iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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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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 · 04/09/2026

Happy to share two postdoc ads for positions in the APEx department at MPIA - please spread the word! - direct imaging and spectroscopy of wide-separation planets with Wolfgang Brandner aas.org/jobregister/... - forward modeling of exoplanet atmospheres with Elsie Lee aas.org/jobregister/...

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Laura Kreidberg @lkreidberg.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

Proud of @angeliquekahle.bsky.social for this masterpiece on the ultra-hot Jupiter WASP-121b’s dayside emission spectrum ! she combined three different JWST data sets and found strong evidence for an atmospheric composition enhanced in refractory material, driven by a strong detection of SiO gas

A three panel figure. Top panel: the measured planet-to-star flux ratio from 0.6 - 10.5 micron, from NIRISS, NIRSpec, and MIRI. Middle panel: brightness temperature versus wavelength, with the contribution from different absorbers shown. Bottom panel: residuals from the best fit model.

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Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie @mpi-astro.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

MPIA researchers discovered clear differences between the morning and evening sides of the ultrahot gas planet WASP-121 b with JWST 🔭 www.mpia.de/news/science...

mpia.de

From Dusk Till Dawn

Astronomers reveal atmospheric differences between morning and evening sides of ultrahot exoplanet WASP121 b using JWST observations.

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Laura Kreidberg @lkreidberg.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

Good week on the arXiv for MPIA grad students :) Annie von Stauffenberg measured a spectacularly high S/N spectrum of Beta Pic b with the new and improved GRAVITY+ instrument - she detects 13CO and potential variability!

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Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie @mpi-astro.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

1/3 🔭 Exciting discoveries from the James Webb Space Telescope! Researchers from MPIA and CfA | Harvard & Smithsonian analysed the rocky exoplanet LHS 3844 b, revealing a dark, hot surface likely composed of basalt. We are beginning to do #exogeology. 🌌 #Exoplanets #JWST www.mpia.de/news/science...

mpia.de

Astronomers Explore the Surface Composition of a Nearby Super-Earth

Astronomers constrain the properties of a rocky exoplanet’s hot crust with JWST observations.

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Laura Kreidberg @lkreidberg.bsky.social · 25/03/2026

Got around to updating the summary of all rocky planet temperature measurements so far. Definitely inconsistent with thick, Venus-like CO2 atmospheres!!! A bare rock model fits the data well … but thin atmospheres/ not too much CO2 are still possible. Adapted from Kreidberg & Stevenson 2025.

Measurements of dayside brightness temperatures for rocky planets, relative to the theoretical maximum for a zero-albedo bare rock. The data are clustered near the theoretical maximum.

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Laura Kreidberg @lkreidberg.bsky.social · 21/12/2025

Fully funded opportunity for bachelors and masters students to come work at MPIA in summer 2026!

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Lorena Acuña @astrolore.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

Hi all! If you are looking for a conference in exoplanet interiors in 2026, check out "Layers of Understanding: Model Intercomparisons of Exoplanet Interiors": layersofunderstanding2026.github.io It will take place in MPIA's campus in April 13-17th. The registration deadline is 15 January 2026

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Laura Kreidberg @lkreidberg.bsky.social · 18/11/2025

Lots of fun work out from APEx postdocs in the past week! first up was Sophia Vaughan @sophiavaughan.bsky.social on a deep search for reflected light from a hot Neptune w/ the VLT. This summed up light from ALL FOUR 8m telescopes over 2 nights- a preview of ELT-like data! arxiv.org/abs/2511.08691

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Laura Kreidberg @lkreidberg.bsky.social · 31/10/2025

Excited to speak this coming Tuesday at the DAI in Heidelberg! I'm hosting a panel discussion on life in the universe - from the origin of life on Earth, to how we could recognize it on other planets, to prospects for interstellar space travel. Tickets on sale now: dai-heidelberg.de/en/events/li...

dai-heidelberg.de

Life in the Universe - Deutsch-Amerikanisches Institut. Haus der Kultur.

