A scale illustration of the Earth and the Moon, with the Earth on the far left, lots of black, and then the Moon on the far right, about 30 Earth diameters away.

In honor of (hopefully) today's launch of NASA's Artemis II mission, the first crewed mission to orbit the Moon in more than 50 years, here is a to-scale graphic of exactly how far away the Moon actually is. (Click image to expand.) You could fit about 30 Earths between the Earth and the Moon!

Disentangling auroral, cloud and magnetic spot driven variability in three early L-dwarfs with HST/WFC3 Variability monitoring provides an unparalleled insight into the atmospheric processes of brown dwarfs and directly imaged exo-planets. Inhomogeneous clouds, aurorae and magnetic spots have all been p...

I am delighted to share that my first paper has now been accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics and is now on the arXiv!! arxiv.org/abs/2603.24663

In this paper I disentangle the drivers of variability in three early L-dwarfs using HST/WFC3. More info below 🧵!!

TWO recently accepted papers on arxiv today from our group, led by PhD students @maddielam.bsky.social and @astrotoole.bsky.social. If you like brown dwarfs, variability, clouds, aurorae and/or magnetic spots there is something here for you! 👀

arxiv.org/abs/2603.24662
arxiv.org/abs/2603.24663

Clouds with a silicate lining: Using JWST spectra to probe atmospheric diversity in young AB Dor L dwarfs We present the first full JWST NIRSpec Prism and MIRI LRS 0.6 - 14 $μ$m (R ~ 100) spectra and analysis of five ~ 133 Myr L dwarf members of the AB Doradus moving group and one probable $\sim 500$ Myr ...

Proud to announce that my first PhD paper has now been accepted and is live on arXiv!! arxiv.org/abs/2603.24662
In this paper I provide the first analyses of JWST spectra of a sample of young, co-eval L dwarfs, focusing on the silicate absorption and whether there are any equator-to-pole variations.

The left-hand and centre panels are examples of the final processed LBT/ALES + dgvAPP360 images produced when the data were median-combined in both time and wavelength. Left: the case where no artificial companions were injected to the data, so only the bright host star HD 1160 A and its bonafide companion HD 1160 B is visible. Centre: similar to the left-hand panel, but three artificial companions have been injected at 90° intervals in position angle from HD 1160 B. All three artificial companions were injected with contrasts of 2.88 x 10^(-3) (6.35 mag) relative to the host star. This image is a composite; for the purposes of the analysis, only one companion was injected at a time. Right: a single frame of data highlighting examples of the apertures (solid lines) and annuli (dashed lines) used to extract photometry and background measurements for the host star (in green) and artificial companions (in blue). The left-hand and centre panels use the same arbitrary logarithmic colour scale, while the right-hand panel uses a different one, and all three panels are aligned to north, where north is up and east is to the left.

Published in #MNRAS: "Chasing the storm: investigating the application of high-contrast imaging techniques in producing precise exoplanet light curves", Sutlieff et al. This is Fig. 1: for the caption & to read the paper please visit academic.oup.com/mnras/articl... @royalastrosoc.bsky.social

With thanks to my co-authors! Including those on Bluesky - @jaynebirkby.bsky.social, @mattkenworthy.bsky.social, @jarron.bsky.social, @luke-parker.bsky.social

A screenshot of Fig. 3 from the Sutlieff et al. 2025 paper consisting of 3 columns of 3 images per column. Simulated images of a star and companion for a different Zernike mode are shown in each column at three different observing times. Different Zernike modes modify the shape of the star/companion images in a different way, so while these aberrations remain static, the brightness of the companion can artificially appear to change as it moves through the image and over the aberrations.

A screenshot of Fig. 5 from the Sutlieff et al. 2025 paper consisting of 3 images, each one a simulated image of a star and companion, with a different additional noise source added for each image from the left to the right. The left-hand panel shows the image with only the residual wavefront error after adaptive optics correction. The star and companion are both clearly visible. The centre panel shows the same image but now with simulated photon noise added, making the image appear more noisy and the companion less distinguished. The right panel is the same again but now including noise from the thermal background. The background of the image behind the star is now very bright and the companion cannot be seen.

But, turbulence in Earth's atmosphere adds noise that makes this tricky. Here, we used real & simulated observations to test the impact of specific noise sources. TL;DR - the thermal background is the main source of noise, but varying planets are typically distinguishable from non-varying planets 🔭

Chasing the storm: Investigating the application of high-contrast imaging techniques in producing precise exoplanet light curves Substellar companions such as exoplanets and brown dwarfs exhibit changes in brightness arising from top-of-atmosphere inhomogeneities, providing insights into their atmospheric structure and dynamics...

