Niamh Shaw
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irishspacegal.bsky.social
Niamh Shaw
@irishspacegal.bsky.social
👩🏻‍🚀Earth & Space explorer
📇 Writer, Science Communicator
🧭 Fellow @the_explorers_club
🚀ESA Champion
🪐 Educator, Keynote Speaker
From baking meringues to meeting an ESA astronaut —
What a weekend!
Baking in Space came to Dublin & Dundalk, ending with a packed house and families in awe as @ESA astronaut Rosemary Coogan took the stage.
This is why we do what we do. 💫
#TownScientist #STEMForAll #ScienceWeek2025 #DreamBig
November 15, 2025 at 2:45 PM
🌐 Tomorrow. 4.30pm-we’re LIVE from Antarctica.
Jac Madsen joins us from Antarctica to share what it’s like living at the edge of the world… where the climate crisis is unfolding in real time.

Part of #ScienceWeek Town Scientist

🔗 Webinar link bit.ly/3LVrI1n

#Antarctica #TownScientist #COP30
November 11, 2025 at 11:48 PM
My latest piece in today’s Irish Times- @esa.int’s John McFall challenges who gets to go to space.

www.irishtimes.com/science/spac...
Who gets to go to space?
Orthopaedic surgeon and former British paralympian John McFall was chosen for a bold experiment to see whether a lower-limb amputee could meet the demands of space flight
www.irishtimes.com
October 16, 2025 at 8:01 AM
Reposted by Niamh Shaw
🌒 Eclipse confuses birds into dawn songs

During the 2024 total solar eclipse, over half of bird species briefly sang as if it were morning, revealing how light shifts shape behaviour.

🔗 doi.org/10.1126/scie...

#Birds #SciComm 🧪
Total solar eclipse triggers dawn behavior in birds: Insights from acoustic recordings and community science
On 8 April 2024, a total solar eclipse disrupted light-dark cycles for North American birds during the lead-up to spring reproduction. Compiling more than 10,000 community observations and artificial ...
doi.org
October 15, 2025 at 12:51 PM
From Arctic ice back to Dundalk 🌍
This Sunday (19 Oct, 12 p.m.) join me for a walk & talk honouring Dundalk’s own polar explorer, Leopold McClintock, and hear stories from my Arctic mission.
🎟️ Free via Eventbrite: www.eventbrite.ie/e/dundalk-mc...
October 15, 2025 at 5:58 PM
Reposted by Niamh Shaw
On this day in 2021, William Shatner took part in the flight of Blue Origin NS-18 and became the oldest person to fly in space at 90 years 205 days. That record has since been surpassed. Shatner described experiencing the overview effect seeing the Earth from space.
October 13, 2025 at 2:09 PM
Earlier this morning SpaceX completed the 11th test flight of the Starship mega rocket. A successful landing of the heavy rocket, deployment of test satellites & splashdown of the Starship rocket. A good mornings work by team SpaceX but the pressures on- all eyes on Lunar launches soon.
Starship Flight 11: Ship 38 splashdown, successfully completing the last Block 2 mission, bringing the first Starship Era to a glorious end.
October 14, 2025 at 6:43 AM
Reposted by Niamh Shaw
LAUNCH!!!
Starship Booster 15-3 and Ship 38 have launched on Flight 11, the final light of V2 of Starship and the last flight to launch from Pad 1 at Starbase.
October 13, 2025 at 11:31 PM
Reposted by Niamh Shaw
With Flight 11 in the history books, the Pad 1 Chopsticks lower for the final time, as the sun sets on another day at Starbase, and this Era of the Starship program, with the deluge system giving Pad 1 a watery sendoff.
Launch livestream: www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bcp...
October 14, 2025 at 1:03 AM
Reposted by Niamh Shaw
🚀It’s almost time to shape the next chapter of Europe’s journey in space.

The European Space Agency’s Council Meeting at Ministerial Level, known as #CM25, will take place in Bremen, Germany, on 26 and 27 November 2025.

Journalists register here 👉
www.esa.int/Newsroom/Pre...
October 9, 2025 at 11:33 AM
Reposted by Niamh Shaw
Check out the new trailer for @esa.int's proposed Ramses mission! 🍿📽️

Ramses would escort the cruise-ship-sized asteroid Apophis through its safe but exceptionally rare flyby of Earth in 2029: www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed...
Ramses: ESA’s mission to rendezvous with asteroid Apophis
www.esa.int
October 13, 2025 at 12:38 PM
🚀 Just 2 sleeps till our Family Space Day in Dundalk!
So proud to bring this together with @researchireland.ie, Louth CoCo, Dundalk Credit Union, ABC & County Library.
If you’re in town Saturday, drop by — we’re full, but we’ll make ‘space’ for you! 🌌✨
October 9, 2025 at 10:48 AM
Reposted by Niamh Shaw
The Poems of Seamus Heaney review – collected works reveal his colossal achievement
The Poems of Seamus Heaney review – collected works reveal his colossal achievement
The complete works, including previously unpublished poems and expert notes, are brought together in one volume for the first time
www.theguardian.com
October 9, 2025 at 8:56 AM
Reposted by Niamh Shaw
As always, I hope Yuri Herrerra gets the nod. But either way it's a win.

