Happy birthday #ESA #XMM-Newton! I just love the breadth of science that an observatory can achieve: from understanding Jupiter's aurora to what happens very close to black holes or inside neutron stars. And I also love than when building a space mission with a nominal lifetime of 4 years & then successfully operate it for 25+, with it still delivering cutting edge science as if it weren't a grandparent of a mission! ▶️ https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/XMM-Newton/XMM-Newton_celebrates_25_years_of_breakthroughs #XraysAreTheBestRays #astrodon #xmmnewton

I absolutely love the American book store in The #Hague - we do habe an English bookstore in Leiden, but I have zero trouble leaving that one without buying anything. I've even been known entering it in search for a book that would catch my fancy and leaving empty handed. Not so this one in The Hague. I honestly only wanted two very well defined fantasy books. Well... (they did not have the other books I wanted). And this is me holding back, honest! #bookstodon

A thing I started doing: when people cancel a meeting with me because they don't feel well or just say that they prefer to work from home that day because they are slightly sniffy or their throat is scratchy, I don't just say "sure, no problem" but explicitly thank them. There is, whether we want or not, pressure that people feel to come to work even if they don't feel 100%. It's important to acknowledge when someone actively works against this.

Some exciting stuff to look forward to this weekend: #ESA's and #JAXA's #BepiColombo will make its fifth #Mercury flyby on Sunday! ▶️ https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2024/11/BepiColombo_s_fifth_Mercury_flyby Flybys are not just exiting because of all the flight dynamics & trajectory magic, but also because we can actually use them to do science! For example, during the third flyby, scientists were able to map the magnetosphere of Mercury: ▶️ https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/BepiColombo/Mercury_s_magnetic_landscape_mapped_in_30_minutes #astrodon #SolarSystem

Rain and light. #Leiden