Congratulations to second-year DPhil student Mitchell Yzer on his highlight talk at UKExom! He gave an amazing overview of how to detect technosignatures in exoplanet atmospheres using the ELT! Lots more exciting work to come out of his research!
Congratulations to DPhil student Alex McGinty on his fantastic UKExom presentation concerning the GCM modelling of the ultrashort-period planet TOI-561b. He's been making comparisons to the JWST phase curve, results are still in prep so cannot post, but look interesting!
Congratulations to Dr Harrison Nicholls (@nichollsh.bsky.social) on his UKExom talk: "Super-Earth lava planet from birth to observation: photochemistry, tidal heating, and volatile-rich formation"
Congratulations to Dr Richard Chatterjee on his UKExom talk, all about how to retain an atmosphere around ultrahot rocky exoplanets! Specific attention to 55 cancri e and TOI-561b
Congratulations to Dr Erik Meier on his UKExom talk, "Terrestrial worlds with a substantial secondary atmosphere or bare rocks?" He gives a great overview of the Hot Rocks Survey
Congratulations to Dr Baptiste Klein (@astroklein.bsky.social) on his talk at #UKExoM meeting in Bristol. He explains how he accounts for stellar variability when studying exoplanets at high resolution!
"Cuts to fundamental research will hurt the UK’s leadership in astronomy" @oxfordphysics.bsky.social @oxoplanets.bsky.social @chrislintott.bsky.social
share.google/h6vxAO3C1PE5...
Congratulations to DPhil student John Allen on his poster talk and presentation! He’s been doing lots of interesting GCM modelling of WASP-76b and comparing his results to the recently observed JWST phase curve!
Ever wonder where the science landed on bio-signatures on exoplanets? Our @oxfordphysics.bsky.social colleague @astrojake.bsky.social has written up a succinct summary of the drama and what the latest paper adds.
It's a good read!
astrojake.substack.com/p/the-k2-18b...
🔭🧪 #planetsci
Update: it was a blast! I enjoyed being in the front row for talks by Nick Tosca, Tim Woollings, Carly Howett, Hal Drakesmith, and Frankie Dunn alongside their associated panel discussions, as well as the traditional Planets Day 2 breakout discussion and pitch session.
It’s Planets Day! We’ve gathered researchers from across Oxford to discuss questions on the possibility of complex life throughout the universe. A great mix of expertise here today bringing many exciting conversations! opal.physics.ox.ac.uk/planetsday2/...
Coverage in The Guardian for Harrison's Nature Astronomy paper on L 98-59d. This paper involved a number of other current and former members of the Oxford PCD group.
www.theguardian.com/science/2026...
None of this would have been possible without my amazing collaborators, I’m excited to work with them and begin to understand the climate of these alien worlds!
Happy birthday to me! And what an amazing birthday present, 112 hours of JWST time to observe the emission spectra of 9 hot Jupiters! Looking back at previously awarded programs, I think this might be the largest number of hours awarded to a UK PI to study exoplanet atmospheres!
Fiona Henderson ( @oxfordphysics.bsky.social ) and I have written a new article for @theconversation.com on what a #Moon base could look like.
Fi's a lunar scientist and did a great job, check it out!
🧪🔭 #planetsci
theconversation.com/nasa-plans-t...
Planets Day 2026 is a one-day meeting for researchers interested in how planets work; how to observe them; and how they could develop complex life. If you work/study in any Oxford school or department check the link in bio for more.
📍 16 March, 9am to 6pm, Jesus College, Oxford.
For the SPIMAX seminar today we had Matthias Heim from the Technical University of Munich giving a talk about his work using machine learning to study the atmospheres of exoplanets, you can read more about the work here: arxiv.org/abs/2502.18045
For the final Astrophysics colloquium of term, we had Asst. Prof Anjali Piette from the University of Birmingham give us a whirlwind tour of studying lava worlds, sub Neptunes, and hot Jupiters with JWST!
Congratulations to Dr Tobias Meier (@tgmeier.bsky.social) on the publication of his paper "Mantle Convection and Nightside Volcanism on Lava World K2-141 b" featuring 12 former and current Oxoplanet members! You can read the paper here: arxiv.org/abs/2603.02408
Congratulations Shubham on your successful PhD viva! Here's to a bright future exploring #Venus
#planetsci
Congratulations to Dr Annabella Meech (@annabellameech.bsky.social) on the publication of her paper "JWST COMPASS: A NIRSpec G395H Transmission Spectrum of Radius Valley-Dweller TOI-260 b", read it here: arxiv.org/abs/2602.22329
Elsie’s the best in the game. arxiv.org/abs/2602.19687 🔭 #astrocode
Very interesting Astrophysics colloquium given today by Prof David Kipping (@davidkipping.bsky.social) about the role of Bayesianism and Anthropics in searches for life. Excited to see the paper published! Much to think about when it comes to finding life with future space telescopes.
Today we had a wonderful seminar given by Dr Clémence Fontanive about brown dwarf binaries and how they can tell us about the formation and evolution of substellar objects!
Want to learn more about #space and #solarsystem research going on at Oxford?
Join us Feb 24 at Jesus College for our big public outreach event:
www.jesus.ox.ac.uk/digital-hub-...
We'll have short talks, opportunities to ask an expert, and service by the Market Tap!
@oxfordphysics.bsky.social
🔭🧪
Today’s Astrophysics colloquium was given by Dr Johanna Vos (@johannavos.bsky.social) about exoplanet weather! Very cool learning how we can study clouds, winds, and aurora on exoplanetary worlds!
Congratulations, @nichollsh.bsky.social! Your thesis was a joy to read, and it was great to get to know you over the past 1.5 years. I look forward to seeing the research that you and Oli get up to at Cambridge. Perhaps almost as impressive was your AOPP champagne cork shot! Video below.
Very pleased to share that I have been awarded a Pass, with no corrections, following my DPhil defence at Oxford AOPP (@oxoplanets.bsky.social).
My thanks go to Paolo Sossi and @tadkomacek.bsky.social for their valuable input on my thesis, and their thoughtful suggestions for future directions.
Four Oxford researchers have been honoured in the Royal Astronomical Society’s 2026 Awards.
Congratulations to:
Prof Suzanne Aigrain
Dr Deaglan Bartlett
Prof Andrew Bunker
Associate Prof. Paula Koelemeijer
Find out more ⬇️
With Ariel facing delays, @esa.int Comet Interceptor has found a new ride with a commercial Arian 6 launch customer.
Comet Interceptor will carry MIRMIS being built by @oxfordphysics.bsky.social
🔭🧪 #planetsci
spacenews.com/esas-comet-i...