And while I'm at it, a belated promo for my latest first-author paper (out late last year). I've been using APP coronagraphs as a tool to look for changes in brightness in imaged companions (exoplanets & brown dwarfs) due to variations in their atmospheres such as clouds or radiative convection 🪐🔭

A screenshot of Fig. 1 from the Kenworthy et al. 2026 paper with two panels. The left panel shows the phase pattern design of the Apodizing Phase Plate (APP) coronagraph on the ERIS instrument. The right panel shows a simulated image, which contains the multiple images of a target star produced by the APP. Two of them have D-shaped dark holes, regions of high-contrast in which fainter companions can be observed.

These coronagraphs are weird & wonderful things - most coronagraphs block the star that you're observing to let you see faint planets, but APPs modify the light to produce multiple images of the star, with high-contrast 'dark holes'. So, you can see planets and their host stars at the same time 🔭

The VLT/ERIS grating vector Apodizing Phase Plate coronagraph We describe the design, laboratory manufacture, and on-sky testing of the grating vector apodizing phase plate (gvAPP) coronagraph for the Enhanced Resolution Imager and Spectrograph (ERIS) on the Ver...

For all the coronagraph fans out there: I'm pleased to share our paper (led by @mattkenworthy.bsky.social) on the design & performance of the Apodizing Phase Plate coronagraph for the ERIS instrument at the Very Large Telescope + our recommendations for using it to study exoplanets & brown dwarfs 🪐🔭

A pen sketch of a web page for an astronomer, showing name, email, optional phone number, and professional contact details, with a one sentence summary of their research and an ADS link.

My periodic reminder for #astrosci #astrodon #exoplanets Early Career Researchers to please, please, please have a simple web site with your current email address on it - rationale here: kenworthy.space/advice/

A selfie of me smiling in front of The Storr, a mountain on the Trotternish peninsula of the Isle of Skye in Scotland, which has several unique jagged rock formations.

The view from the summit of Blà Bheinn, a mountain on the Isle of Skye that has stunning views over a large area of the island including the Black Cuillin ridge, a famous mountain range that gets its name from the dark colour of the gabbro rock it is composed of.

A photo of the cliffs at Neist Point, the headland that represents the westernmost point of the Isle of Skye. There is a yellow and white lighthouse on the top of the cliffs with green hills in the foreground. There is a seabird colony on the cliffs themselves, perched high above the sea.

A photo of Dun Beag Broch shortly after sunset. Dun Beag Broch is an iron-age broch, largely in ruins today but the walls can still be seen. There are mountains in the distance and the sky is a sunset gradient of blue to orange.

Swapped ‘on sky’ in the astronomical sense for ‘on Skye’ in the Scottish sense last week - I’d been meaning to visit this stunningly beautiful place since moving to Edinburgh and it definitely lived up to expectations! So many amazing hikes and things to see (+ we even had surprisingly good weather)

Different telescope mirror apertures and their resultant point spread functions.

Together with Sebastiaan Haffert our review on “High-Contrast Coronagraphy” is out - writing an ARA&A review has been on my academic bucket list, and I’m very proud of the result. It uses the showyourwork! framework, making it a completely reproducible paper. #FAIR #astrodon #exoplanets

I’m around in Edinburgh! Am otherwise occupied this weekend but can maybe meet up in the week if that works? (also let me know if you fancy a visit to the ROE and have time - I’m sure the other exoplanet folks here would be keen to talk to you!)

Congratulations to Dr Ben Sutlieff (@bensutlieff.bsky.social) for his pop up talk describing his poster about mapping exoplanet atmospheres with ground based observations 🔭 #ukexom25

Wow, these are beautiful! Looking forward to following this thread!

Please help us get the word out: our 6 wk astrophysics 🧪🔭summer research program for international MSc students is open for application! Note this is aimed at students from disadvantaged regions or under-represented groups in astro! I will host one position on black holes ⚫️!

aspire.science.uva.nl

With astronomy job season approaching, if you’re a PhD or early postdoc, PLEASE make a webpage and put your current contact details on it, so that searching for “< your name > astronomer” finds you first - more explanation how and why here: Unsolicited Advice #astrodon 🔭🪐

Sharks are older than the rings of Saturn.

This paper finds that the rings are no older than 400M years. Sharks date back to at least the Late Ordovician Period, 450M years ago.

Lovely to go on the Dirleton Solar Walk and see some of what @bensutlieff.bsky.social has been up to 🪐
Would definitely recommend, and Neptune is near a great garden centre if you need cake motivation.

Yes, it was such a beautiful morning! A really lovely welcome for my first visit to the city.

A leafy grassy verge, surrounded by trees, sports a tall pole with a silver orb on top. This is the start of the Dirleton solar walk.

