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lkreidberg.bsky.social
Laura Kreidberg
@lkreidberg.bsky.social
780 followers 150 following 58 posts
Exoplanets, atmospheres, aliens. Director of the APEx Department at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy.
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lkreidberg.bsky.social
Lots of fun work out from APEx postdocs in the past week! first up was Sophia Vaughan @sophiavaughan.bsky.social on a deep search for reflected light from a hot Neptune w/ the VLT. This summed up light from ALL FOUR 8m telescopes over 2 nights- a preview of ELT-like data! arxiv.org/abs/2511.08691
November 18, 2025 at 4:52 PM
lkreidberg.bsky.social
Excited to speak this coming Tuesday at the DAI in Heidelberg! I'm hosting a panel discussion on life in the universe - from the origin of life on Earth, to how we could recognize it on other planets, to prospects for interstellar space travel. Tickets on sale now: dai-heidelberg.de/en/events/li...
Life in the Universe - Deutsch-Amerikanisches Institut. Haus der Kultur.
Are we alone in the universe? This question has always fascinated people. Now we can approach it in a scientific …
dai-heidelberg.de
October 31, 2025 at 3:27 PM
lkreidberg.bsky.social
Exoplanet atmosphere characterization is built on a foundation of lab data and chemistry. We need more reaction rates, cross sections, & line lists, at a broader range of conditions than the Solar System. Got together with Earth/planetary scientists to comment on this: www.nature.com/articles/d41...
How to understand exoplanets — space scientists call on lab-based chemists to help
Stronger links between researchers who work on Earth’s and other planets’ atmospheres, and between the experimental, modelling and observational communities, will help to interpret the astronomical da...
www.nature.com
October 30, 2025 at 7:58 AM
lkreidberg.bsky.social
PhD opportunity here at MPIA to work with @paulmolliere.bsky.social !!
paulmolliere.bsky.social paulmolliere.bsky.social @paulmolliere.bsky.social · Oct 17
Seeking PhD candidates that want to do a thesis on exoplanet atmosphere retrieval + machine learning inference. Please apply by 31 October to Dr. Max Dax's and my shared project here: is.mpg.de/news/new-max... . Abstract for the thesis project is attached to this thread below!
New Max Planck Artificial Intelligence Network Starts Call for Applications for its Ph.D. Program
The Max Planck Artificial Intelligence Network is a Ph.D. Program that provides doctoral researchers with fully funded Ph.D. fellowships and a pool of outstanding faculty comprising directors and inde...
is.mpg.de
October 17, 2025 at 12:56 PM
lkreidberg.bsky.social
Incredible opportunity from the MPG to start your own research group!
maxplanck.de Max-Planck-Gesellschaft @maxplanck.de · Sep 15
Early-career researchers: want to run your own lab? 🌟Max Planck Research Groups offer 6+ years, up to €2.7M in funding, open-topic freedom, team support & tenure-track opportunities. Intrigued? 😃Apply by Oct 14, 2025! www.mpg.de/max-planck-r...
Graphic with a blue background and light green dots. The text 'call for applications' appears in green, and 'Ausschreibung' in white. A white arrow on the right points diagonally upward.
September 15, 2025 at 9:55 AM
lkreidberg.bsky.social
We have job opportunities in the APEx department at MPIA - please spread the word!

Postdocs: aas.org/jobregister/...
Tenure-track staff: aas.org/jobregister/...
Max Planck Research Group Leaders: aas.org/jobregister/...

+ happy to host ERC, Humboldt, and other third-party funds.
September 15, 2025 at 9:32 AM
Reposted by Laura Kreidberg
minimillian.bsky.social
The Rocky Worlds DDT has published our final target list. Join us for an information session on September 15 to learn more about the 9 targeted planets and the goals of the program.

