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Sami Lamby 🩷💜💙

@samilamby.bsky.social
1K followers 344 following 155 posts

PhD Astronomy candidate at Western University • brown dwarfs, ultracool dwarfs & exoplanets • outreach assistant at Cronyn Observatory ✨ she/her

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Sami Lamby 🩷💜💙 @samilamby.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
I saw 56 submitted in 57 minutes this morning (based on submission numbers of two proposals) -- that's basically 1 a minute!
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The Conversation Canada @ca.theconversation.com · 28/09/2026
How NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will open a window into the Milky Way
theconversation.com
How NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will open a window into the Milky Way
From supernovae in distant galaxies to the packed centre of the Milky Way, the new Roman telescope will help us see and understand the ever-changing cosmos.
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Sami Lamby 🩷💜💙 @samilamby.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
I had the pleasure of writing an article for @ca.theconversation.com about some of the cool science Roman will do -- including studying the rotation of tiny stars (aka ultracool dwarfs)! Check it out here: theconversation.com/how-nasas-na... 🔭 #exoplanets #stellarastro
theconversation.com
How NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will open a window into the Milky Way
From supernovae in distant galaxies to the packed centre of the Milky Way, the new Roman telescope will help us see and understand the ever-changing cosmos.
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Sami Lamby 🩷💜💙 @samilamby.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Well I didn't *before*
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westernucronyn.bsky.social @westernucronyn.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
We have a fun day planned for you at Cronyn Observatory on Saturday, September 19th – International Observe the Moon Night! 🌕 Date: Saturday, September 19th, 2026 Time: 2:00 to 11:00 pm (with a break from 6:00 to 7:00 pm) You can find more info about the observatory here: cronyn.uwo.ca/schedule/
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RAS Journals @rasjournals.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Published in #MNRAS: "A planet as the possible cause of the HD 181327 debris disc asymmetry", Fox & Wiegert. This is Fig. 1: please visit academic.oup.com/mnras/articl... to read the paper. @royalastrosoc.bsky.social @academic.oup.com
Our revised Target Map of HD 181327, used for all comparisons in our simulations. This is based on the original from C. C. Stark et al. (2014), but with data outside of 150 au removed. This is the map our simulations aim to replicate via the influence of a shepherding planet. The arc is near-centred on the western side.
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Sami Lamby 🩷💜💙 @samilamby.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Congrats! I got diagnosed with auDHD at the age of 25 (back in December) after I had been talking about getting tested for ADHD, and a friend casually said "what about autism?" and directed me to the RAADS-R test. My doctor also pointed out the strong link between academia and autistic traits - fun!
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Sami Lamby 🩷💜💙 @samilamby.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
This got me exactly correct, nice
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Tom Bickle @astrobicks.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Any astro folks got any advice for an incoming PhD student that you wish you'd received when you started?
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Sami Lamby 🩷💜💙 @samilamby.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
I like taking these quizzes as a Canadian because I like to see where they place me, but then I get my results and remember I grew up watching Detroit Public TV, so of course I sound most like someone from Michigan -- though the west coast vibe is interesting
The text reads: "Your dialect map. Redder areas talk more like you; bluer areas least. You talk most like someone from Michigan -- about 49% of your answers match a typical resident." The areas that are the reddest on the map are the top of Michigan and the west coast, specifically Washington, California, Nevada, Arizona, and half of Utah. The deep south is deep blue.
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Mike Brown @plutokiller.com · 31/08/2026
um, no? calling it a planet in 1930 was the actual mistake. but we fixed it and are all good now thanks.
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westernucronyn.bsky.social @westernucronyn.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Come Join us!
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Sami Lamby 🩷💜💙 @samilamby.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
A very convenient time to find this after tripping backwards over a dishwasher door and breaking my arm
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Sami Lamby 🩷💜💙 @samilamby.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
I don't recommend breaking your dominant arm. Not fun. I feel kinda useless! Upside though; very quickly improving dexterity in my left hand
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Sami Lamby 🩷💜💙 @samilamby.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
live in: 🇨🇦 born in: 🇨🇦 parents: 🇨🇦🇨🇦 grandparents: 🇮🇹🇮🇹🇨🇦🇨🇦 great-grandparents: 🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇨🇦??? been to: 🇨🇦🇺🇸🇨🇱🇬🇧🇯🇵
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Sami Lamby 🩷💜💙 @samilamby.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
I'm obsessed with this. Both, that Space Week gets a Pokémon collab, and that they chose a female pikachu to be the mascot.