A sign showing the location of all the planets. It reads "welcome to the Direction Solar Walk" with a cute walking astronaut cartoon logo

Inside on a table and all lined up are the planet markers before they were installed in the outside. You can see the swirly pinks on Jupiter and the pockmarks on mercury. Bluer planets for Neptune uranyst and earth are in the distance with red mars right at the end of the table

A wooden marker saying "Earth" with a perspex earth like planet on the top. The autumnal leaves scatter the grass verge with trees surround a sort of grassy paddock in the background.

Calling the Lothians - fancy an autumnal planet walk?

The beautiful historic village of #Dirleton is proud to announce that dirleton.solar is open! 🥳😎

Take a stroll from the Sun in the village through to Neptune at the Archerfield Walled Gardens. Scan the QR codes for planet-facts en route! 🔭

Discover the wonders of space and the Solar System with the Dirleton Solar Walk | Dirleton Solar System Scale Model Discover the solar system, one step at a time through our 1:3.6 billion scale model. Spanning 1.2km between Dirleton Village and Archerfield Walled Gardens, experience the enormity of our solar system...

For those in Scotland, Dan Arnold has just completed the Dirleton Solar Walk - dirleton.solar - a scale model of the solar system, with help from @astroroyalscot.bsky.social , @bensutlieff.bsky.social , @astronomyedinburgh.bsky.social and others listed on the supporters page. #astronomy

Getting there. Plan your journey to the Dirleton Solar Walk | Dirleton Solar System Scale Model Plan your visit to the Dirleton Solar Walk using our maps, tips and information. Once you are here, explore our great local facilities, making use of our detailed map or what3words location markers. ...

Just found out that some of the talented people at work helped with this project to make a walk that takes you through the solar system in the very lovely heart of East Lothian.

Definitely on the list to try out soon.

dirleton.solar/flight-plan

Lastly, thank you very much to @astroroyalscot.bsky.social for introducing me to the team, and to @martinwhitfieldmsp.bsky.social and @brionya.bsky.social for joining us for the grand opening today!

Discover the wonders of space and the Solar System with the Dirleton Solar Walk | Dirleton Solar System Scale Model Discover the solar system, one step at a time through our 1:3.6 billion scale model. Spanning 1.2km between Dirleton Village and Archerfield Walled Gardens, experience the enormity of our solar system...

Massive congrats to everyone that worked so hard to make this happen - it was led by Dan Arnold @heriotwattuni.bsky.social, with support from Dirleton Primary School, the Astronomical Society of Edinburgh (@astronomyedinburgh.bsky.social @mikechristie.bsky.social), the local council, and many more.

A sign showing a map of the Dirleton Solar Walk, with information describing its scale (1:3.6 billon) and instructions on how to access its augmented reality features for each planet.

Myself next to the marker for the planet Jupiter, which consists of a fence post with a sign on top showing an artistic representation of Jupiter and a metallic ball representing its relative size according to the scale. There is also a QR code linking to information about the planet and an AR representation.

The marker for the planet Saturn, with a view of the countryside around Dirleton.

Myself and my colleague Gergely Friss attempting to demonstrate the augmented reality visualisation of the planet Neptune. I am trying to hold the planet but my hands are in totally the wrong place.

Very excited to be at the opening of the Dirleton Solar Walk today - a scale model of our Solar System in the East Lothian countryside, placed over 1.2km of the John Muir Way walking route! 🪐🔭 This was a really fun project to support and I highly recommend it for those local, esp. for kids/families!

A photo of some bollards in Dundee, Scotland. Some are standard black bollards, but several are designed to look like penguins, emphasising Dundee’s connection to the Antarctic.

Also these excellent penguin bollards 🐧

The RSS Discovery, a historic barque-rigged auxiliary steamship built in Dundee and launched in 1901. It carried Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton on their first journey to the Antarctic. It is now a museum ship in Dundee.

A view over the River Tay, just before sunrise. The sky is yellow and the water is reflective like a mirror. A bird (a cormorant, I think) is swimming by.

The McManus art gallery in Dundee. It is an impressive gothic revival building with green trees on either side and a curved staircase leading up to the main entrance.

The view as seen from Dundee Law (a hill in Dundee) shortly after sunrise, with the sun low in the sky to the east. The city below is in the foreground with the River Tay behind it. The Tay Rail Bridge over the river can be seen.

In Dundee yesterday for the Scottish Universities Physics Alliance Annual Cormack Astronomy Meeting (longest conference name ever? 🔭) with @agastro.bsky.social, @dirkscholte.bsky.social, and others. A full day of talks, but still managed to sneak in a little bit of sunrise sightseeing!

Reposting this video because I think everyone needs to see it. We’re so used to seeing Martian dust storms in movies, but this is actual footage, this is real! 🔭