Mike Bradley
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captainconcorde.bsky.social
Mike Bradley
@captainconcorde.bsky.social
280 followers 220 following 140 posts
Astronomer
Humanist
Model Rocketeer
Refugee from X
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Reposted by Mike Bradley
astroroyalscot.bsky.social
On this darkest solstice day of the year, my heart has dimmed, waking up to learn of the loss of dear colleague and mentor, Yannick Mellier. Yannick will be known to most as the lead of the amazing Euclid Space Telescope which will revolutionise our understanding of the Dark Universe 🧵🔭
Yannick Mellier looking very dapper in tan suit and maroon shirt, arms raised, enthusiastically explaining something in a lecture theatre. This square astronomical image shows thousands of galaxies across the black expanse of space. The closest thousand or so galaxies belong to the Perseus Cluster. The most prominent members of the cluster are visible in the centre of the image and appear as large galaxies with haloes around them in yellow/white, comparable to streetlamps in a foggy night. The background of this image is scattered with a hundred thousand more distant galaxies of different shapes, ranging in colour from white to yellow to red. Most galaxies are so far away they appear as single points of light. The more distant a galaxy is, the redder it appears.] CREDIT ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA, image processing by J.-C. Cuillandre (CEA Paris-Saclay), G. Anselmi
December 21, 2025 at 8:45 AM
Reposted by Mike Bradley
silverpebble2.bsky.social
If you find🎄 hard due to grief,trauma,family stuff,wonky self esteem,neurodivergence &/or an urge to throw Christmas down the loo, become a reclusive pagan & maybe make a small hat out of mistletoe at a push,then hi,me too.Here are some good twigs & I’m sending gentle thoughts. It’s only a few days🌿
A collection of late autumn/winter berries in a black chipped enamelled background & with hand written labels. The colours of the berries graduate from one side of the photo to the other
December 21, 2025 at 9:00 PM
Reposted by Mike Bradley
raptorpersuk.bsky.social
More detail about the missing White-tailed Eagle in mid-Wales.

Not the first investigation into raptor persecution in this area.

Press release from Dyfed-Powys Police & commentary from me 🔽

#RaptorResearch #WildlifeCrime @iolowilliams.bsky.social

raptorpersecutionuk.org/2025/12/19/m...
More detail about the missing White-tailed Eagle in mid-Wales
Further to the news on Thursday (here) that three White-tailed Eagles have ‘disappeared’ in suspicious circumstances, one in England, one in Wales and one in Scotland, Dyfed-Powys Police has issued…
raptorpersecutionuk.org
December 19, 2025 at 2:34 PM
captainconcorde.bsky.social
www.gov.ie/en/office-of...

Looking good for the sunrise
Experience the Winter Solstice live from Newgrange
This rare phenomenon, which has captivated visitors for generations, marks the shortest day of the year
www.gov.ie
December 21, 2025 at 8:43 AM
Reposted by Mike Bradley
coldwarsteve.bsky.social
September 25, 2024 at 6:30 PM
Reposted by Mike Bradley
opwireland.bsky.social
The #WinterSolstice livestream link is now available
Join us on 21 Dec @ 8:40 am to witness the solstice sunrise live from inside the #Newgrange chamber, weather permitting.
Save the link now and be part of this extraordinary moment.
🔗www.gov.ie/solstice
#ShareTheSolstice
December 17, 2025 at 9:06 PM
Reposted by Mike Bradley
fatfreddiescat.bsky.social
The USA spreading " democracy" as usual.
December 18, 2025 at 1:51 AM
Reposted by Mike Bradley
dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social
Almost certainly the most psychedelic photo I have taken of a bullock at sunset.
A bullock runs up a Cotswolds hill as the sun sets in the background, making everyone feel like they have stepped into one of the illustrations by Kit Williams in his book Masquerade, even though at that point the bullock hadn’t read it (I loaned him my spare copy later that evening in a pub in Dursley and, as anticipated, he never returned it to me, which is fine, and just the way things go with books).
December 17, 2025 at 7:19 PM
Reposted by Mike Bradley
humanists.uk
Musician Kirsty MacColl died #onthisday in 2000. It's difficult to believe it's been 25 years. We were proud to conduct her humanist funeral, in accordance with her wishes. This Christmas marks the third year without Shane MacGowan and Kirsty MacColl, but still, their voices live on❤️
I'll see you baby when the clans rise again, women and men united in the struggle in this free world. Kirsty Maccoll. Musician and humanist.
December 18, 2025 at 7:00 AM
Reposted by Mike Bradley
catherineryanhyde.bsky.social
A very quick session with M44, the Beehive Cluster, because I woke up early and couldn't stand to waste half an hour of clear darkness. #Astronomy #Astrophotography
December 17, 2025 at 2:59 PM
Reposted by Mike Bradley
admirablewomen.bsky.social
American astronomer Annie Jump Cannon was born #OTD in 1863.

