Peter Coles

Theoretical astrophysicist at Maynooth University in Ireland specializing in the Universe and all that surrounds it (e.g. jazz, opera, poetry, crosswords). Editor-in-chief Open Journal of Astrophysics.

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telescoper_at_mastodon.social@mostr.pub

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nprofile1qqszw3cf60skqg4nlpa3l7s5h3a79k080kww934x85ug04ga7pnem3s58k0uy

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npub1yarsn5lpvq3t87rmrlapf0rmutv7wlvuutr2v0fcsl23mur8nhrqh2qqvm

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Last Notes

2024-09-15 11:05:30

The man that hath no music in himself,
Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds,
Is fit for treasons, stratagems and spoils;
The motions of his spirit are dull as night
And his affections dark as Erebus:
Let no such man be trusted. Mark the music.
Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice

2024-09-13 11:01:41

Here's a question for academics!
A PhD in Ireland typically takes a minimum of 4 years. If a member of staff is less than 4 years from retirement should they decline all PhD supervision requests?

2024-08-25 09:53:36

Research Ireland: a wasted opportunity?
The Government of Ireland has announced the Members of the Board of the newly-formed agency Taighde Éireann – Research Ireland. The names are: Dr Eoin O’Sullivan Anne Vaughan Professor Niamh Moloney Professor Valeria Nicolosi Dr. Godfrey Gaston Professor Rebecca Braun Patricia Quane Lorraine Allen Leonard Hobbs You can find biographies, together with one of the Chair, Michael Horgan, here…
http://telescoper.blog/2024/08/25/research-ireland-a-wasted-opportunity/

2024-08-20 09:05:02

An Exercise in Bayesian Probability
A businessman is celebrating his recent acquittal in a high-profile fraud trial on a luxury yacht when it sinks in mysterious circumstances off the coast of Sicily. The businessman is one of six people on board missing, presumed dead. Just last week, the businessman's co-defendant in the aforementioned fraud trial died in a mysterious road accident while out running in Cambridgeshire. Using Bayesian methods, calculate the probability…
http://telescoper.blog/2024/08/20/an-exercise-in-bayesian-probability/

2024-08-02 18:00:27

Swan Back
As we enter a Bank Holiday long weekend here in Maynooth I thought I'd pass on a bit of news and a clarification about the Swan(s). Some time ago I described the sad events that led to the death of one of the pair of swans that had nested on the Royal Canal for many years, along with all their cygnets.
http://telescoper.blog/2024/08/02/swan-back/

2024-07-27 10:32:15

Four New Publications at the Open Journal of Astrophysics
Papers published in OJAp have now garnered over 2500 citations between them.
http://telescoper.blog/2024/07/27/four-new-publications-at-the-open-journal-of-astrophysics-6/

2024-07-25 11:59:39

I tripped over in the garden earlier and fell into a flower bed. When I got up I realized that when an older person falls you say they "had a fall" rather than they "fell". I'm not sure at what age this transition happens, but I insist that I fell.

2024-07-20 21:06:59

My instagram account - never exactly a hive of activity - has recently experienced an influx of young, scantily clad, large-bosomed, female followers. I must say it's good to see theoretical astrophysics appealing to such a wider demographic.

2024-07-20 16:10:43

Royal Society/SFI University Research Fellowships
I just realized that I had forgotten to give notice of an important scheme run jointly between the Royal Society and Science Foundation Ireland that gives early career researchers in Ireland access to University Research Fellowships. In previous years I've passed this on ahead of the opening of the scheme, but it is already open. In fact there was a Zoom webinar for Irish applicants on 17th July, which has now passed.
http://telescoper.blog/2024/07/20/royal-society-sfi-university-research-fellowships-2/

2024-07-16 17:43:24

Sun-like Stars with Hidden Companions
I usually only do updates at weekends about papers published in the Open Journal of Astrophysics but I'm making an exception today because a paper we published yesterday is making some waves that I think are worth propagating. The paper is called "A population of neutron star candidates in wide orbits from Gaia astrometry" and the first author is Kareem El-Badry of Caltech (USA); his institution have put out…
http://telescoper.blog/2024/07/16/sun-like-stars-with-hidden-companions/

2024-07-07 19:08:33

Call me old-fashioned, but I hate fascists.

