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Sean Raymond (planetplanet.net)

@planetplanet.bsky.social
626 followers 125 following 115 posts

Building crazy planetary systems on my blog planetplanet.net. Solar System formation. Exoplanets. Free-floating planets and interstellar objects. Astronomy poem book: amzn.to/3muytqo He/him.

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Sean Raymond (planetplanet.net) @planetplanet.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
A couple of great talks coming at the @labastrobordeaux.bsky.social on Fri Oct 2. Make sure to sign up first! smr.u-bordeaux.fr/departement-...
smr.u-bordeaux.fr
Conférence SMR « De l'apparition de la vie sur Terre aux mondes habitables » - 2 Octobre 2026
Purificacion Lopez-Garcia (Membre de l'Académie des Sciences, DR CNRS Paris-Saclay) et Martin Turbet (LAB Université de Bordeaux). Amphithéâtre B18, 17h30
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Reposted by Sean Raymond (planetplanet.net)
Space Telescope Science Institute @stsci.edu · 28/08/2026
Named for NASA's first chief astronomer, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is expected to reveal new information about the expansion of the universe and discover multitudes of planets orbiting distant stars. #NASARoman 🔭
npr.org
NASA is about to launch a space telescope that could change how we see the universe
NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope launches Aug. 30 on a mission to explore some of the most pressing mysteries of the cosmos.
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Sean Raymond (planetplanet.net) @planetplanet.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Published version of our new review on planetary ejection (led by @malenarice.bsky.social, and with Will DeRocco) is out now! iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1...
iopscience.iop.org
The Dynamics of Planetary Ejection
The Dynamics of Planetary Ejection, Rice, Malena, DeRocco, William, Raymond, Sean N.
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Reposted by Sean Raymond (planetplanet.net)
Corey S. Powell @coreyspowell.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
I needed something spectacular, and here it is: a view of the August 12 solar eclipse as seen from South Korea's Danuri satellite, in orbit around the Moon. You can see the lunar shadow sweeping across Greenland. 🔭🧪 www.mt.co.kr/amp/tech/202...
The Korean lunar orbiter Danuri succeeded in capturing the total eclipse observed on the European continent on the 12th (local time). The part of the shadow that touches the surface of the moon (top left) is a total solar eclipse. /Photo: Korea Aerospace Research Institute
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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
This is a pleasing factoid: the Nancy Grace Roman space telescope is the same size and weight as a T-Rex! Countdown: 15 days to launch! 🚀 AUG 30, 2026 11:26 UTC ℹ️: science.nasa.gov/mission/roma...
A sketch of a T-Rex dinosaur (big feet, tiny hands) next to a sketch of the Roman telescope.
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Sean Raymond (planetplanet.net) @planetplanet.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
In this new paper we showed that interstellar objects can be captured as a byproduct of stars flying by each other in the Galaxy (no planets involved). It only works for strong-enough encounters, probably just a few for the Sun during its history. It means that all stars have (sparse) Oort clouds
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Sean Raymond (planetplanet.net) @planetplanet.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
I fell asleep and forgot my June 15th tradition of reminding the world that something amazing may have happened on June 15, 2014 -- but no one on Earth saw it.. planetplanet.net/2014/06/04/s...
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Sean Raymond (planetplanet.net) @planetplanet.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
For #AsteroidDay, here is a good ol' poem about, well, asteroids! planetplanet.net/2020/06/30/a...
planetplanet.net
Asteroids — the poem – planetplanet
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Sean Raymond (planetplanet.net) @planetplanet.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
A nice write-up of a new paper by Nate Kaib and myself by @starstryder.space. The punchline: the orbits of long-period comets appear to hold a signature of the flyby of the star HD 7977, which happened 2.5 million years ago! phys.org/news/2026-06...
phys.org
Ancient stellar flyby may still be steering long-period comets today
The Gaia mission has allowed researchers to understand the motions of stars like never before, even revealing possible interactions between our solar system and nearby stars. Planetary Science Institu...
