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Josh Lothringer @jlothringer.bsky.social · 5d

The last day to register for STScI's fall workshop is today!

www.stsci.edu/contents/eve...

Reposted by Josh Lothringer

Alexandra Witze @alexwitze.bsky.social · 9d

A leading Democrat in the Senate just released an important report documenting how NASA has been working to implement the president's proposed budget, not Congressionally approved funds, in slashing missions. Read more ⬇️

SpacePolicyOnline @spacepolicyonline.bsky.social · 9d

Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA), top Democrat on Senate Commerce Cmte, is out with a Democratic staff report: "The Destruction of NASA's Mission: Whistleblowers Reveal OMB's Unconstitutional Plot to Gut the Agency."
www.commerce.senate.gov/services/fil...

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Reposted by Josh Lothringer

MAST - Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes @mast-news.bsky.social · 21d

New HLSP: First results from the Rocky Worlds DDT program are now available at MAST! This release includes calibrated light curves, model fits, preliminary eclipse depth estimation, and auxiliary data for GJ 3929 b. archive.stsci.edu/hlsp/rocky-w... #HLSP #RockyWorlds #JWST #HST #Exoplanets #MAST 🔭

An example fit to a JWST/MIRI F1500W eclipse observation of GJ 3929b collected by the Rocky Worlds DDT Program.

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Josh Lothringer @jlothringer.bsky.social · 28d

Registration is open now for our fall workshop on Atmospheric Escape and Replenishment in Planetary Systems!

🔭 #exoplanets

Josh Lothringer @jlothringer.bsky.social · Jul 14

Abstracts close this Friday for the Fall 2025 STScI Science Workshop on Atmospheric Escape and Replenishment. We'd love to see you in Baltimore in November!

Check it out and let me know if you've any questions. 🔭 #exoplanets

www.stsci.edu/contents/eve...

Atmospheric Escape and Replenishment in Planetary Systems Workshop

www.stsci.edu

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Reposted by Josh Lothringer

Douglas Long @minimillian.bsky.social · Sep 4

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

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Reposted by Josh Lothringer

Marc Postman @astromarc.bsky.social · Aug 28

STScI is now accepting applications for the Giacconi Fellowship in astrophysics. Start date is Fall 2026 and funding is available for 3 years. More info here: www.stsci.edu/stsci-resear...

Giacconi Fellowship

Learn about the requirements for STScI’s Giacconi Fellowship, which recognizes postdoctoral researchers in astronomy, astrophysics, and planetary science.

www.stsci.edu

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Reposted by Josh Lothringer

UArizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory @uarizonalpl.bsky.social · Aug 25

The application to join the LPL Planetary Sciences PhD program is now open! Visit lpl.arizona.edu/admissions for more information.

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Josh Lothringer @jlothringer.bsky.social · Aug 16

Yeah! In the paper we estimated something a bit sub-solar for the heavy element abundance, but it gets tricky fast because lots of different things can absorb in the UV, while photochemistry, dissociation, and escape can all confound abundance measurements.

Josh Lothringer @jlothringer.bsky.social · Aug 15

And a big shout-out to lead-author Yayaati for seeing this project through from proposal to paper and showing that HST still has lots to say about exoplanet atmospheres in the JWST-era!

Check out the paper here: arxiv.org/abs/2508.10092. Accepted for publication in AJ!

Strong NUV Refractory Absorption and Dissociated Water in the Hubble Transmission Spectrum of the Ultra Hot Jupiter KELT-20 b

Ultra hot Jupiters (UHJs) present a promising pathway for drawing a link between a planet's composition and formation history. They retain both refractory and volatiles species in gas phase in their a...

arxiv.org

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Josh Lothringer @jlothringer.bsky.social · Aug 15

We find tentative evidence for a limb asymmetry in the huge NUV feature. 3D GCM models (with mag fields!) by @hayleybeltz.bsky.social to show that the data is (tentatively) more consistent with a model *with* a magnetic field than without!

More obs of, e.g., the hot spot offset, could help.

Two histograms showing the posterior constrain on limb asymmetries in the white light curve and NUV spectrum. The NUV spectrum (0.2-0.4) appears to show positive evidence for a limb asymmetry.

Two 2D slices of the 3D global-circulation model, showing the temperature in color for the 0 Gauss and 5.0 Gauss magnetic field models. The 0 Gauss model shows more asymmetry than the 5.0 G model.

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Josh Lothringer @jlothringer.bsky.social · Aug 15

KELT-20b is unique compared to other UHJs in that it appears to be well-aligned with the rotation of its host star, perhaps indicating something unique about its formation.

Our measurements suggest the accretion of volatile-rich solids or gas, though therm dissociation makes the measurement hard.

