iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Érika Le Bourdais @astroerika.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

I once heard "status quo doesn’t feel political when you benefit from it" and I think about that a lot!

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Érika Le Bourdais @astroerika.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

This grad student is scared because what do you mean some people seriously suggest the weekend for meetings?! 😳

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Reposted by Érika Le Bourdais

Kevin Hardegree-Ullman @kevinkhu.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

In recent years, Astronomy on Tap events have grown, hopefully reaching audiences that wouldn't normally go to public talks. However, as an astronomer who doesn't drink and has exactly zero interest in doing outreach at bars, are there other creative outlets you've seen for non-standard outreach? 🔭

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Reposted by Érika Le Bourdais

Galaxy Map @galaxymap.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

Here we go! Gaia DR4 now has an official release date: 2 December 2026. If you have been following the Gaia Mission closely, you will know that DR4 has had a sliding release date, from the end of 2025, to mid 2026 to "end of 2026". But now the date is locked. www.cosmos.esa.int/web/gaia/dat...

cosmos.esa.int

Data Release 4 - Gaia - Cosmos

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Érika Le Bourdais @astroerika.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

University of Montréal has been the home of a falcon family for almost twenty years and you can watch their habitat live here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmf0... The parents have been brooding their three eggs for over a week now! 🐣

youtube.com

Faucons UdeM - Caméra 2

YouTube video by Faucons UdeM

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Reposted by Érika Le Bourdais

Katie Mack @astrokatie.com · 23/04/2026

When Einstein developed general relativity the closest thing to a practical application that could even be imagined at the time was a slightly more precise description of where to look for the planet Mercury in the sky, and yet now we’d all be literally lost without it. Anyway: fund basic research.

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Érika Le Bourdais @astroerika.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

I went to bed crying last night because I was so proud of seeing women leading science and so many women at Mission Control! This motivates me a lot for my future as an astrophysicist! 🥹 #Artemis 🌑

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Érika Le Bourdais @astroerika.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

This is what the whole exoplanet field looks like to me!

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Érika Le Bourdais @astroerika.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

Really proud to announce that my #JWSTCycle5 program as PI to observe a really unique dead planetary system has been accepted!! 🔭🪐

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Érika Le Bourdais @astroerika.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

So yesterday was not the day! With now 30 votes, the people are saying March 17 is the day! #JWSTCycle5 🔭

Bar chart of a poll for when the JWST Cycle 5 results will be announced. Most people have voted for March 17.

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Érika Le Bourdais @astroerika.bsky.social · 11/03/2026

Out of 25 votes, today seems likely. We’ll see, we’ll see… #JWSTCycle5

Bar graph of a poll about when the JWST Cycle 5 results will come out. Most people think either March 11th or March 17th

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Reposted by Érika Le Bourdais

Érika Le Bourdais @astroerika.bsky.social · 10/03/2026

Couldn’t resist the urge to open a poll: www.menti.com/alci2gt3qrsm #JWSTCycle5

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Érika Le Bourdais @astroerika.bsky.social · 10/03/2026

Couldn’t resist the urge to open a poll: www.menti.com/alci2gt3qrsm #JWSTCycle5

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Reposted by Érika Le Bourdais

Matt Bothwell @mattbothwell.com · 25/02/2026

This is so cool! You can see that at solar maximum (around 2002, 2013, and 2024 ish) HST drops more rapidly, because the increased solar activity puffs up the atmosphere, increasing drag on orbiting satellites 🧪🔭

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Érika Le Bourdais @astroerika.bsky.social · 09/01/2026

This is agreed by me who’s babysitting my godfather’s 3000 sqft house this week. (who needs 5 bathrooms tho)

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Érika Le Bourdais @astroerika.bsky.social · 05/01/2026

One of my favourite game to play in Arizona is Where’s Rafi?

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Reposted by Érika Le Bourdais

Santiago Mayer @santiagomayer.com · 31/12/2025

Timezones are so weird. Australia is in 2026, Canada is in 2025, and the United States is in 1939.

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Érika Le Bourdais @astroerika.bsky.social · 30/12/2025

Rumor has it that (me) discovering a super old, super massive and super active zombie planetary system made the list of the most exciting exoplanet (yes, exoplanet!!) discoveries of 2025! Yay white dwarfs! 🥹🔭

space.com

The most exciting exoplanet discoveries of 2025

New discoveries and fresh looks at familiar worlds show how far exoplanet science has come — and how much remains unknown.

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Érika Le Bourdais @astroerika.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

The search for planets around stellar remnants is a really interesting quest!! Glad to offer some tiny help to @mustaric.bsky.social and @johndebes.bsky.social on this project! 🔭🪐

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Érika Le Bourdais @astroerika.bsky.social · 04/12/2025

Really important thread! Most importantly: stop comparing yourself to others and focus on yourself!

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Reposted by Érika Le Bourdais

Dr. Jessie Christiansen @aussiastronomer.bsky.social · 22/11/2025

It’s Friday night. I’ve done enough this week. You’ve done enough this week.

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Érika Le Bourdais @astroerika.bsky.social · 18/11/2025

Glad I wasn’t alone in this adventure.

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Reposted by Érika Le Bourdais

Andrew Mann @amann.bsky.social · 12/11/2025

One day the universe will contain only dark energy and JWST proposals.