2024-06-24 14:04:06

An All-Ireland Diamond Open Access Publishing Platform?
Here's a report on an interesting development about Open Access in Ireland. The article belongs to the Special Issue 10th Anniversary Special Issue "PUBMET2023 Conference on Scholarly Communication in the Context of Open Science" and has the following abstract: The Government of Ireland has set a target of achieving 100% open access to publicly funded scholarly publications by 2030. As a key element of achieving…
http://telescoper.blog/2024/06/24/an-all-ireland-diamond-open-access-publishing-platform/

2024-06-23 08:53:49

Why Do We Need Simulations for the Euclid Telescope?
Until I can get my laptop fixed and/or get a new one, my ability to write blog posts is a bit limited. At least there is a sizeable collection of things to share, including a steady supply of new videos from the Euclid Consortium like this one:
http://telescoper.blog/2024/06/23/why-do-we-need-simulations-for-the-euclid-telescope/

2024-06-08 09:42:01

https://telescoper.blog/2024/06/08/three-new-publications-at-the-open-journal-of-astrophysics-9/

2024-06-03 08:11:49

Pride Lecture in Oxford
While en route to Oxford I thought I'd do a quite post about the purpose of my visit there, namely to give the inaugural Pride Lecture at the Department of Physics. I'm looking forward to it, and spending a couple of days as a guest of All Souls College. Here's the promo for the lecture: This is a public event.
http://telescoper.blog/2024/06/03/pride-lecture-in-oxford/

2024-05-23 12:19:00

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@npub139m…6cf9 D must be for Dunnock...

2024-04-30 15:06:58

It's hard to believe the Admiral Duncan bomb was 25 years ago today. I used to go to the Admiral Duncan quite often when I lived in London, but I'd already moved to Nottingham by 1999...
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c19dp7wmy18o

2024-04-21 11:03:59

Why you and your institutions should leave X/Twitter
Some time ago I wrote a post asking why universities are still using X, the social media platform that used to be called Twitter. In the same vein I thought I would repost the article below, which I saw this morning.
http://telescoper.blog/2024/04/21/why-you-and-your-institutions-should-leave-x-twitter/

2024-04-19 21:42:10

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@npub1xr8…3q0g young folk don't vote for them...

2024-04-12 08:21:14

This, from last year, is even more relevant today.
https://www.theonion.com/it-is-journalism-s-sacred-duty-to-endanger-the-lives-of-1850126997

2024-04-09 19:56:26

R.I.P. Peter Higgs (1929-2024)
I was very sad this afternoon to hear of the death of Peter Higgs, on Monday 8th April 2024, at the age of 94. I never met Peter Higgs but I know how greatly liked and respected he was (see, e.g. here) and that he leaves an important legacy as a physicist, particularly the work that led to the award of the…
http://telescoper.blog/2024/04/09/r-i-p-peter-higgs-1929-2024/

2024-04-09 16:20:26

Very sad to hear the sad news that Peter Higgs has passed away...
#RIPPeterHiggs
https://bsky.app/profile/astroroyalscot.bsky.social/post/3kppkzxg6oh2o

2024-04-01 10:14:11

Thomas Cromwell and his Prayer-Book
(1532-1533, Oil on Panel, 78.1 cm × 64.1 cm) by Hans Holbein the Younger - The Frick Collection, Public Domain, The famous portrait of Thomas Cromwell by Hans Holbein the Younger shown above is in fact a copy; the original is lost. There is another copy in the National Portrait Gallery in London, but it's not as good. The original was painted around 1533, during the period covered by the novel…
http://telescoper.blog/2024/04/01/thomas-cromwell-and-his-prayer-book/

2024-03-25 13:10:51

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@npub1vs8…54zy Yes, even if it carries on for a few days (as is forecast) it's still a drop in the ocean (so to speak)).

2024-03-25 11:38:58

There's been more rain in Barcelona in the last 12 hours than I experienced in the three months here up to last Christmas!

2024-03-07 10:09:30

alphaXiv is a forum for anyone to comment line-by-line on arXiv papers.
This is a great idea in principle; it will be fascinating to see how it works out in practice.
https://alphaxiv.org/

2024-01-30 20:14:54

The Little Book of Irish Research
A few months ago, I blogged on the occasion of the launch by Simon Harris TD, Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, of the Little Book of Irish Research. This book, which is aimed at school students, so is written at an elementary level, gives quick summaries of areas of research that the general public said that they were interested in, grouped into sixteen themes, and it will be distributed to…
http://telescoper.blog/2024/01/30/the-little-book-of-irish-research-2/

2024-01-25 18:36:13

LISA adopted by ESA
I have some good news for gravitational-wave physicists to pass on. The European Space Agency (ESA) has formally "adopted" the Laser Interferometric Space Experiment (LISA) - a gravitational wave experiment in space. This follows the detection of gravitational waves using the ground-based experiment Advanced LIGO and the success of a space-based technology demonstrator mission called Lisa Pathfinder. LISA was actually selected as a potential mission…
http://telescoper.blog/2024/01/25/lisa-adopted-by-esa/

2024-01-19 13:14:15

Applying online for Electronic Travel Authorization to visit Australia, I was surprised to be asked if I had a criminal record.
I was not aware that this was still a prerequisite.

