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Peter Gao

@planetarygao.bsky.social

Staff Scientist @ Carnegie EPL. Planetary and exoplanet atmospheres. He/Him/His. Black Lives Matter. Trekkie. Opinions are my own.

2,980 Followers  |  817 Following  |  507 Posts  |  Joined: 03.07.2023
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Posts by Peter Gao (@planetarygao.bsky.social)

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JWST COMPASS: A NIRSpec G395H Transmission Spectrum of Radius Valley-Dweller TOI-260 b We present a JWST/NIRSpec G395H transmission spectrum of TOI-260 b, a $T_\mathrm{eq}\sim 490$ K, $R_\mathrm{p} = 1.76\,R_\oplus$ planet. The transmission spectrum is derived by combining two transit o...

Two new JWST COMPASS papers on arXiv today! ✨

Transmission spectra of HD 15337c (led by @nicolewallack.bsky.social & @planetarygao.bsky.social) and TOI-260 b (led by myself & @planetarygao.bsky.social):
arxiv.org/abs/2602.22327
arxiv.org/abs/2602.22329

27.02.2026 15:31 β€” πŸ‘ 17    πŸ” 5    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

She’s the next regeneration

26.02.2026 14:57 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

The existence of Catherine Zeta-Jones implies the existence of Catherine Epsilon-Jones

26.02.2026 14:40 β€” πŸ‘ 12    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
Data and Picard talking about the Irish Unification of 2024 from TNG

Data and Picard talking about the Irish Unification of 2024 from TNG

we have failed them

25.02.2026 19:46 β€” πŸ‘ 11    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
a sheet of snow on the windshield of a car, the top half having slid down a bit causing the sheet to fold over itself

a sheet of snow on the windshield of a car, the top half having slid down a bit causing the sheet to fold over itself

Gravity

24.02.2026 15:21 β€” πŸ‘ 6    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

car stopped in the traffic circle with hazards on like yeah bro add to the chaos

24.02.2026 15:12 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

misspelled radial velocities as radical velocities

19.02.2026 20:49 β€” πŸ‘ 12    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 1

spending a lot of time at home due to school closures and the kids getting sick and I’m beginning to lose all sense of time and reality

do I have a job? Is there a world outside this house? are the people on my zoom calls real? if I don’t answer my emails do they go away? what is space? and so on

18.02.2026 04:16 β€” πŸ‘ 16    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 4    πŸ“Œ 0
Screenshot of google search results showing the link to the Wikipedia entry β€œVictorian era”, which says β€œThe Victorian era was the reign of Queen Victoria, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901.”

Screenshot of google search results showing the link to the Wikipedia entry β€œVictorian era”, which says β€œThe Victorian era was the reign of Queen Victoria, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901.”

Screenshot of the Doritos Wikipedia entry showing among other things its sick logo and the fact that it was introduced in 1964

Screenshot of the Doritos Wikipedia entry showing among other things its sick logo and the fact that it was introduced in 1964

a Victorian child could have eventually eaten Doritos

18.02.2026 03:47 β€” πŸ‘ 14    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

what do you mean coronation street has more than 11,000 episodes and a character who has been there since episode 1 in 1960

18.02.2026 03:02 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
A cartoon of JWST on a chip bag

A cartoon of JWST on a chip bag

JWST in the wild

15.02.2026 15:50 β€” πŸ‘ 16    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0
Melting snow with grass peeking out showing small β€œtowers” of snow that was compressed by footsteps

Melting snow with grass peeking out showing small β€œtowers” of snow that was compressed by footsteps

footsteps in the snow preserved during the melt

15.02.2026 15:49 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
black background white text and white frame, around the edges are colorful things like galaxies, planets, leaves, and sea creatures

black background white text and white frame, around the edges are colorful things like galaxies, planets, leaves, and sea creatures

can’t believe it’s finally my turn to do this but:

COVER REVEAL!!

here is the long-awaited cover for CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF STARSHIPS by the incredibly talented Kamille Rodriguez

pre-order here: www.barnesandnoble.com/w/cloudy-wit...

11.02.2026 18:37 β€” πŸ‘ 52    πŸ” 10    πŸ’¬ 3    πŸ“Œ 1

my 7 yo has successfully reprogrammed my brain to think 67 is funny

11.02.2026 20:54 β€” πŸ‘ 6    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0

My new exoplanet figure, showing the relationship between planet radius and planet diameter, may be the most precise population-level trend yet discovered

11.02.2026 02:29 β€” πŸ‘ 23    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

A Defense of the Radius-Period Diagram (w/ the SS planets overlaid):

It shows:
- the huge range of separations and sizes
- the very large number of discoveries
- how many different detection methods have contributed (and where!)
- how most of what we’ve found isn’t like the Solar System

11.02.2026 01:57 β€” πŸ‘ 47    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 4    πŸ“Œ 0

We all show this figure, but I seriously agree with Peter that we need to rethink that. It tells a story but doesn't actually convey more than one or two important facts. It's almost ritualistic.

10.02.2026 23:57 β€” πŸ‘ 14    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 4    πŸ“Œ 2
Screenshot of an email that says β€œWe would like to introduce ourselves as the Journal of Petroleum Gas & Chemical Engineering ISSN: 3069-2075 | DOI: 10.64030/3069-2075

 

Hello Dear. Peter Gao,

 

I hope you are doing well.

 

This is a kind reminder regarding your preprint entitled β€œClouds and Hazes in the Atmospheres of Triton and Pluto”.”

Screenshot of an email that says β€œWe would like to introduce ourselves as the Journal of Petroleum Gas & Chemical Engineering ISSN: 3069-2075 | DOI: 10.64030/3069-2075 Hello Dear. Peter Gao, I hope you are doing well. This is a kind reminder regarding your preprint entitled β€œClouds and Hazes in the Atmospheres of Triton and Pluto”.”

these spam emails are getting worse

10.02.2026 13:45 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Rather be a loser than a pedo

07.02.2026 23:17 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

the irony with AI is that it could be an extremely powerful tool for the betterment of humanity but its main spokesmen are douchebag techbros

07.02.2026 23:16 β€” πŸ‘ 6    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

nice of her to confirm that all of the rich and powerful are depraved sociopaths who should be jettisoned to space

07.02.2026 22:41 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
anakin from anakin and padme meme

anakin from anakin and padme meme

audience: if you know the mass the radius should be easy to back out, right?

me:

07.02.2026 17:53 β€” πŸ‘ 9    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

I’m hiding in the sub-Neptune clump they can’t find me without that diagram

07.02.2026 15:32 β€” πŸ‘ 8    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

it must be hilarious at a direct imaging conference it’s like β€œplease ignore this giant mass of points here and instead focus on the sparse upper right corner”

07.02.2026 15:14 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 3    πŸ“Œ 0

audience: what’s the current distribution of known exoplanets?

me: uhhhh nobody knows

07.02.2026 15:07 β€” πŸ‘ 17    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 3    πŸ“Œ 0

historic banger

07.02.2026 14:12 β€” πŸ‘ 6    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

determined to give an exoplanets talk that doesn’t show the radius-period diagram

07.02.2026 14:08 β€” πŸ‘ 36    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 9    πŸ“Œ 3

It’s hilarious how you can immediately tell a post is AI slop as soon as they drop the β€œthat’s not X, it’s Y”

05.02.2026 17:35 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
tired squidward meme

tired squidward meme

RELEASED TO ORG

02.02.2026 20:08 β€” πŸ‘ 10    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

I may have become too powerful

27.01.2026 06:16 β€” πŸ‘ 9    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0