iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Ben Sutlieff @bensutlieff.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

I was invited to write a short article for the @leverhulme.ac.uk newsletter out this month, and excitingly it was chosen to feature on the cover! Read about our work on exoplanet atmospheres and why clouds are kind of great, actually #WorldSpaceWeek 🪐🔭

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Astronomy Picture of the Day 🪐 @apod.shinyakato.dev · 05/10/2026

🔭 M104: The Sombrero Galaxy's Tidal Streams Credit & Copyright: Engelbert Vollmer ap261005

A starfield has an bright blobby mess in middle. Running vertically through the very middle is a dark streak. A diagonal ring of brightness surrounds the central blob.

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University of Oxford @ox.ac.uk · 04/10/2026

Oxford after dark, featuring Simpkin IV 🐈‍⬛ 📷 Instagram | ObservingOxford

A black cat, Simpkin IV from Hertford College, sits in the foreground outside the Radcliffe Camera at night. The surrounding Oxford buildings are warmly lit beneath a dramatic, cloud-filled night sky.

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David Gwynn @suffolkastrodave.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

3D model of black hole made by a friend to be used for school outreach this week. Children have a deep fascination with black holes.

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David Gwynn @suffolkastrodave.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

www.dash-astro.co.uk/aboutdash We are a very successful, pro active astronomy society located in dark skies of Suffolk. We’re very supportive of beginners and children accompanied by parents. We have an impressive stock of telescopes to loan out to members. Yearly family membership £20 .

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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

This is gorgeous!

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University of Oxford @ox.ac.uk · 23/09/2026

A new season begins in Oxford 🍂🍁 #AutumnEquinox 📷 Instagram | OxfordStory, Magdalen College, EstherJohnsonPhotography and Spiralling_Oxford

Exeter College: View of the Radcliffe Camera framed by green autumn leaves, with fallen leaves covering the garden and benches in the foreground.

Magdalen College: Magdalen College in warm autumn sunlight, framed by branches of red leaves against a clear blue sky.

All Souls College: All Souls College quad beneath a bright blue sky, with vivid red ivy cascading over a stone wall in the foreground.

Merton College: Merton Tower illuminated by golden sunlight, with autumn foliage and fallen leaves in the foreground.

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Department of Physics at the University of Oxford @oxfordphysics.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

🍁Astronomical autumn has officially begun in the Northern Hemisphere. At 01:06 BST, the September equinox occurred as the Sun crossed the celestial equator moving south. On this day, the Sun rises directly in the east and sets in the west, giving us equal day and night lengths.🍂

The image is a collage of a sunset image and a graphic over it showing a vector illustration of the seasons from Earth's orbit. Made with Canva.

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Emily Rauscher @astronemly.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Yes! It’s an amazing group of cross-disciplinary experts we’ve assembled. Come work with us on some really cool projects! 😎😶‍🌫️🤩

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Bibiana Prinoth @bibianaprinoth.ch · 15/09/2026

In case you have missed it, we are hosting a super cool workshop on #exoplanets studies in Garching, Vitacura and Nice (YES, 3 places at the same time!!!) in November. Bridging Horizons: Harnessing ESO's current facilities for the dawn of exoplanet population studies Dates: **2-6 November 2026**

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Royal Astronomical Society @royalastrosoc.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Are you a keen astrophotographer? 🪐🔭📸 In November we're launching a new photography competition called RAStroPhoto to mark the 200th anniversary of our journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. It's free to enter and open to everybody! Scan the QR code to register your interest.

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Laura Kreidberg @lkreidberg.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Fun paper out today from @sophiavaughan.bsky.social - analytic solutions for rotational broadening of reflected light from exoplanets in arbitrary orientations around their host stars. Rare to see an old-school math problem in exoplanet research today- Sophia crushed it! arxiv.org/abs/2609.05619 🔭

arxiv.org

Rotational broadening of exoplanet spectra in arbitrarily oriented systems: Application to reflected light

Exoplanet reflection spectra contain a wealth of information, which we are now beginning to access. At a high spectral resolution, the rotation of both the star and the planet affects the shape of the...