🔭 #exoplanets
Rocky Worlds DDT Updates: Final Target List and Virtual Information Session
www.stsci.edu
September 4, 2025 at 2:26 PM
lkreidberg.bsky.social
Update on the atmosphere vs no atmosphere debate for TRAPPIST-1 b and c -- here's a nice and (IMO) conclusive result from Gillon and Ducrot et al.: no thick atmosphere on either planet. arxiv.org/pdf/2509.02128
arxiv.org
September 3, 2025 at 7:11 AM
Reposted by Laura Kreidberg
maxplanck.de
Director at Max Planck - a unique position! The Open Call for Expressions of Interest in Max Planck Directorships is open now and can be submitted by the 31st of October 2025. ➡️ mpg.de/directors - Please share the Open Call among potential candidates.
Open Call for Expressions of Interest in Max Planck Directorships: Expressions of interest can be submitted until 31 October 2025.
August 1, 2025 at 9:06 AM
Reposted by Laura Kreidberg
paulmolliere.bsky.social
Our paper on PSO J318 is finally out 💪 . I want to thank all of my coauthors who made this study possible 🙇 !! It could be that we see the first cloud seeding nuclei forming at the top of the atmosphere…?

arxiv.org/abs/2507.18691
July 28, 2025 at 5:31 AM
lkreidberg.bsky.social
gorgeous new JWST spectrum of the rogue planet PSO J318 from @paulmolliere.bsky.social ! Strong absorption at 10 microns likely due to small SiO particles, acting as seeds for cloud formation arxiv.org/pdf/2507.18691
July 28, 2025 at 11:43 AM
lkreidberg.bsky.social
Happy to share the first paper from the SPACE Program, led by my student Angelique Kahle! she observed a hot little sub-Neptune, HD 86226c (Rp = 2.3 Re; equilibrium temp = 1300 K). arxiv.org/pdf/2507.13439

The spectrum is *really* flat ! here's the amplitude compared to other gaseous planets.
July 21, 2025 at 11:26 AM
lkreidberg.bsky.social
@astroduncan.bsky.social did the impossible - he put magnetic fields in his models!! Check out this nice paper on how more realistic B fields impact hot Jupiter atmosphere circulation 🧲
July 14, 2025 at 9:48 AM
lkreidberg.bsky.social
Huge congratulations to @sophiavaughan.bsky.social for receiving the Michael Penston Prize from the RAS!!! Sophia is a pioneer in detecting reflected light from exoplanets. Congrats on this well-deserved recognition 😁🔭
royalastrosoc.bsky.social Royal Astronomical Society @royalastrosoc.bsky.social · Jul 2
Time to hand out some prizes! 🏅🎉 🥳

The RAS is pleased to announce the winners of its prizes for the best PhD theses completed in the UK in 2024.

Dr Sophia Vaughan - Michael Penston Thesis Prize
Dr Graeme McGhee - Patricia Tomkins Thesis Prize
Dr Sihui Zhong - Keith Runcorn Thesis Prize

⤵️
From left to right, Dr Sophia Vaughan, Dr Sihui Zhong and Dr Graeme McGhee.
July 3, 2025 at 8:19 AM
Reposted by Laura Kreidberg
paulmolliere.bsky.social
Hi exoplaneteers! Please consider submitting an abstract for the Observation and Characterization of Extrasolar Planets session of this year's meeting of the German astronomical society (deadline is 31 July, you first need to register).

