Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Christian Möstl @chrisoutofspace.bsky.social · 29d

Maria Federica Marcucci on the @esa.int M7 mission candidate "Plasma observatory", which would be an amazing mission to understand in high detail how the solar wind works on small scales and how it interacts with the 🌍 magnetosphere.

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Christian Möstl @chrisoutofspace.bsky.social · 29d

🇬🇧UK Space Weather meeting in Sheffield, day 3 starts with a session on new 🛰️ missions, including @craig.deforest.org on @punch-mission.bsky.social, Jorge Amaya on a new fleet of @esa.int spacecraft and a possible later far-side ☀️ mission (near L3), and Jonathan Eastwood on ESA HENON for sub-L1 data.

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Christian Möstl @chrisoutofspace.bsky.social · Sep 9

Some impressions from the UK 🇬🇧💂‍♂️ Space Weather and
Space Environment Meeting III in Sheffield this week - I talked about research to operations to research at @aswogeosphere.bsky.social and the usage for spacecraft measuring solar storm magnetic fields closer to the Sun ☀️ (so called sub-L1 monitors).

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Christian Möstl @chrisoutofspace.bsky.social · Sep 3

Full article:
archive.ph/2025.09.01-0...

archive.ph

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Christian Möstl @chrisoutofspace.bsky.social · Aug 31

This #solarstorm from late Aug 30 2025 will arrive at 🌍 noon to late Monday Sep 1.
Depending on its internal magnetic field, it has the potential for #aurora in central Europe and maybe #GNSS errors.
Parker Solar Probe will tell us in hindsight if its field was predictable from 0.5 au.

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Christian Möstl @chrisoutofspace.bsky.social · Aug 25

The new AI foundation-type model, based on Solar Dynamics Observatory data, arxiv.org/abs/2508.141...
is also featured @wired.com
www.wired.com/story/ibm-an...

IBM and NASA Develop a Digital Twin of the Sun to Predict Future Solar Storms

The tool models the sun using AI, and its developers say it can anticipate solar flares 16 percent more accurately and in half the time of current prediction systems.

www.wired.com

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Christian Möstl @chrisoutofspace.bsky.social · Aug 19

Sure, but I would not worry about any of those systems crossing that threshold. Its just weird that the whole thing is framed as a „race towards AGI“ while we in the end we get a lot of useful tools but nothing near those promises.

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Christian Möstl @chrisoutofspace.bsky.social · Aug 19

Of course this is meant with regards to large language models (LLMs). Deep learning (DL) is e.g. highly useful for things line automatic detection of structures, as pattern recognition was for long time a particular strength of humans, and DL is catching up and surpassing humans for large datasets.

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Christian Möstl @chrisoutofspace.bsky.social · Aug 19

This is a really great summary of the current state of #AI.
For my scientific work 🧑‍💻 its useful to (1) quickly summarize fields that I am not familiar with and (2) to give me templates for coding.
Both are great tools ⚒️ but a far cry from AGI/ASI.

www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...

AI Is a Mass-Delusion Event

Three years in, one of AI’s enduring impacts is to make people feel like they’re losing it.

www.theatlantic.com

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Reposted by Christian Möstl

Dr. Jessie Christiansen @aussiastronomer.bsky.social · Aug 7

WELCOME TO THE FAMILY, ALPHA CEN A b!!!

First hinted at in Wagner+21, now Chas Beichman, Aniket Sanghi and team have published new JWST images of alpha Cen A showing another hint of this Saturn-sized planet candidate!

exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/overview/alp...

Screenshot of the NASA Exoplanet Archive homepage for the alpha Cen system.

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Christian Möstl @chrisoutofspace.bsky.social · Jul 14

🍎

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Christian Möstl @chrisoutofspace.bsky.social · Jun 17

This years @erc.europa.eu Advanced Grant results are out! In solar system sciences and #heliophysics there are projects on solar coronal heating, stellar convection and icy moons.
Otherwise in #astrophysics topics like planet formation, black holes and dark matter were selected.

European Research Council (ERC) @erc.europa.eu · Jun 17

Some moons 🌕 orbiting Jupiter and Saturn 🪐 host vast oceans 🌊 buried beneath kilometres of ice 🧊.

These hidden seas are promising environments for hosting extraterrestrial life!

