Dr. Alison Duck

Dr. Alison Duck

@astroalison.bsky.social

Exoplaneteer - OSU Astronomy PhD

572 Followers 241 Following 8 Posts Joined Nov 2024
1 week ago

TESS confirms what we saw with Kepler and K2 - on average, ***every single small red star has a planet around it***! And a short-period one at that (<30 days).

And you know what the galaxy is mostly made of?

Small red stars.

PLANETS. PLANETS EVERYWHERE!!!

Happy weekend pondering that, everyone.

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3 weeks ago

Really interesting white paper! And a great reminder to align our methods with the outcomes we desire. If our outcomes value human discovery and wonder, our methods (and training of students) should value those too!

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1 month ago
Front cover of the ASPIRES3 Physics report.  A simple atom-style logo.
Text:  Young People's STEM trajectories Age 10-22

The new #ASPIRES3 Physics report is difficult reading.
Physics:
* remains male-dominated (24% fem) & privileged
* aspirations decline from the start to end of school 😔
* is considered the least interesting, most difficult science 😭
* is for brainy "geeks" 😮‍💨
Lots of useful recommendations though🎢🧪👩‍🔬⚛️

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1 month ago
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How a solar radiation storm created January 2026's aurora The Sun often produces solar flares and coronal mass ejections, but a rare solar radiation storm made the 2026's first great auroral show.

How a solar radiation storm created January 2026’s aurora

The first good auroral show of 2026 began not with a solar flare nor a coronal mass ejection, but a solar radiation (particle) storm.

It's the first big one since 2003!
bigthink.com/starts-with-...
#space #particle #sun #astro #heliophysics

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1 month ago
Banner with the AAS logo stating "Congress has rejected the proposed cuts to NSF, NASA, and other science agencies."

Read more about the bills passed yesterday (aas.org/posts/news/2...), and thank your members of Congress today! aas.org/action-alert...

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1 month ago
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Deployment of Pandora

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2 months ago
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NASA Scientific Visualization Studio | NASA’s Pandora Satellite to Explore Exoplanets and Stars Artist’s concept of NASA’s Pandora mission, which will help scientists untangle the signals from exoplanets’ atmospheres — worlds beyond our solar system — and their stars.Credit: NASA's Goddard Space...

Now that I can take a breath, I'm SUPER EXCITED we can share that NASA's first Pioneer-class mission, Pandora, is launching this weekend, January 11, at 5:19am!!! I was the Mission Archive Scientist on the proposal, and the NASA Exoplanet Archive will host the mission data.

svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14945/

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2 months ago
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The final Calvin and Hobbes, which appeared in papers 30 years ago today.

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2 months ago
Exoplanet Archive Published Data Submission Page

We've added a tool to upload your published parameters to the NASA Exoplanet Archive! This tool can help us get your new planets and planet parameters onto the archive, so check it out and consider using for your next #exoplanet paper! 🔭🧪

exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/support/uplo...

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2 months ago
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First time at #AAS247? You’re not alone! ✨

Check out this orientation guide from the AAS Education Committee, created to help students and first-time attendees navigate the meeting.

🔭 aas.org/meetings/aas...

@education.aas.org

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1 year ago
You see a black square representing the nothingness that was prior to the universe, printed in a book with a wood block. The book titled Robert Fludd "Utriusque cosmi maioris scilicet et minoris metaphysica..." (1617),
Access the page: https://wellcomecollection.org/works/gbbychu2/images?id=gzy3gujm

You see the printed black square from a page in Robert Fludd's "Utriusque cosmi maioris" (1617) that represented the nothingness that was prior to the universe. The square is framed by four sentences in Latin: "Et sic in infinitum" (And so on to infinity). #earlymodern #skystorians

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2 months ago

New orbit movie just dropped. This one is for the newly discovered circumbinary planet HD 143811 AB b. This 9-year timelapse was made through an international collaboration with me, Nathalie Jones (Northwestern graduate student), and Vito Squicciarini (Exeter postdoc)

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2 months ago
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A discovery fit for Star Wars: CIERA astronomers have directly imaged a Tatooine-like planet orbiting two suns — and it’s closer to its stars than any other directly imaged planet in a binary system. 🌟🌟🪐https://bit.ly/4q8Dfto
@thejason.wang #Exoplanets #Astronomy #Northwestern #CIERA

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3 months ago
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🚀The Roman Cycle 1 Call for Proposals is OPEN!

Unlock new discoveries with the Wide Field Instrument—your science starts here! Apply for funding to analyze Roman data, perform theory/lab research, and propose new observations. 🔭☄️

📅 Deadline: Mar 17, 2026 (5 PM PDT)
📝 bit.ly/4q3jbbL

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3 months ago
Their input source selection in the Sco-Cen region, showing stars with (blue) and without (orange) disks. The fraction of young stars with disks as a function of age, based on three different selection methods. All show that many stars appear to have disks to ages well beyond ~10 million years, with a median lifetime of ~5 million years!

New paper led by Fabian Polnitzcky & with @sratzenboeck.bsky.social + @joaoalves.bsky.social: based on the ages of stars with infrared excess in Sco-Cen, it seems planet-forming disks last around twice as long as previous estimates suggest - giving twice as long for planets to form. 🔭☄️ #exoplanets

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3 months ago
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Observatory | LEGO® Ideas The universe has always fascinated humans, and observatories play an important role in unraveling its secrets and wonders in our Milky Way and distant galaxies.…

omgomgomg

beta.ideas.lego.com/product-idea...

