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  Just for fun: the Moon seen through thin cloud last night, a couple of hours before it was full 🌝 Capturing details on the Moon itself at the same time as the colourful surrounding halo would be extremely challenging, so this is a two image montage, with a longer exposure for the cloud & a shorter one for our satellite. Both hand-held with my Nikon, so the cloud part is fairly noisy. Anyway, as I say, just for fun 🤷‍♂️🙂 #Photography 📷 #Astronomy 🔭 #Heidelberg 🏰

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  Well, I'm claiming it – hints of a purple aurora borealis in the skies north of Heidelberg this evening, at latitude 49.4ºN between ~20:20 & 20:50 CEST 🙂 👍 It was a strong geomagnetic event, caused by a coronal mass ejection a few days ago, so hopefully people further north will have captured much more. And there could be more to come tonight – keep an eye on the skies / aurora alert apps. #NorthernLights #Aurora #AuroraBorealis #Photography #Heidelberg

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  And the fit for my annual vaccinations? A natty purple BepiColombo polo shirt, timely as the ESA/JAXA mission approaches Mercury orbit eight years after launch 🌚🛰️ Today’s cocktail: a COVID-19 mRNA booster & a high-dose trivalent inactivated flu shot for old geezers 💉💉👴 Interesting factoid from the doctor: while the COVID-19 vaccine uptake is low in the general population, it’s very high here at @mpi_astro. Why? Join the dots. #Photography 📷 #ThankYouScience 🧑‍🔬

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  Sidelines 🌞 A quick phone camera snap of sunlight coming through the louvres outside my office window yesterday & illuminating the side of a filing cabinet. While very abstract & geometric, there’s also a wealth of lovely detail in the various lines that rewards zooming in & exploration. Somehow very calming … #AbstractArt 🎨 #Photography 📷 #LightPainting 🔦

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  A couple of new species & nice pictures of a couple of others. First this moth, only briefly glimpsed in the ferns. But the shape & colouration are sufficient to fairly definitely ID it as a morning-glory plume moth (Emmelina monodactyla; 🇩🇪 Ackerwinden-Federmotte). Better shots later hopefully. #Heidelberg 🏰 #Photography 📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️ #BugOfTheDay 🐞 #MacroPhotography 🔬 #InsectsOfMastodon 🪰 #BackGardenEntomology 🪲

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  Another day, another mystery wasp. This very tiny little beast was flitting around quickly & I only managed a few photos before it disappeared. Likely an ichneumonid wasp in tribe Exenterini, but beyond that? Maybe genus Acrotomus, but to be honest, I'm way out of my depth here 😬 #Heidelberg 🏰 #Photography 📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️ #BugOfTheDay 🐞 #MacroPhotography 🔬 #InsectsOfMastodon 🪰 #BackGardenEntomology 🪲

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  Ah, phooey 🙄 Just for a moment, I thought this might be a new species to add to my list. But nope 🤷‍♂️ It's just one of the many colour morphs of the Asian or harlequin ladybird (Harmonia axyridis; 🇩🇪 Asiatischer Marienkäfer), sometimes called the four-spotted variety or "form spectabilis". #Heidelberg 🏰 #Photography 📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️ #BugOfTheDay 🐞 #MacroPhotography 🔬 #InsectsOfMastodon 🪰 #BackGardenEntomology 🪲

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  Not a great day for it, with lots of rain & cold air, but still some new finds both outdoors & inside our living room window. Some defy easy identification, but not this one: it's a common striped woodlouse (Philoscia muscorum; 🇩🇪 Waldassel). #Heidelberg 🏰 #Photography 📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️ #BugOfTheDay 🐞 #MacroPhotography 🔬 #InsectsOfMastodon 🪰 #BackGardenEntomology 🪲

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  Cold, misty, & rainy on the Königstuhl today, but always worth a wander around the grounds & forest margin. This is a hazel bug (Pantilius tunicatus; 🇩🇪 Erlengast), which only emerges in September each year. #Heidelberg 🏰 #Photography 📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️ #BugOfTheDay 🐞 #MacroPhotography 🔬 #InsectsOfMastodon 🪰 #BackGardenEntomology 🪲

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  As I was driving yesterday from Katwijk to Heidelberg, I didn’t have time to post about the successful second Earth flyby that ESA’s JUICE mission made on Monday, as part of its eight-year journey to Jupiter. So here’s one of the images of Earth (& the Moon 🙂) from the JMC monitoring cameras, beautifully processed by my friend @stim3on@fosstodon.org: they’re not simple RGB devices, so lots of skill & knowledge go into getting a true-colour view 👍 #spacescience #science #photography

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  An excellent read by Samanth Subramanian about slime moulds in genus Physarum. Their ability to problem solve & remember, despite lacking any neurons, lies at the heart of an intense scientific debate about the meaning of intelligence & cognition. Even if, like me, you have no academic standing in this field, it’s sure to provoke some interesting thoughts about just how special we humans think we are, & exactly what our place on this planet is. https://www.theguardian.com/news/ng...