2023-12-24 10:37:57

A Christmas Message from the President of Ireland
"...may I express my gratitude to the migrants who now call Ireland their home. Their presence enriches our culture, contributes to our society, bringing as they do experiences, traditions, and perspectives that make us stronger as a nation.'
http://telescoper.blog/2023/12/24/a-christmas-message-from-the-president-of-ireland/

2023-12-20 17:13:03

The President of Ireland's Christmas message is well worth listening to. It includes:
"..may I express my gratitude to the migrants who now call Ireland their home. Their presence enriches our culture, contributes to our society, bringing as they do experiences, traditions, and perspectives that make us stronger as a nation."
https://president.ie/en/diary/details/christmas-message-from-president-michael-d-higgins23/video

2023-12-20 11:54:30

Universities: why are you still on Twitter/X?
As I have explained before, I left the platform formerly known as Twitter at the end of August 2023 and haven't looked back. Many of my friends and colleagues have quit too, most of them setting up accounts on Bluesky and/or Mastodon. In recent months, a number of big companies have also stopped advertising on Twitter/X too. It's not just the systematic amplification of hateful tweets from a variety of antisocial bigots,…
http://telescoper.blog/2023/12/20/universities-why-are-you-still-on-twitter-x/

2023-12-11 13:43:32

The Return of Halley’s Comet…
I was reminded at the weekend that Halley's Comet has just passed its aphelion (furthest distance from the Sun) and is now falling back into the Solar System towards its next perihelion (closest distance to the Sun) in 2061, by which time I will almost certainly be retired. Halley's Comet last visited us in 1986 when I was 23 and living in Brighton.
http://telescoper.blog/2023/12/11/the-return-of-halleys-comet/

2023-11-17 11:44:22

No, I will not fill in your Diversity data page until you tell me what you did with the data I gave you for the Staff Survey two years ago which has never been released.

2023-11-12 19:21:27

#StormDebi is approaching #Ireland. Stay safe everyone!
Schools hit by Red, Orange warnings to close for a time
https://www.rte.ie/news/weather/2023/1112/1416059-weather-warning/

2023-11-08 11:19:01

Euclid, the Perseus Cluster, and Beyond!
I see that the Euclid Early Release Observation of the Perseus Cluster is today's Astronomy Picture of the Day: The Perseus Cluster seen by Euclid The Perseus Cluster (Abell 426), being a dense concentration of over a thousand galaxies with a total mass of about 1.2 × 1015 M⊙, is impressive in its own right, especially because the picture was taken in a single exposure, but the staggering thing about this image is that it…
http://telescoper.blog/2023/11/08/euclid-the-perseus-cluster-and-beyond/

2023-11-07 12:45:05

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The live feed is here, starting in 30 minutes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHWbe82zM8o

2023-10-28 09:35:20

There's a meme going round that says:
"Cthulhu had seen galaxies flare into life and fade to darkness before he put madness in the minds of men."
Does that mean Cthulhu is JWST?

2023-10-16 13:30:19

The actual votes so far in the #PolishElections do not seem as promising as the Exit Poll.
https://tvpworld.com/73452472/polish-parliamentary-election-results-after-5555-of-votes-counted

2023-08-31 19:00:08

Well, that's that. I've just deactivated my Twitter account.

2023-08-21 09:29:47

In an impressive display of something or other, I just received *six* envelopes in the post, each containing an identical copy of the same letter from my bank.

2023-08-15 17:09:17

Euclid Update
ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA. Background galaxies: NASA, ESA, and S. Beckwith (STScI) and the HUDF Team. Since I've been working today on stuff related to ESA's Euclid mission, I thought I would give a brief update before I go home. The official channel for full updates is here. A message was sent out on Saturday indicating that the commissioning phase of the Euclid satellite was essentially completed, although with some issues to be fixed.
http://telescoper.blog/2023/08/15/euclid-update-2/

2023-08-06 19:41:58

Maynooth and Dundalk?
Life is full of surprises, especially if you're a member of academic staff at Maynooth University. Today it was revealed that the institution that employs me is planning to merge with Dundalk Institute of Technology. It was revealed not in a direct message to staff, but through an article in the national media, in this case the Sunday Independent…
http://telescoper.blog/2023/08/06/maynooth-and-dundalk/

2023-08-01 07:19:56

Looking forward to tonight's Super Bullshit Bollocks Made-up Name Moon.

2023-08-01 07:06:25

Euclid First Light Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zdIdAVNyUE http://telescoper.blog/2023/08/01/euclid-first-light-video/

2023-07-15 20:15:43

Oh, what happened to you?
Whatever happened to me?
What became of the people,
We used to be?

2023-07-14 09:30:10

Is it Pastille Day already?
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/110/711/731/825/912/966/original/f71b08f3d4062626.jpg

2023-07-04 10:55:41

Calling out Entitlement
"what can I do to make the research environment as good as possible for people who are not like me?"
http://telescoper.blog/2023/07/04/calling-out-entitlement/