Ben Sutlieff
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bensutlieff.bsky.social
Ben Sutlieff
@bensutlieff.bsky.social
410 followers 190 following 40 posts
Astronomy postdoc at the University of Edinburgh, researching exoplanets and their atmospheres through direct imaging 🪐 He/Him 🔭 Previously in Amsterdam & Exeter.
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bensutlieff.bsky.social
Swapped ‘on sky’ in the astronomical sense for ‘on Skye’ in the Scottish sense last week - I’d been meaning to visit this stunningly beautiful place since moving to Edinburgh and it definitely lived up to expectations! So many amazing hikes and things to see (+ we even had surprisingly good weather)
A selfie of me smiling in front of The Storr, a mountain on the Trotternish peninsula of the Isle of Skye in Scotland, which has several unique jagged rock formations. The view from the summit of Blà Bheinn, a mountain on the Isle of Skye that has stunning views over a large area of the island including the Black Cuillin ridge, a famous mountain range that gets its name from the dark colour of the gabbro rock it is composed of. A photo of the cliffs at Neist Point, the headland that represents the westernmost point of the Isle of Skye. There is a yellow and white lighthouse on the top of the cliffs with green hills in the foreground. There is a seabird colony on the cliffs themselves, perched high above the sea. A photo of Dun Beag Broch shortly after sunset. Dun Beag Broch is an iron-age broch, largely in ruins today but the walls can still be seen. There are mountains in the distance and the sky is a sunset gradient of blue to orange.
June 20, 2025 at 2:59 PM
bensutlieff.bsky.social
Very excited to be at the opening of the Dirleton Solar Walk today - a scale model of our Solar System in the East Lothian countryside, placed over 1.2km of the John Muir Way walking route! 🪐🔭 This was a really fun project to support and I highly recommend it for those local, esp. for kids/families!
A sign showing a map of the Dirleton Solar Walk, with information describing its scale (1:3.6 billon) and instructions on how to access its augmented reality features for each planet. Myself next to the marker for the planet Jupiter, which consists of a fence post with a sign on top showing an artistic representation of Jupiter and a metallic ball representing its relative size according to the scale. There is also a QR code linking to information about the planet and an AR representation. The marker for the planet Saturn, with a view of the countryside around Dirleton. Myself and my colleague Gergely Friss attempting to demonstrate the augmented reality visualisation of the planet Neptune. I am trying to hold the planet but my hands are in totally the wrong place.
December 6, 2024 at 4:57 PM
bensutlieff.bsky.social
Also these excellent penguin bollards 🐧
A photo of some bollards in Dundee, Scotland. Some are standard black bollards, but several are designed to look like penguins, emphasising Dundee’s connection to the Antarctic.
December 5, 2024 at 10:38 PM
bensutlieff.bsky.social
In Dundee yesterday for the Scottish Universities Physics Alliance Annual Cormack Astronomy Meeting (longest conference name ever? 🔭) with @agastro.bsky.social, @dirkscholte.bsky.social, and others. A full day of talks, but still managed to sneak in a little bit of sunrise sightseeing!
The RSS Discovery, a historic barque-rigged auxiliary steamship built in Dundee and launched in 1901. It carried Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton on their first journey to the Antarctic. It is now a museum ship in Dundee. A view over the River Tay, just before sunrise. The sky is yellow and the water is reflective like a mirror. A bird (a cormorant, I think) is swimming by. The McManus art gallery in Dundee. It is an impressive gothic revival building with green trees on either side and a curved staircase leading up to the main entrance. The view as seen from Dundee Law (a hill in Dundee) shortly after sunrise, with the sun low in the sky to the east. The city below is in the foreground with the River Tay behind it. The Tay Rail Bridge over the river can be seen.
