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Michael Plummer

@magmaskies.bsky.social
265 followers 205 following 28 posts

Assistant Professor of Physics, Mountain West, Astronomy PhD, Exoplanet 🪐 & Brown Dwarf Atmospheres Research ⛈️, He/Him, michaelplummer.dev

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Reposted by Michael Plummer
Evert Nasedkin @evertnasedkin.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
🔭 New paper day! 🪐 This time from Merle Schrader, a PhD student in the brown dwarf group at Trinity College Dublin. Today, they're publishing a fresh look at SIMP-0136, using principal component analysis, identifying the mechanisms driving its atmospheric variability. arxiv.org/abs/2607.26182
arxiv.org
The JWST weather report: Unravelling the atmospheric variability of isolated worlds using principal component analysis
Brown dwarf variability directly probes atmospheric dynamics beyond the Solar System, and recent JWST time-resolved spectroscopy has opened a new window into these processes. Principal component analy...
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Reposted by Michael Plummer
Harrison Nicholls @nichollsh.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
New paper on arXiv today! On the efficacy of using novel Bayesian machine learning to dispatch 'expensive' forward models of planetary evolution. This connects with #PLATO ageing and can help solve degeneracies in current static-retrieval approaches which treat #exoplanets as snapshots.
arxiv.org
Constraining the lives and times of exoplanets through evolutionary Bayesian retrievals
Static retrieval frameworks are leading tools for interpreting exoplanet observations, yet time-independent modelling leaves them prone to degeneracy and unable to resolve exoplanets' histories. The c...
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Reposted by Michael Plummer
Dr. Jake Turner 📡🧲🪐 @astrojaket.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
⭐Another new paper! ⭐🔭 Proud Advisor Moment 🤗 Skylar, my PhD student, just had their first PhD paper accepted for publication! They did a fantastic job 😀 We update the orbit of the sub-Neptune pi Men c and find evidence of another planet 👀 Paper here for free: arxiv.org/abs/2607.12088
arxiv.org
TESS Photometry and Radial Velocity Analysis of the sub-Neptune Exoplanet π Mensae c and the Wider π Mensae Planetary System
Exoplanet characterization relies on precise measurements of planetary orbital and physical parameters. This is particularly important for planetary dynamics and atmospheric evolution, as orbital para...
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Reposted by Michael Plummer
Dr. Skylar Grayson @skylargrayson.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
Alrighty so NASA (and me and a lot of other people) had a little goof. But I think it’s a great opportunity to remind people that sometimes mistakes can actually be pretty cool and lead to a lot of new perspectives and understanding! 🧪🔭
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Reposted by Michael Plummer
Dr. Russ Stoneback @cosmicstudio.io · 23/02/2026
Hey #sciart! This is "Punching Above (Normalized)". This piece is a view of the Earth from space through the lens of my plasma physics research. The piece reveals Earth's true intention is to become the next Jupiter. It won 2nd place at the Art of Planetary Science show, open this weekend!
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Michael Plummer @magmaskies.bsky.social · 27/02/2026
Publication day for our paper on the T2.5 brown dwarf/exoplanet analog SIMP0136! We find cloud formation appears to drive upper atmospheric temperature and chemical structure. We also debut a new, novel method for vertical mapping extrasolar atmospheric dynamics. iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3...
iopscience.iop.org
Mapping the Cloud-driven Atmospheric Dynamics and Chemistry of an Isolated Exoplanet Analog with Harmonic Signatures
Mapping the Cloud-driven Atmospheric Dynamics and Chemistry of an Isolated Exoplanet Analog with Harmonic Signatures, Plummer, Michael K., Cocchini, Francis P., Kearns, Peter A., McCarthy, Allison M., Artigau, Étienne, Cowan, Nicolas B., Akhmetshyn, Roman, Vos, Johanna M., Nasedkin, Evert, Visscher, Channon, Benneke, Björn, Doyon, René, Metchev, Stanimir A., Rowe, Jason F., Suárez, Genaro
