Neil

One possible target for Comet Interceptor (and so our @ukspaceagency.bsky.social supported MIRMIS instrument) is an interstellar object. However, as Colin and Pau show the odds are still against this but it will be interesting to see how this changes with detections from deeper survey.

There are probably plenty of examples in economics or similar (e.g. raising interest rates to reduce consumption and control inflation) but outside my knowledge.

In a physics context only I'm afraid: hysteresis is where a change in a measured value lags behind the thing that is causing the change. Magnetic fields and induction are the usual examples.

Congratulations to Dr Tobias Meier (@tgmeier.bsky.social) on his #ExoclimesVII poster presentation about the lava world K2-141b!

Congratulations to Dr Jake Taylor (@astrojake.bsky.social) on his poster at #ExoclimesVII concerning the JWST NIRISS/SOSS transmission spectrum of the super-Earth GJ 357b. The paper is published and can be read here: academic.oup.com/mnras/articl...

The NAM public engagement lunch by the RAS.

The panel discussion on the future of UK astronomical instrumentation.

We've just had plenary talks from Prof Leigh Fletcher, of the University of Leicester, on JWST's insights on the giant planets in our solar system and Prof Steven Longmore, of Liverpool John Moores University, exploring the environmental dependence of star and planet formation over cosmic time.

⤵️

Same here, just trundling along behind you I expect on a packed, delayed train.

Oxford Physics Space Instrumentation is hiring again! We are looking for a Product Assurance Manager/Engineer to support our various flight hardware projects. If you want to help us monitor the Earth's climate, explore the Moon or fly past a comet details are here:
www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/42...

This is an artist's impression of ESA’s mission Ariel, shown here to study the atmosphere of an exoplanet orbiting another star. Four other exoplanets are visible in the image.

Our Ariel mission will take us from 'discovering' towards 'studying and understanding' exoplanets.

The mission will survey about 1000 exoplanets, ranging from rocky planets to gas giants, to better understand the link between exoplanets and their parent stars 👉 www.esa.int/Science_Expl...

🔭 🧪

Join us Wed and Thu for #OxfordOpenDays - the perfect time to come if you are considering studying at #Oxford. All info for the Physics Department is at www.physics.ox.ac.uk/study/underg...
For general @ox.ac.uk #OpenDays info visit www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/u...

We did a thing!
ESA LightShip AO responses were due today!
Let's go BEBOP!
#planetsci #Mars 🔭🧪

I'm looking for a postdoc for my group at the University of Oxford (UK) to study #Europa surface. The position is open to international candidates and the university can sponsor visa etc. Please apply/forward as you see fit. Full details here: my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru... #planetary #job

Photograph showing a canteen table with the corners of three light green dinner trays showing. In the centre is a Lego model of a spacecraft with two small probes sitting beside it.

New friend joined us for lunch at the ISAS canteen! This is the “Comet Interceptor” mission in Lego! The mission has a mothership developed by ESA and two small probes, one by ESA and one by JAXA. The plan is to take images from a bunch of angles of a long period comet (from the Oort Cloud, baby!).

We have lost signal of Hakuto-R M2 Resilience! We saw the signal and its Lunar reflection close to each other before LOS, indicating that it was very close to the surface when the signal disappeared. Space is hard!

Hello Cave Dwellers…

Today we have a talk by former Oxoplanets member João Mendonça, now Professor at the University of Southampton. He discussed his framework OASIS software-oasis.com, a universal planet simulator! 🔭🪐

Spent the day in Bristol's School of Earth Sciences examining for a PhD viva: new Cassini/CIRS results for Titan's atmospheric dynamics and composition, showing that there's still so much to learn from this precious 13-year dataset. Congrats to Nick Teanby's student, Dr. Lucy Wright!

Me! Presenting ozone chemistry in Mars at UCL

Me! Presenting the CO2 and O3 that we found instead of methane on Mars

Presenting lessons learned from #ExoMars at the M-MATISSE workshop.
We went expecting to characterize methane and searching for volcanic gases. Instead, we haven't found methane, chlorine exhibits unknown photochemistry and there's much more ozone than predicted! Lessons learned.
#planetsci 🔭

New Breakthrough Listen partnership to monitor the skies Breakthrough Listen is partnering with ASTRON, the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy, and the University of Manchester, to deploy a new all-sky monitor at the Westerbork Observatory in the Netherlands.

👽 Oxford-led Breakthrough Listen teams up with @ASTRON & @UniversityofManchester to deploy an all-sky monitor at Westerbork 🇳🇱 scanning the whole sky for technosignatures, transients & more — powered by @NVIDIA AI.
 🔗 

A graphic for the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA), showing a historical portrait of Marie Skłodowska-Curie overlaid with an image of four young researchers walking down a hallway. The European Commission logo is in the top left. Text reads: "Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions – €404.3 million to support postdoctoral researchers”

Choose Science. Choose Europe.

A new Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Postdoctoral Fellowships 2025 call is now open.

With a budget of €404.3 million, it will support around 1,650 researchers from Europe and beyond.

Apply by 10 September → europa.eu/!fBTMgF

you can differentiate whether somebody is a meteoriticist or a political scientist by asking when Allende fell.

I assume this CSR related. Are people beyond STFC being made aware of the damage this will do? I know the STFC people will be aware.

OK, for info I had applications/interviews with UK Met office, various software development and aerospace companies. Some turned into offers but I'd been offered my current job by that point.

Join our livestream for the release of images from #Hera’s flyby of Mars, Thursday, 13 March, starting at 10:50 GMT/11:50 CET!

Big week at JPL! Two launches! Lunar Trailblazer, a lunar orbiter with powerful eyes to detect lunar water -- launching with IM-2 on Wed. SPHEREx, a cutting edge astrophysics mission, mapping millions of galaxies with over 100 colors of infrared light to explore our cosmic beginnings. Launching Fri!

To the Moon! On Feb. 26, NASA science and tech are set to launch on Intuitive Machines' Nova-C lander, Athena. Watch live coverage of NASA's second lunar mission with Intuitive Machines on NASA+. go.nasa.gov/4bbk5wp

Intuitive Machines Returns to the Moon - NASA On episode 373, NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services project scientist and Intuitive Machines President and CEO discuss upcoming IM-2 mission and what’s in store for this delivery to the lunar sur...

The launch of Intuitive Machines' second lunar lander will be on Feb 26. IM-2 will land near the Moon's south pole in early March and get to work with rovers, a drill, a hopper, and more! The third IM lander will carry APL's Lunar Vertex science payload to the mysterious Reiner Gamma lunar swirl.

#CountdownToLaunch: Meet Daphne 💻

@lunartrailblazer.bsky.social is lucky to have many amazing interns working on the mission. Daphne Nea is a student at
Pasadena City College studying computer science, and she is helping to launch a satellite to the Moon!

Stay tuned for more LTB content!