Are we alone in the universe? This question has always fascinated people. Now we can approach it in a scientific …

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Laura Kreidberg @lkreidberg.bsky.social · 30/10/2025

Exoplanet atmosphere characterization is built on a foundation of lab data and chemistry. We need more reaction rates, cross sections, & line lists, at a broader range of conditions than the Solar System. Got together with Earth/planetary scientists to comment on this: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

nature.com

How to understand exoplanets — space scientists call on lab-based chemists to help

Stronger links between researchers who work on Earth’s and other planets’ atmospheres, and between the experimental, modelling and observational communities, will help to interpret the astronomical da...

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Laura Kreidberg @lkreidberg.bsky.social · 15/09/2025

Incredible opportunity from the MPG to start your own research group!

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Laura Kreidberg @lkreidberg.bsky.social · 15/09/2025

We have job opportunities in the APEx department at MPIA - please spread the word! Postdocs: aas.org/jobregister/... Tenure-track staff: aas.org/jobregister/... Max Planck Research Group Leaders: aas.org/jobregister/... + happy to host ERC, Humboldt, and other third-party funds.

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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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Laura Kreidberg @lkreidberg.bsky.social · 03/09/2025

Update on the atmosphere vs no atmosphere debate for TRAPPIST-1 b and c -- here's a nice and (IMO) conclusive result from Gillon and Ducrot et al.: no thick atmosphere on either planet. arxiv.org/pdf/2509.02128

arxiv.org

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Max-Planck-Gesellschaft @maxplanck.de · 01/08/2025

Director at Max Planck - a unique position! The Open Call for Expressions of Interest in Max Planck Directorships is open now and can be submitted by the 31st of October 2025. ➡️ mpg.de/directors - Please share the Open Call among potential candidates.

Open Call for Expressions of Interest in Max Planck Directorships:
Expressions of interest can be submitted until 31 October 2025.

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paulmolliere.bsky.social @paulmolliere.bsky.social · 28/07/2025

Our paper on PSO J318 is finally out 💪 . I want to thank all of my coauthors who made this study possible 🙇 !! It could be that we see the first cloud seeding nuclei forming at the top of the atmosphere…? arxiv.org/abs/2507.18691

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Laura Kreidberg @lkreidberg.bsky.social · 28/07/2025

gorgeous new JWST spectrum of the rogue planet PSO J318 from @paulmolliere.bsky.social ! Strong absorption at 10 microns likely due to small SiO particles, acting as seeds for cloud formation arxiv.org/pdf/2507.18691

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Laura Kreidberg @lkreidberg.bsky.social · 21/07/2025

Happy to share the first paper from the SPACE Program, led by my student Angelique Kahle! she observed a hot little sub-Neptune, HD 86226c (Rp = 2.3 Re; equilibrium temp = 1300 K). arxiv.org/pdf/2507.13439 The spectrum is *really* flat ! here's the amplitude compared to other gaseous planets.

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Laura Kreidberg @lkreidberg.bsky.social · 14/07/2025

@astroduncan.bsky.social did the impossible - he put magnetic fields in his models!! Check out this nice paper on how more realistic B fields impact hot Jupiter atmosphere circulation 🧲

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Laura Kreidberg @lkreidberg.bsky.social · 03/07/2025

Huge congratulations to @sophiavaughan.bsky.social for receiving the Michael Penston Prize from the RAS!!! Sophia is a pioneer in detecting reflected light from exoplanets. Congrats on this well-deserved recognition 😁🔭

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paulmolliere.bsky.social @paulmolliere.bsky.social · 03/07/2025

Hi exoplaneteers! Please consider submitting an abstract for the Observation and Characterization of Extrasolar Planets session of this year's meeting of the German astronomical society (deadline is 31 July, you first need to register). ag2025.astronomische-gesellschaft.de/view_splinte...