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Reposted by Michael Plummer
Kevin Hainline @kevinhainline.bsky.social · 02/10/2025
I wrote another paper! And yes it's about brown dwarfs wait don't go anywhere they're really neat arxiv.org/abs/2510.00111
arxiv.org
JADES: An Abundance of Ultra-Distant T- and Y-Dwarfs in Deep Extragalactic Data
Ultra-cool T- (T$_{\mathrm{eff}} \approx$ 500 - 1200 K) and Y-dwarfs (T$_{\mathrm{eff}}$ $\lessapprox 500$ K) have historically been found only a few hundred parsecs from the Sun. The sensitivity and ...
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Michael Plummer @magmaskies.bsky.social · 03/10/2025
I’m thrilled to announce a new paper that went up on the arXiv last night: arxiv.org/abs/2510.02260! The paper finds and maps the connections between clouds, temperature structure, and chemistry in the isolate exoplanet analog SIMP 0136. Very grateful to all my collaborators and co-authors!
arxiv.org
Mapping the Cloud-Driven Atmospheric Dynamics & Chemistry of an Isolated Exoplanet Analog with Harmonic Signatures
Young planetary-mass objects and brown dwarfs near the L/T spectral transition exhibit enhanced spectrophotometric variability over field brown dwarfs. Patchy clouds, auroral processes, stratospheric ...
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Michael Plummer @magmaskies.bsky.social · 26/09/2025
Outstanding new paper from Evert Nasedkin on the variable, isolated exoplanet analog, T dwarf, SIMP-0136! Time resolved atmospheric retrievals find temperature driving variability and potential auroral signatures (stratospheric temperature inversion)!
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Reposted by Michael Plummer
A. Suárez Mascareño @asuarezmascareno.com · 29/07/2025
It's NIRPS day! Today we are publishing the first results of the new near infrared planet hunter. A high resolution spectrograph with YHJ coverage and capable of measuring radial velocities with a precision better than 1 m/s. We debut it with the detection (in the NIR) of Proxima b. #exoplanets 🔭
iac.es
The IAC leads the first scientific results of NIRPS, the new infrared exoplanet hunter
The new infrared spectrograph NIRPS, built with the participation of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) and installed on the 3.6-metre telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile, has...
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Astrobites @astrobites.bsky.social · 25/07/2025
In the latest of our #UndergradResearch series, discover how Diya Talesara uses IR spectroscopy to study biosignatures in exoplanet data. 🔭✨☄️ astrobites.org/2025/07/25/i...
astrobites.org
UR: Infrared Spectrum: Probing for life beyond the visible
In the latest of our #UndergradResearch series, discover how Diya Talesara uses IR spectroscopy to study biosignatures in exoplanet data.
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Reposted by Michael Plummer
Robin Wordsworth @rdword.bsky.social · 24/07/2025
If you could hear in the infrared, what would CO2 sound like? We calculated this recently for a Gen Ed course, and the result is a little eerie. Results were generated by mapping IR frequency in inverse cm to sound frequency in Hz.
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Reposted by Michael Plummer
Allie McCarthy @alliemccarthy.bsky.social · 03/03/2025
Check out the press release for our recent work using JWST observations of SIMP0136! Also published today on ApJL: iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3...
iopscience.iop.org
The JWST Weather Report from the Isolated Exoplanet Analog SIMP 0136+0933: Pressure-dependent Variability Driven by Multiple Mechanisms - IOPscienceSearchopens in new tab
The JWST Weather Report from the Isolated Exoplanet Analog SIMP 0136+0933: Pressure-dependent Variability Driven by Multiple Mechanisms, McCarthy, Allison M., Vos, Johanna M., Muirhead, Philip S., Bil...
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Michael Plummer @magmaskies.bsky.social · 12/01/2025
Good morning #aas245! My students Peter Kearns and Francis Cocchini will be presenting a talk on 1D mapping brown dwarf atmospheres with ground-based photometry on Wednesday at 11:20 AM (319.07) in Stars/Cool Dwarfs/Brown Dwarfs II. Hope to see you there!
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