Stuart Atkinson

@stuartatkinson.bsky.social

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Amateur astronomer and author of science fiction and science reference books, including "A Cat's Guide to The Night Sky". Fascinated by Mars since knee high to R2D2 and owned by a very demanding rescue cat called Jess.

Half a dozen images taken by the Mars rover Curiosity, stitched together to make a panoramic view of features on the horizon. Processor Stuart Atkinson has named this "The Clayborne Range" in honour of geologist Ann Clayborne, a character from Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy. It is not a name used by NASA but he says he will keep using it and ask others to until NASA either adopts the name or bans him from using it!
The surface of Mars as seen by the Viking 1 lander, in July 1976
Mosaic of multiple images sent back by the Mars rover Perseverance, showing the "yardang" geological features at the end of the valley it is currently driving up. The name "The Clayborne Range" is Stuart Atkinson's completely unofficial nickname for the feature, intended to honour the fictional character geologist Ann Clayborne, from Kim Stanley Robinson's "Mars" SF trilogy.
Stitched together and processed mosaic of images taken by the Curiosity rover on Mars on July 9th, showing "yardangs" up ahead.
Multiple images of the skyline up ahead of the Curiosity rover in early July 2026, stitched together and processed by S Atkinson. I think this view is Mars at its magnificent best. PLEASE, rover team, call this "The Clayborne Range" in honour of passionate geologist Ann Clayborne from Red Mars! Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/fredk/S Atkinson
A selection of old and new photos of Jess, the black and white rescue cat which owns astronomy author and image processor Stuart Atkinson, to mark the 9th anniversary of the day she was brought from her foster carer to her new home.
Processed mosaic panorama of several individual images taken by the Curiosity rover
View of a butte on Mars named "Mira Flores". This image is half a dozen different images stitched together to make a single mosaic.
Mosaic of three images taken by the Perseverance Mars rover, a "selfie" using a camera on the end of its robot arm.
Composite image showing the Moon and the Sun as imaged using the SeeStar S50 telescope owned by amateur astronomer Stuart Atkinson
The 8" Dobsonian reflector telescope belonging to amateur astronomer and writer Stuart Atkinson, photographed at a campsite in Wales
Stitched together/processed mosaic of four individual images taken by the Perseverance Mars Rover. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/S Atkinson
Image shows writer Stuart Atkinson sitting outside his caravan on holiday, doing absolutely NO work whatsoever... :-)
mosaic of images sent back by the Curiosity Mars rover showing dunes of dust formed by the Martian winds
Must confess to being more than a little bit obsessed with this cute butte on Mars, which the Curiosity rover is currently trundling past... Mars is a world of magnificent geological features - including a volcano (Olympus Mons) 3x higher than Everest & big enough to cover France, a valley (Valles Marineris) so long it would stretch from London to New York if it was on Earth, and an enormous ice cap around its north pole with wind-carved orange & white swirls like Solero ice cream - but now and then one of the rovers squeaks & rumbles its way past a much smaller scale feature, like a crumbling cliff, or a terraced ledge, or even just a single large rock, which is just as fascinating, and this butte, "Mira Flores", is one of those features. For who knows how many millions of years this ancient stone sentinel has stood here on the floor of the valley Curiosity is working her way up, high on the slopes of Mt Sharp in the centre of Gale Crater. Its top is covered in dust, blown over it by the whispering Martian winds, its sides are crumbling & eroded, Mars is slowly smothering & devouring it... but now, after standing there alone for millenia, with no-one to see it, it is being studied and photographed by a passing nuclear-powered robot geologist, sent to Barsoom by the curious creatures which live on the bright, sapphire-blue star which sometimes shines in the sky above it. This is probably the best view we'll have of Mira Flores. Curiosity is driving past it on her way to the landscape further up the valley, and she won't return this way again. Paniri will get smaller and smaller in the rover's rear view cameras until it's lost from sight, and it won't be seen again until the first human explorers or tourists trek out to it, maybe in another half a century's time. So, take a moment to enjoy this brief, historic close encounter of the geological kind between a rocky Martian mound and a rover sent from an alien planet.
Image of Jess, Stuart Atkinson's rescue cat, after being tucked up in bed for the night