to join us tomorrow for our celebration of the end of the Universe! Come party while there’s still a chance wegottickets.com/event/676292

The End of the Universe

After a magnificent* 13.8 billion years** astronomer Chris Lintott (Sky at Night) and Steve Pretty (Hackney Colliery Band) lead a funeral and wake for the universe, as it sadly heads into heat death. ...

wegottickets.com

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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 2d

That's becasue it's an American thing, and they don't have undergrad law degrees.

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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 2d

The GRE is nonsense in many subjects, though, including my own. (Physics)

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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 3d

Gurdon had the answer. Pausing briefly, surveying his audience, he seamlessly made the turn from toad to statesman: 'And now, from one of South Africa's great national treasures to another....'. Magnificent. And very, very, English. (6/6)

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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 3d

This is the work for which he would later win the Nobel. Anyway, as he talked in the crowded hall, Mandela and assembled dignitaries listening, many of us were wondering how he was going to turn from his lecture on amphibian biology back to, you know, welcoming Nelson Mandela. (5/n)

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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 3d

The Xenopus toad (wikipedia: 'a rather inactive creature') is native to sub-Saharan Africa is a common lab animal, used in the mid-20th century for pregnacy testing. Gurdon had cloned the toad (which sounded fabulous in his plummy accent) in the 1950s, the first time such event in a vertebrate (4/n)

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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 3d

Declaring that he thought he might tell our distinguished guest something about South Africa he didn't know. He then proceeded to talk for what in my memory was quite some time about the Xenopus toad. (3/n)

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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 3d

This should have been the simplest job in the world as a public speaker. Stand up, say 'I'm delighted to be able to welcome Nelson Mandela'. Sit down. But no, Gurdon was made of stronger stuff than that... (2/n)

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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 3d

Prof. Gurdon was Master at Magdalene when I was an undergraduate. I remember trying to make small talk while he had students over (generously) for Sunday lunch. But I also remember him making a magnificent job of introducing Nelson Mandela, who was being made an honorary fellow of the college..(1/n)

University of Cambridge @cam.ac.uk · 3d

It is with great sadness that the University shares the news of the death of Professor Sir John Gurdon, founder of the @gurdoninstitute.bsky.social

Read our tribute to the visionary Nobel Laureate and watch an interview from 2012, just after he won: https://bit.ly/4mM8o3r

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Reposted by Chris Lintott

Peter Grindrod @petergrindrod.bsky.social · 3d

@chrislintott.bsky.social Got it!

ESA Space Science @science.esa.int · 3d

First images of comet #3I/ATLAS from Europe's Mars orbiters 😍

Observing the comet from 30 million km away, #ExoMars reveals the halo of gas and dust surrounding the comet's nucleus.

Read more 👉 www.esa.int/Science_Expl...
🔭🧪

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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 3d

Only for moving things. Else it’s a blob.

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Reposted by Chris Lintott

Paul Byrne @theplanetaryguy.bsky.social · 3d

See that small, moving splotch?

That's 3I/ATLAS, a comet that formed in a different star system, photographed from Mars orbit by the ESA Exomars Trace Gas Orbiter.

A comet from a DIFFERENT SOLAR SYSTEM photographed by a ROBOT ORBITING MARS

last Friday

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Reposted by Chris Lintott

Katie Mack @astrokatie.com · 3d

🇬🇧 London friends! I will be in town later this week for a cool public event with @chrislintott.bsky.social (wegottickets.com/event/676292) and will be hanging out a few days. Come to the event and say hi if you can!

The End of the Universe

After a magnificent* 13.8 billion years** astronomer Chris Lintott (Sky at Night) and Steve Pretty (Hackney Colliery Band) lead a funeral and wake for the universe, as it sadly heads into heat death. ...

wegottickets.com

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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 4d

I don’t know if it’s the low point, but the demand for telescope time from someone who has never applied for any is quite a thing

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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 4d

Because we haven’t found enough of weird planets like warm Jupiter.

Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 4d

I do like a strong statement at the start of a talk. @exodransfield.bsky.social at the Oxford colloquium.

An enthusiastic speaker stands in a lecture theatre that says ‘discovering new planets still matters’

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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 4d

I completely agree with that statement. It's the next one - which implies either that phosphine can't be a biosignature in other places and temperatures, which isn't discussed here, or that it can't be here, where it's irrelevant. I can probably be less grumpy, I admit.

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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 4d

But no-one (Are they?) is proposing that phosphine is a biosignature on Jupiter, Saturn or other brown dwarfs. It's like cautioning against the use of cheese as a hammer.

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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 4d

That’s a ridiculous thing to say. Phosphine’s long been known in gas giant atmospheres, a fact that doesn’t influence at all the argument about its presence on Venus.

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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 5d

London! Next Friday! The Universe WILL end in the company of @astrokatie.com, Steve Pretty, many musicians and myself. Do please come join us wegottickets.com/event/676292

The End of the Universe

After a magnificent* 13.8 billion years** astronomer Chris Lintott (Sky at Night) and Steve Pretty (Hackney Colliery Band) lead a funeral and wake for the universe, as it sadly heads into heat death. ...

wegottickets.com

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