iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Keith Smith @drkeithsmith.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

By combining data from MeerKAT and JWST, @manishacaleb.bsky.social et al. have traced a fast radio burst to a low-mass galaxy at redshift 2. That's only three billion years after the Big Bang, during the Universe's peak in star formation rate. ☄️🔭 #radioastro www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

0100

Keith Smith @drkeithsmith.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Of course Francis Halzen has made many other contributions to neutrino astrophysics - the Nobel Prize was not given for these five papers alone. The committee's full reasoning is here: www.nobelprize.org/uploads/2026...

041

Keith Smith @drkeithsmith.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

The IceCube Collaboration reported neutrinos from within the Milky Way in 2023. They detected an excess of neutrino emission along the Galactic plane, with more towards the Galactic Centre. This distribution was predicted by models of cosmic ray interactions. ☄️🔭⚛️🧪 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

141

Keith Smith @drkeithsmith.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

In 2022, the IceCube Collaboration searched for more sources of astrophysical neutrinos. They identified a nearby active galaxy as the strongest steady source in the northern sky. IceCube recorded 79 neutrinos from this galaxy, over nine years. ☄️🔭⚛️🧪 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

161

Keith Smith @drkeithsmith.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

A companion paper in the same issue of @science.org showed that the blazar had been a source of lower energy neutrinos before, including a flare of events in 2015. Together, these papers identified the first astrophysical neutrino source since Supernova 1987A. ☄️🔭⚛️🧪 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

151

Keith Smith @drkeithsmith.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

In 2017, IceCube precisely determined the direction from which a single high energy neutrino originated. They found it came from a blazar - an active galaxy with a jet from a supermassive black hole. The results were published in @science.org in 2018. ☄️🔭⚛️🧪 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

161

Keith Smith @drkeithsmith.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

IceCube construction completed in 2011. In 2013, the collaboration published an analysis of the first 28 neutrino detections. Those few events were enough to show that high-energy neutrinos originate from beyond the Solar System. It made the @science.org cover. ☄️🔭⚛️🧪 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

1113

Keith Smith @drkeithsmith.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

An AI-driven tsunami of rising submissions is overwhelming the moderators of @arxiv.bsky.social . In response, they are limiting each researcher to uploading no more than 2 new preprints per month (co-authorship doesn't count). The striking part is this plot of submission numbers per month. ☄️🔭⚛️🧪

21711

Keith Smith @drkeithsmith.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Stellar astrophysicist Emily Levesque @emsque.bsky.social will be the next Editor-in-Chief of the @aas.org journals (ApJ, ApJL, ApJS, AJ, PSJ, RNAAS). ☄️ Levesque has been a scientific editor of AAS journals since 2025. She will succeed Ethan Vishniac in August next year. aas.org/press/emily-...

091

Keith Smith @drkeithsmith.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Samples of asteroid Ryugu collected by Hayabusa2 are similar to Ivuna-type (CI) meteorites. Kawasaki et al. use isotopic measurements of Ryugu and Ivuna to show that their parent bodies formed only 2 million years after the beginning of the Solar System. ☄️🔭 #planetsci www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

0112

Keith Smith @drkeithsmith.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

This paper has now been published in final print format, with my editor's summary. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... First author Collin Cherubim was interviewed on the @science.org podcast, and the results were featured in the Science Advisor newsletter. Links from the paper (above). ☄️🔭 #exoplanet

0102

Keith Smith @drkeithsmith.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Editor's choice: Shimizu et al. use the Emirates Mars Mission to study the distribution of craters on Mars' moon Deimos. They find more craters on the side facing Mars, contrary to expectations. What caused this distribution? ☄️🔭 #planetsci www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

0258

Keith Smith @drkeithsmith.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Now published in final print format, and featured on the @science.org cover. ☄️🔭 #planetsci www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

061

Keith Smith @drkeithsmith.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

I used a pair of binoculars to project yesterday’s partial solar eclipse onto a piece of paper. It’s a simple way to get a good view of what’s happening, and plenty of passers by stopped for a look. 🔭🧪

0172

Keith Smith @drkeithsmith.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Do you want to work on breakthrough discoveries? @science.org is recruiting a full-time research editor to handle papers in physics, preferably with expertise in photonics. ⚛️🧪 Can be based in Cambridge (UK), Washington DC (US), or remote in either country. recruiting.ultipro.com/AME1123ASEM/...

