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Josh Lothringer

@jlothringer.bsky.social
240 followers 176 following 52 posts

Assistant Astronomer at @spacetelescope.bsky.social researching exoplanet and brown dwarf atmospheres. Opinions expressed are my own. jlothringer.github.io

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Reposted by Josh Lothringer
Taylor Bell @taylorbell275.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
ExoCTK v2026.7 and PandExo v2026.7 are now out! Highlights: • MIRI/LRS + NIRCam/DHS contamination support • Faster, more accurate NIRISS/SOSS contamination • New multistripe modes and MIRI/LRS subarrays in PandExo • Many fixes and improvements Check them out at exoctk.stsci.edu 🔭🪐 #exoplanet
ExoCTK LogoPandExo Logo
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Reposted by Josh Lothringer
JWST Observer @jwstobserver.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
The Cycle 6 Call for Proposals for the James Webb Space Telescope (#JWST) General Observer and Survey time and funding for Archival Research has been released. Read more: ow.ly/g9q150Zq3Ww
Magnified view of hexagonal shapes showing various space images illustrating JWST's science themes
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Reposted by Josh Lothringer
Erin M. May, PhD @astronomay.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
New Paper Day! JHU Grad Student @spschmidt.bsky.social 's paper on the ultra hot Jupiter KELT-7b includes a new method to mitigate charge migration in JWST NIR detectors, and finds a metal rich atmosphere for KELT-7b relative to its metal rich star 🪐⭐ arxiv.org/abs/2607.06708 #Exoplanets 🧪🔭
arxiv.org
Mitigating Charge Migration in JWST NIRISS Reveals That KELT-7 b is a Metal-enriched Ultra-hot Jupiter Orbiting a Young Metal-rich Star
We present the first panchromatic JWST transmission spectrum of an ultra-hot Jupiter, combining NIRISS and NIRSpec observations to constrain KELT-7\,b's atmospheric properties. We show evidence for ch...
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Reposted by Josh Lothringer
Space Telescope Science Institute @stsci.edu · 09/07/2026
NEWS: Can rocky exoplanets hold an atmosphere? A major milestone brings us closer to answering that question. The Rocky Worlds DDT team has completed its first coordinated #NASAWebb and Hubble observations: news.stsci.edu/4v80qpM 🔭 🧪
Artist’s concept of a star and planet. The star takes up the majority of the illustration. It is reddish orange with many flares, and the surface resembles lava. The planet appears as a small, dark grey silhouette passing in front of the top left side of the star. The words “Artist’s Concept” appear at the bottom right of the illustration.
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Reposted by Josh Lothringer
Dr Ryan MacDonald @distantworlds.space · 01/07/2026
🚨 New research alert 🚨 We have found an atmosphere on a planet orbiting a dead star 🔭✴️💀🪐 Our James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) observations of the white dwarf planet WD 1856b give us a preview into the fate of planets like Jupiter after the death of the Sun. 🧵⬇️ (1/10)
Artist concept of the white dwarf planet WD 1856b

Caption:
Exoplanet WD 1856 b, shown in this artist’s concept, is a gas giant that survived the death of its star. It now orbits a white dwarf at a distance 50 times closer than Earth orbits the Sun. Observations by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope not only determined the planet’s temperature but also detected molecules in its atmosphere. The former measurement provides evidence that WD 1856 b migrated to its current location billions of years after its star became a white dwarf.

Credits:
NASA, ESA, CSA, Ralf Crawford (STScI)
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Josh Lothringer @jlothringer.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
We're hiring!! 2+1 year postdoc at STScI. Come work with Leo on me on a few HST and JWST programs looking at ultra-hot Jupiters. Ping me or Leo with any and all questions.
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Josh Lothringer @jlothringer.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
Also checkout some of the other exoplanet related white papers: Stellar characterization: arxiv.org/abs/2606.05364, arxiv.org/abs/2605.27687 Young exoplanets: arxiv.org/abs/2605.28768 Atmospheric escape: arxiv.org/abs/2605.26140 High-contrast: arxiv.org/abs/2606.00217
arxiv.org
A Critical UV Legacy: A Hubble Roadmap for HWO Science Readiness
The Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) will provide the first opportunity to directly image and spectrally characterize terrestrial exoplanets in the habitable zones of nearby stars. Maximizing its sc...
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Josh Lothringer @jlothringer.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
ICYMI: We wrote a white paper on the transiting exoplanet science that the Hubble Space Telescope can help address in the years to come. There's still a lot that we need the telescope for, and synergy with JWST continues to open new doors. Check it out here: arxiv.org/abs/2606.04144 #exoplanets
arxiv.org
Characterizing Transiting Exoplanet Atmospheres in the 2030s with the Hubble Space Telescope
The Hubble Space Telescope inaugurated the era of exoplanet atmospheric characterization. While the James Webb Space Telescope has largely taken up the mantle of infrared atmospheric characterization,...