ag2025.astronomische-gesellschaft.de

Annual Meeting of the Astronomische Gesellschaft 2025

Annual Meeting of the Astronomische Gesellschaft 2025, held in Görlitz from September 15-19, 2025

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Laura Kreidberg @lkreidberg.bsky.social · 02/07/2025

New paper out! This is a review of the published JWST observations of rocky exoplanets so far: arxiv.org/abs/2507.00933 Quick summary of the key points:

arxiv.org

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Jiachen Liu @jiachenliu.bsky.social · 01/07/2025

My new paper, co-authored with Duncan Christie and Jun Yang, on 3D chemical kinetics simulations of K2-18b has been accepted by MNRAS! This is Part I of a series. In Part I, we examine the planet's atmospheric dynamics and its impact on the transport of passive tracers. arxiv.org/abs/2506.23891

arxiv.org

Three-dimensional Transport-induced Chemistry on Temperate sub-Neptune K2-18b, Part I: the Effects of Atmospheric Dynamics

The low equilibrium temperatures of temperate sub-Neptunes lead to extremely long chemical timescales in their upper atmospheres, causing the abundances of chemical species to be strongly shaped by at...

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Laura Kreidberg @lkreidberg.bsky.social · 06/05/2025

Minor new release for batman today - if you've had issues with numpy2 incompatibility, please update your installation. I don't get to code very often anymore and I'm always amazed by how much better the software development tools are than when batman was first written.

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Eric Columbus @ericcolumbus.bsky.social · 06/05/2025

🚨🚨 Deranged letter from Education Secretary Linda McMahon to Harvard’s president, cutting off federal funding for any new grants. Worth reading in full. It is NUTS.

THE SECRETARY OF EDUCATION
WASHINGTON, DC 20202
May 5, 2025
Dr. Alan Garber
Office of the President
Harvard University
Massachusetts Hall
Cambridge, MA 02138
Dr. Garber,
The Federal Government has a sacred responsibility to be a wise and important steward of American taxpayer dollars. Harvard University, despite amassing a largely tax-free $53.2 billion dollar endowment (larger than the GDP of 100 countries), receives billions of dollars of taxpayer largess each year. Receiving such taxpayer funds is a privilege, not a right. Yet instead of using these funds to advance the education of its students, Harvard is engaging in a systemic pattern of violating federal law. Where do many of these "students" come from, who are they, how do they get into Harvard, or even into our country—and why is there so much HATE? These are questions that must be answered, among many more, but the biggest question of all is, why will Harvard not give straightforward answers to the American public?
Harvard University has made a mockery of this country's higher education system. It has invited foreign students, who engage in violent behavior and show contempt for the United States of America, to its campus. In every way, Harvard has failed to abide by its legal obligations, its ethical and fiduciary duties, its transparency responsibilities, and any semblance of academic rigor. It had scrapped standardized testing requirements and a normalized grading system. This year Harvard was forced to adopt an embarrassing "remedial math" program for undergraduates.
Why is it, we ask, that Harvard has to teach simple and basic mathematics, when it is supposedly so hard to get into this "acclaimed university"? Who is getting in under such a low standard when others, with fabulous grades and a great understanding of the highest levels of mathematics, are being rejected?
Harvard has even been embroiled in humiliating plagiarism scandals, exposed clearly and plainly in the media, with respect to your then…

