I came across this interesting post yesterday and thought I’d share it here for the edification of my several readers.
On the “History of Science”
Posted in History with tags History of Science, Will Pooley on March 25, 2026 by telescoperNational Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine
Posted in Music with tags Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 5, Beethoven Symphony No. 3, Eroica Symphony, Ludwig van Beethoven, Maria Pukhlianko on March 24, 2026 by telescoper
It’s not often that I go to the National Concert Hall in Dublin on a Monday evening, but I made an exception last night to attend a concert by the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine (who are currently on tour and have recently played a number of concerts in the UK). It was an interesting (and very full programme) and a very enjoyable concert. Partly because of the large Ukrainian diaspora in Ireland, hall was packed last night.
The concert opened with two pieces by Frederick Delius: On Hearing the First Cuckoo of Spring and Summer Night on the River, originally published together as Two Pieces for Small Orchestra. I used to listen to quite a lot of recordings of Delius when I was younger and know both these works quite well. I was a bit surprised to see them on the programme, but they certainly provided an interesting contrast with what was to come later. In fact the Orchestra, under the direction of Volodymyr Sirenko, tackled them quite differently from the versions I have heard. The sound of the cuckoo in the in the first piece was much more subtle than usually played and the overall sound was much stronger than typical performances which tend to be rather delicate.
After that we had the Piano Concerto No. 5 (“Emperor”) by Ludwin van Beethoven, played by Mariia Pukhlianko. This work wasn’t immediately popular when it was first performed in 1809 – perhaps because it was considered a bit grandiose – but is now firmly established as one of the pinnacles of the repertoire. The soloist played this very well, with a splendid balance of delicacy and power, with good transitions between the ensemble and solo sections. I enjoyed this very much indeed.
After the interval – no wine for me because I had a 9am lecture this morning – we came back for the main course, The Symphony No. 3 in E♭ major (“Eroica”) by Ludwig van Beethoven. It’s hard to know what to say about it really, except that it’s a magnificent work in its own right as well as being historically important. Before this one, which was published in 1806, symphonies (including not only Beethoven’s First and Second, but those of Mozart, Haydn and others) were much shorter (typically around 20 minutes) and much more constrained in form. This composition – which shares some elements with Mozart’s Symphony No. 39 and was apparently inspired by it – ushered in the era of the epic symphony that culminated with the likes of Mahler and Bruckner; last night’s performance took . The first movement, in sonata form, is especially long – with an extended recapitulation – and both complex and rewarding.
The performance last night was full of energy and colour and hugely enjoyable. It’s worth mentioning the unsual arrangement of the orchestra on stage. From the point of view of the Conductor, the first violins were on the far left (as usual), the cellos and basses behind them, and second violins on the far right. This was basically the same layout as was used for the last concertof this work I attended.
The NCH audience is usually generous with its applause and last night was no exception. There was a long standing ovation that precipitated two orchestral encores, neither of which was a piece that I knew.
The concert started at 8pm and didn’t finish until about 10.30pm, and it took quite a long time to get out given the nearly full house, so I missed the usual train and had to wait for the last one, at 11.21pm which got me home well after midnight. The things I do for art!
P.S. I’ve included the a page from the programme above. If you wouldn’t like to make a donation to support the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, you can scan the QR code in the right hand image above. Alternatively you can follow this link.
Naomh Pádraig – Séamus Murphy
Posted in Art, Maynooth with tags Saint Patrick, Séamus Murphy, sculpture, St Patrick's House on March 23, 2026 by telescoperI’ve walked past this imposing head of St Patrick countless times since I arrived in Maynooth, seven and a half years ago, but it was only last week that I found out a bit about it.
