Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Leigh Fletcher @leighfletcher.bsky.social · 5h

Now now, remember the chat with the friendly folks from the constabulary, you're not allowed to deface the town noticeboards with your marker pen any more. Parish council is having none of it. We have CCTV.

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Leigh Fletcher @leighfletcher.bsky.social · 6h

I've told you a hundred times, your campaign to call it Steve-ville isn't working.

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Leigh Fletcher @leighfletcher.bsky.social · 20h

Animation of #Uranus from JWST NIRCam, taken on October 6th as part of a calibration programme, but showing lots of little discrete clouds around the north polar cap. See Melina's thread for full details:

Melina Thévenot🏳️‍⚧️ @melina-iras07572.bsky.social · 1d

I also made an animation of the rotation of the planet. This also uses the F162M filter.

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Reposted by Leigh Fletcher

Jennifer Ouellette @jenlucpiquant.bsky.social · 1d

One NASA science mission saved from Trump’s cuts, but others still in limbo arstechnica.com/space/2025/1...

One NASA science mission saved from Trump’s cuts, but others still in limbo

“Damage is being done already. Even if funding is reinstated, we have already lost people.”…

arstechnica.com

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Reposted by Leigh Fletcher

ESA Space Science @science.esa.int · 3d

First images of comet #3I/ATLAS from Europe's Mars orbiters 😍

Observing the comet from 30 million km away, #ExoMars reveals the halo of gas and dust surrounding the comet's nucleus.

Read more 👉 www.esa.int/Science_Expl...
🔭🧪

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Leigh Fletcher @leighfletcher.bsky.social · 4d

Guilty as charged ;-).

Leigh Fletcher @leighfletcher.bsky.social · 4d

Sundays are for bringing 35-year-old Sierra Cosworths back to life on the Scalextric. Tiny parts tested my eyesight, fingers raw from rubbing down tarnished tracks, but it's aliiiiive, and the boy is off his playstation for a few hours....

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Reposted by Leigh Fletcher

Astropolitics Working Group @astropoliticswg.bsky.social · 7d

SIX postdoc jobs (!) going at the new Leverhulme Centre for Space and Humanity at the University of Leicester, directed by @andrewfutter.bsky.social If you're in the social sciences/humanities and working on outer space, have a look!

Research Associate in Humanity and Space in Leicester | University of Leicester Recruitment Team

View details and apply for this Research Associate in Humanity and Space vacancy in Leicester. The Leverhulme Centre for Humanity and Space (LCHS), based at Space Park Leicester, is seeking up to...

jobs.le.ac.uk

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Reposted by Leigh Fletcher

Caroline Morley @astrocaroline.bsky.social · 8d

UT Austin Astro is hiring! It's an open call, but definitely interested in getting another exoplanet person! Feel free to reach out with any questions about the department or living in Austin! aas.org/jobregister/...

Tenure-Track Assistant Professor Position in Astronomy | American Astronomical Society

The Department of Astronomy at the University of Texas at Austin invites applications for a tenure-track faculty position at the Assistant Professor level to begin in August 2026. We welcome applicati...

aas.org

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Leigh Fletcher @leighfletcher.bsky.social · 14d

Do not try with a desktop computer.

Jaunty Art @jaunty.art · 14d

this blew my tiny mind

Gently shake phone.
A picture of a black cat on a black background in the centre of a black and white glitchy surrounding. When you wiggle your phone the cat seems to jiggle in the centre even though it’s a static image

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Leigh Fletcher @leighfletcher.bsky.social · 14d

Oxford in the autumn sunshine. Can't beat it.

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Leigh Fletcher @leighfletcher.bsky.social · 15d

A summary of where we are in #UKHE, and how we got here. Some scary times ahead.

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

UK university departments on the brink as higher-education funding crisis deepens

As a new academic year dawns, international competition, government policies and inflationary pressures could be pushing some universities to the brink of bankruptcy.

www.nature.com

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Leigh Fletcher @leighfletcher.bsky.social · 18d

Spent time at the @spacecentre.bsky.social today, meeting primary school teachers to show them the breadth of STFC research in planetary and astrophysics happening at Leicester - part of a professional development course for local teachers ahead of them bringing Year-5s to NSC in October.

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Reposted by Leigh Fletcher

Mathew Owens @mathewjowens.bsky.social · 20d

We bail out banks. We bail the steel industry, the water industry, airlines and hotels.