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Reposted by Josh Lothringer
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/...
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Lee Billings @leebillings.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
Now on @sciam.bsky.social: NASA's JWST just delivered a fascinating weather report for the distant exoplanet WASP-94A b, finding the gas-giant world has partly cloudy skies. By @krcallaway.bsky.social. www.scientificamerican.com/article/jwst...
scientificamerican.com
Today’s weather forecast is partially cloudy—on exoplanet WASP-94A b
An out-of-this-world weather report from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope reveals how clouds move across a giant planet hundreds of light-years from Earth
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Josh Lothringer @jlothringer.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
@distantworlds.space : confirmed, there are no citizenship restrictions and everyone is encouraged to apply!
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Josh Lothringer @jlothringer.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
Good question - I know the Scientist positions that are also open do *not* have citizenship restrictions, besides those from proscribed countries (DPRK, Iran, etc.). I'll confirm that it applies to these positions too.
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Josh Lothringer @jlothringer.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
These are awesome positions where you'll play critical roles in STScI's missions (HST, JWST, Roman)! Definitely apply if interested! Feel free to reach out if you've any questions.
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Space Telescope Science Institute @stsci.edu · 24/04/2026
Well, isn’t this a sight for sore eyes! 😍 Our beloved Hubble appears in this amazing image from one of Vantor's WorldView Legion satellites. It was 36 years ago today that Hubble was launched in the bay of the Space Shuttle Discovery from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Credit: Vantor.
A detailed image of the Hubble Space Telescope floating in space, showing its solar panels and cylindrical body in space.
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Josh Lothringer @jlothringer.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
At one point, I offered an extra credit assignment for folks to watch Black Holes: The Edge of All We Know, which is a good one: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_H... If interested in NASA missions, I'm presently enjoying "Homemade Documentaries" with feature length docs: www.youtube.com/@JacksonTyler
en.wikipedia.org
Black Holes: The Edge of All We Know - Wikipedia
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barbylon @barbylon.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
If you're following along today for the #ArtemisII flyby, here's some notes on what to expect. 🧪🔭🚀🌘
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JWST Observer @jwstobserver.bsky.social · 13/03/2026
The #JWST Cycle 5 General Observer Program selections have been made. Find out what JWST will study in its fifth year of science, which begins July 1, 2026: ow.ly/M4UQ50YtvP4
Illustration of Webb's hexagonal mirror segments each showing a different space image centered on a starry background
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A. Suárez Mascareño @asuarezmascareno.com · 05/02/2026
Been checking the science topics of the proposals approved by the ESO OPC for ESPRESSO. 75% of the time went to one type of proposal. Statistics-focused follow up of transiting systems. There isn't a single proposal focused on discoveries, atmospheres, or anything low-mass planets 🔭#exoplanets
Distribution of the topics of approved proposals for ESPRESSO in Period 117. 74.6 Transit follow up, 3.5% studies of systems around binaries (unclear if its transiting systems), 0.3% for RM studies, 11% for stellar physics, 0.4% for milky way studies, and 10.2% for cosmology.
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Josh Lothringer @jlothringer.bsky.social · 29/01/2026
One of my new fav. astronomy plots - so much cool physics in one plot!
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Reposted by Josh Lothringer
Brett Morris @brettmorr.is · 27/01/2026
New job opportunity at @stsci.edu: Senior Astronomical Data Scientist for data analysis tools, working closely with my team and me. This role is very similar to mine. If you have questions, I'm happy to answer them. 🧪🔭
recruiting2.ultipro.com
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Reposted by Josh Lothringer
Space Telescope Science Institute @stsci.edu · 07/01/2026
Applications are open for STScI's Space Astronomy Summer Program: an opportunity for college students to work with researchers and staff on projects that include astrophysics research; science software engineering; science instrument calibration; and science public outreach: bit.ly/4ptMkfs 🔭
Group of people standing in a room with posters and models related to space exploration, including a banner for the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope.
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Josh Lothringer @jlothringer.bsky.social · 12/01/2026
Huge kudos to Utah Valley University undergrad Austin Baldwin, who led the data analysis. When I first analyzed the data, I didn't see the large absorption because of a software bug sorting the wavelengths from the echelle data 😬. Austin built a pipeline from scratch, revealing the awesome result!
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Josh Lothringer @jlothringer.bsky.social · 12/01/2026
When we compare to other Mg II observations, we can start to see a trend in the traditional cosmic shoreline framework: planets with low surface gravity and high XUV irradiation exhibit Mg II escape. BUT planets around very hot stars may not see enough chromospheric XUV flux to drive Mg II escape!
A plot of escape velocity versus XUV flux with some points from different planets as data points. Planets with Mg II escape appear above a trend line, while planets without Mg II escape appear below the trend line.