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Sean Raymond (planetplanet.net) @planetplanet.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
I never thought I'd get the chance to shake hands with the president and have a one-on-one chat -- for a solid 15 seconds, during which one subject of conversation was, indeed, my tie (thanks to Marisa for suggesting it!)
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Paul Byrne @theplanetaryguy.com · 01/06/2026
Left: the comet in Deep Impact (1998) Centre: the comet in Armageddon (1998) Right: an actual, real-life comet (2015)
Left: a comet that has weirdy blue/grey streamers coming out of it. Centre: a comet with weirdy blue/green streamers. Right: a real-life comet, in black and white, with hardly any streamers.
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Sean Raymond (planetplanet.net) @planetplanet.bsky.social · 23/05/2026
@elizabethtasker.bsky.social made an amazing and amazingly clear all about sample return mission from asteroids. Well worth your time!
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Sean Raymond (planetplanet.net) @planetplanet.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
I love this new paper about planets in AGN disks around supermassive black holes! arxiv.org/abs/2605.19241 Naturally, it also helps to motivate some of the crazy planetary systems I've built: planetplanet.net/2018/06/01/t...
arxiv.org
Active Galactic Nucleus Tori: Potential Birthplace to Millions of Planets
The outer regions of AGN disks have temperatures similar to those of circumstellar disks, permitting dust condensation. Therefore, planet formation and growth could be active in these dust tori throug...
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Paul Byrne @theplanetaryguy.com · 11/05/2026
For your Monday, here's one of the JWST Deep Field images. This is a portion of the sky about one-fifth the size of a full Moon. And it contains THOUSANDS of galaxies—some of which extend back to when the Universe was a couple of billion years old. The redder a galaxy, the farther away it is.
My god. It's full of galaxies.
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Reposted by Sean Raymond (planetplanet.net)
Opinion Editor @ Bluesky @dly.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
how have I never seen this Georgia O'Keefe painting called "Ladder to the Moon" 😭
a ladder floating in the middle of a blueish green sky leading up the a half moon
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Stephen Kane @exocytherean.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
This week in my "Planets in Science Fiction" class, I will be discussing the amazing short story "Nightfall" by Isaac Asimov and its insights into the nature of scientific bias. Also be sure to check out the incredible work of @planetplanet.bsky.social at planetplanet.net.
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Sean Raymond (planetplanet.net) @planetplanet.bsky.social · 30/01/2026
It's official. I just took over as the new director of the Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Bordeaux (@labastrobordeaux)! It's a whole new gig -- wish me luck!
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Sean Raymond (planetplanet.net) @planetplanet.bsky.social · 22/12/2025
My new paper with Nate Kaib explores what triggered the dynamical instability that took place among the giant planets in the young Solar System. We show that the flyby of a low-mass brown dwarf or free-floating planet could have done it (probability ~5%). ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2025arXi...
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Sean Raymond (planetplanet.net) @planetplanet.bsky.social · 14/12/2025
Last week, my son Zack shadowed me at my department for a week. I put him to work but I gave him a choice -- and he decided to simulate rings of planets and stars orbiting a black hole. And he wrote a blog post about it for your reading enjoyment (with gif!) planetplanet.net/2025/12/13/b...
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Sean Raymond (planetplanet.net) @planetplanet.bsky.social · 28/11/2025
About 100 billion humans have walked the Earth. About 100 billion stars roam the Milky Way galaxy. About 10,000 humans have ever been paid to study the stars (if anyone has better data let me know). So, modern astronomers are each lucky to the tune of 1 in 10 million!
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Sean Raymond (planetplanet.net) @planetplanet.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
If you live in France, a new documentary about 'Oumuamua comes out Thursday evening, starting at 9pm on the France 5. Replays on france.tv after I was scientific advisor (and I show up in several places), which was a great pleasure. www.francetvpro.fr/contenu-de-p...
france.tv
France TV - Replay et Direct tv des chaînes France Télévisions (ex Pluzz)
Retrouvez toutes les vidéos, articles et podcasts des programmes des chaînes de France Télévisions.