$running the institution in a totally chaotic way. Harvard alumnus and highly successful hedge fund manager Bill Ackman noted that, under her leadership, Harvard has become "a political advocacy organization for one party." Ackman has called for the resignation of Pritzker, concluding that the "[t)he mismanagement here is Penny Pritzker" and noting that any serious corporation would have removed her after a litany of recent failings and the fact that, incredibly, "Harvard is not in a good financial position." According to Ackman, one of the world's foremost finance experts, Harvard's so-called S53 billion endowment is "massively overstated as far as what it's really worth," and Harvard has irresponsibly taken out $8 billion in debt. If this is true, it is concerning evidence of Harvard's disastrous mismanagement, indicating an urgent need for massive reform-not continued taxpayer investment. If Harvard prefers not to change, then Harvard should have no problem using its overflowing endowment to fund its bloated bureaucracy. At its best, a university should fulfill the highest ideals of our Nation, and enlighten the thousands of hopeful students who walk through its magnificent gates. But Harvard has betrayed this ideal. Perhaps most alarmingly, Harvard has failed to abide by the United States Supreme Court's ruling demanding that it end its racial preferencing, and continues to engage in ugly racism in its undergraduate and graduate schools, and even within the Harvard Law Review itself. Our universities should be bastions of merit that reward and celebrate excellence and achievement. They should not be incubators of discrimination that encourage resentment and instill grievance and racism into our wonderful young Americans. The above concerns are only a fraction of the long list of Harvard's consistent violations of its own legal duties. Given these and other concerning allegations, this letter is to inform you that Harvard should no longer seek GRANTS from the fede…$

Federal Agencies. The Administration's priorities have not changed and today's letter marks the end of new grants for the University.
These requests will advance the best interests of Harvard University, so it can reclaim its status as a respected educational institution for the future leaders of America. Thank you for your attention to this matter!
Sincerely,
Linda E. McMahon
Secretary of Education

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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 01/05/2025

A new, thorough reanalysis of the data that led to claims of biosignatures on K2-18b from @luiswel.bsky.social & friends - a nicely written lesson on why this stuff is hard. They find no significant evidence for DMS, the gas the Cambridge team claimed to have found. arxiv.org/abs/2504.21788

arxiv.org

The Challenges of Detecting Gases in Exoplanet Atmospheres

Claims of detections of gases in exoplanet atmospheres often rely on comparisons between models including and excluding specific chemical species. However, the space of molecular combinations availabl...

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Dr Ryan MacDonald @distantworlds.space · 17/04/2025

𝗡𝗼, 𝗮 𝗯𝗶𝗼𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗱𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝗞𝟮-𝟭𝟴𝗯'𝘀 𝗮𝘁𝗺𝗼𝘀𝗽𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲. K2-18b is back in the news, now with a bold claim that biosignature molecules (DMS and/or DMDS) have been 'detected at 3σ'. Most exoplanet astronomers are extremely sceptical about these claims, let's see why (1/n). 🔭🧪🪐 #exoplanet

Artist's impression of the exoplanet K2-18b.
Credit: A. Smith, University of Cambridge.

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Laura Kreidberg @lkreidberg.bsky.social · 17/04/2025

Shared some (highly skeptical) thoughts on today’s “habitable planet” #K218b news. Thank you @npr.org for the responsible reporting on this topic!

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Laura Kreidberg @lkreidberg.bsky.social · 03/04/2025

Do you want to do cutting-edge exoplanet science with JWST in a Bavarian castle? If yes (and why would you say no???) there are still a few spots open for the Ringberg Workshop "Signal in the Noise" (Nov 17 - 21). Register here sites.google.com/view/jwst-ri...

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Laura Kreidberg @lkreidberg.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

Happy to share that the Max Planck postdoc program officially launched! I was lucky to be part of the committee that designed the program - our goal was to provide better and more structured resources for onboarding, career development, & mentoring.

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Laura Kreidberg @lkreidberg.bsky.social · 10/03/2025

Q for folks outside of astronomy - where are postdoc positions most often advertised?

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Laura Kreidberg @lkreidberg.bsky.social · 23/01/2025

Ashamed of my country today. NASA is supposed to represent the very best of who we are and what we can achieve.

