Julian Gough
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juliangough.bsky.social
Julian Gough
@juliangough.bsky.social
Writes novels (Connect), children’s books (Rabbit & Bear), and strange, unclassifiable things (Minecraft’s End Poem).

Currently writing a creative non-fiction book, exploring the idea that our universe evolved, called The Egg and the Rock.
You HAVE to watch this video! They've developed adaptive optics for a solar telescope in California. That means they can adjust for all the wiggle and wobble of the air above the telescope, so they've been able to capture images as sharp as if the telescope were in space.
STUNNNNNING!!!
Plasma rain!
Amazing video of the Sun’s cronoa, thanks to adaptive optics. This works by measuring the turbulence in the atmosphere and reshaping the telescope’s mirror *in real time* to compensate. This is the first time this has been used on the Solar corona 🧪🔭
www.space.com/astronomy/su...
Scientists capture never-before-seen plasma streams and bizarre 'raindrops' in sharpest-ever view of sun's outer atmosphere (video)
Using a newly developed adaptive optics system called Cona, scientists peered through Earth's turbulent air to reveal the sun's corona in astonishing clarity.
www.space.com
June 5, 2025 at 1:09 PM
Reposted by Julian Gough
Pranav Satheesh reports for @astrobites.bsky.social on a new method being used to explore the relationship between the mass of a supermassive black hole and the properties of the galaxy it inhabits. aasnova.org/2025/06/03/j... 🔭
Jumping Through Hoops: A New Way to Explore the Black Hole–Galaxy Connection
Astrobites reports on a new method being used to explore the relationship between the mass of a supermassive black hole and the properties of the galaxy it inhabits.
aasnova.org
June 3, 2025 at 4:10 PM
Reposted by Julian Gough
Anyone remotely interested in #cosmology, #evolution, or #philosophy should read this deeply insightful, highly entertaining, beautifully written post by Julian Gough @juliangough.bsky.social, who's taken cosmological natural selection (originally by Dr. Lee Smolin) to a new, fascinating level.
May 28, 2025 at 6:04 PM
Yes, that would be pretty much my take on this. If our universe evolved, then the laws of physics will be fine-tuned for an outcome. They won’t be symmetrical or beautiful in themselves, just as a tiger’s genes aren’t beautiful in themselves. The beauty is in the outcome: the tiger, the universe.
“The search for universal laws in biology similar to those in physics is futile, because the objects of biology—organisms—are products of unique historical trajectories.”

Ernst Mayr (2004) What Makes Biology Unique?
June 2, 2025 at 3:04 PM
Well, Blowtorch Theory is currently number one on Hacker News for some reason, and getting the usual grumpy reaction you’d expect from those guys. Feel free to join in and tell them they’re wrong!

news.ycombinator.com
Hacker News
news.ycombinator.com
May 28, 2025 at 4:09 PM
Reposted by Julian Gough
So great to see @juliangough.bsky.social's This Lake Is Fake (brilliantly illustrated by the peerless Jim Field) shortlisted for the Alligator's Mouth Award. www.bookbrunch.co.uk/page/article...
Alligator's Mouth shortlist released
Five children's books shortlisted for The Alligator’s Mouth Award 2025, with Gardners offering independent bookshops up to 50% discount on shortlisted titles
www.bookbrunch.co.uk
May 15, 2025 at 5:22 PM
Biology is the first half of the periodic table coming to life.

Technology is the second half of the periodic table coming to life.
February 27, 2025 at 4:25 PM
Hopping on my bike to come home.
February 13, 2025 at 6:52 PM
I wrote a piece about children's books for the Irish Times that may interest parents.

It's a deep dive into an invisible problem with children’s books, that makes it unnecessarily hard for kids to start reading on their own.

www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...

I hope you like the piece.
The invisible problem with children’s books
Julian Gough on bridging the gap between reading picture books and young fiction/chapter books
www.irishtimes.com
December 13, 2024 at 5:01 PM
@seanmcarroll.bsky.social Ah! You're on here, too. (I signed up a while ago, but have only just started exploring.) I do enjoy your podcast, though we would probably have a few philosophical disagreements (but that just keeps it interesting).

I may bother you with some questions at some point...
November 12, 2024 at 5:48 PM
@runningastronomer.bsky.social I do like faint galaxies. Would love to talk to you sometime about the little red dots that the James Webb Space Telescope keeps finding in the background of everything. (My theory: extremely early AGNs, but I'd love your better-informed take.)
November 12, 2024 at 1:31 PM
@drbecky.bsky.social Lovely to see you here! I've greatly enjoyed some of your videos. I might ask you a few questions about black holes sometime, if that's OK. (They feature rather a lot in the book I am currently writing.)
November 12, 2024 at 1:26 PM
The more I dig into the history of dark-matter-as-theory, the more irritated I get.

The Bullet Cluster? Evidence for collisionless dark matter. Great.

Abell 3827? Evidence for self-interacting dark matter. Fantastic.

Both “support” dark matter – even though they point in opposite directions.
November 11, 2024 at 6:23 PM
Reposted by Julian Gough
Not more rapidly than @juliangough.bsky.social expected, theeggandtherock.com strikes again 😀
The JWST has imaged the most distant known galaxy, seeing it as it was 290m years after the Big Bang. “An emerging theme is that galaxies and black holes appear to have grown much more rapidly than was expected.” [theguardian.com]
James Webb space telescope photographs most distant known galaxy
Unexpected brightness of JADES-GS-z14-0 means telescope could capture images of galaxies even further away
www.theguardian.com
May 31, 2024 at 2:28 PM
I processed my emotions, and now I’m worried that one day they’re going to discover that processed emotions give you cancer.
July 11, 2023 at 1:59 PM
Reposted by Julian Gough
We just passed 100 people signed up to post in the Astronomy feed! 🔭🥳

It's really cool to see the astronomy community on Bluesky growing so quickly!

Please reskeet this post - let's get more people subscribed and/or signed up to the feed!
July 10, 2023 at 9:19 PM
Reposted by Julian Gough
My favourite fact about Iceland is that we have many, many crime writers but only one forensic pathologist, and he was so busy answering all of their questions that he decided to have a small seminar for writers to get some peace.

It immediately sold out so he had another one that also sold out.
July 3, 2023 at 12:04 PM
New arrival. Not sure how to meet people here. Maybe an introductory post?
I write books, mostly novels & children’s books. I wrote the ending to Minecraft (the End Poem), & recently put it in the public domain. I’m writing a non-fiction book about the universe, called The Egg and the Rock.
Um… hi!
July 4, 2023 at 10:49 AM