The statue is called Naomh Patrick (Saint Patrick) and it was created by Irish sculptor Séamus Murphy. It is on public view in St Patrick’s House, Maynooth, just inside the main entrance. It is made of polished limestone and was first unveiled in 1949. Here is an old newspaper article in which the photograph on the right shows the artist beside the sculpture…
(The picture on the left seems to show the artist, on the far left, dozing off during a speech…)
From the Study Break…
Posted in Biographical, Education, Maynooth, Poetry with tags A.E. Housman, Easter, Japanese Cherry, Loveliest of trees, Maynooth, World Poetry Day on March 22, 2026 by telescoperSo now after a half-term mid-semester study break, including one day of actual holiday, that was both pleasant and eventful it will soon be time to return to the fray, at least for 9 working days. A full week of lectures, labs and tutorials starts tomorrow but the following week end a day early, on Thursday 2nd April, because 3rd April is Good Friday. Campus is closed then, as it is on Easter Monday and there are no lectures for the rest of that week. I’ll miss a lecture on Good Friday. I’m sure the students will be distraught, but that’s the way of things.
Anyway, with the Eastertide coming in and yesterday being World Poetry Day I thought I’d share a couple of pictures (taken two days apart) of the Japanese cherry trree in my back garden along with this haiku on a theme by A.E. Housman:
Loveliest of trees?
Not yet, but soon there will be
Bloom along the bough...
Weekly Update from the Open Journal of Astrophysics – 21/03/2026
Posted in OJAp Papers, Open Access, The Universe and Stuff with tags 2M++ galaxies, accretion discs, arXiv:2509.18261v4, arXiv:2510.01112v3, arXiv:2510.01318v2, arXiv:2510.03473v2, arXiv:2510.16574v2, arXiv:2511.07516v2, arXiv:2511.09640v2, arXiv:2603.17607v1, Astrophysics of Galaxies, black hole binaries, Cosmology and NonGalactic Astrophysics, Deep Learning, Diamond Open Access, Diamond Open Access Publishing, galaxy clusters, galaxy formation, Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics, Machine Learning, Manticore-Local, Massive Black Hole Seeds, Open Access, Open Access Publishing., particle-mesh techniques, quasars, QUOKKA, RABBITS, satellite galaxies, solar imaging, Sunspot Numbers, supermassive black hole binaries, supernassive black holes on March 21, 2026 by telescoperIt’s Saturday once more, so it’s time for another update of activity at the Open Journal of Astrophysics. Since the last update we have published a further eight papers, bringing the number in Volume 9 (2026) to 59 and the total so far published by OJAp up to 507. We passed the 500 mark on Monday, and the week was also notable because we once again published at least one paper each working day.
I will continue to include the posts made on our Mastodon account (on Fediscience) to encourage you to visit it. Mastodon is a really excellent service, and a more than adequate replacement for X/Twitter (which nobody should be using); these announcements also show the DOI for each paper.
The first paper to report this week is our 500th publication. The title is “The causal structure of galactic astrophysics” and the authors are Harry Desmond (U. Portsmouth, UK) and Joseph Ramsey (Carnegie Mellon U., USA). This paper was published on Monday March 16th 2026 in the folder Astrophysics of Galaxies. It proposes using causal discovery, a method for inferring data structure, to better utilize information in astrophysical data, demonstrated through an algorithm applied to a large galaxy dataset.
The overlay is here:
You can find the officially accepted version on arXiv here and the announcement on Fediverse here:
The second paper for this week, also published on March 16th in the folder Astrophysics of Galaxies, is “Finding the boundary: Using galaxy membership to inform galaxy cluster extent through machine learning” by Christine Hao, Stephanie O’Neil, Mark Vogelsberger, & Vinh Tran (MIT, USA), Lamiya Mowla (Wellesley College, USA) and Joshua S. Speagle (U. Toronto, Canada). This study uses neural networks and simulations to identify and map the transitional region between cluster and field galaxies, revealing it as a scattered area rather than a sharp boundary.
The overlay for this one is here:
The official version of the paper can be found on arXiv here and the Fediverse announcement here:
Next one up is “The Manticore-Local Cluster Catalogue: A Posterior Map of Massive Structures in the Nearby Universe” by Stuart McAlpine (Oskar Klein Centre, Stockholm U., Sweden). This was published on Tuesday March 17th in the folder Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics; it presents a catalogue of massive structures in the universe, inferred from 2M++ galaxies. The catalogue, validated through Planck thermal measurements, provides a consistent map of these structures for further studies.