Stéphanie Cazaux will investigate them 👉 buff.ly/JIILCVU

#ERCAdG #FrontierResearch Delft University of Technology

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Christian Möstl @chrisoutofspace.bsky.social · Jun 17

What a week for #heliophysics 🔥: first #solarstorm imaged with NASA @punch-mission.bsky.social, @esa.int Solar Orbiter provides the first view of the solar south pole, and @esa.int Proba-3 demonstrates formation flying and imaging the inner solar corona.

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Reposted by Christian Möstl

European Space Agency @esa.int · Jun 16

Breaking space news: We have made our own solar eclipse in space! 🌘

Today, we release the first images from our Proba-3 mission, which flies two spacecraft in precise formation to create artificial solar eclipses in orbit.

Learn more ➡️ www.esa.int/Enabling_Sup...

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Christian Möstl @chrisoutofspace.bsky.social · Jun 6

iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1... (unfortunately, paywalled)

Radware Bot Manager Captcha

To ensure we keep this website safe, please can you confirm you are a human by ticking the box below.

iopscience.iop.org

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Christian Möstl @chrisoutofspace.bsky.social · Jun 6

Highly fascinating that for the @esa.int gravitational wave observatory #LISA (launch ~2035), #spaceweather effects need to be studied. Kind of logical, due to the superhigh sensitivity of the observations. 2035 is the max of solar cycle 26, and we might know its strength in the early 2030s.
paper👇

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Christian Möstl @chrisoutofspace.bsky.social · Jun 6

I am not involved in this! Nils Janitzek gave an introduction yesterday in the Solar Orbiter working groups meeting.

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Christian Möstl @chrisoutofspace.bsky.social · Jun 5

This is a new tool to look at @science.esa.int #SolarOrbiter imaging data (or data from other missions) and the field of views of different instruments.
hpa.esa.int/hpa/#/home

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Reposted by Christian Möstl

Erin Reed @erininthemorning.com · Jun 1

This morning we drove to Bozeman Pride for @zoandbehold.bsky.social to speak, then went down to Yellowstone and saw incredible sights.

Then, on the drive back to Missoula at 1AM, the heavens erupted.

Naked eye visible aurora. The northern lights told us Happy Pride :)

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Christian Möstl @chrisoutofspace.bsky.social · May 22

"Another thing that got forgotten was the fact that against all probability a sperm whale had suddenly been called into existence several miles above the surface of an alien planet."

- Douglas Adams

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Christian Möstl @chrisoutofspace.bsky.social · May 21

Unprocessed Level 0 data from @punch-mission.bsky.social are now available at: punch.space.swri.edu/punch_scienc...
code tools: github.com/punch-missio...
documentation:
punchbowl.readthedocs.io/en/latest/

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Christian Möstl @chrisoutofspace.bsky.social · May 20

The @egu.eu General Assembly week in #Vienna 🇦🇹 May 3-8 2026 may overlap with the @eurovision.tv Song Contest 2026 week! Could be more likely though that the #ESC happens one week later, with the final on Saturday May 16.
If the #ESC goes to #Graz, visitors @aswogeosphere.bsky.social are welcome! 😀

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Christian Möstl @chrisoutofspace.bsky.social · May 15

Theoretically the special theory of relativity was invented in Switzerland 🇨🇭 😆 - when at an @issibern.ch teams meeting, pay a visit to the Einstein Haus in downtown Bern, where he lived in 1905 when he invented special relativity!

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Reposted by Christian Möstl

Austrian Space Weather Office @aswogeosphere.bsky.social · May 9

Tomorrow is the anniversary of the 10-11 May 2024 geomagnetic superstorm! Our paper in @agu.org Space Weather led by Eva Weiler demonstrates the solar source of 5 interacting #solarstorms and the possibility to better predict such events with sub-L1 monitors in the future.
🧵👇
doi.org/10.1029/2024...

Aurora over the Sonnblick Observatory in Austria on 11 May 2024

Solar storms observed by STEREO-A in May 2024

The solar source active region of the geomagnetic superstorm in May 2024

Simulations of the solar storms at the GeoSphere Austria

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Christian Möstl @chrisoutofspace.bsky.social · May 6

The University of Helsinki has put this introductory course on "Sustainable Space" online, covering topics such as #spacedebris, #spaceweather, #solarwind, magnetosphere, and ionosphere, atmosphere, as well as basics of satellites, orbits, and launchers.
courses.mooc.fi/org/uh-physi...

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