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Josh Lothringer @jlothringer.bsky.social · 12/01/2026
Compared to previous NUV observations, this is the most-precise and best-resolved Mg II escape feature, allowing us to measure the Doppler shift and line widths. The gas appears to be moving towards the star at ~30-40 km/s and the lines are broader than expected, also indicating high velocity.
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Josh Lothringer @jlothringer.bsky.social · 12/01/2026
The Mg II ion has a huge feature at 0.28 microns, which we can resolve with Hubble. The absorption is well past the planet's gravity, indicating extreme escape of gas: we calculate about 10^12.5 grams per sec. @brettmorr.is told us this is about 2x the mass of all elephants on Earth... per second! 😂
A spectrum (transit depth versus wavelength) showing two large bumps, which models and data agree is the Mg II absorption feature.
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Josh Lothringer @jlothringer.bsky.social · 12/01/2026
ICYMI: Over the winter holidays, my student's paper on KELT-9b was accepted: arxiv.org/abs/2512.19662! With the Hubble Space Telescope's STIS instrument, we find enormous escape of metal ions from the hottest hot Jupiter, KELT-9b! 🪐🔭💫
arxiv.org
A High-Resolution NUV Transmission Spectrum of KELT-9b: Mg II and Fe II Escaping from the Hottest Known Giant Planet
We present high-resolution NUV observations from Hubble Space Telescope's (HST) Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) data for the hottest known gas planet, KELT-9b. Observations were collected ...
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Casey Dreier @caseydreier.bsky.social · 05/01/2026
Very good news for NASA Science in the compromise 2026 funding bill released by Congress today:
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USA TODAY @usatoday.com · 17/12/2025
Exclusive: The Trump administration is moving to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado, according to a senior White House official, taking aim at one of the world's leading climate research labs.
bit.ly
Trump moves to dismantle major US climate research center in Colorado
The Trump administration is breaking up the National Center for Atmospheric Research, taking aim at one of the world's leading climate research labs.
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Reposted by Josh Lothringer
Julien Girard @juliengirard.space · 05/12/2025
The CHesapeake bay area EXOplanet Meeting #CHEXO12 has started @jhuapl.bsky.social with a nice and big crowd despite the snow! www.chexo.org #exoplanets
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John Debes @johndebes.bsky.social · 17/11/2025
Hey #astrosci community! After working on this project for 3 years, there's a new Hubble Spectroscopic Legacy Archive that's just been newly made available at @stsci.edu: archive.stsci.edu/missions-and... follow me to learn more! (1/n)
A logo "HSLA" which stands for Hubble Spectroscopic Legacy Archive, has three stylized spectra with rainbow colors radiating from left to right. In the background are stars, galaxies, and a giant planet.
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Josh Lothringer @jlothringer.bsky.social · 31/10/2025
Thanks!!!
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Josh Lothringer @jlothringer.bsky.social · 31/10/2025
Thanks, Jake!!
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Josh Lothringer @jlothringer.bsky.social · 31/10/2025
Take a look at the paper, now accepted to AJ, for more info: arxiv.org/abs/2510.26785. The code and calculations used in the paper are available at the GitHub linked above. The data used in the paper is available here: jlothringer.github.io/LExACoM_MRT_....
arxiv.org
The Library of Exoplanet Atmospheric Composition Measurements: Population Level Trends in Exoplanet Composition with ExoComp
The present-day bulk elemental composition of an exoplanet can provide insight into a planet's formation and evolutionary history. Such information is now being measured for dozens of planets with sta...
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Josh Lothringer @jlothringer.bsky.social · 31/10/2025
We hope this is just the start at looking at these population-level trends, now with more robust and reliable measurements. We'll continue to collect measurements as they become available and update the table. We plan to extend this to include free retrieval results (e.g., H2O, CO2 measurements).
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Josh Lothringer @jlothringer.bsky.social · 31/10/2025
Even though the trends are a bit offset, the transit and eclipse spectroscopy samples show very consistent mass-metallicity slopes! Both are steeper than the Solar System trend - perhaps interesting... All this is also consistent with interior bulk metallicity inferences.
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Josh Lothringer @jlothringer.bsky.social · 31/10/2025
One of the highlights is the planet mass-(atmospheric) metallicity trend. While such a trend was somewhat controversial with HST measurements, this newer sample shows a much cleaner relationship. With ExoComp, we can break it down between O/H and C/H and compare directly to the Solar System.
C/H versus planet mass, showing increasing metallicity towards smaller planet masses.Same as left, but for O/H versus mass.
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Josh Lothringer @jlothringer.bsky.social · 31/10/2025
There don't seem to be obvious trends or correlations between planet metallicity, C/O, temperature, stellar metallicity, or stellar mass. But carbon-dominated C/O > 1 planets appear to be rare, if any exist at all!
