Andy Lawrence
@e-astronomer.bsky.social
Active Galaxy Nut and Space Environmentalist.
Read Losing The Sky at Amazon, Apple Books, or Google Play.
More grooviness at https://andyxlastro.me
Read Losing The Sky at Amazon, Apple Books, or Google Play.
More grooviness at https://andyxlastro.me
More exciting, the Trusty Old Andromeda Nebula #astronomy
November 8, 2025 at 10:25 PM
More exciting, the Trusty Old Andromeda Nebula #astronomy
Polaris and satellite. Caught in guest mode on the Seestar S30 of @astroroyalscot.bsky.social in Meadowfield Park #astronomy
November 8, 2025 at 9:33 PM
Polaris and satellite. Caught in guest mode on the Seestar S30 of @astroroyalscot.bsky.social in Meadowfield Park #astronomy
The donation box at the National Library of Scotland is almost all dollars. I guess we expect libraries and museums to be free and Americans don’t?
October 10, 2025 at 8:23 AM
The donation box at the National Library of Scotland is almost all dollars. I guess we expect libraries and museums to be free and Americans don’t?
I had a lovely crowd at my Portobello Book Festival event on Sunday. Just got sent this picture. Thanks to @dougjohnstone.bsky.social for the conversation
October 8, 2025 at 6:50 AM
I had a lovely crowd at my Portobello Book Festival event on Sunday. Just got sent this picture. Thanks to @dougjohnstone.bsky.social for the conversation
Scarecrow family, Dirleton. Creepy or what?
October 4, 2025 at 4:31 PM
Scarecrow family, Dirleton. Creepy or what?
celebrating 50 years since Martin Ward’s first paper
September 30, 2025 at 2:55 PM
celebrating 50 years since Martin Ward’s first paper
More office archaeology. My voting card from the Prague IAU, used for booting out Pluto #astronomy
September 18, 2025 at 12:42 PM
More office archaeology. My voting card from the Prague IAU, used for booting out Pluto #astronomy
Waiting for TBL
September 13, 2025 at 6:08 PM
Waiting for TBL
From the ROE archives.. paper by Henderson dated Jan 3 1839 reporting the discovery of parallax, given to Captain Smyth. Henderson’s handwriting! #astronomy Take that, Friedrich Bessel
August 15, 2025 at 10:23 AM
From the ROE archives.. paper by Henderson dated Jan 3 1839 reporting the discovery of parallax, given to Captain Smyth. Henderson’s handwriting! #astronomy Take that, Friedrich Bessel
Office archaeology part 687: polaroid finding charts as of 1980s. Top half is plot of positions of bright stars at Schmidt plate real scale. Print this on transparent sheet. Overlay on plate. Take zoomed in polaroid. Stick on card with extra info. Take box full of hundreds to telescope…
August 1, 2025 at 12:35 PM
Office archaeology part 687: polaroid finding charts as of 1980s. Top half is plot of positions of bright stars at Schmidt plate real scale. Print this on transparent sheet. Overlay on plate. Take zoomed in polaroid. Stick on card with extra info. Take box full of hundreds to telescope…
Next up on the office archaeology dig… in the Olde Days we used to send each other postcards requesting preprints of papers.. here is a small selection of what is finally going in the bin…
July 30, 2025 at 11:27 AM
Next up on the office archaeology dig… in the Olde Days we used to send each other postcards requesting preprints of papers.. here is a small selection of what is finally going in the bin…
One of the more unnusual pieces of office archaeology… somehow I ended up with a film copy of an old BBC Horizon programme… from the 90s I think?
July 30, 2025 at 9:58 AM
One of the more unnusual pieces of office archaeology… somehow I ended up with a film copy of an old BBC Horizon programme… from the 90s I think?
@ngc3314.bsky.social Honestly, the rubbish I have somehow failed to throw away for years…
July 30, 2025 at 9:30 AM
@ngc3314.bsky.social Honestly, the rubbish I have somehow failed to throw away for years…
We were in Donegal for the semi-final and the following week and things were already reaching fever pitch. Here is @emmalawrence.bsky.social joining in the spirit outside her sister’s house in Dooey
July 26, 2025 at 8:33 PM
We were in Donegal for the semi-final and the following week and things were already reaching fever pitch. Here is @emmalawrence.bsky.social joining in the spirit outside her sister’s house in Dooey
Ice House, Doocharry, Donegal. Ice packed in here would last three years and was used to preserve salmon. The Marquis of Conyngham claimed rights to *all* salmon caught in the Gweebarra Estuary until 1906 when the villagers of Doocharry started a legal challenge which they eventually won.
