Go Artemis!! Peaked into the watch party at JPL!
Posts by Dr. Alison Duck
TESS confirms what we saw with Kepler and K2 - on average, ***every single small red star has a planet around it***! And a short-period one at that (<30 days).
And you know what the galaxy is mostly made of?
Small red stars.
PLANETS. PLANETS EVERYWHERE!!!
Happy weekend pondering that, everyone.
Really interesting white paper! And a great reminder to align our methods with the outcomes we desire. If our outcomes value human discovery and wonder, our methods (and training of students) should value those too!
Front cover of the ASPIRES3 Physics report. A simple atom-style logo. Text: Young People's STEM trajectories Age 10-22
The new #ASPIRES3 Physics report is difficult reading.
Physics:
* remains male-dominated (24% fem) & privileged
* aspirations decline from the start to end of school 😔
* is considered the least interesting, most difficult science 😭
* is for brainy "geeks" 😮💨
Lots of useful recommendations though🎢🧪👩🔬⚛️
How a solar radiation storm created January 2026’s aurora
The first good auroral show of 2026 began not with a solar flare nor a coronal mass ejection, but a solar radiation (particle) storm.
It's the first big one since 2003!
bigthink.com/starts-with-...
#space #particle #sun #astro #heliophysics
Banner with the AAS logo stating "Congress has rejected the proposed cuts to NSF, NASA, and other science agencies."
Read more about the bills passed yesterday (aas.org/posts/news/2...), and thank your members of Congress today! aas.org/action-alert...
Deployment of Pandora
Now that I can take a breath, I'm SUPER EXCITED we can share that NASA's first Pioneer-class mission, Pandora, is launching this weekend, January 11, at 5:19am!!! I was the Mission Archive Scientist on the proposal, and the NASA Exoplanet Archive will host the mission data.
svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14945/
The final Calvin and Hobbes, which appeared in papers 30 years ago today.
We've added a tool to upload your published parameters to the NASA Exoplanet Archive! This tool can help us get your new planets and planet parameters onto the archive, so check it out and consider using for your next #exoplanet paper! 🔭🧪
exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/support/uplo...
First time at #AAS247? You’re not alone! ✨
Check out this orientation guide from the AAS Education Committee, created to help students and first-time attendees navigate the meeting.
🔭 aas.org/meetings/aas...
@education.aas.org
You see a black square representing the nothingness that was prior to the universe, printed in a book with a wood block. The book titled Robert Fludd "Utriusque cosmi maioris scilicet et minoris metaphysica..." (1617), Access the page: https://wellcomecollection.org/works/gbbychu2/images?id=gzy3gujm
You see the printed black square from a page in Robert Fludd's "Utriusque cosmi maioris" (1617) that represented the nothingness that was prior to the universe. The square is framed by four sentences in Latin: "Et sic in infinitum" (And so on to infinity). #earlymodern #skystorians
New orbit movie just dropped. This one is for the newly discovered circumbinary planet HD 143811 AB b. This 9-year timelapse was made through an international collaboration with me, Nathalie Jones (Northwestern graduate student), and Vito Squicciarini (Exeter postdoc)
A discovery fit for Star Wars: CIERA astronomers have directly imaged a Tatooine-like planet orbiting two suns — and it’s closer to its stars than any other directly imaged planet in a binary system. 🌟🌟🪐https://bit.ly/4q8Dfto
@thejason.wang #Exoplanets #Astronomy #Northwestern #CIERA
🚀The Roman Cycle 1 Call for Proposals is OPEN!
Unlock new discoveries with the Wide Field Instrument—your science starts here! Apply for funding to analyze Roman data, perform theory/lab research, and propose new observations. 🔭☄️
📅 Deadline: Mar 17, 2026 (5 PM PDT)
📝 bit.ly/4q3jbbL
Their input source selection in the Sco-Cen region, showing stars with (blue) and without (orange) disks.
The fraction of young stars with disks as a function of age, based on three different selection methods. All show that many stars appear to have disks to ages well beyond ~10 million years, with a median lifetime of ~5 million years!