The overlay for this one is here:
The final, accepted version can be found on arXiv here and the Mastodon announcement is here:
The fourth paper this week, published on 18th March 2026 in the folder Solar and Stellar Astrophysics is “Vision-Based CNN Prediction of Sunspot Numbers from SDO/HMI Images” by Fabian C. Quintero-Pareja, Diederik A. Montano-Burbano, Santiago Quintero-Pareja & David Sierra Porta (Universidad Tecnológica de Bolívar, Colombia). This article describes a deep learning framework that uses convolutional neural networks to estimate daily sunspot numbers from solar images, offering a scalable and accurate method for solar monitoring.
The overlay is here:
The finally accepted version of this paper can be found here and the Mastodon announcement is here:
Next one up, published on Thursday 19th March 2026, is “RABBITS –III. Modelling relativistic accretion discs around spinning black holes in galaxy formation simulations” by Dimitrios Irodotou (ICR, London) and 8 others based in China, Korea, Belgium, France, Finland and the UK. This paper, which is in the folder Astrophysics of Galaxies, presents a new model for simulating supermassive black hole binaries, which more accurately predicts accretion disc structures and sizes, and the energetic output of quasars. The code is publicly available.
This is the overlay:
The officially accepted version can be found on arXiv here and the Mastodon announcement follows:
The sixth paper this week is “A novel algorithm for GPU-accelerated particle-mesh interactions implemented in the QUOKKA code” by Chong-Chong He (Australia National University), Benjamin D. Wibking (Michigan State U., USA), Aditi Vijayan (ANU), Mark R. Krumholz (ANU) and Pak Shing Li (Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, China). This was published on Thursday 19th March in the folder Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics. The article introduces a GPU-optimized algorithm for particle-mesh interactions in hydrodynamics simulations, improving efficiency and scalability in simulations of star formation and feedback in galaxies.
The overlay is here:
The officially accepted version of this paper can be found on arXiv here, and the Mastodon announcement is here:
The penultimate, seventh, paper for this week is “The SEEDZ Simulations: Methodology and First Results on Massive Black Hole Seeding and Early Galaxy Growth” by Lewis Prole (NUI Maynooth, Ireland) and 15 others based in Ireland, Germany and the UK. This paper was also published on Thursday March 19th 2026 in the folder Astrophysics of Galaxies. Ir presents the SEEDZ simulations, studying the formation and growth of the universe’s first massive black holes, finding that these black holes initially grow faster than their host galaxies.
The overlay for this one is here:
The official version of this paper can be found here. This is the Mastodon announcement:
And finally for this week, published yesterday (Friday 20th March 2026) in the folder Astrophysics of Galaxies, we have “Planes of satellites, at once transient and persistent” by Till Sawala (University of Helsinki, Finland). This study resolves the contradiction in the lifespan of satellite systems around galaxies, showing they are short-lived but maintain spatial coherence over billions of years.
Here is the overlay for this one:
The officially accepted version can be found on arXiv here and the Mastodon announcement is here:
And that concludes the update for this week. Will we keep the rate up next week? Tune in next Saturday to find out!
P.S. Thank you once again to the many people who have responded to the latest call for editors. The Editorial Board has grown substantially over the last few weeks – an up-to-date version can be found here – and there are still some people waiting to get onboard, so please bear with me!
The Vernal Equinox 2026
Posted in Biographical, Maynooth, The Universe and Stuff with tags Equinox, Imbolc, Spring Equinox, Vernal Equinox on March 20, 2026 by telescoper
Just a quick note to mention that the Vernal Equinox (Spring Equinox) in the Northern hemisphere happens this afternoon, Friday 20th March 2026, at 14.46 UTC (which is 2.46 pm local time here in Ireland. Many people in the Northern hemisphere regard the Vernal Equinox as the first day of Spring, atlhough round these parts that is taken to be 1st February (Imbolg). Of course in the Southern hemisphere, this is the Autumnal Equinox.
The date of the Vernal Equinox is often given as 21st March, but in fact it has only been on 21st March twice this century so far (2003 and 2007); it was on 20th March in 2008, has been on 20th March every spring from then until now, and will be until 2044 (when it will be on March 19th). I’ll be retired by then.