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Sami Lamby 🩷💜💙 @samilamby.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Mine (2000): CubeSat boba fire topaz e-book sudoku But I also have to call out that I am as old as google (the verb), FaceTime, downvote, and climate change denial -- and I think that is really funny and also a good representation of the world I grew up in
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Western Space @westernuspace.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
@westernu.ca planetary scientist @planetneish.bsky.social Neish and PhD candidate Sashank Vanga travelled to Hawai‘i Volcanoes Nat'l Park in June to investigate lava flows that could reveal new clues about the Moon’s volcanic past 🌋 Learn more here: 🔗 news.westernu.ca/2026/07/hawa...
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Sami Lamby 🩷💜💙 @samilamby.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
Quite the storm! For comparison, this is what the mountain looked like back in April 2024 when I was there observing (standing on the other side of SOAR)
View of Gemini South (foreground) and the Vera Rubin Observatory (background) at sunset from outside of SOAR. The mountains are brown, no snow anywhere.View of Gemini South (foreground) and the Vera Rubin Observatory (background) in the afternoon from outside of SOAR. The mountains are brown, no snow anywhere.The mountain range as seen from Cerro Pachón, next to SOAR. No snow is present on any of the mountain tops.
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Sami Lamby 🩷💜💙 @samilamby.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
I like to call brown dwarfs "overachieving planets" (because calling them "failed stars" makes me sad), so I'm here for the discourse if it means their planets get a fun new naming scheme
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Sami Lamby 🩷💜💙 @samilamby.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Paper day! Not mine, but this is the first first-author paper of a fellow graduate student in my research group, Sam Barber! He presents the results of a JWST MIRI/LRS survey program to build a mid-IR spectral library of brown dwarfs 🔭 #astrosci arxiv.org/abs/2607.15521 1/6
arxiv.org
Silicate Clouds, SiO, and Molecular Trends across the L-T Sequence: A JWST/MIRI LRS Spectral Library of Brown Dwarfs
We present the results of a survey program with JWST's MIRI LRS that obtained 5$-$14 $μ$m R~100 spectra of twenty-three L0$-$T6 dwarfs. This spectral type range spans the formation, growth, and sedime...
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Sami Lamby 🩷💜💙 @samilamby.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
To learn more about the science and cool results that I didn't highlight here, check out the paper up on arXiv today, and accepted for publication in MNRAS @rasjournals.bsky.social ! 6/6 :)
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Sami Lamby 🩷💜💙 @samilamby.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Tentative CS2 found in a T dwarf. CS2 is a molecule that has been found at shorter wavelengths in Jupiter, Venus, and a couple of exoplanets. CS2 is thought to form through external or photochemical processes, so a confirmation of this detection could hint at interesting things happening here. 5/6
A two-panel plot labelled a) and b). Panel a) shows the best-fitting combination of a T1.5 and T6 dwarf spectra to the spectrum of T3.5 dwarf J1214+6316. The template spectra are scaled down in flux to match the absolute flux of the T3.5 dwarf. The individual T6 and T1.5 spectra are also shown. The combination generally produces a strong fit, except for an unidentified absorption feature centred at ∼6.6 𝜇m. Panel b) shows residuals from the binary fit, with the scaled absorption profile of CS2 overlaid in blue. The unidentified absorption feature at ∼6.6 𝜇m is well-fit by CS2 absorption.
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Sami Lamby 🩷💜💙 @samilamby.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
SiO - Gas-phase SiO has been found for the first time in L0-L2.5 dwarfs. This has been seen previously in a couple of hot Jupiters of similar or hotter temperatures, and in K and M giant stars. We also look back at Spitzer data of late-M dwarfs, and can recover SiO absorption up to M5.5. 4/6
A plot showing gas-phase SiO absorption in ten L0–L2.5 dwarfs. L3 and L4 dwarf spectra with prominent silicate condensate absorption are shown in grey for comparison, much deeper and offset to the right. Three L0–L1 dwarfs known or suspected to be young or to have low/intermediate gravity are shown with dashed lines. These show marginally weaker SiO absorption than the five bona fide field L0–L2.5 dwarfs. Continuum fitting regions are highlighted in grey. SiO opacity at 1 bar and 2200 K is overplotted, showing consistency with the observed absorption features. There are additional narrow absorption features at ∼9.4 𝜇m and ∼9.6 𝜇m that are produced by water.
