Meg Schwamb
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megschwamb.bsky.social
Meg Schwamb
@megschwamb.bsky.social
Planetary scientist & astronomer at Queen’s University Belfast: KBOs, Planet Four(Mars), exoplanets (Planet Hunters NGTS) ,LSST SSSC co-chair. Opinions posted are my own. Pronouns: she/her
Reposted by Meg Schwamb
The NSBP/SAO EHT Scholars Program is now accepting applications for Summer 2026!

Apply by Dec. 15th by contacting [email protected]
November 20, 2025 at 3:40 PM
Reposted by Meg Schwamb
I'm fully aware that citation numbers and indices are not a good metric for much of anything. However, I'm proudly going to share this one:
One of my papers has now been cited over 1000 times! Unsurprisingly, it's the original REBOUND paper.
November 23, 2025 at 3:01 PM
Reposted by Meg Schwamb
Cambridge! We’re bringing a Universe of Music to you next Thursday.

This show features shells, black holes, music, planets and more - do come if you can!

www.junction.co.uk/events/linto...
Lintott & Pretty's Universe Of Music | Cambridge Junction
Book tickets for Lintott & Pretty's Universe Of Music at J3 at Cambridge Junction. What’s the connection between astronomy and jazz? From William Herschel (discoverer of Uranus and professional musici...
www.junction.co.uk
November 21, 2025 at 9:21 AM
Reposted by Meg Schwamb
It takes 225 million years or so for the Solar System to make one orbit around the galaxy. Sharks evolved long enough ago that they’ve done it twice.
Man, everything is so bleak, anyone got a fun fact or little bit of trivia they want to share
November 21, 2025 at 3:14 AM
Come do a PhD at the @qubelfastofficial.bsky.social
Astrophysics Research Centre (ARC). The avaialble PhD projects starting in the 2026/2027 school year are now up. Application deadline is January 16th . I have project on doing cool things with @vrubinobs.bsky.social Solar System discoveries 🧪🔭.
PHD Studentships | Astrophysics Research Centre | Queen's University Belfast
www.qub.ac.uk
November 20, 2025 at 9:07 PM
Reposted by Meg Schwamb
Another full paper annotation! I LOVE this one - be sure to read through the end. The drawings of a star trying to make a hole in the nebula cracked me up👷
To finish it off, I've also done an annotated version of the paper complete with silly drawings and accessible language! These are inspired by @clairelamman.bsky.social , and you can read this and more here: ryanwhite1.github.io/wolf-rayet.h...
4/4 ⚛️🔭🧪
November 20, 2025 at 3:49 PM
Reposted by Meg Schwamb
Here's a #HigherEducationPostcard of @qubelfastofficial.bsky.social

If you like this image, please retweet it - remember, BlueSky has #NoAlgorithm
November 20, 2025 at 8:00 AM
Reposted by Meg Schwamb
Here are the #I/ATLAS releases from varied NASA/ESA missions. Having worked with such telescope & spacecraft data for 40 years, my perspective is: no surprises. It's a comet; its differences from Solar System comets are intriguing but every comet is different! science.nasa.gov/solar-system...
November 19, 2025 at 8:42 PM
Reposted by Meg Schwamb
Amazing job by the HiRISE team @uahirise.bsky.social to target and image this object.
November 19, 2025 at 8:31 PM
Reposted by Meg Schwamb
I, of course, had to point to the great @olivia.science @irisvanrooij.bsky.social and others:
"We, as members of the software engineering research community, can do better than that. Thankfully some researchers are doing that"
zenodo.org/records/1706...
Against the Uncritical Adoption of 'AI' Technologies in Academia
Under the banner of progress, products have been uncritically adopted or even imposed on users — in past centuries with tobacco and combustion engines, and in the 21st with social media. For these col...
zenodo.org
November 16, 2025 at 11:47 AM
Reposted by Meg Schwamb
Spread some holiday cheer with our DisabledInSTEM Secret Santa!

Sign up to give & receive a gift with our community
Deadline: Dec 5
Link: forms.gle/NuGAFor4bFCL...

PLUS: Apply to the DisabledInSTEM Mentorship Program! Build connections, find support, and grow.
#DisabledInSTEM #SecretSanta
November 18, 2025 at 8:17 PM
Reposted by Meg Schwamb
Keep watching the skies

Baker, longtime observatory director, educated generations with his astronomy texts. His debut, Astronomy: An Introduction, appeared in 1930 and even included Pluto’s discovery.

By John Mark Ockerbloom

everybodyslibraries.com/2025/11/17/k...