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Laura Kreidberg @lkreidberg.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Applications are open for Max Planck Research Groups - these are a great gig: six years of funding with support for the group leader + students and postdocs (up to 2.9 MEuro). Contact me if you have any questions about applying for one hosted at MPIA!

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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

The STFC funding cuts are impacting dementia research. "I am certain that the majority of dementia researchers never realised that they were involved in the STFC budget problem, and I had not fully realised just how great the problem was." Adam Smith UCL www.linkedin.com/pulse/stfc-c...

linkedin.com

The STFC Cuts Dementia Researchers Need to Know About

I spent the last 18 years working around dementia research, and the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) is not a funder that comes up in conversation every day. The MRC, NIHR, Alzheimer’s...

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Royal Astronomical Society @royalastrosoc.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

🚨 Astronomy cuts update 🚨 Next Tuesday (1 September) a debate about the ongoing funding crisis will take place in Westminster Hall from 1-1.30pm. 🗣️🔭 The RAS welcomes the debate and is encouraging all Fellows to contact their MPs to urge them to attend. ✍️ Find out more 👉️ ras.ac.uk/news-and-pre...

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ESO @eso.org · 20/08/2026

Over the past days, unusually severe weather has affected northern Chile, where our observatories are located. This brought snow to Paranal and to the ELT construction site. It left stunning images, while causing severe flooding and damage to several cities within the Antofagasta Region. 🔭 1/2

Snow-covered view of ESO’s Extremely Large Telescope construction site at Cerro Armazones. The telescope dome and cranes rising through low clouds as the Sun shines brightly near the horizon.

Aerial view of a vast snow-covered mountainous landscape in Chile’s Atacama Desert, with ESO facilities and access roads visible in the foreground beneath a clear blue sky.

Wide view of ESO’s Paranal Observatory after snowfall, with the Very Large Telescope’s four Unit Telescopes visible atop the snow-covered Cerro Paranal under a blue-grey sky.

Snow-covered landscape at ESO’s Paranal Observatory, with the Residencia building stretching along the right and the Very Large Telescope’s Unit Telescopes visible atop Cerro Paranal in the distance under a clear blue sky.

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Hannah Sanderson @han-san-planets.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

Do you write in Overleaf? Follow these new instructions to make your PDFs screen reader accessible docs.overleaf.com/writing-and-...

docs.overleaf.com

Creating accessible PDFs in LaTeX | Overleaf docs

This page describes LaTeX accessibility in Overleaf and relevant considerations.

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Michelle Collins @runningastronomer.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

From yesterday's ☀️🌕🌍 event on the university campus! Taken with my seestar. It starts out a bit wobbly and occasionally the eclipse is eclipsed by our guests, but it is stable for the peak 🔭🧪🥰

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Linn Boldt-Christmas @nplinnspace.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

It’s Solar Eclipse Day! ☀️🌗🌍 Since the sun will be quite low in the sky, don’t forget to also double-check where your shadows will be! I recommend this very neat website: shademap.app Screen-recorded demo from my phone ⬇️

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Royal Astronomical Society @royalastrosoc.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

While we count down to this evening's eclipse, let's step back in time more than 150 years to one in 1875... 😎 We rediscovered some photographic glass plates of that eclipse, made during a Royal Society expedition to Siam [Thailand], which will now be returned to our old neighbours. ⤵️

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Dr Joanna Barstow @drjovian.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

My ‘albatross’ paper is finally out! So much gratitude to @luiswel.bsky.social for helping me turn three years’ worth of hard-graft writing into something I am really proud of, and to the editorial team at Living Reviews in Computational Astrophysics team for their (substantial!) patience.