02719

Keith Smith @drkeithsmith.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

An Editorial in @science.org discusses the recent reorganisation of the UK science ministry, and plans to improve commercialisation of British science. @profgeraintrees.bsky.social & @jameswilsdon.bsky.social argue that capital investment is the main limitation. 🔭🧪⚛️ www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

081

Keith Smith @drkeithsmith.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

Editor's choice: Will the Sun destroy Earth? Esseldeurs et al. simulate the fate of the inner Solar System when the Sun evolves into a red giant star. ☄️🔭🧪 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

482

Keith Smith @drkeithsmith.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

Now published in final print format, with my editor's summary. ☄️🔭 #exoplanet www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

0131

Keith Smith @drkeithsmith.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

Observing an atmosphere on a rocky #exoplanet orbiting in the habitable zone: Cherubim et al. use transit spectroscopy to identify helium absorption by LHS 1140b. The results indicate a helium-dominated atmosphere that is undergoing transient escape. ☄️🔭🧪 #Exo6 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

34513

Keith Smith @drkeithsmith.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

The Curiosity rover has found stones composed of near-pure sulphur in an ancient river canyon on #Mars, report VanBommel et al. There's no sign of nearby volcanism, so they propose formation was by decompression of sulphur-rich clathrates. ☄️🔭 #planetsci www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

16316

Keith Smith @drkeithsmith.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

This week I am attending the Exoplanets 6 conference in Porto. If you’re here and interested in publishing in Science (@science.org), please find me in a coffee break for a chat! #Exo6 #exoplanets ☄️

0201

Keith Smith @drkeithsmith.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

Editor's choice: Is it possible to focus neutrinos? Britzen et al. demonstrate a lens that does the job. ☄️🔭⚛️ #highenergyastro www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

1278

Keith Smith @drkeithsmith.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

Stellar activity affects #exoplanets, but how about the other way around? Revilla et al. identify periodic stellar activity induced by a Neptune-mass exoplanet orbiting a red dwarf star. The strength of the interaction constrains the exoplanet's magnetic field. ☄️🔭 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

2346

Keith Smith @drkeithsmith.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

Marchi et al. report results from the the flyby of asteroid Donaldjohanson (DJ) by the Lucy spacecraft. They find DJ has a bi-lobed shape and is in a tumbling spin. The crater density is consistent with an age of about 150 million years. ☄️🔭 #planetsci www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

0387

Keith Smith @drkeithsmith.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

Shin et al. find that super-earth and mini-neptune #exoplanets are on orbits with different eccentricity trends. The results imply that dynamic processes (such as impacts) play a role in generating the radius valley. ☄️🔭 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

23510

Keith Smith @drkeithsmith.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

Dynamical mass measurements of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) are usually limited to nearby examples. Newman et al. use gravitational lensing and stellar kinematics to measure the mass of an inactive SMBH at redshift 2, over 10 billion years ago. ☄️🔭 #extragalactic www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

1374

Keith Smith @drkeithsmith.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

Editor's choice: Souto et al. observe two systems where a young star has a very different carbon-to-oxygen ratio from the surrounding protoplanetary disc. This implies that chemical processes within the disc are affecting the types of #exoplanet forming there. ☄️🔭 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

082

Keith Smith @drkeithsmith.bsky.social · 21/05/2026

Observations of #exoplanet atmospheres usually produce a combined spectrum of the morning and evening sides. Mukherjee et al. have used JWST to separate the two for a hot jupiter. They find very different spectra: a clear warm wet evening vs a cold cloudy morning. ☄️🔭🧪 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

197

Keith Smith @drkeithsmith.bsky.social · 09/05/2026

La Specola museum - housed in the old university observatory - has an excellent geology gallery. The specimens are amazing, very well displayed, and include a comprehensive collection of different meteorite types. 🔭🧪 The natural history collection there is also very impressive.

0203

Keith Smith @drkeithsmith.bsky.social · 09/05/2026

These are not just Galilean-style telescopes, they are the originals: hand-built by Galileo himself in 1609 and 1610, the only surviving examples. The older of the two is possibly the telescope he used to discover the moons of Jupiter - which revolutionised astronomy. 🔭🧪⚛️ #astrohistory #planetsci

510127

Keith Smith @drkeithsmith.bsky.social · 09/05/2026

Florence is rightly famous for its art galleries, but I was also impressed by the city’s science museums. 🔭🧪⚛️ This enormous armillary sphere is in the Museo Galileo; it shows the Ptolemaic model of the Solar System. Built by Antonio Santucci in 1593, for Ferdinand I de' Medici. #astrohistory

715828

Keith Smith @drkeithsmith.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

Editor's choice: can stars be used to do #cosmology? Tomasetti et al. have dated the 160 oldest individual stars in the Milky Way. This allows them to set maximum and minimum ages of the Universe. ☄️🔭⚛️ #stellarastro www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

0344

Keith Smith @drkeithsmith.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

This paper has now been published in final journal format, including the authors' one-page summary of their results, and my one-paragraph summary. Pick your preferred level of detail! ☄️🔭🧪 #exoplanets www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

