Dr. Ryan French

12 Dec 2024

I feel it’s time I formally introduce myself on this app! I'm a Sun scientist researching solar flares - and value the importance of communicating the facts (and combating the fiction) of that science to the world. My first book, ‘The Sun: beginners guide to our local star’, published last year ☀️

Just attended an observatory open evening as a visitor, where one of young resident astronomers confidently pointed (multiple times) to formations of high flying migrating geese to announce to the group… “Look up at the Starlink satellites!!” 🤦🏻‍♂️

I wrote a new Substack article diving deeper into our new view of Earth! Check it out here: ryanjfrench.substack.com/p/a-near-vie...

Wow, so this is actually insane! Check out some of the first data from the Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer (SMILE) mission, capturing the full northern lights oval around the north pole in ultraviolet light. All in daytime, whilst invisible to the naked eye!

ESA Space Science@science.esa.int

Inspector Smile is ready for science! 🫡 This is Smile’s first ultraviolet view showing an auroral substorm. With the ultraviolet camera now operational, Smile becomes the first spacecraft since 2008 to capture the full ring of northern lights around the north pole in ultraviolet light. 🔭 🧪 ☀️

If you want to learn more about how light beyond our visible range can teach us about the universe, I recommend my new book “Cosmic Light”! It’s full of beautiful space images across the spectrum (maybe SMILE images will make it into a future edition!) amzn.to/4u2hhKo

Whilst solar activity is a bit quieter, I’ve been posting semi-regular explainer videos over on Instagram – covering fun Sun facts, science updates, and more. If you don’t already, I recommend following me over there! www.instagram.com/sun.scientis...

I am honoured to announce that I have received the 2026 Athelstan Spilhaus Award from the American Geophysical Union (@agu.org)! The award is given annually to an honoree in recognition of their enhancement of the public's engagement with Earth or space sciences.

I believe that sharing the excitement and importance of science with the public is an essential part of being a scientist, and I look forward to continuing to bring the wonders of the Sun to new audiences!

agu.orgAthelstan Spilhaus Award | AGUThe Athelstan Spilhaus Award recognizes individuals enhancing public engagement in Earth and space sciences through science communication.

Athelstan Spilhaus Award link: www.agu.org/honors/spilh... Announcement of AGU 2026 honorees: www.agu.org/honors-home/... Institutional announcement: lasp.colorado.edu/2026/09/23/l...

Scientific research and public engagement have always gone hand in hand throughout my career, and it means a great deal to have that work recognized by the AGU.

A nice surprise to spot my book “Space Hazards” in the window of my local independent bookstore! The book just passed its first anniversary, and explores how the Sun, near-Earth objects and space junk (alongside other more obscure threats) can affect our lives here on Earth! ☀️ amzn.to/3ZLuL0f

However… the window display is labeled “Published CU Professors”… did I somehow get multiple promotions I didn’t hear about? 🤔

The Sun is NAKED, spending at least a few hours today without a single sunspot. This has only happened a couple of times since 2021, but will become more common in the next few years (although further strong activity in this period is still likely). This is bad timing, because…

I have been co-leading the campaign pointing this week, choosing where the telescopes (which observe a tiny patch of the Sun at a time) should point to try catch a solar flare. Needless to say, this has been very challenging when the Sun looks like this (producing no flares!)

Hope is not lost. The flare campaign continues for a couple more weeks, so we hope that solar activity picks up during this window. Sun… do something!!!

This week the largest solar telescope in the world, coordinated with a fleet of other ground- and space-based telescopes, began a dedicated *solar flare campaign*, specifically targeting solar flares (which originate from sunspots). This observing window was selected months ago.

Just walked in on my colleagues engaging in inappropriate workplace behaviour AT MY DESK. Should I contact HR?

HR contacted. They’re all embarrassed now.

17 Sept

Are any of my mutual scientists/science communicators here on Substack? 🤔

15 Sept

Great to see my new book “Cosmic Light” ranked number 5 in Amazon UK’s ‘popular astronomy’ chart!

Dr. Ryan French reposted

Wrapping up a busy year of publishing for me, I’m very happy to share that my next book, “Cosmic Light” releases next week in the UK/Europe with HarperCollinsUK (and a little later for North America).

Cosmic Light (written with my good friend Tom) is a hardback coffee table-style book, full of beautiful images exploring how invisible light beyond the visible spectrum can teach us about the universe we all call home.

There are no prerequisites required to enjoy this book, suitable for everyone from enthusiastic teenagers to curious adults – available to preorder from wherever you get your books!