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ESO @eso.org · 05/08/2026

Earlier today, the discarded upper stage of a Falcon 9 rocket impacted on the Moon. As part of a coordinated observing campaign, our Very Large Telescope detected spectral lines of sodium and lithium gas in the impact plume lasting for 5-10 minutes after impact. 🔭 🧪 📷 ESO/C. Schmidt et al. 1/4

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Jingyuan Zhao (赵经远) @astrozhao.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

This paper not only confirms a new exoplanet, but also helps explain why some M dwarfs host short-period giants while most don't—they may need a distant companion to drive the dramatic orbital migration. Every planet's story is shaped by distant gravitational tugs. 9/9 🔭 🧪 #exoplanet

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Suzanne Aigrain @airbornegrain.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

Like all my colleagues I'm dismayed and angry at the cuts announced by STFC to UK astronomy, most prominently to Jodrell Bank and the associated radio astronomy facilities.

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Michelle Collins @runningastronomer.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

No! Jodrell Bank is such an important site for UK astronomy and has such history. I remember well my visits and experiments there as a Manchester undergraduate. These cuts are short-sighted and I hate them. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... 🔭☄️🧪

bbc.co.uk

Jodrell Bank's Lovell telescope faces axe in science cuts, BBC understands

Astronomers warn it would tear the heart out of UK science, and leave a generation untrained.

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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

Short-sighted, stupid cuts to the UKRI budget include shutting down Jodrell Bank, the icon of British astronomy. (Many other cuts too, including 20% to our brand new @vrubinobs.bsky.social). Interesting politically to shut down a major facility in...um..Manchester 🔭 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

bbc.co.uk

Jodrell Bank's Lovell telescope faces axe in science cuts, BBC understands

Astronomers warn it would tear the heart out of UK science, and leave a generation untrained.

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James O'Malley @jamesomalley.co.uk · 27/07/2026

Terrible news. Aside from learning more about the universe, we're not going to get much economic growth by cutting science funding. (If only we had a Prime Minister who was interested in supporting the north, and Manchester in particular, who could stop this.) www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

bbc.co.uk

Jodrell Bank's Lovell telescope faces axe in science cuts, BBC understands

Astronomers warn it would tear the heart out of UK science, and leave a generation untrained.

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Richard Alexander @richardalexander.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

It's going to be very hard for UKRI to stick to their mantra that there aren't any cuts at STFC, when the impact of "no cuts" includes closing the most iconic telescope in the country.

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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

I'm absolutely devastated for colleagues at Jodrell Bank who found out this morning that funding for the UK's e-MERLIN radio telescope array will be terminated. This is a short-sighted move, to save a tiny fraction of the overall UK science budget. #SaveJodrellBank 🔭🧪 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

bbc.co.uk

Jodrell Bank's Lovell telescope faces axe in science cuts, BBC understands

Astronomers warn it would tear the heart out of UK science, and leave a generation untrained.

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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

This is how the cuts are going to kill us by the way - loads of small cuts to projects that on a spreadsheet don't stand out, but which quietly provide the capacity the UK community depends on across wavelengths and modes of observation.

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Jayne Birkby @jaynebirkby.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

HiPERCAM is such a cool instrument with so many applications across Astrophysics, its ring measurements of Quaoar are beautiful! Awesome science on a small budget. But now it’s a victim of STFC’s cuts to world-leading astrophysics in the UK. Gutting. #NAM2026

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ClimateBook @climatebook.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

This article is very interesting from the standpoint of Eukaryotic evolution during the middle Proterozoic -- one of the key steps on the way to multicellular life. The main line of evidence still seems to be molecular clocks, so uncertain to my thinking.

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Robin Wordsworth @rdword.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

Very proud of my student Collin Cherubim for his discovery of an atmosphere on the habitable-zone exoplanet LHS 1140 b! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... www.nytimes.com/2026/07/16/s...

nytimes.com

Astronomers Find an Atmosphere on a Nearby Earthlike Planet

It’s the first potentially habitable world known to host an atmosphere, making it a lead contender in the search for life beyond our solar system.

