Thomas Rintoul
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thomasrintoul.bsky.social
Thomas Rintoul
@thomasrintoul.bsky.social
380 followers 280 following 120 posts
🌌 Galaxy Evolution PhD student - Cardiff Uni
✨ MPhys Astro - Uni of St Andrews 2023
🎥 Science Communicator on YouTube, Twitch, Instagram and TikTok

🔗 https://linktr.ee/ThomasRintoul
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thomasrintoul.bsky.social
Delighted to announce that the first paper of my PhD - "The role of magnetic fields in ram pressure stripping of satellite galaxies in the circumgalactic medium around massive galaxies" - has been published by MNRAS!

Check out the paper here: academic.oup.com/mnras/articl...

🧪🔭
October 30, 2025 at 2:25 PM
thomasrintoul.bsky.social
This week I presented my research on the "Role of magnetic fields in simulations of ram pressure stripping of satellite galaxies" at @nam25-durham.bsky.social

I also chaired a session at the conference which was a great experience to take on that responsibility as a PhD student!

#NAM2025 🔭🌌🧪
July 8, 2025 at 2:31 PM
thomasrintoul.bsky.social
Two images of the magnetic field structure around simulated galaxies. Left shows a swept back structure to the field lines. This is highlighted with a dashed white line. Right shows an alignment of the field lines downwind of the satellite, again denoted with dashed lines. Text reads: "Stripping and mixing are less with magnetic fields because the field suppresses turbulence. It does this with a draping layer, reducing stripping, and by aligning with the tail. This matches the few observations we do have. The ArXiV and Royal Astronomical Society logos. Text: What's next? My paper is now available on the arxiv pre-print server. This means anyone can read it, but it's still to go through "peer-review". Peer-Review is the process that happens after you submit to a journal where another scientist reads the paper and can suggest improvements. I have submitted my paper to the journal "The Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society", a major UK-based journal for Astro." Image again of simulated galaxies. Text: "In the meantime though... it's back to work! Conference season is well underway though, so I'll be off to present this work in person soon enough! Follow for more!"
July 2, 2025 at 10:28 AM
thomasrintoul.bsky.social
🌌🔭 Excited to announce my first paper is out now!

We use simulations to explore the effect of magnetic fields on satellite galaxies in the circumgalactic medium (CGM) - the reservoir of gas around galaxies.

Read the paper here: arxiv.org/abs/2506.18983

See thread for remaining images.
A screenshot of my new paper on the preprint arxiv titled "the role of magnetic fields in ram pressure stripping of satellite galaxies in the circumgalactic medium around massive galaxies. Text above reads "My first paper is out now". Below reads "this paper looks at how magentic fields affect how gas is removed from galaxies orbiting other galaxies. Swipe to read more." An image of simulated galaxies surrounded by lower density gas. Some of the galaxies have bright tails of dense gas behind them. Text above: "Galaxies are surrounded by an atmosphere of hot gas called the Circumgalactic Medium or CGM" Text Below: "Orbiting within the CGM, we find many smaller satellite galaxies". A plot showing the temperature of a satellite galaxy with a tail of gas, relative to the hot CGM surroundings. Text: Satellites feel a headwind from the gas in the CGM - which we call Ram Pressure. If this ram pressure can overcome gravity, it removes gas in a process called Ram Pressure Stripping" An 8 panel plot showing a galaxy with magnetic fields (above) and without (below) for various properties. Text: In this paper, we run simulations with and without magnetic fields to see their effects. Without magnetic fields, more gas is stripped from the galaxies. There's also more mixing of hot and cool gas - this causes more gas to cool onto the stripped gas."
July 2, 2025 at 10:26 AM
thomasrintoul.bsky.social
My first science video of 2025 is now available to my patrons over on Patreon. General release tomorrow!

www.patreon.com/posts/my-top...
Thomas looking into the camera with his hand palm up. The words "Top Five Unsolved Astronomy Questions" are beside him. The background is an image from the Illustris TNG simulations showing the formation of a galaxy cluster.
January 30, 2025 at 5:18 PM
thomasrintoul.bsky.social
My first video of 2025 setting out my goals for the year just went live for my patrons on Patreon.