Unless of course they follow last year's science winners' sweep and just award the literature prize to an LLM..
October 9, 2025 at 8:58 AM
Reposted by Niamh Shaw
Watch Blue Origin launch its 15th space tourism mission on Oct. 8

https://www.newsbeep.com/ca/196683/

Watch live! Blue Origin to launch NS-36 crew to suborbital space – YouTube Watch On Blue Origin plans…
Watch Blue Origin launch its 15th space tourism mission on Oct. 8 - Canada News Beep
Watch On
www.newsbeep.com
October 8, 2025 at 5:15 AM
Reposted by Niamh Shaw
We’ve signed another Electron multi-launch agreement: three dedicated missions for Japan-based Institute for Q-shu Pioneers of Space, Inc. (@iQPS_Inc)!

This latest bulk buy brings the total number of upcoming missions for iQPS to seven.

More info: bit.ly/4o7a2hd
October 7, 2025 at 9:37 PM
Reposted by Niamh Shaw
🌎 🛰️ Check out the first data from the METimage instrument on board EUMETSAT's MetOp-SG-A1 satellite!

This advanced instrument observes clouds, land, sea and ice, providing key insights into weather forecasting, nowcasting, and climate monitoring. eumetsat.int/metimage-del...

📸 @eumetsat.int
October 7, 2025 at 1:26 PM
Reposted by Niamh Shaw
☄️ 🔭 #3I/ATLAS comet update!

On 3 October, our ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) turned its eyes towards interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS as it passed close to Mars.

Read more: esa.int/Science_Expl...
October 7, 2025 at 2:58 PM
Reposted by Niamh Shaw
Space Science Goes To Congress
nasawatch.com/activism/spa...

Big space space science thing on Capitol Hill today. Last minute media event. announced. So much for making sure that this whole save space science thing gets exposure. #NASA #NSF #SaveNASAScience #WorldSpaceWeek #WorldSpaceWeek2025
Space Science Goes To Congress
There's a big space space science thing on Capitol Hill today
nasawatch.com
October 6, 2025 at 5:22 PM
Back from #IAC2025 in Sydney — capturing the human stories shaping our future in space. My North Star is to bridge those rooms with the world beyond. Next stop: home to Dundalk for Family Space Day, Oct 11 — bringing space down to Earth. 🚀🌍 #SpaceWeek
October 7, 2025 at 4:05 PM
Good morning from Sydney excellent public transport! After a short 33hr hop from Dublin, I’m excited to share the best space stories this week from IAC, the largest annual gathering of all the major space players, incl our very own @esa.int. Looking forward to the week ahead. #australia #iac2025
September 27, 2025 at 10:43 PM
Reposted by Niamh Shaw
I don't know where my road is going,
but I know that I walk better when I hold your hand.
-Alfred de Musset

Friendships whatever form they take are everything, no?

Happy weekend friends💕

#BlueSkyArtShow #TheRoad #Bluesky #Photography #Nature #Quotes
September 27, 2025 at 7:44 AM
🚀 Dundalk & Louth families!
Join us this Sat Oct 11 for FREE Family Day of Space — part of Space Week! 🌌

🪐 Planetarium shows
👩‍🚀 Space Talks
🎨 Crafts, telescopes & more
📍Dundalk Library & Credit Union
🕚 11–5pm | 🎟️ Free (registration essential)

Hosted by #TownScientist supported by Research Ireland
September 26, 2025 at 5:23 AM
Reposted by Niamh Shaw
In 6 hours, a Partial Solar Eclipse will begin in the South Pacific, New Zealand and Antarctica. Greatest eclipse will occur at 19:42 UT on 21 Sept. 🔭
More details including eye safety information and a Live Stream at: www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/sola...
Partial Solar Eclipse on September 21, 2025
Partial solar eclipse on Sunday, September 21, 2025: Where and when is the Sun eclipse visible? Shadow map, animation, and local times.
www.timeanddate.com
September 21, 2025 at 11:30 AM
Reposted by Niamh Shaw
It's a Sunday #Sun Day! Eleven groups of active sunspots. #astronomy #astrophotography @stormhour.com @photohour.bsky.social
September 21, 2025 at 11:40 AM