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Sean Raymond (planetplanet.net) @planetplanet.bsky.social · 07/11/2025
I just realized that a couple weeks ago was the fifth anniversary of the release of my astronomy poem book: Black Holes, Stars, Earth and Mars. www.amazon.com/dp/B08LFZZWGZ
amazon.com
Black Holes, Stars, Earth and Mars: Astronomy poems for all ages
Black Holes, Stars, Earth and Mars: Astronomy poems for all ages [Raymond, Sean, Raymond, Owen, Tyson, Neil deGrasse] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Black Holes, Stars, Earth and Mars: Astronomy poems for all ages
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Sean Raymond (planetplanet.net) @planetplanet.bsky.social · 19/10/2025
Here's a new article I wrote for @nautil.us about a new result hinting that variations in the cosmic ray flux hitting the Earth, which itself varies as the Sun oscillates vertically within the Galaxy, have a strong link to the diversity of microplankton. nautil.us/could-the-su...
nautil.us
Could the Sun’s Orbit Shape Evolution?
Could the Sun’s Orbit Shape Evolution? The connection between our massive star and the tiniest microplankton.
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Sean Raymond (planetplanet.net) @planetplanet.bsky.social · 19/10/2025
nautil.us/the-nautilus...
nautil.us
The Nautilus Reading List About the Cosmos
The Nautilus Reading List About the Cosmos: Our writers have read a universe of books on the cosmos. Here are their favorites.
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Sean Raymond (planetplanet.net) @planetplanet.bsky.social · 10/10/2025
New animation of the ultimate engineered solar system for a talk I'm giving tomorrow at a sci-fi convention in Lithuania. It has 400 rocky planets in the habitable zone of a single Sun-like star It's perfectly stable (I simulated it out to about a billion years) planetplanet.net/2017/05/03/t...
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American Astronomical Society (AAS) @aas.org · 06/10/2025
AAS members are on the Hill today to #SaveNASAScience and advocate for sustained funding for NASA, NSF, and our nation's other science agencies! Help us amplify their voices by calling and writing to your Congressional offices today: aas.org/action-alert...
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Sean Raymond (planetplanet.net) @planetplanet.bsky.social · 09/09/2025
In my new @nautil.us article, I use a lot of recent research to argue that rocky exoplanets on eccentric orbits are often very good candidates for life. (At least, eccentric/inclined orbits should not be used as a negative for habitability) nautil.us/wild-orbits-...
nautil.us
Wild Orbits Prime Planets for Life
Looking for habitable worlds? Check the ones with extreme swings.
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Sean Raymond (planetplanet.net) @planetplanet.bsky.social · 02/09/2025
Here's something new and weird -- eccentric rings of co-orbital planets. They are stable indefinitely, from an orbital point of view. Could they actually form and exist? planetplanet.net/2025/09/02/e...
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Sean Raymond (planetplanet.net) @planetplanet.bsky.social · 29/08/2025
Flashback to 2012 when I ate the Sun (Photo from the top of Vulcano in Sicily)
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Dorothy Berry @dorothyjberry.bsky.social · 28/08/2025
Imagine the complicated and precious genius of the girl who made this embroidery sampler in 1811 The Solar System, sampler, unknown maker, 1811, England. Museum no. T.92-1939. Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
a 19th century embroidery sampler showing the solar system, the distance of the planets from the sun, and the length of time it takes each planet to circle the sun
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Jason Wright @astrowright.bsky.social · 26/08/2025
Sigh. sites.psu.edu/astrowright/...
sites.psu.edu
HST Has Conclusively Shown that Avi Loeb is Wrong About 3I/ATLAS
The recent JWST observations have firmly shown that 3I/ATLAS is a comet—an interesting and anomalous one in some ways, but definitely not a spacecraft. This has not stopped Avi Loeb from continuing to...
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Jason Wright @astrowright.bsky.social · 18/08/2025
Still can't get over @deschscoveries.bsky.social parodying Loeb, and Loeb straight-up playing out the parody a 3 days later. Is Desch a clairvoyant, or did Loeb read this mockery of him and think—hey, that's actually a great idea!—and just plagiarize him?!