Sign up at the link below for early access, or wait for general release tomorrow!
www.patreon.com/posts/2025-w...
January 9, 2025 at 2:14 PM
thomasrintoul.bsky.social
Last year I was too ambitious with my #StoryGraph reading challenge.
This year I'm being more realistic: 12 books in 12 months.

However, I'm reading a lot of long fantasy books so I've also added a page target of 3600 pages.

Really enjoying getting back into reading!
January 3, 2025 at 10:11 AM
thomasrintoul.bsky.social
This month, @katdoesmaths.bsky.social and I (+some friends) are raising money for the Jingle Jam!

For the next two weeks, we'll have a mix of streams on Twitch. Donations are greatly appreciated and over £35 will get you a brilliant collection of games!

tiltify.com/+the-sci-com...
December 3, 2024 at 2:08 PM
thomasrintoul.bsky.social
Loving this trend! Let's give it a go!

1 like = 1 piece of Thomas lore
Thomas is wearing a "The Longest Johns" tour t-shirt. He is holding a beer whilst sitting at a table in a alleyway in Tenby, Wales. There is bunting and bushes in the background.
November 24, 2024 at 3:33 PM
thomasrintoul.bsky.social
My latest video is out now! This one was a lot of fun to make and I've spent way too long on it (hence why it's 2 days late...)

youtu.be/r3LGqSuUA7M
February 17, 2024 at 5:22 PM
thomasrintoul.bsky.social
Another week, another stream schedule - come join me for some productivity at 10am today!

twitch.tv/ThomAstroSci
February 6, 2024 at 8:37 AM
thomasrintoul.bsky.social
This week I'm streaming on Twitch in my regular slots. Come along and join in the productive co-working lo-fi Star Wars vibes in the pomodoro streams - and come for a chat and probably to watch me crash in Space Engineers on Wednesday.

Live now over at twitch.tv/ThomAstroSci
January 30, 2024 at 10:22 AM
thomasrintoul.bsky.social
I'm live on Twitch playing Space Engineers for the first time this year! Come join in the chaos as I build an utterly ridiculous ship!
twitch.tv/ThomAstroSci
January 17, 2024 at 7:31 PM
thomasrintoul.bsky.social
A new week, a new Stream Schedule. See you over on Twitch at 10am GMT.

twitch.tv/ThomAstroSci
January 16, 2024 at 8:32 AM
thomasrintoul.bsky.social
My first stream schedule of 2024 is here - before the first stream of the week! Start as you mean to go on right?
Starting off light as I'm still sorting some things out behind the scenes. See you at 10! (Link in bio)
January 9, 2024 at 8:12 AM
thomasrintoul.bsky.social
📢📢🔭 My first video of 2024 is now live! Let's take a look back at what happened in astronomy in 2023 and what's might be coming up this year: youtu.be/HL3LUGrpZE4
January 7, 2024 at 7:17 PM
thomasrintoul.bsky.social
The Sci-Comm Collective are delighted to announce that this year we've raised £1157.77 for Wallace and Gromit's Grand Appeal & The Jingle Jam.

We're so proud of this total - thank you to everyone who donated and to my fellow streamers who make it possible!

Onwards to next year!
December 15, 2023 at 11:10 AM
thomasrintoul.bsky.social
I'm live now with a Pomodoro Study/CoWorking Stream over on my Twitch channel. Come join in the productivity! www.twitch.tv/ThomAstroSci
December 12, 2023 at 9:11 AM
thomasrintoul.bsky.social
I'm really excited to announce that the pilot episode of the Unstable Fluid Podcast, co-hosted by myself and Kat(DoesMaths) is now available on YouTube and some podcast apps (more to follow).

Video: youtu.be/29y85CnwLhE
Audio: pod.link/1707160715
September 14, 2023 at 8:08 AM