ag2025.astronomische-gesellschaft.de/view_splinte...
Annual Meeting of the Astronomische Gesellschaft 2025
Annual Meeting of the Astronomische Gesellschaft 2025, held in Görlitz from September 15-19, 2025
ag2025.astronomische-gesellschaft.de
July 3, 2025 at 7:51 AM
lkreidberg.bsky.social
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:
arxiv.org
July 2, 2025 at 8:34 AM
Reposted by Laura Kreidberg
jiachenliu.bsky.social
My new paper, co-authored with Duncan Christie and Jun Yang, on 3D chemical kinetics simulations of K2-18b has been accepted by MNRAS!
This is Part I of a series. In Part I, we examine the planet's atmospheric dynamics and its impact on the transport of passive tracers.
arxiv.org/abs/2506.23891
Three-dimensional Transport-induced Chemistry on Temperate sub-Neptune K2-18b, Part I: the Effects of Atmospheric Dynamics
The low equilibrium temperatures of temperate sub-Neptunes lead to extremely long chemical timescales in their upper atmospheres, causing the abundances of chemical species to be strongly shaped by at...
arxiv.org
July 1, 2025 at 8:28 AM
Reposted by Laura Kreidberg
tadkomacek.bsky.social
I recommend giving this paper by @jiachenliu.bsky.social, @astroduncan.bsky.social, and Jun Yang a close read: arxiv.org/abs/2506.23891. Sub-Neptunes like K2-18b lie in an interesting regime where both the radiative feedback and mixing of chemical tracers is important, I’m looking forward to Part 2!
Three-dimensional Transport-induced Chemistry on Temperate sub-Neptune K2-18b, Part I: the Effects of Atmospheric Dynamics
The low equilibrium temperatures of temperate sub-Neptunes lead to extremely long chemical timescales in their upper atmospheres, causing the abundances of chemical species to be strongly shaped by at...
arxiv.org
July 1, 2025 at 2:25 PM
lkreidberg.bsky.social
Super proud of Nora Bachmann for her first first-author paper, a deep dive into the classic hot Jupiter, HD 209458b! arxiv.org/abs/2506.16232
Osiris revisited: Confirming a solar metallicity and low C/O in HD 209458b
HD 209458b is the prototypical hot Jupiter and one of the best targets available for precise atmosphere characterisation. Now that spectra from both Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and James Webb Space T...
arxiv.org
June 23, 2025 at 9:09 AM
lkreidberg.bsky.social
Minor new release for batman today - if you've had issues with numpy2 incompatibility, please update your installation.

I don't get to code very often anymore and I'm always amazed by how much better the software development tools are than when batman was first written.
May 6, 2025 at 5:55 PM
Reposted by Laura Kreidberg
ericcolumbus.bsky.social
🚨🚨 Deranged letter from Education Secretary Linda McMahon to Harvard’s president, cutting off federal funding for any new grants.

