Dr. Scott W. Fleming

OPPORTUNITY: The Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, MD, is searching for a Senior Cloud Database Developer to help manage the backend data pipelines, database system and ensure reliable data access for our advanced astronomical public data archive: https://bit.ly/46Oj6kR

New job opportunity at @stsci.edu: Senior Astronomical Data Scientist for data analysis tools, working closely with my team and me.

This role is very similar to mine. If you have questions, I'm happy to answer them. 🧪🔭

Not yet but I will. Feel free to cross-post either way!

OPPORTUNITY: The Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, MD, is searching for an Archive Analyst, with a focus on user‑facing documentation and tutorials, to help advance our state‑of‑the‑art astronomical data archive. Python experience required: https://bit.ly/3YQDM7y

This position would support fully remote work, but you must reside or relocate to MD or a surrounding state (general STScI thing), and be able to come on site if requested.

I’m hiring! Looking for someone with excellent communication skills, knows Python, and wants a career enabling science by creating user-facing content for astronomers. This is a full-time, long-term position that does NOT require a PhD! recruiting2.ultipro.com/SPA1004AURA/... 🔭 Apply by Feb 21st!

🔭We normally hold these Sunday mornings before the start of AAS meetings, but we are willing to hold them in cooperation with local organizers if we have 25 to 30 people signed up to participate. We did this at IU this Fall and brought in four editors to run the meeting and lead discussion.

Logo of the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) displayed over a vivid cosmic background with text "Expanding the Frontiers of Space Astronomy."

OPPORTUNITY: The Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, MD, is searching for a Principal Astronomical Data Scientist to help advance our data analysis tools for our NASA flagship missions primarily in areas of data visualization: https://bit.ly/4jEvObm

Check out this thread and jump into the RRN 🎺early🎺 folks! Roman data is large enough you’ll need to bring your code TO the data, which is a paradigm shift for a lot of us!

Crucially, this is not a conclusion unique to MAST or even within astronomy. We hope that the results of our analysis and this paper can be used to show how ANY well-funded professional archive with a mission "to make their data accessible to ALL" is a big return on investment. (3/3)

There's a lot of interesting conclusions, but the one I like most is this: well-funded professional archives increase science return multiplicatively. They support BOTH new discoveries using archival data shepherded through the decades AND use of brand new observations. (2/3)

Screenshot showing the title, authors, and abstract. Title is "The Impact of the MAST Data Archive". The abstract is "The Barbara A. Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes (MAST) hosts science-ready data products from over twenty NASA missions, plus community-contributed data collections, and other select surveys. The data support forefront research in the ultraviolet, optical, and near-infrared wavelength bands. We have constructed bibliographies for each mission from publications in nearly 40 professional journals, and have identified more than 37,000 refereed articles where investigators made a science usage of data hosted in MAST. The publication rate over the last 50 years shows that most MAST missions have had very high productivity during their in-service lifetimes, and have remained so for years or decades afterward. Annual citations to these publications, a measure of impact on research, are robust for most missions, with citations that grow over more than a decade. Most of the citations come from about 10% of articles within each mission. We examined the bibliographies of the active missions HST and JWST in greater detail. For HST the rate of archival publications exceeded those authored by the original observing teams within a decade of launch, and is now more than 3 times higher. Early indications hint that JWST archival articles could dominate the publication rate even sooner. The production of articles resulting from any given observing program can extend for decades. Programs with small and very large allocations of observing time tend to be particularly productive per unit of observing time. For HST in general, a first publication appears within 1.5 yr for 50% of observing programs, and within 3.8 yr for 80% of programs. We discuss various external factors that affect publication metrics, their strengths and limitations for measuring scientific impact, and the challenges of making meaningful comparisons of publication metrics across missions."

Really proud to advertise our accepted peer-reviewed paper analyzing the impact of MAST through analysis of 37,000 papers published in 40 journals over the last 50 years. It's a capstone to decades of work by dozens of MAST staff. Check out the preprint: arxiv.org/abs/2512.18101 (1/3) 🔭

Two individuals engage in discussion at an astronomy conference booth with banners reading "Roman Research", "Nexus", and "MAST". One person is seated, gesturing as they are speaking, while the other stands listening attentively.

A person sitting at a promotional booth for the Hubble Space Telescope and James Webb Space Telescope, surrounded by informational banners and brochures.