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Sami Lamby 🩷💜💙 @samilamby.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Silicate clouds! As with a lot of recent work on brown dwarfs, we see silicate clouds in our L dwarfs. Including all the way up to a spectral type of L0, and down to L8 (the latest L dwarf in the sample). As expected, the strongest absorption was found in the mid-Ls. 3/6
A two-panel plot, with the top labelled a) and the bottom labelled b). a) shows relative absorption depth against wavelength, which shows the variations of the silicate absorption feature in L4–L6 dwarfs. The
relative absorption depth assumes a linear continuum fit to the two regions highlighted in grey (7.2–7.8 𝜇m and 11.2–11.8 𝜇m). The central wavelengths of silicate absorption is marked with dotted lines and are estimated from quadratic fits to the 8.6–9.4 𝜇m flux. There is an inset which compares the maximum relative absorption depth to central absorption wavelength, showing a potential correlation between these values. Panel b) is the same as a), but with all profiles normalized to the same maximum absorption.
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Sami Lamby 🩷💜💙 @samilamby.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
The super cool key results: First, previously unidentified binaries! Sam found two stars in our sample whose JWST photometry actually shows two sources instead of the one we expected. There were an additional two spectra that were overluminous, indicating possible binaries, still unresolved. 2/6
A six-panel plot: two rows with three panels each. The rows show two different targets. The first column shows the F560W image of the targets. The second column shows the residuals of a one-source fit to the photometry, both showing clear, structured residuals around the location of the target. The last column shows the residuals of a two-source fit, and in this case the residuals are very close to the background/noise floor.
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Sami Lamby 🩷💜💙 @samilamby.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Paper day! Not mine, but this is the first first-author paper of a fellow graduate student in my research group, Sam Barber! He presents the results of a JWST MIRI/LRS survey program to build a mid-IR spectral library of brown dwarfs 🔭 #astrosci arxiv.org/abs/2607.15521 1/6
arxiv.org
Silicate Clouds, SiO, and Molecular Trends across the L-T Sequence: A JWST/MIRI LRS Spectral Library of Brown Dwarfs
We present the results of a survey program with JWST's MIRI LRS that obtained 5$-$14 $μ$m R~100 spectra of twenty-three L0$-$T6 dwarfs. This spectral type range spans the formation, growth, and sedime...
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westernucronyn.bsky.social @westernucronyn.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
Is there life elsewhere in our solar system?J oin us on Saturday, July 18th as Prof. Catherine Neish explores what makes Titan so fascinating and what future missions might uncover. 🪐 Skies permitting, our telescopes will be ready for observing 🔭
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Sami Lamby 🩷💜💙 @samilamby.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
@planetneish.bsky.social - Dr. Neish is the astrobiology team lead!
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westernucronyn.bsky.social @westernucronyn.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
Join us this Saturday for the next summer public night!
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Sami Lamby 🩷💜💙 @samilamby.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
Omg! This is one of the photos Hubble took on my birthday, and this exact photo has been used by ESA to show how to build an HR diagram -- a video I regularly show in my public outreach talks (including one I gave last Saturday!) 🔭
A screenshot of the NASA birthday website, with a photo of the star cluster Omega Centauri, which is a bright, very dense cluster of mostly white stars but peppered with red and blue ones. The text reads "April 27. Omega Centauri. Omega Centauri consists of roughly 10 million stars that are gravitationally bound. The cluster is about 10 times as massive as other big globular clusters – almost as massive as a small galaxy."
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Sami Lamby 🩷💜💙 @samilamby.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
Lmao yes I just flew back home from Japan and went back in time an hour
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Sami Lamby 🩷💜💙 @samilamby.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
It was a pleasure to be able to announce our excellent presenters (poster and oral), congrats again to them!
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Sami Lamby 🩷💜💙 @samilamby.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
I've been telling everyone that this is where Cool Stars 24 needs to be since I learned about the 2028 eclipse around ~2024. So glad it is actually happening!!
