The four Artemis II astronauts are no longer orbiting Earth, but are now headed towards the Moon www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Update: The CME has most likely already glanced us (see slight rise in EPAM) or it is a near miss, which could be due to the interaction with the coronal hole. G1-G2 still likely in the next few days due to the coronal hole influence 🌞💨🛰️🌍

Part one of the "Inspector Smile' comic strip introduces our life-giving star that has a dark side. For billions of years, it has been bombarding Earth with tiny particles. To protect us, Earth holds a giant shield, without which our thriving world would turn to wasteland.

Part two of the 'Inspector Smile' comic strip talks about the auroras we see as a result of the solar wind hitting our magnetic shield. However, when the Sun sends powerful blasts, satellites can be disrupted, communication can be down and power may go off. To protect our modern world, we need to understand this shield better. We need an Inspector.

Everyone has a dark side, even the Sun...

Introducing 'Inspector Smile', Chapter 1 ☀️ 🌬️

This comic strip recap brings you up to speed with the Smile mission, ahead of launch on 9 April.

🔭 🧪

Definitely not for the faint hearted!

Huge solar flare no threat to Artemis 2 astronaut launch to the moon, NASA says A massive X1.4 solar flare won't endanger NASA's four Artemis 2 astronauts on their way to the moon.

www.space.com/space-explor...

#solarstorm modeling results - our ELEvo model predicts arrival at Earth of the large solar storm from earlier today around 12:17 UTC (±6.17h) on Mar 31. We continue to monitor the situation closely and will provide updates as new data comes in. 💫 #SpaceWeather

There's a fast Earth-directed CME with arrival predicted between late 31st and midday 2nd.

Why such a huge window? Well, we now routinely run 6 ensemble forecasts (each with 500 runs)
swxforecastlab.org/forecasts.html

A person with a watch knows the time. A person with 3000 is never sure!

Hence why we have launch windows rather than a single day. Hopefully should be fine 😂

Very good question, possibly. I know that some of the previous launch attempts were also affected by high periods of activity (not just engineering issues)

There was an X1.5 solar flare from AR 4405 this morning that is associated with an Earth-directed eruption. It looks like this eruption will be a glancing blow therefore a moderate (G2) geomagnetic storm watch has been issued. According to HUXt this CME will indeed hit Earth late on 31st. 🌞💨🛰️🌍️

Research funding cuts threaten a whole generation of scientists - Research Professional News UK will suffer lasting consequences from disrupted talent pipeline, say Mike Lockwood and James Wild

"Research funding cuts threaten a whole generation of scientists". Op-ed in Research Professional News today by Mike Lockwood and me. #STFCcuts #SaveUKAstronomy

www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-v...

Breaking: Looming physics cuts a ‘failure’, says science committee chair.

Chi Onwurah says science minister and UKRI leadership must “bear responsibility” and “win back trust”.

www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-p...

The Science, Innovation & Tech committee have written the most amazing letter to DSIT/UKRI/STFC:

"What is clear is that, despite your assertions to the contrary... widespread cuts have been proposed before adequate consultation with those affected was undertaken. This is wholly unacceptable" 💪🔭⚛️🧪

Full worm moon is WORMIN.

#heliophysics 😂

Open Lecturer in Planetary Science position at UCL Mullard Space Science Laboratory (Dorking) The successful applicant will be expected to perform research using data from the Rosalind Franklin Mission, but also other planetary bodies, such as the Moon and the Outer Planets icy moons. ☄️🔭🧪

Rows of people wearing orange lanyards in a House of Commons committee hearing. At the front is Catherine sporting her "I'm about to perform an appendectomy" mask and looking particularly snazzy.

Here is my run-down of today's Science, Information & Technology Committee hearing (House of Commons) where @jonbutterworth.bsky.social @si-wills.bsky.social & I argued for no funding cuts, & Prof. Michele Doughtery explained why they were needed. The public gallery again packed with physicists 🔭👩‍🔬⚛️

Off to UCLAN to give a seminar today on my solar wind research using Solar Orbiter. I must say I am enjoying the sunshine and views along the way ☀️🌞🌅

Operations engineers in the Main Control Room at the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) during Solar Orbiter's launch in February 2020. The image shows people sitting at a long console with many computer screens. The people are watching the computer screens and pointing to things outside of the image frame.

🛰️☀️ Solar Orbiter hits its 9th perihelion this week, diving to 0.29 AU from the Sun.

This kicks off a 10 day Remote Sensing Window where teams rapidly plan, image, analyse and reorient the spacecraft – a showcase of ESA’s teamwork near our star. ⭐

📷ESA/J.Mai

Good luck and take care of yourself!

Top academics warn UK physics cuts threaten effort to boost economy More than 50 heads of departments tell science minister that changes risk undermining crucial tech growth fields

"Planned cuts to physics and astronomy funding threaten to undermine a core UK government strategy to harness innovation to boost economic growth, leading researchers have warned ministers."

Thanks @financialtimes.com for covering this really important story

🗞️: www.ft.com/content/a235...

Planetarium Bochum sunset view, deep orange fading to dark blue. Saturn, Merkur and Venus are marked - tiny speaks in the twilight sky.

How are the #planetaryparade fans doing tonight? Clear skies here so I took up the challenge!

😎Jupiter (easy - right of the moon)
👍Venus (bright on the W horizon)
👌Saturn (trickier - need to know where to look)
🤷‍♀️Mercury (in hiding)
🙅‍♀️Neptune and Uranus (needs 🔭)
📷 @planetariumbochum.bsky.social

STFC CEO responds to @jonbutterworth.bsky.social

"it is important for all of our ... programmes ... to contribute to us making savings across our entire portfolio"

No mention that *all* is disproportionately falling on the particle-astro-nuclear programme 🤷‍♀️😡

www.theguardian.com/science/2026...

Job losses at research-intensive universities double in two years - Research Professional News Exclusive: Scale of redundancies revealed branded a “disaster” for UK research capacity

Redundancies at research-intensive universities double in two years, FOI requests from @resprofnews.bsky.social @chrisjparr.bsky.social reveal.

Scale of job losses branded "disaster" for UK research capacity.

www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-u...

This should be getting better as we leave solar maximum. Here's an update of HST altitude vs. sunspot number.

With one in four university Physics departments facing the risk of closure, and with unprecedented research cuts on the horizon, @royalastrosoc.bsky.social have created an open letter for Physics teachers to lend their support to the university Astronomy community

ras.ac.uk/news-and-pre...

🎢🧪⚛️🔭

The GSST/CBERS-5 International Symposium on Machine Learning in Heliophysics and Space Weather, August 17-21, Brazil. Abstract submissions open until March 30. #heliophysics

indico.global/event/16921/

There are two eruptions headed towards us including the filament eruption from yesterday and the HUXt model is predicting that they should arrive any time from Wednesday afternoon onwards. The eruptions have moderate speeds so we are not expecting spectacular aurora but we shall see 🌞💨 🛰️ 🌍️

Although sunspot number is low doesn't mean the Sun is being lazy. 💤 There was a filament eruption associated with an M class flare this morning on the east limb (not earth directed). It also looks as if there is an ongoing eruption at the centre of the disk 🌞 💥 💨

There is currently a long, thin extended coronal hole facing Earth hence, we are currently feeling the effects of its fast solar wind for the next couple of days, minor geomagnetic storms possible. 🌞🛰️ 🌍️