Stop by our booth at the American Astronomical Society meeting this week in Phoenix, Arizona! Our experts are ready to answer your questions about the Hubble, Webb, and Roman space telescopes, as well as our incredible data archive. #AAS247

There’s still space available to sign up for our FREE dinner at the 247th AAS! Deadline to apply has been extended until Dec 29, we hope to see you there ☺️

🚀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

THis poster advertises the Geo SonNet Town Hall on December 15th 2025, from 18:00-19:00 in Room 243-244 Convention Center. Who should attend? Data scientists curious about sonification, researchers seeking more intuitive sound mapping options for complex datasets, existing projects looking for new collaborative partners. There are two QR codes, one to join the listserve, another for the Geo SonNet.

Heading to the @agu.org annual meeting, interested in using sound to help interpret your complex data, AND make your research more inclusive? Data sonification can help! But don't take my word for it: www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_eU...

Attend the Geo SonNet Town Hall on Dec. 15th to network!

Very cool data sonification of Roman science! But I really wish these had a short audio narration in front to provide context. Helps anyone watching this better understand the sounds, and if you are BVI this is just a bunch of weird noises!

Promotional image for Inbox Astronomy featuring the James Webb Space Telescope against a starry background, highlighting the latest news, images, and discoveries about the universe.

What do you get if you sign up for Inbox Astronomy? Spectacular images and astronomical discoveries! Sign up to get news from the universe right in your inbox: https://bit.ly/3KSp8IY 🔭 🧪

A logo "HSLA" which stands for Hubble Spectroscopic Legacy Archive, has three stylized spectra with rainbow colors radiating from left to right. In the background are stars, galaxies, and a giant planet.

Hey #astrosci community! After working on this project for 3 years, there's a new Hubble Spectroscopic Legacy Archive that's just been newly made available at @stsci.edu: archive.stsci.edu/missions-and... follow me to learn more! (1/n)

We added some nice features to our JWST Search interface. HST rolling out in next couple months, along with more goodies.

Technicians recently tested two major deployments for the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope: the Deployable Aperture Cover (DAC) and the Solar Array Sun Shield (SASS): go.nasa.gov/41X95PN #NASARoman 🔭 🧪

When I decided to pursue astronomy as a career, inspired by Star Wars, there were no known real planets orbiting stars like the Sun. Now we can take baby photos and SEE them. Incredible, and building off of decades of work by others who came before to get us collectively to this place.

Four years' worth of Ca HK activity measurements with more planned on the way. Great dataset for anyone exploring stellar activity now at MAST!

@commondescentpod.bsky.social Motivation for a Silver Screen episode on Star Wars? Best Star Wars planets for optimal fossilization? What kind of dinosaur was Boba Fett riding in the Christmas Special? Were krayt dragons actually dragons? Dragon*con topic perhaps!? www.wired.com/story/an-anc...

The more we look with #NASAWebb, the more we find! The latest discovery? A tiny new moon orbiting Uranus. It’s just six miles (9.6 kilometers) in diameter: science.nasa.gov/blogs/webb/2... 🔭 🧪

Job for AWS experts – become Senior Cloud Software Developer at @stsci.edu, apply by Sept 19:

recruiting2.ultipro.com/SPA1004AURA/...

An individual pulls tape from a dispenser at a desk with stacks of white boxes and astronomical images in the background.

A tactile panel of Uranus shows the blue planet and rings on a black background.

A tactile panel of Uranus shows the blue planet and rings on a black background. The image was taken from a side to show the three dimensional component. The panel is sitting on a wooden table.

Tim Rhue, education specialist at STScI, packs up new tactile panels based on the first #NASAWebb image of Uranus. These panels are being sent to museums, libraries, and other educational sites, so that they can share this tactile experience with their audiences. 🔭

Yes this, unlike other more common industries with much larger applicant pools, astrophysics (and things like software engineers applying their craft to a specialized field like this) is not something than can be restocked quickly en masse, and many who left won’t just come back from their new jobs.

MAST background in "standard" sky projection, in hues of blue. Lighter blue areas mark lots of observations, while darker areas are less. Numerous patterns are visible, like the continuous viewing zones as ovals in the lower-left and upper right, patterns from overlapping TESS FFIs, or the Kepler footprint shapes stamped along the ecliptic and in the original Kepler field in the upper-right.

A grid of 16 images, 4x4, showing the sky background only for specific missions to get a sense of where in the sky and how much of it each mission observed to at least some depth.

Ever wondered what the "MAST Sky" looks like, from our ~6 PB of data spanning 3 decades...check this out! spacetelescope.github.io/mast-blog/ma...

Really fun project led by the very talented Julie Imig at MAST, showing mission coverage sky-projected! They make VERY good video backgrounds, btw. 🔭

NASA's new PUNCH mission is a constellation of 4 small satellites that collectively provide an unprecedented view of giant eruptions breaking free from the Sun.

This first-release video compresses about 6 days of observations. 🧪🔭

science.nasa.gov/blogs/punch/...