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  Moondog! The full Moon seen through high cirrus & contrails over Katwijk tonight, leading to this paraselene, the equivalent of a parhelion or sundog as often seen next to the Sun. To the naked eye, moondogs appear white, as they're too faint to activate the colour-sensitive cones. But to a camera, the expected colour is there, due to wavelength-dependent refraction in ice crystals. #AtmosphericOptics 🌈 #Photography 📷 #Astronomy 🌕

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  Late night anecdote, lest I forget. I was having coffee with some colleagues at ESA’s ESTEC this afternoon. A young guy came up & asked “Excuse me, but are you Mark McCaughrean?” When I replied “yes”, he said “You gave a great lecture about JWST a few years ago at TU Delft when I was an aerospace student there.” “Ah, so I didn’t put you off coming to ESA?”, I asked with a smile. “Not at all & now I’m working on the [very cool] EnVision mission to Venus”, he smiled back. Made my d...

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  Unfortunately, this Nosferatu spider (Zoropsis spinimana) will have to figure out how to survive outdoors now 🤷‍♂️ It crawled out of a cardboard box that had been in the house when it was cut apart for recycling. Originally from the Mediterranean, these spiders prefer warmer indoor temperatures, but my wife is not very understanding 😬✌️ #Heidelberg 🏰 #Photography 📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️ #BugOfTheDay 🐞 #MacroPhotography 🔬 #ArachnidsOfMastodon 🕷️ #BackGardenEntomology 🪲

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  Beware flying murderbots! Actually, there have been far fewer yellow-legged or Asian hornets (Vespa velutina; 🇩🇪 Asiatische Hornisse) this year than last – this is my first since April, while regular European hornets have been common. Still, always a little chilling to see these invasive predators. #Heidelberg 🏰 #Photography 📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️ #BugOfTheDay 🐞 #MacroPhotography 🔬 #InsectsOfMastodon 🪰 #BackGardenEntomology 🪲

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  Cooler today, but still not much activity apart from the honeybees. I did see one of my favourites however – a buffalo treehopper (Stictocephala bisonia; 🇩🇪 Büffelzikade), & will try to get a head-on shot showing where the name comes from. That said, it's an invasive species from North America, now widespread in Europe. #Heidelberg 🏰 #Photography 📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️ #BugOfTheDay 🐞 #MacroPhotography 🔬 #InsectsOfMastodon 🪰 #BackGardenEntomology 🪲

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  It's 21 July, the Eagle has landed, & I've taken my new camera for its first walk in the garden. The Nikon Z6 III is a fearsomely capable beast & I've barely started to set it up, but here are some first shots with the 24-200mm lens. A large carpenter bee (genus Xylocopa) & a goldenrod crab spider (Misumena vatia). #Heidelberg 🏰 #Photography 📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️ #BugOfTheDay 🐞 #MacroPhotography 🔬 #InsectsOfMastodon 🪰 #BackGardenEntomology 🪲

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  A good afternoon with my friend & partner @alexandermilas@mas.to, walking through the Saatchi Gallery’s Sun & Moon exhibition, & making plans in the pub for many new #SpaceRocks projects we have on the boil … And now after a hot & sweaty rush across London, time for this evening’s Prom at the Royal Albert Hall – Respighi’s Roman Trilogy, including that spine-tingling final march of the Roman army in Pini di Roma. A treat to be in the choir behind the orchestra too 🎶 #Music #Ph...

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  A great pleasure to return to the London International Youth Science Forum under the leadership of Richard Myhill. Some 500 high school students from 90 countries, with a two week programme of lectures, trips, debates, & social events. They gave my #JWST talk a very kind reception & had many good questions. Perhaps the loudest & longest applause came though when I said “I don’t trust the tech / AI billionaires like Musk & Altman one iota.” There’s hope for us yet. #LIYSF #Ph...