0151

Keith Smith @drkeithsmith.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

Gas within the Solar System's heliosphere emits a complex pattern of soft X-rays. Dennerl et al. use the eROSITA X-ray survey to disentangle this foreground emission and determine where in the heliosphere it comes from. ☄️☀️🔭 #heliophysics #highenergyastro www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

0233

Keith Smith @drkeithsmith.bsky.social · 04/04/2026

Why is the popular stereotype of an astronomer a man with glasses wearing a lab coat? I’ve been on plenty of professional observing runs - there’s certainly a gender bias and glasses were fairly common (including me), but I’ve *never* seen an observer in a lab coat. Or a tie for that matter. ☄️🔭🧪

5413

Keith Smith @drkeithsmith.bsky.social · 31/03/2026

Why bother doing astronomy and other blue-skies research? @e-astronomer.bsky.social discusses funding crises in the US & UK, and how researchers should (and shouldn't) justify the required investment. ☄️🔭🧪⚛️ www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

0101

Keith Smith @drkeithsmith.bsky.social · 26/02/2026

This paper has now been published in final journal format, and is featured on the cover of this week's print issue. ☄️🔭 #extragalactic www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

092

Keith Smith @drkeithsmith.bsky.social · 23/02/2026

This paper is now available in final journal format, including the authors' one-page summary for the print magazine. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... ☄️🔭 #planetsci

0103

Keith Smith @drkeithsmith.bsky.social · 20/02/2026

As an example science application, they apply the code to a JWST survey searching for distant galaxies. By improving the depth of the photometry in every band, they treble the number of z>9 sources identified in the survey field. ☄️🔭 #astrocode #extragalactic www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

040

Keith Smith @drkeithsmith.bsky.social · 20/02/2026

The code learns the detector noise characteristics and focusses on only noise-dominated parts of the image. In a test survey with 168 exposures, they give only 8 of them to the ASTERIS algorithm. The code recovers the same sources as appear in the deeper stack. ☄️🔭 #astrocode

190

Keith Smith @drkeithsmith.bsky.social · 20/02/2026

Can astronomical imaging be more sensitive, with no additional observations? Guo et al. apply machine learning to the co-addition (stacking) of multiple exposures. For stacks of 8 JWST NIRCam exposures, the detection limit improves by 1 magnitude. ☄️🔭 #astrocode www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

24310

Keith Smith @drkeithsmith.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

NASA ADS has some very practical error messages ☄️🔭 (re-running the same query fixed the issue)

0212

Keith Smith @drkeithsmith.bsky.social · 17/02/2026

Editor's choice: Studies of #exoplanet demographics usually exclude binary stars. Sullivan et al. investigate those and find that exoplanets are only half as common orbiting binary stars (compared to single stars), and have a different radius distribution. ☄️🔭🧪 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

0254

Keith Smith @drkeithsmith.bsky.social · 16/02/2026

Wilson et al. have found a system of four #exoplanets orbiting a red dwarf star, in the sequence: rocky - gaseous - gaseous - rocky again. This spans the radius valley within a single system, and distinguishes between two different planet formation theories. ☄️🔭🧪 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

29617

Keith Smith @drkeithsmith.bsky.social · 13/02/2026

Black holes typically form when a massive star explodes as a supernova. De et al. report a star that disappeared in the optical and slowly faded in the infrared. They infer it collapsed to form a black hole and some dust, but no explosion - a failed supernova. ☄️🔭🧪 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

1272

Keith Smith @drkeithsmith.bsky.social · 23/01/2026

Now published in final print format, with my editor's summary. ☄️🔭 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

000

Keith Smith @drkeithsmith.bsky.social · 15/01/2026

Li et al. monitored a repeating fast radio burst (FRB). They identify a transient excursion of its rotation measure (RM), which increases by orders of magnitude for 2 weeks. Possible causes include a coronal mass ejection from a binary companion star. ☄️ #radioastro www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

1155

Keith Smith @drkeithsmith.bsky.social · 08/01/2026

Kader, @justtheletteru.bsky.social et al. use multi-wavelength observations to show a precessing jet in an active galaxy is driving a gas outflow. This galactic feedback is removing enough material to affect the star formation rate. ☄️ #extragalactic #AAS247 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

1284

Keith Smith @drkeithsmith.bsky.social · 19/12/2025

The nearby star Fomalhaut is orbited by a dust belt. Kalas et al. use coronagraphic imaging to identify a transient source at the edge of the belt. They interpret it as a dust cloud, generated by a collision between two planetesimals. ☄️ www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

1387

Keith Smith @drkeithsmith.bsky.social · 17/12/2025

Williford et al. have used the Perseverance rover on Mars to investigate rocks around the rim of Jezero crater. They find igneous intrusions that were later modified by liquid water with dissolved CO2, producing carbonates. ☄️ #planetsci #AGU2025 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

1376