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Sami Lamby 🩷💜💙 @samilamby.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
Your talks were great!
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Western University @westernu.ca · 10/06/2026
“Trying is the most important part; it’s never too late to start. Pursuing your passions and believing in yourself is so powerful.” New grad Brooke Meloche is #WesternU's first student to graduate with a combined degree in integrated science and mechanical engineering. #WesternClassOf2026
news.westernu.ca
Western's first integrated science, mechanical engineering graduate - Western News
Western graduate Brooke Meloche combined integrated science and mechanical engineering to pursue an interdisciplinary career in aerospace design.
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Nvidie @dervine7.bsky.social · 25/05/2026
updating your committee on your dissertation progress
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westernucronyn.bsky.social @westernucronyn.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
If you've ever wondered what the Sun actually looks like up close, or how scientists can tell what a star is made of just from its light, this is your chance to find out in person. We'll be at Thompson Arena from noon to 6 pm as part of Western's free annual science festival — 42 booths, all welcome
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westernucronyn.bsky.social @westernucronyn.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
Summer public nights are here! Starting this Saturday, Cronyn Observatory will open its doors every Saturday evening through the end of August. Check out our summer schedule: cronyn.uwo.ca/schedule/
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Western University @westernu.ca · 28/04/2026
Using the James Webb Space Telescope, #WesternU researchers have revealed the most detailed view yet of Tc 1 – a cloud of gas and dust where carbon molecules known as “buckyballs” form – providing new insights into their formation. @westernuspace.bsky.social
news.westernu.ca
Western astronomers reveal spectacular birthplace of cosmic buckyballs
A Western University team has returned to the planetary nebula Tc 1 armed with more data from the JWST’s Mid-Infrared Instrument to capture the first-ever detailed view of buckyballs in space.
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Sami Lamby 🩷💜💙 @samilamby.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
Guarantee
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Sami Lamby 🩷💜💙 @samilamby.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
"Good Night Oppy" is the one that made me cry, it's more planetary science/rovers than pure astronomy but it's just so good!
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Sami Lamby 🩷💜💙 @samilamby.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
Check out this super cool research from my colleagues (aka friends)!! 🔭 #astrosci
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Sami Lamby 🩷💜💙 @samilamby.bsky.social · 31/03/2026
That was fun! And hard. Here's how I scored:
Game results of guessing colours. Total score 47.38/50, individual scores: green = 9.51, yellow = 9.62, blue = 8.76, purple = 9.56, red/pink = 9.93
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westernucronyn.bsky.social @westernucronyn.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
Visitors will also take part in astronomy demonstrations, and if the weather allows, the highlight of the evening will be to observe the night sky through our telescopes. 🔭
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Western Space @westernuspace.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
Remember to apply for Western Space's 2026 Undergraduate Summer Internships by Saturday, February 15th, 2026! You can apply for more than one project. Learn more about each of the projects and how to apply here: space.uwo.ca/training/sum... 🚀
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Sami Lamby 🩷💜💙 @samilamby.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
This is a super cool tool! It looks like I'm right where I belong, in the blue circle in between the planetary and exoplanet scientists 🔭
Close up view of the astronomy and astrophysics cluster of bluesky users. The image is annotated with red circles around smaller satellite clusters that have been marked with the community names, such as planetary scientists, exoplanet scientists, solar physicists, engineers, space enthusiasts, etc. The cluster of about 5 people where I reside is marked by a little blue circle.
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Sam “The Great Pumpkin” Thielman @samthielman.com · 22/01/2026
I just thought everyone should see this
Dr Kareem Carr
man: i wish to publish
@kareem_carr
Jan 21
reviewer 2: your paper is no good
man: i'll do anything to improve
reviewer 2: it's simple. you must read the work of the great scientist Pagliarini
man: *bursts into tears* but i am Pagliarini
Andre Pagliarini
@apagliar
Jan 21
a first: in rejecting an article I submitted to a journal, reviewer 2 noted I failed to engage the work of one Andre Pagliarini
Jan 21, 2026 • 3:47 PM UTC
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Sami Lamby 🩷💜💙 @samilamby.bsky.social · 14/01/2026
I have severely cut back on my bean consumption because they went from (CAD) $0.99 normally to $1.29 on sale :(
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