4 Sept

A nice eruption of filament plasma from the eastern edge of the Sun this morning! The speed and direction of these eruptions are far easier to interpret when viewed side-on like this one (and not directed towards Earth in this case).

2 Sept

It never gets boring seeing your books out in the wild!

30 Aug

London folks - the launch event for my next book (more on that to come soon) is coming up this Wednesday 2nd Sept (6:30pm) at the National Maritime Museum! It would be great to see some of you there.

30 Aug

‪(It would be helpful if I included the event link!) www.rmg.co.uk/whats-on/nat...

rmg.co.ukrmg.co.uk

27 Aug

A quick guide for the difference between solar and lunar eclipses!

21 Aug

Even small solar flares can be beautiful. Here is a video of today’s moderate #SolarFlare, displaying mesmerising ‘coronal rain’ and ‘supra-arcade downflows’!

20 Aug

After a dry spell of several weeks, the Sun has finally woken up today – producing four moderate solar flares in 24 hours! The largest of these was a decent-sized M8-class #SolarFlare, pictured below. We should expect further solar flares this week!

13 Aug

Serendipitously aligned with the total solar eclipse and Perseid meteor shower, today is my 30th birthday! You should celebrate with me by treating yourself to my new eclipse book. Keep riding the eclipse buzz in preparation for next year’s event! amzn.to/49wqTGj

12 Aug

Google searches for “my eyes hurt” have surged in the United Kingdom!

12 Aug

Everyone should aspire to see the solar corona with their own eyes at least once in their lifetime! Even if you don’t care about science or astronomy, a total solar eclipse is the most beautiful natural phenomena available to us on planet Earth.

12 Aug

Great success from Spain! Crazy. Bring on 2nd August 2027!

11 Aug

I appeared on BBC News today, in-place for tomorrow’s total solar eclipse! With everything now sorted (barring unexpected changes in weather), I have 24 hours left with little to do except: 1) Eat good food, 2) Drink good wine, 3) Swim in that pool with friends. Life is tough!

ECLIPSE TIMING: When is the upcoming solar eclipse for your location? This thread contains the timings and eclipse percentage for many major cities across Europe, North America and northern Africa:

Perhaps a surprising one, Anchorage (seemingly very far west from the main eclipse path), will see over a quarter of the Sun eclipses. This is because the world is round, so it’s not as far from the eclipse path as it appears on a 2D map!

Obviously I can’t include every city here, but hopefully this gives you a starting point. You can check your exact location at timeanddate.com

ECLIPSE TIMING: When is the upcoming solar eclipse for your location? This thread contains the timings and eclipse percentage for many major cities across Europe, North America and northern Africa:

Across in northeastern USA, folks will see a little of the partial eclipse too.

Most of Canada will see some eclipse. Included here are times for Toronto, Quebec (which had a great view of the 2024 total solar eclipse) and Edmonton.

ECLIPSE TIMING: When is the upcoming solar eclipse for your location? This thread contains the timings and eclipse percentage for many major cities across Europe, North America and northern Africa:

Moving a little further east, here is Warsaw, Zagreb and Vienna.

Down in north western Africa, here are timings for Tunis, Dakar, Cabo Verde and the Canary Islands.

ECLIPSE TIMING: When is the upcoming solar eclipse for your location? This thread contains the timings and eclipse percentage for many major cities across Europe, North America and northern Africa:

Rome, Paris, Zurich and Berlin: all decent-sized partial eclipses.

Moving north, here is information for Oslo, Stockholm, Helsinki and Longyearbyen.

ECLIPSE TIMING: When is the upcoming solar eclipse for your location? This thread contains the timings and eclipse percentage for many major cities across Europe, North America and northern Africa:

Here are the 100% total solar eclipse times for Reykjavik, Majorca, and the hills 2ish hours north of Madrid (where I’ll be). The partial eclipse begins an hour before totality.

Other major cities will get a good view, with information for Lisbon, London, Dublin and Edinburgh here. Screenshots are from timeanddate, and show eclipse percentage and timing (in local time).

ECLIPSE TIMING: When is the upcoming solar eclipse for your location? This thread contains the timings and eclipse percentage for many major cities across Europe, North America and northern Africa:

The 100% total eclipse path passes from northern Siberia, over the North Pole, through Greenland and Iceland, before crossing the Atlantic to pass through Spain and briefly into the Mediterranean. However, much more of the world will still see a partial (<100%) eclipse.

3 Aug

I tried my best, but Ember is clearly not interested in eclipse eye safety.

3 Aug

For anyone wanting to get into the eclipse spirit, I’ve compiled a 3.5-hour Spotify playlist full of songs about the Sun, Moon, or shadows! Available here: open.spotify.com/playlist/5T6...