Co-credited with the creation of the Harvard Classification Scheme that organizes/classifies stars by their temperature & spectral type. She classified >300,000 stars & her system is still used today.

#WomenInSTEM #astronomy
Black-and-white 1922 studio portrait of astronomer Annie Jump Cannon in profile, facing left. She is a middle-aged woman with her hair styled in an elegant, voluminous Gibson-girl updo with soft curls framing the top and sides. She wears a lace-trimmed blouse with intricate floral embroidery on the shoulders and sleeves. The photograph has a classic, softly lit, formal quality typical of early 20th-century portrait photography
December 11, 2025 at 10:37 PM
Reposted by Mike Bradley
ricojosh.bsky.social
An amazing discovery in a Suffolk wood suggests man was able to create fire way before it was previously thought. What went so wrong for intelligent life? 350,000 years later - we've produced Trump!
December 11, 2025 at 10:47 AM
Reposted by Mike Bradley
flygirlnhm.bsky.social
Day 10 of #InsectAdvent & the Christmas flirting has ramped up

This male Robberfly, Pegesimallus teratodes, has striking, feather-like scales on its hind legs, likely used for female attraction during courtship. (& cleaning the dance floor)

@royentsoc.bsky.social @dipterists.bsky.social
December 11, 2025 at 9:59 AM
Reposted by Mike Bradley
marina-purkiss.bsky.social
FIFA invents a peace prize for the man-baby…

Liz Truss launches her own show

Absolute obscenities, but hilarious fodder for our podcast.

Brand new episode of THE TRAWL out today👇🏽

podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...
Man-Baby FIFA Peace Prize & Truss Hits YouTube
Podcast Episode · The Trawl · 11/12/2025 · 32m
podcasts.apple.com
December 11, 2025 at 3:19 PM
Reposted by Mike Bradley
welshbollocks.bsky.social
In the 1940’s due to the shortage of men because of WWII the forestry commission employed pixies to manage the forests. Here are a group cutting down a 6 foot Christmas tree in Penmachno in 1945.
December 8, 2025 at 4:29 PM
Reposted by Mike Bradley
thenewworldmag.bsky.social
Quite simply, Parr invented a political, humanist and instantly accessible photographic language which confronted the absurdity of working class life but also its kitsch, mischief and its tenderness

✏️ Jason Solomons
Martin Parr, the people's photographer
A new film celebrates Martin Parr, recorder of the mischief and tenderness of British working class life
www.thenewworld.co.uk
December 7, 2025 at 6:13 PM
Reposted by Mike Bradley
helenczerski.bsky.social
TIL about a memorial ceremony in Iceland in 2019 to mark the end of a glacier, changing the place name from Okjökull to Ok (jökull = glacier). Uncompromising wording on the bronze plaque:
"This is to acknowledge that we know what is happening and what needs to be done. Only you know if we did it".
Bronze plaque saying "A Letter to the Future. Ok is the first Icelandic glacier to lose its status as a glacier. In the next 200 years all our glaciers are expected to follow the same path. This monument is to acknowledge that we know what is happening and what needs to be done. Only you know if we did it. August 2019. 415ppm CO2"
December 7, 2025 at 5:17 PM
Reposted by Mike Bradley
marcuschown.bsky.social
Anyone noticed how UK media is a lot less obsessed with Farage’s alleged antisemitism than Corbyn’s alleged antisemitism?

