Eric Agol

Temporal Evolution of the Third Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS: Spin, Color, Spectra and Dust Activity We aim to characterize the physical and activity properties of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS through spectroscopic and photometric observations during the first month after its discovery. We perform...

Today on the #arXiv:

Santana-Ros et al. 2025, "Temporal Evolution of the Third Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS: Spin, Color, Spectra and Dust Activity" - arxiv.org/abs/2508.00808

The nucleus of #3I/ATLAS remains confused with the coma.

Magnified view of hexagonal shapes showing various space images illustrating JWST's science themes

We are pleased to announce the release of the #JWST Cycle 5 Call for Proposals for General Observer and Survey time and funding for Archival Research programs. Read more: ow.ly/IjWC50WyF62

Meme about observations of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS. Top row: a picture of muscular SpongeBob next to a very high resolution image of the comet from the Rubin Observatory. Bottom row: a picture of smooth normal SpongeBob next to a very low resolution of the comet from NASA's TESS mission.

aww yeah ☄️ 🔭 🛰️
arxiv.org/abs/2507.21967

UK gets first female Astronomer Royal in 350 years Prof Michele Dougherty is the first woman to be appointed to the influential post.

Big day for the matriarchy! 🥳 Huge congrats to the awesome Prof. Doughtery, lead on the Jupiter-bound ESA JUICE mission & STFC Exec Chair.

If anyone's confused on the astro royal hierarchy: Michele and I are the astro equivalents of 🇬🇧Westminster and 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿Holyrood 🤗

ℹ️: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... 👩‍🔬🔭🧪

Congrats!

Congratulations to you both!

Scientists have released the closest images ever taken near the sun, captured by NASA’s Parker Solar Probe flying 3.8 million miles above the solar surface.

See more images of solar eruptions on the sun: wapo.st/3Irm3P3

A tiny ray of light - 51 Peg B postdoc applications just opened, and UW Seattle is a host institution! I'm our new institutional contact - more soon but reach out if you have questions! ☺️

All those cameras at Mars in October....

For any asteroid observers who have not heard about it already:

Newly-discovered #A11pl3Z is a candidate interstellar object.

cneos.jpl.nasa.gov/scout/#/obje...

New paper out! This is a review of the published JWST observations of rocky exoplanets so far: arxiv.org/abs/2507.00933

Quick summary of the key points:

I asked the same thing of Jessie not too long ago!

This Is Not the Way We Usually Imagine the World Will End

@nytimes.com article about Nate Kaib's and my recent paper on the future stability of the Solar System when passing stars are accounted for.

www.nytimes.com/2025/06/28/s...

I have heard that Stemlit fruit in Wenatchee, WA invented these for their apples. They should at least be made compostable. I spend so much time peeling these off so that my family doesn’t throw them in the compost…

I just found the source of dark energy

Dr. Vera Rubin is the first Astronomer to be featured on a US Coin. Rubin is also the namesake of the new Rubin Observatory in Chile, honored for her discovery of evidence of dark matter in galaxies. rubinobservatory.org www.usmint.gov/news/press-r...

I'm talking about how the fear of orcas affects baleen whales on Monday at Science on Tap in Seattle, always an incredible audience asking lots of interesting questions
www.scienceontap.org

It is opacity data; so not specific to Titan, but the paper use these opacities to perform a retrieval on Titan’s atmosphere.

YouTube video by Rubin Observatory Trifid and Lagoon Nebulae - VIDEO - EN

Here it is: www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIJf...

@plotastro.bsky.social This is a pretty visualization of hydrocarbon opacities in the atmosphere of Titan in arxiv.org/abs/2506.12144

A sprawling, textured field of galaxies scattered across the deep black of space. It is filled with the delicate smudges and glowing cores of galaxies of many shapes, sizes and colors, as well as the bright multi-colored points of stars. The image focuses on a collection of interacting galaxies connected by delicate streams of stars. At top center lies a large elliptical galaxy that is dense and smooth, like a polished stone glowing with golden light. Like delicate spider silk or stretched taffy, these stellar bridges link the large elliptical to the few larger galaxies beneath, evidence of past collisions. All throughout the image, thousands of galaxies gather in clusters or are spread throughout, like glittering gems strewn on a table. Some are sharp-edged and spiral, like coiled ribbons; others round and diffuse, like polished pebbles. Still others are just smudges of various colors against the black of space. The background is peppered with pinpoint stars in reds, yellows, and blues, crisp against the velvet black.

A cosmic tapestry of glowing tan and pink gas clouds with dark dust lanes. In the upper right, the Trifid Nebula resembles a small flower in space. Its soft, pinkish gas petals are surrounded by blue gas, and streaked with dark, finger-like veins of dust that divide it into three parts. It radiates a gentle, misty glow, diffuse and soft like the warmth of breath on a cold hand. To the lower left, the much larger Lagoon Nebula stretches wide like a churning sea of magenta gas, with bright blue, knotted clumps sprinkled throughout where new stars are born. Both nebulae are embedded in a soft tan backdrop of gas that is brighter on the left than on the right, etched with dark tendrils of dust and sprinkled with the pinpricks of millions of stars.

A sprawling, textured field of galaxies scattered across the deep black of space. It is filled with the delicate smudges and glowing cores of galaxies of many shapes, sizes and colors, as well as the bright multi-colored points of stars. To the lower left is a region filled with the hundreds of golden glittering gems of a distant galaxy cluster. In the foreground, below and right of center, two blue spiral galaxies look like eyes beneath the entangled mass of a triple galaxy merger in the upper right. A few bright blue points of foreground stars pierce the glittering tapestry. All throughout the image, thousands of galaxies gather in clusters or are spread throughout, like glittering gems strewn on a table. Some are sharp-edged and spiral, like coiled ribbons; others round and diffuse, like polished pebbles. Still others are just smudges of various colors against the black of space. The background is peppered with pinpoint stars in reds, yellows, and blues, crisp against the velvet black.

Introducing...your sneak peek at the cosmos captured by NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory!

Can you guess these regions of sky?

This is just a small peek...join us at 11am US EDT for your full First Look at how Rubin will #CaptureTheCosmos! 🔭🧪

#RubinFirstLook
ls.st/rubin-first-look-livestream

I’m verklimt.

Apparently we’ve been observing transiting exoplanets all wrong…

Transit-timing variations grow with orbital period, enabling detection of low-mass planets, invisible to other techniques (radial-velocity, astrometry or direct imaging), in their stars' habitable zone (HZ). This work detects an HZ planet using Kepler data of a transiting exoplanet.

Advocacy Action Center The Planetary Society is organizing a new space constituency that is educated, empowered, and loud.

Save NASA Science: Please join me in signing this petition from The Planetary Society, urging Congress to reject the deep cuts to science that have been proposed by the administration. www.planetary.org/advocacy-act...

Wikipedia (English) features a planet system which we announced eight years ago.

One week ago, I saw this post by @aas.org encouraging its members to write op-eds about why space research should remain a national priority, and I decided to put pen to paper.

Here's the result: a call to support one of the most captivating quests in all of science.

A wild @norashipp.bsky.social appears!

I watched a very interesting talk by you from KITP - well done!