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Sophie Newman

@sophienewman.bsky.social

150 followers 87 following 60 posts

PhD student at the University of Portsmouth generating synthetic observations of high-z galaxies 🌌 Lover of crafts and tea 🧵☕ https://sophie-newman.github.io https://www.youtube.com/@fieldof_view

sophie-newman.github.io

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Sophie Newman @sophienewman.bsky.social · Jan 7

It's a very happy first-author paper day for me! In this thread I'll explain some of the exciting results from my paper
nicknamed 'Cloudy-Maraston' with the aid of doodles inspired by the amazing work of @clairelamman.bsky.social !

arxiv.org/abs/2501.03133

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Sophie Newman @sophienewman.bsky.social · 6d

Even with the break, this is so beautiful!!!

Sophie Newman @sophienewman.bsky.social · 21d

me right now in nyc

gina ✨ @astrogina.bsky.social · 21d

all i am saying is that in mid september it should be cool enough for me to wear a hoodie outside during the day

Sophie Newman @sophienewman.bsky.social · 21d

ee thanks!! I had so much fun making them

Sophie Newman @sophienewman.bsky.social · 22d

LOVE

Sophie Newman @sophienewman.bsky.social · 22d

Thank you Ryan!! 😊

Reposted by Sophie Newman

AstroArxiv @astroarxiv.bsky.social · 23d

Using white dwarf lensing to resolve accretion flows. Sophie L. Newman et. al. https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.10674

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Sophie Newman @sophienewman.bsky.social · 22d

Using this simulated X-ray binary disc, we find that a very exciting result:

The spin and temperature profile of a black hole can be discerned by studying how much their light is magnified during a microlensing event! 4/4

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Sophie Newman @sophienewman.bsky.social · 22d

With co-authors Matthew Middleton and Adam McMaster, maps showing how the brightness of X-ray binaries, for a given black hole spin and temperature profile, vary with distance were then generated! 3/4

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Sophie Newman @sophienewman.bsky.social · 22d

In this work we started by generating mock microlensing events caused by white dwarfs moving in front of X-ray sources in the Andromeda galaxy (M31)! For each of these events, we use the angular separation between the white dwarf and source to calculate the resulting magnification A. 2/4

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Sophie Newman @sophienewman.bsky.social · 22d

I'm excited to announce that after two years, my Masters project has finally been submitted to MNRAS and is available to read on arXiv! 1/4

arxiv.org/abs/2509.10674

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Sophie Newman @sophienewman.bsky.social · Aug 14

I'm SO excited to write the follow up paper to our April Fools Day paper after The Life of a Showgirl comes out - was our Taylor expansion correct? Will there be 12 ± 5 unique astrophysics words in her next album?! arxiv.org/abs/2503.24188

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Sophie Newman @sophienewman.bsky.social · Jul 25

Yay @jengupta.bsky.social !!

Sophie Newman @sophienewman.bsky.social · Jul 15

These are so cool!! I am in need of some JWST earrings..

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Sophie Newman @sophienewman.bsky.social · Jul 15

Some fun facial expressions while giving a talk to 90 teenagers considering if astrophysics is for them! #astroedu

Sophie Newman @sophienewman.bsky.social · Jul 13

A super fun video tour of the amazing outreach work done we did this week! #astroedu

Euclid UK @eucliduk.bsky.social · Jul 13

Take a whistle stop tour of @esa.int’s Euclid mission exhibit at this year’s GoodWood #FestivalOfSpeed with James, an Outreach Co-ordinator at The University of Edinburgh… (1/6) 🧵

Sophie Newman @sophienewman.bsky.social · Jul 12

Had such a fun time explaining the wonders of @eucliduk.bsky.social to those at @goodwoodrrc.bsky.social yesterday! Time to spot some F1 cars today! 🏎️

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Reposted by Sophie Newman

Euclid UK @eucliduk.bsky.social · Jul 12

It’s Day 3 at the the @goodwoodrrc.bsky.social #FestivalofSpeed Future Lab.

Our #HumansOfEuclid have had an early start, back and ready to share the mysteries of the dark Universe all over again! 🌌🕸️

Some of the Euclid team at the Euclid exhibit. Five people are standing together smiling for the camera. One person is knelt in front of them, also smiling for the camera. Behind them in the background is a spiral galaxy, one of Euclid’s images displayed on a huge screen.

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Sophie Newman @sophienewman.bsky.social · Jul 10

Excited to be helping out with this tomorrow!!

Euclid UK @eucliduk.bsky.social · Jul 10

Thanks to support from @esa.int and @sussex.ac.uk, #HumansOfEuclid from UK universities are at the Goodwood #FestivalOfSpeed!

Today, Astronaut Tim Peake dropped by to learn about more about the Dark Universe. If you’re visiting #FOS near Chichester this weekend, be like Tim and come say hi!

A wide shot of part of the Euclid exhibition at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. In the foreground are lots of people wandering around the exhibit. On the left is a huge screen displaying a Euclid image. The exhibition is held in a large black tent, which drapes from the top of the image.

Researcher Dr Will Roper is on the left, talking to Astronaut Tim Peake featured on the right. They are in the Euclid exhibition, seen in the background. In particular they are looking at an interactive screen of a Universe simulator called Swift.

Sophie Newman @sophienewman.bsky.social · Jul 1

finally got through my official offer letter from @flatironinstitute.org ... Alexa play Welcome to New York by Taylor Swift 🗽

Sophie Newman @sophienewman.bsky.social · Jun 30

being given money to buy books because I like talking to teenagers about physics and happen to be good at it? sounds like a great deal to me

Sophie Newman @sophienewman.bsky.social · Jun 25

game changer

Dr. Victoria Grinberg @vicgrinberg.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · Jun 24

Whoa... With the new software (so pretty soon) the #arxiv order will be randomized. No more race to rhe first to submit on a given day!

#Astrodon #eas2025

Reposted by Sophie Newman

Micah @rincewind.run · May 17

RIP, Ed, you steely-eyed missile man

real heroes use duct tape

The New York Times @nytimes.com · May 16

Robert “Ed” Smylie, the NASA official who saved the Apollo 13 crew in 1970, has died at 95. He cobbled together an apparatus made of cardboard, plastic bags and duct tape after an explosion crippled the spacecraft as it sped toward the moon. nyti.ms/3Sbusb3

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Sophie Newman @sophienewman.bsky.social · May 3

these are so beautiful 🥹

Sophie Newman @sophienewman.bsky.social · May 3

A bizarre day of doing physics outreach at Portsmouth Comic Con! Never thought I'd be dressed as Feyre from ACOTAR while teaching others how to make a JWST model 👀

A collage of four photos: 1) a queue of characters in cosplay, 2) a girl in cosplay with a JWST model she made, 3) me dressed as Feyre from ACOTAR with corresponding prop wings, 4) some fun book merch!

Reposted by Sophie Newman

Katie Mack @astrokatie.com · Apr 16

There's a press release out now for a galaxy discovered in JWST data described as the "oldest known spiral galaxy" noirlab.edu/public/news/...

..which is funny, because from a different (perhaps more correct) perspective, it's the youngest!

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NSF NOIRLab Astronomer Discovers Oldest Known Spiral Galaxy in the Universe - The discovery tells astronomers that galaxies resembling the Milky Way can develop much earlier in the Universe than was p...

An international team led by NSF NOIRLab astronomer Christina Williams has discovered the most distant spiral galaxy known to date. Named Zhúlóng, meaning ‘Torch Dragon’ in Chinese mythology, this ult...

noirlab.edu

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