Odd that.
December 6, 2025 at 9:23 AM
Reposted by Mike Bradley
marcuschown.bsky.social
Who gave the billionaires like Musk and Bezos the right to cut the Earth off from the Universe?
asborlaff.bsky.social Alejandro S. Borlaff @asborlaff.bsky.social · 18d
By 2040, ~40% of the images from Hubble Space Telescope, and more than 96% from new and future space telescopes like SPHEREx, ARRAKIHS, and Xuntian will be contaminated by internet satellite constellations.

Read our new NASA article in Nature:
nature.com/articles/s4158…
December 4, 2025 at 7:41 AM
Reposted by Mike Bradley
eddavey.libdems.org.uk
👇
A graphic displays two tweets. The first tweet is from Nigel Farage MP (@Nigel_Farage): “A false story in the FT tonight claims Reform would do a deal with the Tories. After 14 years of dishonesty & lies they should never be forgiven. The idea I’d work with them is ludicrous. They betrayed my trust in 2019 & we will ensure they cease to be a national party in May.” The second tweet is from Ed Davey (@EdwardJDavey): “A handy reminder that in 2019 Farage did a deal to put Boris Johnson in No10 and push through his disastrous Brexit deal. But instead of taking responsibility, of course Farage plays the victim.”
December 3, 2025 at 11:51 AM
captainconcorde.bsky.social
Hi Refom party in Wales. I've amended the letter you sent to me.
A flyer from the Reform Party in Wales asking leading questions which I have amended to more accurately reflect my concerns and opinions.
November 29, 2025 at 11:37 AM
Reposted by Mike Bradley
womensartbluesky.bsky.social
Thank you for following !
Happy Friday all....❤️
November 28, 2025 at 6:43 AM
Reposted by Mike Bradley
bladeofthes.bsky.social
When Rishi Sunak made the Vaccine deal with Moderna as Chancellor, he had up to £530m invested in Moderna.

Now Michelle Mone is desperately bringing it up.

Like if you want Mone on trial.
RT if you want them both facing the music.
November 23, 2025 at 6:36 PM
Reposted by Mike Bradley
dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social
THREAD. A Deconstruction Of Ladybird's Well-Loved Tales Books, 1964-74.

You will find the analysis of these beloved books in the alt text below.

1. The Gingerbread Boy.
The Gingerbread Boy is perhaps not quite the most folk horror of all the Well-Loved Tales, but it surely has the most folk horror cover, with darkness springing from its every corner. For example: 1. At least one of those cottages in the background has to be seriously haunted 2. What has the nasty little syrup-based fucker just been up to? 3. Palpable aura of marital unrest. 4. Poisonous/possibly hallucinogenic weeds in the foreground. 5. Face in the tree in the background, and the fence post. 6. Looks bucolic but you just know it’s the fashion in which they’ve framed it and there’s some godawful executive new builds just out of shot, which some evil property developer bulldozed a few badger setts and hedgehog homes while constructing. Probably some torn-up porn mags in the woods behind that spooky tree, too. 7. What are the buttons on the Gingerbread Boy’s invisible shirt made of? They don’t quite seem to be chocolate or raisins. Could they in fact be THE EYES OF HIS VICTIMS?
November 21, 2025 at 8:49 AM
Reposted by Mike Bradley
scribblegurl.bsky.social
THIS IS HOW YOU DO ALT-TEXT OMG 😂
November 21, 2025 at 11:07 AM