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  Didn't post these evening arthropods yesterday, but better late than never, eh? 🤷‍♂️ First, a new one for me: I've seen several genus Eristalis drone fly species over the years, but never E. arbustorum, the Eurasian drone fly (🇩🇪 Kleine Bienenschwebfliege), with its distinctive white abdomen bands. It's a female, btw. #Heidelberg 🏰 #Photography 📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️ #BugOfTheDay 🐞 #MacroPhotography 🔬 #InsectsOfMastodon 🪰 #BackGardenEntomology 🪲

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  Many new species around @mpi_astro@wisskomm.social today, in the meadows around the institute surrounded by forest, perhaps too many for me to post them all now. But here's a start: a small black & yellow fly (Conops flavipe; 🇩🇪 Wespendickkopffliege). #Heidelberg 🏰 #Photography 📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️ #BugOfTheDay 🐞 #MacroPhotography 🔬 #InsectsOfMastodon 🪰 #BackGardenEntomology 🪲

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  Busy with telecons today, so not too much time in the garden. But still enough to spot some new species. First, a female red-spotted parasite fly (Eriothrix rufomaculata; 🇩🇪 Rotgefleckte Raupenfliege). Similar in abdomen colours & bristles to the various Cylindromyia tube flies, but fatter, & with a very different thorax. #Heidelberg 🏰 #Photography 📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️ #BugOfTheDay 🐞 #MacroPhotography 🔬 #InsectsOfMastodon 🪰 #BackGardenEntomology 🪲

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  Nothing especially new here, as these Mediterranean spotted chafers (Oxythyrea funesta; 🇩🇪 Trauer-Rosenkäfer) were very common in the garden a couple of months ago. But this is the first I've seen in ages, which took me a little by surprise. #Heidelberg 🏰 #Photography 📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️ #BugOfTheDay 🐞 #MacroPhotography 🔬 #InsectsOfMastodon 🪰 #BackGardenEntomology 🪲

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  Near the many bumblebees & honeybees feeding on the lavender, some leafcutter bees were patrolling the sweetpeas. Although I sometimes find it hard to separate the various species, these look to be male banded mud bees (Megachile ericetorum; 🇩🇪 Platterbsen-Mörtelbiene). #Heidelberg 🏰 #Photography 📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️ #BugOfTheDay 🐞 #MacroPhotography 🔬 #InsectsOfMastodon 🪰 #BackGardenEntomology 🪲

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  The grift that never stops giving … straight into the pockets of the falsely lachrymose self-proclaimed Galileo of our age. An utter embarrassment to professional astronomy & another nail in the coffin of a nation sliding from its position of scientific pre-eminence. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jul/01/trump-alien-hunter-avi-loeb

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  A profitable return to the lavender bush this evening – the black & white cloak & dagger bee was there again. I'm pretty sure now that this is indeed the rare & (according to the official German Rote Liste) highly endangered Thyreus orbatus (🇩🇪 Schwarzgesichtige Fleckenbiene). A few more pictures below. #Heidelberg 🏰 #Photography 📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️ #BugOfTheDay 🐞 #MacroPhotography 🔬 #InsectsOfMastodon 🪰 #BackGardenEntomology 🪲

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  Today marks the end of the first half of the year, so a brief summary of my arthropod finds so far. 326 species, with a few still to be processed & uploaded 😲 221 in my garden, 88 elsewhere locally in Germany, & 17 in Mallorca. This time last year, I'd photographed just 27 species, but ended with 195 by mid-December 😳✌️ #Heidelberg 🏰 #Photography 📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️ #BugOfTheDay 🐞 #MacroPhotography 🔬 #InsectsOfMastodon 🪰 #BackGardenEntomology 🪲

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  Not to forsake my garden arthropods completely, here are a couple from this evening, just as the Sun was setting & the temperature went down a few millikelvin. First a red cabbage bug (Eurydema ornata; 🇩🇪 Schwarzrückige Gemüsewanze) in its away strip, & then a red-tailed bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius; 🇩🇪 Steinhummel). #Heidelberg 🏰 #Photography 📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️ #BugOfTheDay 🐞 #MacroPhotography 🔬 #InsectsOfMastodon 🪰 #BackGardenEntomology 🪲

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  While the blazing heat has thankfully subsided today, it's still warm & muggy, & uncomfortable in the sun. Which is probably why this colourful little leafhopper was seeking shade. It's Evacanthus interruptus, or Wiesen-Schmuckzikade in German. It doesn't appear to have an English name, despite being present in the UK. #Heidelberg 🏰 #Photography 📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️ #BugOfTheDay 🐞 #MacroPhotography 🔬 #InsectsOfMastodon 🪰 #BackGardenEntomology 🪲

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  And while I did venture out into the garden today, it was far too hot for me & seemingly also so for many insect friends. So it's back to pictures taken on the Königstuhl earlier this week. First, a small, colourful Arched Marble, a kind of tortrix moth (Olethreutes arcuella; 🇩🇪 Prachtwickler). #Heidelberg 🏰 #Photography 📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️ #BugOfTheDay 🐞 #MacroPhotography 🔬 #InsectsOfMastodon 🪰 #BackGardenEntomology 🪲