December 5, 2024 at 10:36 PM
bensutlieff.bsky.social
Finally got to experience a snow day at the observatory!! I only wish I had a sledge… 🔭☃️ (also saw this excellent snowman on Blackford Hill for which I cannot take credit)
A selfie of me in front of the Royal Observatory Edinburgh. There is a lot of snow on the ground, with some grass poking through and a few scattered trees. A view of a snow-covered Arthur’s Seat (an extinct volcano in Edinburgh) as seen from Blackford Hill. A landscape shot showing the snow on Blackford Hill and the Braid Hills beyond. In the far distance, the much taller Pentland Hills can just about be seen through some clouds. A radio mast is visible on the right. A very happy snowman (not built by me!) with a large smile and sticks for arms on Blackford Hill. Arthur’s Seat can be seen in the background on the right, as well as Edinburgh Castle on the left.
November 23, 2024 at 2:10 PM
bensutlieff.bsky.social
The view from the roof of Edinburgh’s Royal Observatory today - beautiful blue skies, but it’s definitely starting to feel like winter here (morning frost, peak temperature of 1°C, sunset before 4pm) ☀️🥶🔭
The view as seen from the roof of the Royal Observatory Edinburgh. Arthur’s Seat (a well known hill and extinct volcano) can be seen in the centre, with the sea behind it. Before the hill, many houses can be seen. In the foreground there are several bare trees. The sky is blue and mostly clear, with only a couple of small clouds above Arthur’s Seat.
November 20, 2024 at 1:05 PM
bensutlieff.bsky.social
Hi new followers! Seems like a good time for an #introduction post - I'm Ben, a postdoctoral researcher in astronomy based in Edinburgh. I study the atmospheres & weather of exoplanets (and brown dwarfs, their higher mass cousins) using observations from telescopes both on the ground and in space 🪐🔭
The artwork from the cover of my PhD thesis. A large red gas giant exoplanet can be seen. It has bands of clouds and a large storm, similar to the Great Red Spot on Jupiter, in its atmosphere. Two small blue moons orbit nearby. The background is the dark of space, but not black alone - there are also faint blue swirls. There are swirly, red, cloud-like features in the foreground at the top and bottom, partially obscuring the rest of the image. The artwork was designed by @sophiecavelldesign and is partially inspired by the works of Hokusai and van Gogh.
November 16, 2024 at 8:38 PM
bensutlieff.bsky.social
If you're keen to see the birds/animals - one place we really enjoyed that didn't appear in too many guides was the Royal Albatross Centre (albatross.org.nz). They've got a little museum and super enthusiastic staff and a viewing observatory so you can see the huge fluffy baby albatrosses up close!
A very big baby Northern Royal Albatross/Toroa on a grassy nest at Taiaroa Head near Dunedin, New Zealand. It is extremely cute + fluffy, and is white apart from its dark eye and pale pink beak.
November 15, 2024 at 4:48 PM
bensutlieff.bsky.social
It seems that my partner & I picked a good time to take a short holiday to be outside + avoid endlessly doomscrolling. But it’s so nice to come back and see how much the community here has grown! I wasn't a big Tweeter, but it’s good to see so many familiar faces here now (from astronomy & beyond)
The picturesque harbour in the village of Riomaggiore, Italy. There are many colourful, pastel-coloured houses built into the hillside and a few small boats floating in the harbour. It is shortly after sunset and the sky is blue, and everything is bathed in an orange glow from the fading light.
November 14, 2024 at 12:39 PM
bensutlieff.bsky.social
Arrived at Cerro Paranal yesterday for the first time - it’s such an incredible place! There’s something really special about watching the sunset and then seeing some of the world’s largest telescopes come to life around you 🔭 @jaynebirkby.bsky.social @sophiavaughan.bsky.social
One of the four unit telescopes (UT1) that make up the Very Large Telescope, looking majestic in the evening twilight. A selfie of myself and three colleagues looking extremely excited to be here. A view of the sunset as seen from the VLT platform - the sun is about to dip below a sea of clouds below us. A photo of the dry and arid landscape at Cerro Paranal.
October 15, 2023 at 6:47 PM