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Phil PlAIt @philplait.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

The purloined planet: Astronomers find a third planet around the nearby very young star Beta Pictoris… and it was hiding in plain sight for over a decade! [with amazing video of the planet's orbital motion] badastronomy.beehiiv.com/p/a-third-pl... 🔭 🧪

badastronomy.beehiiv.com

A third planet for the nearby star Beta Pictoris!

The gas giant has been hiding in plain sight for over a decade

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ESO @eso.org · 16/07/2026

ICYMI Faintest #exoplanet ever imaged from Earth discovered after more than 10 years of hide-and-seek! Spotted using our VLT, the planet was later found to have been hiding in archival ESO observations spanning more than a decade. Video summary👇 🔭 🧪 1/2

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Jayne Birkby @jaynebirkby.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

Big thanks to Brasenose College @brasenose.bsky.social too for supporting Luke to take the observations - such a valuable experience with a fantastic result!

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Jayne Birkby @jaynebirkby.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

Nice write up from @oxfordphysics.bsky.social on our contributions from Oxford to the beta Pic d discovery. Shout out to DPhil @luke-parker.bsky.social for some super VLT observations and Breakthrough Listen pre-doc Leyla Iskandarli for some deep data analysis! www.physics.ox.ac.uk/news/planet-...

physics.ox.ac.uk

Planet found after ten-year game of hide-and-seek

A planet that hid from astronomers for ten years has been found by a team including researchers from Oxford.

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Jayne Birkby @jaynebirkby.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

Two cool things I want to highlight: i) no coronagraphs were used in the making of this discovery. Just the pure raw power of adaptive optics! ii) Look at that Airy ring around b 🤩 that shows we were working at the diffraction limit of the telescope which enabled us to get its best resolution!

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Ben Sutlieff @bensutlieff.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

With the press release out, I'm delighted to share our work reporting the discovery of a 3rd planet in the beta Pictoris system! Say hello to beta Pic d - a gas giant with 2.4 times the mass of Jupiter that takes 91 years to orbit its host star, far longer than the 2 known planets in the system 🪐🔭

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Jayne Birkby @jaynebirkby.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

beta Pic d had a good run at hide-and-seek, but now it’s found and its a great system for studying in even more detail. It tells us that we are far from done with even the most well-studied systems and that more planets are very likely hiding out there still. Count from 10 everyone, let’s get going!

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Jayne Birkby @jaynebirkby.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

Both teams discovered the planet serendipitously, and agreed not to share their work until publication so not to bias their interpretations, and got highly complementary results, one studying the atmosphere in detail, the other studying the planet orbit and its disk-shaping effects.

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Jayne Birkby @jaynebirkby.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

Aidan Gibbs at his team in the US had also seen d while looking at b with JWST! They got a spectrum which shows water, methane, and carbon monoxide in the planet atmosphere. Our observations also suggest there is carbon dioxide too.

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Jayne Birkby @jaynebirkby.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

It was an absolutely joy to be part of this discovery, lead by Ben Sutlieff @bensutlieff.bsky.social and Markus Bonse, such a lovely and dynamic team and really cool science. And it turns out we weren’t the only ones on the case!

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Jayne Birkby @jaynebirkby.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

Despite being shy, beta Pic d left us a clue on where to find it. The planetary system has a dusty debris disk, and its inner edge is sculpted by the planets. We knew that b and c alone could not shape the disk as we see it today, but beta Pic d matches exactly the position and mass to do this.

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Jayne Birkby @jaynebirkby.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

beta Pic d is just 23 million years old, a baby weighing in at 2.4 Jupiters, but at 330℃ it is much cooler and less massive than famous siblings b+c. We partnered with the team who built ERIS at UKATC and ESO to get its very best, and as a result found the faintest planet ever imaged from the ground

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Jayne Birkby @jaynebirkby.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

We found the planet in new observations with ERIS/VLT while looking at the known planet b. This faint extra blob sparked a fervent deep dive into the astronomical archives revealing the planet moving along is 91 year orbit. At one point it was even hiding behind planet b! www.eso.org/public/video...

eso.org

Time-lapse of exoplanet Beta Pictoris d orbiting around its host star

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