Ben Montet

Seen on campus: Box translated to Gen Z

Getting ready to talk about K2-18b in class today and really enjoying the subtle commentary in the literature as different authors either declare it as a "Super-Earth" or a "Mini-Neptune" in their papers 😂

Sad to hear about the passing of Alicia Soderberg. Teaching stellar astrophysics with her at the CfA was a great experience (despite what felt like half the lectures being snowed out that winter), she brought so much enthusiasm to the classroom, I learned a ton from that semester.

Honoured to be at the point in my career where the pop culture references I put into my slides no longer resonate with my students

#USAvsCAN hockey game is WILD so far. Incredible atmosphere, going to be amazing if these two meet again in the final

Didn’t realise they had an interface in there, this in a colab environment could work really well! Astroquery to the rescue as ever, thanks!

I'm looking to do a classroom activity with the orbit of 2024 YR4, looking at how small uncertainties in the current position/velocity grow forward up to 2032. Does anyone have anything they would be willing to share in a similar vein? This is for second years without much programming experience 🔭

Page-a-day calendars

Excellent choice on their part! Congrats!

I look forward to seeing their application/CV!

I'm hiring a postdoc here in Sydney! If you're interested in exoplanet dynamics, and circumbinary planets in particular, reach out. Three year position, apply by 27 February. Will be on the job register soon. Reach out if you have questions! 🔭 external-careers.jobs.unsw.edu.au/cw/en/job/53...

Hey Siri how do you manage your dog’s screen time?

Had a lot of fun recording this with @aussiastronomer.bsky.social!

a woman in a black dress is dancing in front of a crowd at a party ALT: a woman in a black dress is dancing in front of a crowd at a party

#DP25 proposal funded! We'll be hiring a postdoc to lead efforts to develop new methods to find circumbinary planets over the coming months, watch this space (well, watch the job register...)

Spending the weekend being support crew for a friend running a 240km ultramarathon—some scenes from the start

Not even 9:30am and my day has been made by getting to see a GRASS ZAMBONI for lawn bowling

Opportunity for people at the intersection of radio astronomy and astrostatistics

🙌🙌🙌

Would love to be one of the cool kids, thanks!

Academia doesn't give enough opportunities for unbridled positive feedback, don't forget to tell your people how proud you are of them.

A group photo of our research team on the steps of the physics building at UNSW

Today had our team's last group meeting of the year before undergrads leave, my annual favourite! We do a year in review, what were your 2024 highlights and what are you excited about in 2025, and I get to gush to each student in turn about how much they've grown this year. Do recommend!

We’re having a lot of fun playing with DASCH data over here on a not-completely-unrelated idea if you want to really dig into slow astronomy!

I work in astronomy as a senior lecturer (us equivalent of associate professor)

yes

Daisy says hi