The UK higher education sector directly employs nearly 1M people. It's the envy of the world and benefits almost every area of UK society. But apparently it can go burn.

Prof. Jonathan Nichols @jnic.bsky.social · 20d

Here is the IoP report

www.iop.org/about/news/q...

Quarter of UK university physics departments risk closure as funding crisis bites

Institute of Physics warns “perfect storm” could damage world-leading UK physics research and jeopardise our future defence, technology and growth.

www.iop.org

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Reposted by Leigh Fletcher

Dr Francis Young @drfrancisyoung.bsky.social · 23d

So the DFS sale really has been going on as long as we thought

Jonathan Foyle @jonathanfoyle.bsky.social · 23d

AI is hilarious at period furniture

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Leigh Fletcher @leighfletcher.bsky.social · 26d

A bit tough to "switch lanes" at these meetings due to the overlaps, but I find I get more out of speciality-adjacent sessions than those in my speciality (where I'm maybe a bit more up to date with the literature). For example, Uranian/Neptunian satellites were a standout for me this year.

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Leigh Fletcher @leighfletcher.bsky.social · 27d

Our #EPSCDPS2025 meeting in Helsinki was exhausting, and a flight delay made for a very late night. But I had to smile as some of my Leicester colleagues spent the whole flight patiently answering space questions from fellow passengers. Nice reminder that we are privileged to do a very cool job. 😎

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Leigh Fletcher @leighfletcher.bsky.social · Sep 10

For those #IceGiant fans at the #EPSCDPS2025 in Helsinki, you’re invited to join an informal meeting about future Ice Giant exploration on Thursday (12:45-13:45) in the Triton Room (level 2, right next to Neptune, of course!): #planetsci

meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EPSC-DPS2025...

Session SM18

meetingorganizer.copernicus.org

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Reposted by Leigh Fletcher

Heidi B. Hammel @hbhammel.bsky.social · Sep 10

Heads up to attendees of #epscdps2025 - there will be a splinter session about Solar System planning for the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) in the Ganymede Room TODAY (Weds) at 3 pm!

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Leigh Fletcher @leighfletcher.bsky.social · Sep 10

From its newly discovered satellite, to the composition and dynamics of the narrow rings, to the atmospheric circulation and auroras, it's clear that #JWST has already been astonishing for exploring the #Uranus system. First #EPSCDPS2025 session on JWST results described as "bonkers" 😀 🪐

Leigh Fletcher @leighfletcher.bsky.social · Sep 10

Conference here in Helsinki has been great so far, but time to turn it up a notch - this morning at #EPSCDPS2025 we begin 2 days celebrating the contributions of #JWST to #planetaryscience, beginning with ice giants, then moving to Jupiter, Saturn, comets, asteroids, TNOs, and more. Venus room 0930!

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Leigh Fletcher @leighfletcher.bsky.social · Sep 10

Conference here in Helsinki has been great so far, but time to turn it up a notch - this morning at #EPSCDPS2025 we begin 2 days celebrating the contributions of #JWST to #planetaryscience, beginning with ice giants, then moving to Jupiter, Saturn, comets, asteroids, TNOs, and more. Venus room 0930!

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Leigh Fletcher @leighfletcher.bsky.social · Sep 3

I thought so too! Check out her website portfolio, amazing content (plus some Moon, Mars and Mercury maps.....)

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Leigh Fletcher @leighfletcher.bsky.social · Sep 2

At a planet formation seminar today, the speaker used these amazing maps of the Solar System from Eleanor Lutz: she has a great blog post on how she took 18000 asteroids, on a log(size) and log(orbit) plot, with 40-year orbit trails, to create this #planetsci #dataviz
eleanorlutz.com/mapping-1800...

Eleanor Lutz - An Orbit Map of the Solar System

A map visualizing the orbit paths of 18,000 asteroids in the solar system.

eleanorlutz.com

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Reposted by Leigh Fletcher

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft @maxplanck.de · Sep 1

The #MaxPlanckPostdocProgram offers a guaranteed contract of at least 3 years, targeted mentoring, and career workshops. The call for applications is open now! 🚀 Take advantage of this opportunity and browse the job vacancies. www.mpg.de/en/max-planc...

Group photo of postdocs conducting research at a Max Planck Institute

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Leigh Fletcher @leighfletcher.bsky.social · Sep 1

Well, now we'll all notice....

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