Next comes a by-now routine dismissal of astronomical observations, in order to claim 3I/ATLAS’s dusty coma (which does exist: de la Fuente Marcos et al.; Seligman et al.; Bolin et al.) does not exist and is just photographic fuzz. What would be bold and novel would be to lean in to the observations of dust and assert that any spaceship coming in hot from the interstellar medium would be very dirty and in need of a wash.Impacts by interstellar dust particles and interstellar gas particles can easily create a thin layer of dust on the surface of 3I/ATLAS, with no accompanying ices if 3I/ATLAS is not a comet. The interstellar speed of 3I/ATLAS is ~60 kilometers per second relative to the local interstellar medium. Any impacting matter would deliver ten times more energy per impacting proton than required to break a single chemical bond within the solid surface. The microscopic breakup of the surface to super-micron fragments by interstellar impactors, such as dust, gas and cosmic-ray particles, might have led over billions of years to the formation of large dust particles that are released close to the Sun and account for the glow ahead of 3I/ATLAS in its Hubble image.
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Steve Desch @deschscoveries.bsky.social · 15/08/2025
My complaints have not yet been resolved. medium.com/@steve.desch...
medium.com
There’s No “I” in Team. But There Is One in “ALIENS”
Yelling “Tarantulas!” in a crowded movie theater has its time and place. If you’re enduring Madame Web, everyone will be relieved you…
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Jason Wright @astrowright.bsky.social · 12/08/2025
Loeb’s bad science flies out faster than any one of us should have to deal with it. For a nice explanation of what’s wrong with many of his claims I have not addressed, see @hectorsocas.bsky.social ’s work here: tinieblasyestrellas.blogspot.com/2025/08/3iat...
tinieblasyestrellas.blogspot.com
3I/ATLAS. A cat on my balcony
(En español  aquí )  S ummary      Recently, a new interstellar object passing through our solar system has been discovered: 3I/ATLAS. Thi...
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Casey Dreier @caseydreier.bsky.social · 07/07/2025
Today, *every* living prior leader of NASA's science directorate have released a joint letter condemning the proposed cuts to NASA science. These individuals every administration from Reagan to Biden, and all believe these cuts are insanely destructive: www.planetary.org/press-releas...
planetary.org
Every living NASA science chief unites in opposition to unprecedented…
The entire past leadership of NASA’s science activities have released a joint statement condemning the proposed 47% cuts proposed to the agency’s science…
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Grumpy D Kelson @grumpykelson.myatproto.social · 07/07/2025
Folks need to remember that public funding of science drives economic growth and human quality of life decades into the future. This is about more than saving jobs on the line now. It's about your future health, and the future of health and well-being for the next several generations.
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Corey S. Powell @coreyspowell.bsky.social · 30/06/2025
The details are not yet finalized, but the budget bill would devastate NASA science and the future of US exploration in space and astronomy. Among many other things. 🔭🧪 www.planetary.org/articles/nas...
NASA science budget over timePlanned NASA mission cancelations
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Phil Plait @philplait.bsky.social · 29/06/2025
Oh hey I didn't know you were here! I wrote about it too. 😄 www.scientificamerican.com/article/coul...
scientificamerican.com
Could the Solar System Lose a Planet to a Passing Star?
Close stellar encounters could change the structure of our planetary system, potentially dooming Earth or other worlds to oblivion
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Sean Raymond (planetplanet.net) @planetplanet.bsky.social · 29/06/2025
@nytimes.com article about Nate Kaib's and my recent paper on the future stability of the Solar System when passing stars are accounted for. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/28/s...
nytimes.com
This Is Not the Way We Usually Imagine the World Will End
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Sean Raymond (planetplanet.net) @planetplanet.bsky.social · 28/06/2025
Like dinosaurs, Saturn and Jupiter roamed They sculpted this system that humans call home The gas giants roared, the system unstable An ice giant planet fell right off the table! A whole ring of comets was launched to the stars The planets — bombarded — still bear the scars.
