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Benjamin Rackham

@benrackham.bsky.social
122 followers 89 following 5 posts

Research Scientist @MIT studying transiting exoplanets and their stars

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Benjamin Rackham @benrackham.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
NASA's Pandora Mission has begun science observations! It's very exciting to be getting science data from this mission I've been working on since our first proposal in 2018. Pandora will help us disentangle signals from exoplanet atmospheres and their host stars. science.nasa.gov/missions/pan...
science.nasa.gov
NASA’s Pandora Mission Begins Study of Exoplanets, Host Stars - NASA Science
Pandora, NASA’s newest exoplanet mission and the first satellite to launch through the agency's Astrophysics Pioneers program, is now making unique
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💀Adina Feinstein PhD 💀 @afeinstein20.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
after a wild ride, I am so so so excited to have the first paper of our JWST KRONOS program out! "KRONOS I: The 1−2.8µm JWST Transmission Spectrum of the 23 Myr V1298 Tau c" led by MSU postdoc Matthew Murphy 👉 arxiv.org/abs/2606.03740 👈 (short summary thread below) #stellarastro #planetsci 🧪
Screenshot of the title and authors of a recent peer-reviewed paper. the title: "KRONOS I: The 1-2.8 micron JWST Transmission Spectrum of the 23 Myr V1298 Tauc" led by Matthew M. Murphy
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💀Adina Feinstein PhD 💀 @afeinstein20.bsky.social · 17/03/2026
really exciting work lead by Catriona Murray! TOI-3884 b is a planet on a polar orbit around an M dwarf. The transit has a persistent starspot crossing event. Using JWST, we measured the properties of the starspot and the Prot of the star 👀 arxiv.org/abs/2603.15414 🔭 #astronomy 🌟 #stellarastro
seven panel figure showing different JWST transits of TOI-3884 b with a persistent spot-crossing event. TOI-3884 b orbits the pole of a small M dwarf star. the shape of the spot-crossing event changes slightly between each transit. each subpanel has a graphical representation of what the spot looks like during each transit.
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Representative Seth Magaziner @magaziner.house.gov · 27/01/2026
Reminder that, as of the latest reports, Liam Ramos is still in prison in Texas - now for 5 days. His parents are legal asylum seekers with no criminal record.
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Ward Howard @wardhoward.bsky.social · 04/12/2025
1/ It's press day!🔭🧪 We apply a grid of time-dependent physical models to explain TRAPPIST-1 flares, predicting the X-ray & UV flux driving escape and photochemistry in planetary atmospheres, and correcting flare contamination in transit spectroscopy down to ~60 ppm: www.colorado.edu/today/2025/1...
colorado.edu
New research on flares from a hot-tempered star could inform search for habitable planets
A new study takes a close look at TRAPPIST-1, a little star roughly 40 light-years from our sun that hosts seven Earth-sized planets.
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Benjamin Rackham @benrackham.bsky.social · 12/09/2025
🤯
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Brian Stelter @brianstelter.bsky.social · 23/05/2025
Harvard Crimson editorial board: "If higher education — and the rest of American civil society — doesn’t stand with Harvard’s international students now, they may find themselves alone when Trump comes for them next." www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...
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Brett Morris @brettmorr.is · 19/03/2025
The atomic spectral lines in this app come from the NIST atomic spectroscopy group, which has provided the world with spectroscopic measurements for 120 years. Today we got word that the federal government is laying off the entire group. 🔭🧪
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💀Adina Feinstein PhD 💀 @afeinstein20.bsky.social · 04/03/2025
Introducing "Signal in the Noise: The Ringberg Workshop on JWST Exoplanet Observations"! Goals: Overcome the instrumental + astrophysical challenges we face when characterizing transiting exoplanet atmospheres with JWST App Deadline: April 1, 2025 sites.google.com/view/jwst-ri... 🔭⭐ #exoplanets
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Benjamin Rackham @benrackham.bsky.social · 01/03/2025
Yeah, that's what I did, and so far, so good
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Benjamin Rackham @benrackham.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
Have you tried the libmamba solver? It's definitely sped things up for me. www.anaconda.com/blog/a-faste...
anaconda.com
Anaconda | A Faster Solver for Conda: Libmamba
conda 22.11 update: The libmamba solver's experimental flag has been removed. To use the new solver, update conda in your base environment: conda update -n base conda To install and set the new solver...
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arXiv bot (astro-ph) @krxiv-astro-ph.bsky.social · 12/02/2025
TOI-2015b: a sub-Neptune in strong gravitational interaction with an outer non-transiting planet arxiv.org/pdf/2502.07074 K. Barkaoui et al
arxiv.org
https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.07074
arXiv abstract link
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Jaclyn A. Siegel, PhD @jacasiegel.bsky.social · 11/02/2025
Happy International Day of Women in Science. The National Science Foundation’s list of flagged words includes both “Women” and “Female.”
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Caltech IPAC @caltechipac.bsky.social · 03/02/2025
Know Thy Star, Know Thy Planet 2 kicks off today! 💫🤩✨ A follow-on to 2017's successful Know Thy Star meeting, #KnowThyStar2 welcomes almost 200 registrants to Caltech for some stellar discussion on exoplanet science. Talks will be posted to YouTube! conference.ipac.caltech.edu/knowthystar2
Dr. David Ciardi, Deputy Director of NASA Exoplanet Science Institute (NExScI), poses with Dr. Catherine Clark, NExScI's Scientific Outreach Coordinator, in front of a Caltech speaker's podium on the first day of the Know Thy Star, Know Thy Planet 2 conference held Feb. 3-7, 2025 on the Caltech campus.
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Eric Mamajek @ericmamajek.bsky.social · 15/01/2025
Please consider donating to some gofundmes for some friends and colleagues that work at NASA JPL that lost everything in the Eaton Fire in Altadena. I'm advertising a few that I know best who have been really wonderful people to work with my past 8 years on lab.
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Benjamin Rackham @benrackham.bsky.social · 13/01/2025
gofund.me/fcc55095
gofund.me
Donate to Supporting Jenn & Sam after the Eaton Fire, organized by Jenn Burt
Hi friends, As many of you already know, the wildfires that tore through Alta… Jenn Burt needs your support for Supporting Jenn & Sam after the Eaton Fire
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