Planet metallicity versus equilibrium temperature.C/O versus equilibrium temperature. No trend is seen.4 panel plots showing planet metallicity and C/O versus stellar metallicity and mass. No obvious trends are seen.
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Josh Lothringer @jlothringer.bsky.social · 31/10/2025
After we standardize the 65 atmosphere measurements from JWST and 8m-class telescopes, we can look for trends! And we see some surprises... The first was that exoplanets measured by transit spectroscopy have low C/O compared to those measured in eclipse. It's not obvious why.
Left: A plot of O/H versus sub-sample (direct spectroscopy, eclipse spectroscopy, etc.). Right: The same but C/O versus sub-sample. Transit spectroscopy shows low C/O.A plot showing C/O versus metallicity.
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Josh Lothringer @jlothringer.bsky.social · 31/10/2025
ExoComp allows one to convert between different solar abundance references and different definitions of metallicity and C/O. Other tools include fitting metallicity, C/O, and refrac./vol. ratios to sets of atomic and molecular abundances (like from a free retrievals). github.com/jlothringer/...
github.com
GitHub - jlothringer/exocomp: Exocomp is a toolkit with functions and utilities for normalizing measurements from different retrievals of exoplanets and brown dwarfs.
Exocomp is a toolkit with functions and utilities for normalizing measurements from different retrievals of exoplanets and brown dwarfs. - jlothringer/exocomp
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Josh Lothringer @jlothringer.bsky.social · 31/10/2025
We've collected 65 individual exoplanet atmosphere composition measurements to look for population-level trends 🔭 #exoplanets To do this, we had to create a toolkit to standardize between definitions of . We call it ExoComp. (Yes, that's a Star Trek reference 😀).
A logo with text "ExoComp" with a robot scanning the "O".
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Josh Lothringer @jlothringer.bsky.social · 30/10/2025
Even back in 1850, the biomass of humans matched that of all wild land animals? Not what I would have thought!
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Josh Lothringer @jlothringer.bsky.social · 16/10/2025
Now extended to Monday 10/20, FYI!
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Josh Lothringer @jlothringer.bsky.social · 16/10/2025
Abstracts are due by tomorrow for the 12th installment of the Chesapeake Bay Area Exoplanet Meeting! The meeting will be December 5th, 2025 at JHU Applied Physics Lab. Hope to see you there. www.chexo.org/chexo12
chexo.org
chexo.org - CHEXO #12
The Chesapeake Bay Area Exoplanet Meeting brings together all lovers of exoplanets and related science from the DC area and beyond. This series of one-day meetings enable the sharing of ideas in an in...
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Josh Lothringer @jlothringer.bsky.social · 03/10/2025
The last day to register for STScI's fall workshop is today! www.stsci.edu/contents/eve...
stsci.edu
Atmospheric Escape and Replenishment in Planetary Systems Workshop
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Alexandra Witze @alexwitze.bsky.social · 29/09/2025
A leading Democrat in the Senate just released an important report documenting how NASA has been working to implement the president's proposed budget, not Congressionally approved funds, in slashing missions. Read more ⬇️
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MAST - Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes @mast-news.bsky.social · 17/09/2025
New HLSP: First results from the Rocky Worlds DDT program are now available at MAST! This release includes calibrated light curves, model fits, preliminary eclipse depth estimation, and auxiliary data for GJ 3929 b. archive.stsci.edu/hlsp/rocky-w... #HLSP #RockyWorlds #JWST #HST #Exoplanets #MAST 🔭
An example fit to a JWST/MIRI F1500W eclipse observation of GJ 3929b collected by the Rocky Worlds DDT Program.
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Josh Lothringer @jlothringer.bsky.social · 10/09/2025
Registration is open now for our fall workshop on Atmospheric Escape and Replenishment in Planetary Systems! 🔭 #exoplanets
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Douglas Long @minimillian.bsky.social · 04/09/2025
The Rocky Worlds DDT has published our final target list. Join us for an information session on September 15 to learn more about the 9 targeted planets and the goals of the program. 🔭 #exoplanets
stsci.edu
Rocky Worlds DDT Updates: Final Target List and Virtual Information Session
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Marc Postman @astromarc.bsky.social · 28/08/2025
STScI is now accepting applications for the Giacconi Fellowship in astrophysics. Start date is Fall 2026 and funding is available for 3 years. More info here: www.stsci.edu/stsci-resear...
stsci.edu
Giacconi Fellowship
Learn about the requirements for STScI’s Giacconi Fellowship, which recognizes postdoctoral researchers in astronomy, astrophysics, and planetary science.
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UArizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory @uarizonalpl.bsky.social · 25/08/2025
The application to join the LPL Planetary Sciences PhD program is now open! Visit lpl.arizona.edu/admissions for more information.
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