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Sean Raymond (planetplanet.net) @planetplanet.bsky.social · 12/06/2025
I was the scientific advisor for the latest video by Balade Mentale about "World-Killer Planets: The Chaotic History of Planetary Systems" (in French) youtu.be/_6J9axX3r08?...
youtu.be
Les planètes tueuses de monde: L’histoire chaotique des systèmes planétaires
YouTube video by Balade Mentale
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Sean Raymond (planetplanet.net) @planetplanet.bsky.social · 12/06/2025
The Lindy Effect and the stability of planetary systems. Here's one way of thinking about why planetary systems go unstable, and when. planetplanet.net/2025/06/11/t...
planetplanet.net
The Lindy effect and the stability of planetary systems – planetplanetExpandFacebookTwitterInstagramSearchToggle MenuPreviousContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueContinueExpandToggle Menu CloseSear...
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Sean Raymond (planetplanet.net) @planetplanet.bsky.social · 08/06/2025
From @davidkipping.bsky.social www.youtube.com/shorts/L5Ssn...
youtube.com
A Dark Age for Space Science
YouTube video by Cool Worlds
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Sean Raymond (planetplanet.net) @planetplanet.bsky.social · 05/06/2025
A quick update about co-orbital rings of planets. This setup -- with 42 planets (each the same mass as Earth) sharing an orbit that is the same average distance as Earth (1 au) but super-eccentric -- is stable for at least 5 million years. (I'm running it out to a billion years to test)
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Sean Raymond (planetplanet.net) @planetplanet.bsky.social · 05/06/2025
Need a quick book to read in the bath or at the beach? Even better -- a fun book of astronomy poems to read with your kids to get them interested in science and space? I humbly offer up my book, illustrated by my son Owen (back when he was 12). www.amazon.com/dp/B08LFZZWGZ
amazon.com
Black Holes, Stars, Earth and Mars: Astronomy poems for all ages
Black Holes, Stars, Earth and Mars: Astronomy poems for all ages [Raymond, Sean, Raymond, Owen, Tyson, Neil deGrasse] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Black Holes, Stars, Earth and Mars: Astronomy poems for all ages
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James Tuttle Keane @jtuttlekeane.bsky.social · 30/05/2025
The NASA planetary science fleet chart if the president’s budget is enacted.
The NASA planetary science fleet chart. It shows two spirals with missions to Moon/Mars and the Solar System. I’ve crossed off all of the missions that will be cancelled in the president’s budget… and there are a lot of them.
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Sean Raymond (planetplanet.net) @planetplanet.bsky.social · 30/05/2025
Nice article about our recent paper (with Nate Kaib) on the future of the Solar System under the effect of passing stars. www.sciencenews.org/article/star...
sciencenews.org
Earth could be flung out of orbit by a passing star
Simulations show that the stars’ tug could send Mercury, Venus or Mars crashing into Earth — or let Jupiter eject our world from the solar system.
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Nature Astronomy @natastron.nature.com · 28/05/2025
Giant planets on wide, eccentric orbits (like putative Planet 9) may form when stars are embedded in their natal stellar clusters. Sims suggest a 1-5% chance of such planets forming in exoplanetary systems & up to 40% in the Solar System. bit.ly/4dD7VOi #AstroSci
bit.ly
Very-wide-orbit planets from dynamical instabilities during the stellar birth cluster phase - Nature Astronomy
Giant planets on wide, eccentric orbits—like the putative Planet Nine—may form from dynamical planetary instabilities when stars are embedded in their natal stellar clusters. Simulations suggest a 1–5% chance of such planets forming in exoplanetary systems and up to 40% in the Solar System.
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Seth Jacobson @sethajacobson.bsky.social · 27/05/2025
"Do you think Planet 9 exists?" The observational evidence is limited by small number statistics. That's often enough for many to conclude, somewhere between unlikely and no. But, I lean further towards more-likely-than-not, and a new paper out today helps explain why I've thought this way. 1/7
Diagram showing the orbits of several distant objects in the solar system, with Planet Nine's proposed orbit highlighted in orange.
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