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Laura Kreidberg @lkreidberg.bsky.social · 17/01/2025

Proud to see the special collection of Transiting Exoplanet Community Early Release Science papers out (all open-access)! www.nature.com/collections/... This has been such a whirlwind of effort over the last few years, with a great team - it's hard to even imagine the pre-JWST era now.

nature.com

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Jason Wang @thejason.wang · 14/01/2025

The Roman Coronagraph team is soliciting input on what to do with 2200 hours on the highest contrast coronagraph ever flown! There is no open-time program, so fill out this survey on the technology demonstration and science that you think would be most interesting! docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

docs.google.com

Roman Coronagraph Community Interest Survey

Context: The Coronagraph Instrument onboard the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope (scheduled to launch no later than May 2027) will enable an in-space technology demonstration of a high-contrast coron...

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Laura Kreidberg @lkreidberg.bsky.social · 07/01/2025

Classic astronomy ... when you have more than 6 data points, time to do a demographic study! nice work, Fu et al. :) arxiv.org/pdf/2501.02081

A screenshot of a figure showing 8 data points and the correlation between them

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Laura Kreidberg @lkreidberg.bsky.social · 10/12/2024

Awesome to see over 100 small (~10m) asteroids discovered in the foreground of TRAPPIST-1! news.mit.edu/2024/mit-ast... The original goal of our observations (and others) was to study the atmospheres of the TRAPPIST planets, but there are also many asteroids zooming by (movie cred: Sebastian Zieba)

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Laura Kreidberg @lkreidberg.bsky.social · 09/12/2024

Applications are open for MPIA summer internships! this is a fully funded opportunity, open to bachelor's and master's students anywhere in the world: www.mpia.de/en/careers/i...

mpia.de

Summer internships

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Beatriz Campos Estrada, PhD @exobeatriz.bsky.social · 05/12/2024

The Max Planck Institute for Astronomy Summer Internships are open for applications! This is an opportunity for bachelor and masters students 🤩 If you are interested in doing some exoplanets research, contact me! More info: www.mpia.de/en/careers/i... 🔭🪐⭐🧪👩‍🔬

mpia.de

Summer internships

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Laura Kreidberg @lkreidberg.bsky.social · 29/11/2024

Just, you know, hanging out with a gigantic refracting telescope. As one does. Thanks to Uni Vienna for a great visit!

$A woman looks through the 68 cm Uni. Vienna refracting telescope.$

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Bibiana Prinoth @bibianaprinoth.ch · 22/11/2024

My supervisor, Jens Hoeijmakers, is advertising a postdoc position: lu.varbi.com/en/what:job/... Working with Jens and being part of his group has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life—I enjoyed every second of it. Ask me anything! I'm an open book! 🪐🔭

lu.varbi.com

Post-doctoral fellow in Astrophysics

Subject description Lund University invites applications for a post-doctoral researcher to carry out research in the exoplanet atmospheres group of Jens Hoeijmakers. This project is part of a larger p

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Laura Kreidberg @lkreidberg.bsky.social · 22/11/2024

Neat new way for scientists to evaluate articles about scientific results! I think this is especially useful for cases where 1 scientist supports a result, and 99 others are skeptical (here's looking at you Hycean worlds) authentisci.com

authentisci.com

AuthentiSci

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Hannah Wakeford @stellarplanet.bsky.social · 19/11/2024

PhD Advertisement! 4-yr PhD position as part of the EPSRC Aerosols CDT to work with me and Prof Jonathan Reid at Bristol on Laboratory experiments to measure the Optical Properties of Silicate aerosols for applications to exoplanet atmospheres. See Application instructions and details via link

aerosol-cdt.ac.uk

2025 projects | Aerosol Science CDT

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Joanna Drążkowska @astrojoanna.bsky.social · 19/11/2024

Most of the planet formation models assume a Solar-type central star. But exoplanets form around stars of various masses and compositions. Do you want to work on exoplanet formation models? Apply now to join our group as a postdoctoral researcher next year!

karriere.mps.mpg.de

Postdoctoral Position (f/m/d) in Exoplanets Formation

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