New paper led by Fabian Polnitzcky & with @sratzenboeck.bsky.social + @joaoalves.bsky.social: based on the ages of stars with infrared excess in Sco-Cen, it seems planet-forming disks last around twice as long as previous estimates suggest - giving twice as long for planets to form. 🔭☄️ #exoplanets
In good news: "NASA Completes Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope Construction" www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasa-co...
Two technicians in clean suits inspect a the completed Roman Space Telescope in a clean room at a NASA assembly facility.
NASA has completed the construction of #NASARoman! Last month, technicians joined the inner and outer portions of the observatory in Maryland.
After final testing, Roman will move to the launch site at the Kennedy Space Center for launch preparations in summer 2026: https://go.nasa.gov/48EqnE8 🔭 🧪
You've probably heard about how the rapidly increasing numbers of satellites are affecting #astronomy. A new paper in @nature.com looks at the possible future for space-based telescopes — and finds 96% of some images could be impacted. 🧪🔭🛰️
By @jennaahart.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
I am a postdoctoral researcher at NASA JPL studying exoplanets. I would like to share my research with the broader astronomy community!
Yes
A digital flyer titled “Fireside Chat” has a starry space background with a faint campfire image. It announces a Black In Astro event on December 3, 2025, from 2–3 PM ET about storytelling in space sciences. Two speakers are featured with circular photos. The first is a smiling woman identified as Joy Jones, described as a trainer, poet, playwright, and author of books including The Sky Is Not Blue, Private Lessons, and Tambourine Moon. The second is a smiling bearded man resting his head on his hand, identified as Tim Fielder, described as an illustrator, concept designer, cartoonist, and animator known for his Afrofuturism work and the graphic novel Matty’s Rocket. The flyer notes that viewers can register on Zoom at blackinastro.com, with the Black In Astro logo in the corner.
Join us tomorrow from 2-3pm ET for a special fireside chat on the art of storytelling within space sciences! This is a free event featuring a chat and Q&A with Joy Jones and Tim Fielder. As always, the link to register can be found on our website, we hope to see you there 🌟
@bot.astronomy.blue signup
Rectangular ceramic pendant in with a Martian landscape in red and orange. Showing a tiny Perseverance Mars rover and Ingenuity helicopter flying overhead. Attached to a sterling silver chain. More pendants in the background and some jewelry tools on the edge of the frame.
[On the bench today ⚒️ #BehindTheScenes]
I'm working on these ✨amazing✨ hand-painted #mars #rover pendants as part of my collab with celestial pottery artist @amyraehill.bsky.social 🤩
All one-of-a-kind, launching soon:
sciencesocks.co/page...
🔭🐡🧪🎨
Join this month's Roman Virtual Lecture Series to learn about Photometric calibration uncertainties in stage IV supernova cosmology.
Subscribe to tinyurl.com/RVLSsubscr for call-in details!
📅 Thurs Nov 20 (Today!)
🕐 4-4:30 PM EDT
🔗 bit.ly/4m7MkjY
This is a real image of a real thing that exists in the universe! And because a bunch of humans decided to get together and build a space telescope, we get to see it! 🤯
First time in a while where I’ve had the “wait that’s an IMAGE. That’s the DATA.” double take.
The average SNAP benefit per month is $177 a person.
The average ACA benefit per month is up to $550 a person.
People want us to hold the line for a reason. This is not a matter of appealing to a base. It’s about people’s lives.
And working people want leaders whose word means something to them.
Screenshot of the NASA Exoplanet Archive overview page for HD 4113, a triple star system with three differently coloured stars (one of which has a planet, HD 4113 b).
Hey you. YES YOU. Super persnickety astronomer. You know who you are.
NASA Exoplanet Archive just updated our overview pages so the stars are closer to their actual colours, as per Harre & Heller (2021) and Cranmer (2021).
You're welcome. 😎
(You can thank @kevinkhu.bsky.social!)