Worth reading in full. It is NUTS.
THE SECRETARY OF EDUCATION WASHINGTON, DC 20202 May 5, 2025 Dr. Alan Garber Office of the President Harvard University Massachusetts Hall Cambridge, MA 02138 Dr. Garber, The Federal Government has a sacred responsibility to be a wise and important steward of American taxpayer dollars. Harvard University, despite amassing a largely tax-free $53.2 billion dollar endowment (larger than the GDP of 100 countries), receives billions of dollars of taxpayer largess each year. Receiving such taxpayer funds is a privilege, not a right. Yet instead of using these funds to advance the education of its students, Harvard is engaging in a systemic pattern of violating federal law. Where do many of these "students" come from, who are they, how do they get into Harvard, or even into our country—and why is there so much HATE? These are questions that must be answered, among many more, but the biggest question of all is, why will Harvard not give straightforward answers to the American public? Harvard University has made a mockery of this country's higher education system. It has invited foreign students, who engage in violent behavior and show contempt for the United States of America, to its campus. In every way, Harvard has failed to abide by its legal obligations, its ethical and fiduciary duties, its transparency responsibilities, and any semblance of academic rigor. It had scrapped standardized testing requirements and a normalized grading system. This year Harvard was forced to adopt an embarrassing "remedial math" program for undergraduates. Why is it, we ask, that Harvard has to teach simple and basic mathematics, when it is supposedly so hard to get into this "acclaimed university"? Who is getting in under such a low standard when others, with fabulous grades and a great understanding of the highest levels of mathematics, are being rejected? Harvard has even been embroiled in humiliating plagiarism scandals, exposed clearly and plainly in the media, with respect to your then… running the institution in a totally chaotic way. Harvard alumnus and highly successful hedge fund manager Bill Ackman noted that, under her leadership, Harvard has become "a political advocacy organization for one party." Ackman has called for the resignation of Pritzker, concluding that the "[t)he mismanagement here is Penny Pritzker" and noting that any serious corporation would have removed her after a litany of recent failings and the fact that, incredibly, "Harvard is not in a good financial position." According to Ackman, one of the world's foremost finance experts, Harvard's so-called S53 billion endowment is "massively overstated as far as what it's really worth," and Harvard has irresponsibly taken out $8 billion in debt. If this is true, it is concerning evidence of Harvard's disastrous mismanagement, indicating an urgent need for massive reform-not continued taxpayer investment. If Harvard prefers not to change, then Harvard should have no problem using its overflowing endowment to fund its bloated bureaucracy. At its best, a university should fulfill the highest ideals of our Nation, and enlighten the thousands of hopeful students who walk through its magnificent gates. But Harvard has betrayed this ideal. Perhaps most alarmingly, Harvard has failed to abide by the United States Supreme Court's ruling demanding that it end its racial preferencing, and continues to engage in ugly racism in its undergraduate and graduate schools, and even within the Harvard Law Review itself. Our universities should be bastions of merit that reward and celebrate excellence and achievement. They should not be incubators of discrimination that encourage resentment and instill grievance and racism into our wonderful young Americans. The above concerns are only a fraction of the long list of Harvard's consistent violations of its own legal duties. Given these and other concerning allegations, this letter is to inform you that Harvard should no longer seek GRANTS from the fede… Federal Agencies. The Administration's priorities have not changed and today's letter marks the end of new grants for the University. These requests will advance the best interests of Harvard University, so it can reclaim its status as a respected educational institution for the future leaders of America. Thank you for your attention to this matter! Sincerely, Linda E. McMahon Secretary of Education
May 6, 2025 at 12:27 AM
Reposted by Laura Kreidberg
chrislintott.bsky.social
A new, thorough reanalysis of the data that led to claims of biosignatures on K2-18b from @luiswel.bsky.social & friends - a nicely written lesson on why this stuff is hard. They find no significant evidence for DMS, the gas the Cambridge team claimed to have found. arxiv.org/abs/2504.21788
The Challenges of Detecting Gases in Exoplanet Atmospheres
Claims of detections of gases in exoplanet atmospheres often rely on comparisons between models including and excluding specific chemical species. However, the space of molecular combinations availabl...
arxiv.org
May 1, 2025 at 3:01 AM
Reposted by Laura Kreidberg
distantworlds.space
𝗡𝗼, 𝗮 𝗯𝗶𝗼𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗱𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝗞𝟮-𝟭𝟴𝗯'𝘀 𝗮𝘁𝗺𝗼𝘀𝗽𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲.

K2-18b is back in the news, now with a bold claim that biosignature molecules (DMS and/or DMDS) have been 'detected at 3σ'.

Most exoplanet astronomers are extremely sceptical about these claims, let's see why (1/n).

🔭🧪🪐 #exoplanet
Artist's impression of the exoplanet K2-18b. Credit: A. Smith, University of Cambridge.
April 17, 2025 at 4:08 PM
lkreidberg.bsky.social
Shared some (highly skeptical) thoughts on today’s “habitable planet” #K218b news. Thank you @npr.org for the responsible reporting on this topic!
April 17, 2025 at 6:47 AM
lkreidberg.bsky.social
Do you want to do cutting-edge exoplanet science with JWST in a Bavarian castle?

If yes (and why would you say no???) there are still a few spots open for the Ringberg Workshop "Signal in the Noise" (Nov 17 - 21). Register here sites.google.com/view/jwst-ri...
April 3, 2025 at 9:06 AM