Statistically, our current four-transit spectrum of TRAPPIST-1e can also be fit by a flat line (i.e. a featureless spectrum). So we can't rule out a bare rock with these data.
There's also the important caveat that an incomplete stellar contamination correction could also imprint spectral features.
Poster describing public talk by Mathias Maurer
In Göttingen tonight? Check out the public talk by @esa.int astronaut @astromatthias.esa.int at 19:00. The talk will be held in German at the central campus of @uni-goettingen.de
quantum25.dpg-tagungen.de/nachrichten/...
Terence Tao (@teorth.bsky.social) has written a thread on Mastodon about the impact of the federal grant freeze to UCLA, particularly to his own field of Mathematics. UCLA's IPAM (Institute of Pure and Applied Mathematics) could shut down entirely
mathstodon.xyz/@tao/1149568...
Here is my colleague Adam Riess, Nobel laureate, sharing his thoughts on advocating for science at a recent event at the US Capitol.
aas.org/posts/news/2...
We are saddened to report the passing of Cyril Hazard (18 March 1928 – 14 June 2025). Cyril was a pioneering radio astronomer whose work on quasars helped transform our understanding of the Universe. www.ast.cam.ac.uk/news/cyril-h...
Li Yusen Bok Prize winner
Professor Naomi McLure Griffiths, Ellery Lecture winner
Congratulations to Professor Naomi McClure-Griffiths and Li Yusen from ANU who are among six astronomers to receive awards at the Annual Scientific Meeting of the Australian Astronomy Society in 2025.
Read more: science.anu.edu.au/news-events/...
As always, a very nice talk from Francois Lanusse: Generative Al for Inverse Problems and Forecasting
Slides: eiffl.github.io/talks/Paris2...
Learn more about the reconciliation bill being voted on by the House today, and how this is different from the appropriations process that determines funding for our federal science agencies:
Anybody got a picture of Annie Walker? Possibly first British professional astronomer, later moved to Oz. www.theguardian.com/science/2025...
This includes working with all these excellent partners:
- Intl. Science School
- @spaceaustralia.com
- @sydney.edu.au
- @ozgrav.bsky.social
- ARC CoE Dark Matter
- Swinburne Uni.
- Wheeler Centre
- @queersinscience.bsky.social
Keep an eye out for event pages and ticket links!
2/3 🔭
Ziteng (Andy) Wang @zitengwang.bsky.social tells the story behind the discovery of this unusual long period transient, in his article for @aunz.theconversation.com.
theconversation.com/x-rays-have-...
#RadioAstronomy #AstroSci
A field of galaxies in space, dominated by an enormous, bright-white elliptical galaxy that is the core of a massive galaxy cluster. Many other elliptical galaxies can be seen around it. Also around it are short, curved, glowing red lines, which are images of distant background galaxies magnified and warped by gravitational lensing. A couple of foreground stars appear large and bright with long spikes around them.
Totalling around 120 hours of observing time, this is the longest the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope has ever focused on a single target.
The deep field aims to probe the Cosmic Dawn, when the Universe was only a few million years old.
Read more 👉 www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed...
🔭 🧪 ☄️
I am super excited to be hosting the incredible Katie Mack
@astrokatie.com presenting "The End of Everything" at the University of Sydney @sydney.edu.au
Join us on July 10 to learn about five ways the Universe might die!
Registration is free...
www.sydney.edu.au/engage/event...
⚛️ #Astronomy ⚛️
One of the largest coronal holes observed by SDO is now facing Earth!
#heliophysics
#Radioastronomy #job alert. We’re looking to hire a Lead Scientist for Parkes Observatory. Murriyang, our 64m radio telescope, aka The Dish is currently getting an exciting upgrade with commissioning of the CryoPAF instrument. Check out this job at CSIRO: jobs.csiro.au/job/Parkes%2...
Was treibt Europas #Raumfahrt voran? Professor Thomas Zurbuchen spricht über seine Vision für ETH Zürich Space, die Stärken Europas, Herausforderungen im Vergleich zu den USA – und warum Mut, Teamgeist und Innovation entscheidend für die Zukunft im All sind.
Jetzt lesen:
First images from the Square Kilometre Array Low Frequency (SKA-Low)!
Taken with only 1,024 of the planned 131,072 antennas, and it's already looking good :)
#RadioAstronomy
The disappearance of Gaia!
On 4 March, astronomer Zhuo-Xiao Wang captured this view of the sudden disappearance of ESA’s Gaia spacecraft.
Credit: Zhuo-Xiao Wang, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
Observations performed on 4 March 2025 using an 11-inch telescope from Beijing, China (MPC site code: P13).
So cool! #technosignature #radioastronomy
In a short RNAAS note now on arxiv, arxiv.org/abs/2503.07972 I discuss in more detail the suggestion of Loeb and Cloete that 'dark comet' 2005 VL1 is actually the old Venera-2 space probe. (It's not.)
👀👀👀
Two exciting preprints today from Aussie institutions and scientists! 🔭☄️
1. A 41-sec radio pulsar!
Slowest pulsar we know about is ~23-secs and then there are these mysterious long-period transients that have rotations periods of mins to hours.
This one fits between them!
PUNCH is orbiting and all four spacecraft are Sun-pointed. I can sleep now. ☀️🛰️🔭🚀
Submitted your PhD in the last three years (but before 2025)?
There is an *awesome* prize fellowship for you at Macquarie in Sydney: the Lighthouse Fellowship.
If you're into exoplanets, stars, and/or stats, get in touch with me or any of the other faculty and we can talk about it!
Tired of wondering which atomic lines are in your spectra? You need:
*whose line is it anyway?* An interactive tool for identifying atomic spectral lines. 🧪🔭 #stars
install:
pip install whoseline
source:
github.com/bmorris3/who...
We are looking for an Observatory Manager to lead the team at Parkes Observatory. Yes, come work at Murriyang, otherwise known as The Dish. #radioastronomy
jobs.csiro.au/job/Parkes%2...
The introductory paragraph from the Nature article describing the first detection of radio emission from the Sun. The title is "Solar Radiations in the 4-6 Metre Radio Wave-Length Band". The author is J. S. Hey. The full article is available here: https://www.nature.com/articles/157047b0
Reading back through #RadioAstronomy transients history.
The first variable phenomenon detected in radio waves was a flare from our own Sun.
This snippet from Nature describes the result (discovered in 1942, but published in 1946 due to military restrictions).
www.nature.com/articles/157...
Sharing this proposed Sydney Harbour Area Stars and Planets Meeting link, organised by my supervisor, Dr Ben Montet
doodle.com/group-poll/p...
Details in the images, link for getting a consensus on dates.
I’ll likely present so please come!
Interesting! This is getting to be comparable to stars with spots.
Eg Table 1, P_rot column of this Strassmeier review article.
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Hot off the press!
One of my students, Yu Wing (Joshua) Lee, has discovered a new radio transient (along with @manishacaleb.bsky.social).
Read more about "The Stellar Object That’s Too Slow to Shine" in their Conversation article:
theconversation.com/blinking-rad...
#RadioAstronomy