Anyway, people sometimes ask me how one can define the `equinox’ so precisely when surely it just refers to a day on which day and night are of equal length, implying that it’s a day not a specific time? The answer is that the equinox is defined by a specific event, the event in question being when the plane defined by Earth’s equator passes through the centre of the Sun’s disk (or, if you prefer, when the centre of the Sun passes through the plane defined by Earth’s equator). Day and night are not necessarily exactly equal on the equinox, but they’re the closest they get. From now until the Autumnal Equinox, days in the Northern hemisphere will be longer than nights, and the days will continue get longer until the Summer Solstice on June 21st before beginning to shorten again.
A Dream of the Unknown – Percy Bysshe Shelley
Posted in Uncategorized with tags A Dream of the Unknown, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Poem, Poetry, The Question on March 19, 2026 by telescoperI dreamed that, as I wandered by the way,
Bare Winter suddenly was changed to Spring,
And gentle odours led my steps astray,
Mixed with a sound of waters murmuring
Along a shelving bank of turf, which lay
Under a copse, and hardly dared to fling
Its green arms round the bosom of the stream,
But kissed it and then fled, as thou mightest in dream.
There grew pied wind-flowers and violets,
Daisies, those pearled Arcturi of the earth,
The constellated flower that never sets;
Faint oxlips; tender bluebells, at whose birth
The sod scarce heaved; and that tall flower that wets—
Like a child, half in tenderness and mirth—
Its mother's face with Heaven's collected tears,
When the low wind, its playmate's voice, it hears.
And in the warm hedge grew lush eglantine,
Green cowbind and the moonlight-coloured may,
And cherry-blossoms, and white cups, whose wine
Was the bright dew, yet drained not by the day;
And wild roses, and ivy serpentine,
With its dark buds and leaves, wandering astray;
And flowers azure, black, and streaked with gold,
Fairer than any wakened eyes behold.
And nearer to the river's trembling edge
There grew broad flag-flowers, purple pranked with white,
And starry river buds among the sedge,
And floating water-lilies, broad and bright,
Which lit the oak that overhung the hedge
With moonlight beams of their own watery light;
And bulrushes, and reeds of such deep green
As soothed the dazzled eye with sober sheen.
Methought that of these visionary flowers
I made a nosegay, bound in such a way
That the same hues, which in their natural bowers
Were mingled or opposed, the like array
Kept these imprisoned children of the Hours
Within my hand,—and then, elate and gay,
I hastened to the spot whence I had come,
That I might there present it!—Oh! to whom?
by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822)
(This poem, also known as The Question, was first published in 1822 (the year of Shelley’s death) although it was probably written earlier, probably in 1820, while the poet was living in Italy.)
R.I.P. Len Deighton (1929-2026)
Posted in Literature, R.I.P. with tags Len Deighton, R.I.P., spy novels, The IPCRESS File on March 18, 2026 by telescoper
With all the excitement yesterday I missed the news that novelist Len Deighton had passed away (at the age of 97). I learnt from his obituary that he began his career as an illustrator and cartoonist, but he is far more famous as an excellent writer, especially of spy stories. The IPCRESS File (left) is one of my favourite novels in this genre.
It’s superbly written in a very down-to-earth fashion, and as a result far more credible than the more famous James Bond stories of Ian Fleming. In my opinion Deighton was a far better writer than Fleming. The IPCRESS File was in fact, Deighton’s first espionage novel, written in 1962, and the first appearance of Harry Palmer. Deighton was roughly contemporary with John le Carré though the characters of Harry Palmer and George Smiley could hardly be more different!
I found the copy shown above on my shelves and must read it again. Funeral in Berlin is another cracker, but I can’t find my copy. I probably lent it to someone and never got it back…
Rest in peace, Len Deighton (1929-2026)
Beard of Ireland 2026!
Posted in Beards, Biographical, Maynooth with tags Beard of Ireland 2026, beards, ireland on March 17, 2026 by telescoperJust got back from the St Patrick’s parade in Maynooth to find that I won the Beard of Ireland poll!
Thanks to everyone who voted for me! I’m going to celebrate this evening with a traditional Irish dinner of bacon and cabbage, with a parsley sauce.
In the Dark 