July 16, 2025 at 2:57 PM
Ice House, Doocharry, Donegal. Ice packed in here would last three years and was used to preserve salmon. The Marquis of Conyngham claimed rights to *all* salmon caught in the Gweebarra Estuary until 1906 when the villagers of Doocharry started a legal challenge which they eventually won.
In 1982, as I started my RGO Fellowship, email was so exciting I kept and printed my entire first year’s worth. Mostly party invites… Note DecNet addresses, not TCP/IP. Email outside the UK Starlink network was still very tricky
July 5, 2025 at 11:31 AM
In 1982, as I started my RGO Fellowship, email was so exciting I kept and printed my entire first year’s worth. Mostly party invites… Note DecNet addresses, not TCP/IP. Email outside the UK Starlink network was still very tricky
Office archaeology getting further back in time... Leicester 1976. This stack of cards, if fed into a Cyber 72, produces a line printer picture of Snoopy
July 3, 2025 at 2:35 PM
Office archaeology getting further back in time... Leicester 1976. This stack of cards, if fed into a Cyber 72, produces a line printer picture of Snoopy
To add to the recent news about imminent UKIRT demolition: over a decade ago it left UK ownership, and I took part in a ceremony to hand it over #astronomy
July 3, 2025 at 10:19 AM
To add to the recent news about imminent UKIRT demolition: over a decade ago it left UK ownership, and I took part in a ceremony to hand it over #astronomy
postgraduate gripe meeting 1999. As well as requests for keyboards to be cleaned, more terminals and so, food was high on the list
July 2, 2025 at 3:13 PM
postgraduate gripe meeting 1999. As well as requests for keyboards to be cleaned, more terminals and so, food was high on the list
On the train south after yesterday’s Rubinfest, and look what I found long forgotten in the pocket of my smart jacket - the LSST spectacle wiping cloth, from some long ago All Hands Meeting #astronomy
June 24, 2025 at 12:41 PM
On the train south after yesterday’s Rubinfest, and look what I found long forgotten in the pocket of my smart jacket - the LSST spectacle wiping cloth, from some long ago All Hands Meeting #astronomy
Dinner in 2002 at Lancaster House at to celebrate UK accession to ESO. Even the French people at my table were impressed by the wine
June 20, 2025 at 3:09 PM
Dinner in 2002 at Lancaster House at to celebrate UK accession to ESO. Even the French people at my table were impressed by the wine
Slightly more recent archaeology. In 2008 we were making a case to PPARC for UK participation in LSST. “Official first light date is early 2015, but we believe Oct 2016 is more realistic”. Cough. But now it’s real!!!! #astronomy
June 20, 2025 at 11:14 AM
Slightly more recent archaeology. In 2008 we were making a case to PPARC for UK participation in LSST. “Official first light date is early 2015, but we believe Oct 2016 is more realistic”. Cough. But now it’s real!!!! #astronomy
Next up from the depths of the office, a variety of treatises by earnest cranks. The oldest and best is this, which purports to be a psychic communication from Nikola Tesla. There is about thirty pages of this BTW
June 18, 2025 at 5:24 PM
Next up from the depths of the office, a variety of treatises by earnest cranks. The oldest and best is this, which purports to be a psychic communication from Nikola Tesla. There is about thirty pages of this BTW
Continuing office archaeology: my 1981 RGO Fellowship conditions stipulated that I may be “required to work on board ships afloat, submarines submerged, or aircraft in flight”. Perhaps the submarine bit was anticipating neutrino astronomy
June 18, 2025 at 12:45 PM
Continuing office archaeology: my 1981 RGO Fellowship conditions stipulated that I may be “required to work on board ships afloat, submarines submerged, or aircraft in flight”. Perhaps the submarine bit was anticipating neutrino astronomy