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3 months ago
NASA Completes Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope Construction Set to launch by May 2027, the spacecraft will study mysteries of the cosmos while also testing the Coronagraph Instrument, a new technology designed and built by JPL.

In good news: "NASA Completes Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope Construction" www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasa-co...

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3 months ago
Two technicians in clean suits inspect a the completed Roman Space Telescope in a clean room at a NASA assembly facility.

NASA has completed the construction of #NASARoman! Last month, technicians joined the inner and outer portions of the observatory in Maryland.

After final testing, Roman will move to the launch site at the Kennedy Space Center for launch preparations in summer 2026: https://go.nasa.gov/48EqnE8 🔭 🧪

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3 months ago
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Satellite swarms set to photobomb more than 95% of some telescopes’ images Planned megaconstellations would contaminate the view of the cosmos of four orbiting telescopes

You've probably heard about how the rapidly increasing numbers of satellites are affecting #astronomy. A new paper in @nature.com looks at the possible future for space-based telescopes — and finds 96% of some images could be impacted. 🧪🔭🛰️

By @jennaahart.bsky.social

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

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3 months ago

I am a postdoctoral researcher at NASA JPL studying exoplanets. I would like to share my research with the broader astronomy community!

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3 months ago

Yes

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3 months ago
A digital flyer titled “Fireside Chat” has a starry space background with a faint campfire image. It announces a Black In Astro event on December 3, 2025, from 2–3 PM ET about storytelling in space sciences. Two speakers are featured with circular photos. The first is a smiling woman identified as Joy Jones, described as a trainer, poet, playwright, and author of books including The Sky Is Not Blue, Private Lessons, and Tambourine Moon. The second is a smiling bearded man resting his head on his hand, identified as Tim Fielder, described as an illustrator, concept designer, cartoonist, and animator known for his Afrofuturism work and the graphic novel Matty’s Rocket. The flyer notes that viewers can register on Zoom at blackinastro.com, with the Black In Astro logo in the corner.

Join us tomorrow from 2-3pm ET for a special fireside chat on the art of storytelling within space sciences! This is a free event featuring a chat and Q&A with Joy Jones and Tim Fielder. As always, the link to register can be found on our website, we hope to see you there 🌟

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3 months ago

@bot.astronomy.blue signup

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3 months ago
Rectangular ceramic pendant in with a Martian landscape in red and orange. Showing a tiny Perseverance Mars rover and Ingenuity helicopter flying overhead. Attached to a sterling silver chain. More pendants in the background and some jewelry tools on the edge of the frame.

[On the bench today ⚒️ #BehindTheScenes]

I'm working on these ✨amazing✨ hand-painted #mars #rover pendants as part of my collab with celestial pottery artist @amyraehill.bsky.social 🤩

All one-of-a-kind, launching soon:
sciencesocks.co/page...

🔭🐡🧪🎨

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3 months ago
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Join this month's Roman Virtual Lecture Series to learn about Photometric calibration uncertainties in stage IV supernova cosmology.   

Subscribe to tinyurl.com/RVLSsubscr for call-in details!

📅  Thurs Nov 20 (Today!)
🕐 4-4:30 PM EDT
🔗 bit.ly/4m7MkjY

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3 months ago

This is a real image of a real thing that exists in the universe! And because a bunch of humans decided to get together and build a space telescope, we get to see it! 🤯

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3 months ago

First time in a while where I’ve had the “wait that’s an IMAGE. That’s the DATA.” double take.

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4 months ago

The average SNAP benefit per month is $177 a person.

The average ACA benefit per month is up to $550 a person.

People want us to hold the line for a reason. This is not a matter of appealing to a base. It’s about people’s lives.

And working people want leaders whose word means something to them.

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4 months ago
Screenshot of the NASA Exoplanet Archive overview page for HD 4113, a triple star system with three differently coloured stars (one of which has a planet, HD 4113 b).

Hey you. YES YOU. Super persnickety astronomer. You know who you are.

NASA Exoplanet Archive just updated our overview pages so the stars are closer to their actual colours, as per Harre & Heller (2021) and Cranmer (2021).

You're welcome. 😎

(You can thank @kevinkhu.bsky.social!)

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4 months ago
WOMEN IN PHYSICS DAY! 

In honor of the pioneering women in physics who broke down barriers to do what they love, we celebrate Women in Physics Day on November 7th, the birthdate of both Marie Curie and Lise Meitner.

Marie Skrodowska-Curie (1867-1934)

Radioactivity pioneer, two-time Nobel laureate 

A giant of science, Marie Sktodowska-Curie conducted pioneering research on radioactivity, a term she coined. She discovered two elements, founded two medical research centres, won two Nobels, and invented mobile X-ray units (dubbed petites Curies), saving countless lives in World War 

Lise Meitner (1878-1968) Nuclear physicist

When Lise Meitner was a teen, Austria restricted female higher education. She pursued physics anyway, and 25 years later became the first woman in Germany to hold a professorship in physics. She helped discover nuclear fission, but was contentiously not awarded the 1944 Nobel alongside collaborator Otto Hahn.

NOVEMBER 7TH

Dear Physicists and Physics fans,

I would like to encourage you to celebrate #WomenInPhysics Day this Friday, November 7th.

Why November 7th? Because it is the birthday of two of the most impactful women physicists of the 1900's: Marie Curie and Lise Meitner. 🎢 ⚛️ 🧪 👩‍🔬

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