#PublicDomainDayCountdown
November 18, 2025 at 9:44 AM
Reposted by Meg Schwamb
Good to see a space agency actually celebrating the wonderful diversity of humanity and the ideas and perspectives they bring
Today is #LGBTQinSTEMDay 🌈

ESA proudly joins the STEM community in celebrating the unique contributions of LGBTQ+ individuals.

The Pride Flag will fly across ESA sites as a reminder of how far we’ve come, and how much more there is to do.

#SpaceForAll
November 18, 2025 at 2:13 PM
Reposted by Meg Schwamb
If you live in France, a new documentary about 'Oumuamua comes out Thursday evening, starting at 9pm on the France 5. Replays on france.tv after

I was scientific advisor (and I show up in several places), which was a great pleasure.

www.francetvpro.fr/contenu-de-p...
France TV - Replay et Direct tv des chaînes France Télévisions (ex Pluzz)
Retrouvez toutes les vidéos, articles et podcasts des programmes des chaînes de France Télévisions.
france.tv
November 18, 2025 at 11:21 AM
This semester has been a challenge, but December seems nearly here. I'm on sabbatical for all of calendar year 2026. I'm still figuring out plans, but I will be based in Belfast for that time. So if you're looking for seminar/colloquium speaker to talk about planetary astronomy stuff next year...
November 18, 2025 at 10:20 AM
A reminder that this sexist bullshit is still happening in 2025. Sigh. But let's not have that overshadow welcoming a newly minted badass female PhD into academia. Achieving a PhD is not an easy feat. Congratulations Dr Turner!
POV: you are a young woman celebrating a recent academic success
November 18, 2025 at 9:49 AM
NASA will host a live event at 3 p.m. EST, Wednesday, Nov. 19, to share imagery of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS collected by a number of the agency’s missions. The event will take place at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. www.nasa.gov/news-release... ☄️🔭
NASA to Share Comet 3I/ATLAS Images From Spacecraft, Telescopes - NASA
NASA will host a live event at 3 p.m. EST, Wednesday, Nov. 19, to share imagery of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS collected by a number of the agency’s
www.nasa.gov
November 17, 2025 at 10:04 PM
Reposted by Meg Schwamb
Have you ever wanted @astropy.org tutorials on:
– spectroscopic data reduction from a raw FITS image,
– computing galactic orbits from Gaia measurements,
– cross-matching astronomical catalogs?

Check out the redesigned learn.astropy.org! Announcement from @numfocus.bsky.social below. 🧪🔭 #astrocode
Explore the Redesigned Learn.Astropy.org
A New Way to Learn Astronomy with Python
numfocus.medium.com
November 17, 2025 at 1:07 PM
I'm now catching up on grading and teaching admin, but I was able to get notifications out to the people who have funding support to participate in the LSST Solar System First Data Sprint in Belfast in February.
November 17, 2025 at 10:28 AM
I've been quiet because I've been focused on getting my School/department's Athena Swan Gold application draft into shape as I am co-leading the application. The draft got completely rewritten for the better over the past month. We submitted it to the University for internal feedback last week
November 17, 2025 at 9:36 AM
Reposted by Meg Schwamb
Just heard about this huge (49 state) long covid trial using tirzepetide (aka zepbound) one of the newer glp meds. It’s run by researchers at scripps, funded by the eric & wendy schmidt foundation. It looks like it is still enrolling, fully remote participation:
longcovid.scripps.edu/locitt-t/?ut...
LoCITT-T - Long COVID Treatment Trial
The Long COVID Treatment Trial-Tirzepatide (LoCITT-T) is investigating the efficacy of repurposing this drug to treat Long COVID.
longcovid.scripps.edu
November 16, 2025 at 4:40 AM
A fun and entertaining episode of Sky at Night - Highly recommend a watch if you're in the UK www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...
The Sky at Night - Space Mysteries: The Sky at Night Meets Curious Cases
In a spectacular season finale, the team are joined by Hannah Fry and Dara Ó Briain in front of a live studio audience to answer viewers' burning queries about space.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 15, 2025 at 3:22 PM
Spending part of the evening in an online seminar/training session of active learning for physics and astronomy courses. I try and use active learning in my classes when I can.
November 13, 2025 at 8:15 PM
TMT Explores a Promising Path Forward in Spain www.tmt.org/news/708 🔭 ☄️
TMT Explores a Promising Path Forward in Spain
TMT is exploring a promising avenue for a new observatory based in Spain.
www.tmt.org
November 13, 2025 at 3:38 PM
Reposted by Meg Schwamb
JWST's recent Cycle 5 call garnered 2,935 proposals (requests to use this amazing telescope and its data 🔭), breaking the record that it set last year! The proposals represent 7,509 unique investigators over a range of career stages, and come from institutions in 59 countries and 47 U.S. states!
November 12, 2025 at 5:59 PM