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Érika Le Bourdais @astroerika.bsky.social · 07/11/2025

Super interesting project I’ve been working on lately where we try do detect exoplanets orbiting white dwarf stars! My colleague John explains here one of our recent results! 🔭

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Érika Le Bourdais @astroerika.bsky.social · 04/11/2025

I will cite this paper forever and ever, I promise! 🥳

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Érika Le Bourdais @astroerika.bsky.social · 01/11/2025

But in how many of these papers are they amongst the first four authors is the real question? As someone who will apply to postdocs in 2-3 years, I’m terrified to know that some people have this many papers! 😫

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Érika Le Bourdais @astroerika.bsky.social · 30/10/2025

There’s still 2:30 hrs left here, his prediction was local time.

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Reposted by Érika Le Bourdais

Marc Kuchner | Author @marckuchner.bsky.social · 28/10/2025

Congrats to NASA Citizen Scientist @melina-iras07572.bsky.social! In 2019, Melina discovered the oldest white dwarf with a debris disk. Now this white dwarf is in the news again. @astroerika.bsky.social et al. suggest it may have recently engulfed a rocky planet. iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3...

iopscience.iop.org

Radware Bot Manager Captcha

To ensure we keep this website safe, please can you confirm you are a human by ticking the box below.

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Reposted by Érika Le Bourdais

Space Telescope Science Institute @stsci.edu · 23/10/2025

A dead star has been spotted ripping a planet apart! “Something clearly disturbed this system long after the star’s death,” said co-investigator John Debes of the Space Telescope Science Institute. (1/4) 🔭 🧪 🧵

At image center is a small, white star against a gray background. It is surrounded by a large translucent disk with rings and gaps that extends from upper left to lower right. In the foreground, irregular chunky rocks are floating in space along the bottom of the frame. A stream of material extends from lower right toward the central star. The words, artist’s concept are at lower left.

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Reposted by Érika Le Bourdais

Gordon Hundley @drgoon.bsky.social · 23/10/2025

This is very cool - LSPM J0207+3331 was discovered by citizen scientist Melina Thévenot while searching ESA's GAIA catalog for brown dwarfs. blog.backyardworlds.org/2019/02/19/t... Here's the paper that STScI quotes: iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3...

blog.backyardworlds.org

The Crystal Ball White Dwarf

Today is a big day at Backyard Worlds: Planet 9! We’re celebrating our 2nd anniversary, our reboot, and announcing our second paper, published in the Astrophysical Journal letters. (You ca…

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Reposted by Érika Le Bourdais

Corey S. Powell @coreyspowell.bsky.social · 22/10/2025

Astronomers have determined that an elderly white dwarf star, 3 billion years into its final stage of life, is still busily crushing and devouring its planets. Scientific data on the left. Artist's interpretation on the right. 🧪🔭 keckobservatory.org/white-dwarf/

Stellar spectrum showing pollution by heavy elements from a destroyed planet or asteroid.

"Saturn Devouring His Son" by Francisco Goya

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Érika Le Bourdais @astroerika.bsky.social · 22/10/2025

Want to know more about my recent paper about this cool geriatric white dwarf eating its planets? 🤩 It’s all detailed in this news article by @stsci.edu ! 🔭

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Érika Le Bourdais @astroerika.bsky.social · 14/10/2025

As a stellar atmosphere person, this is what people doing atmosphere retrievals sound to me lol

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Érika Le Bourdais @astroerika.bsky.social · 14/10/2025

My latest paper is finally out! 🎊 Turns out that that odd white dwarf discovered by @melina-iras07572.bsky.social is accreting a MASSIVE rocky planetary object, hinting that planetary systems can stay active billions of years after the death of their star! 🌟 🪨🪐 For more: arxiv.org/abs/2510.08676

arxiv.org

Tracing Planetary Accretion in a 3 Gyr-old Hydrogen-Rich White Dwarf: The Extremely Polluted Atmosphere of LSPM J0207+3331

We report the detection of 13 heavy elements (Na, Mg, Al, Si, Ca, Ti, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, and Sr) in the photosphere of LSPM J0207+3331, a ~3 Gyr old hydrogen-rich white dwarf with an effective te...

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Érika Le Bourdais @astroerika.bsky.social · 14/10/2025

I’m so glad you found me! 👋🏻 I am so excited that this star has so much more to tell beyond its redder colour! I think it will open doors for many other studies 🔭

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Érika Le Bourdais @astroerika.bsky.social · 13/10/2025

To me, it’s like "why don’t YOU know at least one phone number of a close one in case of an emergency"? People can’t fathom the possibility of their phone not being with them or functioning when they are in distress :(

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Érika Le Bourdais @astroerika.bsky.social · 04/10/2025

Thank god, one of the rare cool things in this world is not a carb.

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Érika Le Bourdais @astroerika.bsky.social · 22/09/2025

Did you know that white dwarfs were the coolest stars? I’m totally unbiased here 😌

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Érika Le Bourdais @astroerika.bsky.social · 22/09/2025

Hi Phil! Just emailed you about the paper! :)

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Érika Le Bourdais @astroerika.bsky.social · 10/09/2025

💯💯 Science doesn’t happen in a vacuum!

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