Two plots showing the composition constraints from KELT-20b (O/H versus Z/H and C/O versus Z/H), alongside possible formation scenarios. KELT-20b, WASP-178b, and WASP-121b are all plotted as well. KELT-20b is consistent with the accretion of volatile-enriched gas and/or solids.

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Josh Lothringer @jlothringer.bsky.social · Aug 15

Free retrievals prefer fitting the NUV feature with Fe II rather than SiO, though SiO was preferred in chemical equilibrium. Either way, it appears that enormous NUV absorption may not be rare among ultra-hot planets.

A plot of normalized spectra of various planets showing transit radius (normalized to the equilibrium scale height) versus wavelength. Planets above ~2000K appear to have large NUV absorption, while planets <2000K do not.

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Josh Lothringer @jlothringer.bsky.social · Aug 15

I'm very excited to be able to share Yayaati Chachan's Hubble/WFC3 transit spectrum of ultra-hot Jupiter KELT-20b.

Using *all* of WFC3's grisms, we get a 0.2-1.7 micron spectrum showing absorption by metals at in the UV and only weak absorption by water in the IR. 🔭🪐

A plot of a spectrum of transit depth versus wavelength showing large NUV absorption and weak H2O absorption at NIR wavelengths.

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Reposted by Josh Lothringer

Space Telescope Science Institute @stsci.edu · Aug 7

NEWS: Will you be my neighbor? #NASAWebb has found strong evidence of a gas giant planet orbiting Alpha Centauri A, a star in the stellar system closest to our own sun: webbtelescope.pub/4oyLiQa 🔭 🧪

$Three panels, each showing a different view of the binary star system Alpha Centauri. The panel on the left is a Digitized Sky Survey image showing a single bright blue point source at the center of a black image with stars scattered throughout. The center of this source is outlined with a vertical box, tilted slightly to the left, with two diagonal lines leading to the second panel. The 2nd panel is a Hubble image that shows 2 white stars with 4 diffraction spikes each against a black background. The top star is labeled Alpha Cen B and the bottom Alpha Cen A. Alpha Cen A is outlined with a white square with 2 diagonal lines leading to the 3rd panel at the furthest right, which shows a Webb image of the star. An orange star icon and central black circle outlined in white marks the location of Alpha Cen A. A large white circle outlines a blurry red-toned field that surrounds the location of the star. A bright orange blob at 9 o’clock in relation to the star is labeled “S1” and circled.$

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Josh Lothringer @jlothringer.bsky.social · Jul 14

Abstracts close this Friday for the Fall 2025 STScI Science Workshop on Atmospheric Escape and Replenishment. We'd love to see you in Baltimore in November!

Check it out and let me know if you've any questions. 🔭 #exoplanets

www.stsci.edu/contents/eve...

Atmospheric Escape and Replenishment in Planetary Systems Workshop

www.stsci.edu

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Reposted by Josh Lothringer

John Debes @johndebes.bsky.social · Jun 25

Like #Hubble spectra, but it's hard to access? My working group @stsci.edu launched the Hubble Advanced Spectral Products, joining COS and STIS spectra across different modes and instruments for every HST program for the first time 🧪🔭https://archive.stsci.edu/missions-and-data/hst/hasp (1/4)

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Reposted by Josh Lothringer

NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory @vrubinobs.bsky.social · Jun 23

Introducing...your sneak peek at the cosmos captured by NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory!

Can you guess these regions of sky?

This is just a small peek...join us at 11am US EDT for your full First Look at how Rubin will #CaptureTheCosmos! 🔭🧪

#RubinFirstLook
ls.st/rubin-first-look-livestream

A sprawling, textured field of galaxies scattered across the deep black of space. It is filled with the delicate smudges and glowing cores of galaxies of many shapes, sizes and colors, as well as the bright multi-colored points of stars. The image focuses on a collection of interacting galaxies connected by delicate streams of stars. At top center lies a large elliptical galaxy that is dense and smooth, like a polished stone glowing with golden light. Like delicate spider silk or stretched taffy, these stellar bridges link the large elliptical to the few larger galaxies beneath, evidence of past collisions.

All throughout the image, thousands of galaxies gather in clusters or are spread throughout, like glittering gems strewn on a table. Some are sharp-edged and spiral, like coiled ribbons; others round and diffuse, like polished pebbles. Still others are just smudges of various colors against the black of space. The background is peppered with pinpoint stars in reds, yellows, and blues, crisp against the velvet black.

A cosmic tapestry of glowing tan and pink gas clouds with dark dust lanes. In the upper right, the Trifid Nebula resembles a small flower in space. Its soft, pinkish gas petals are surrounded by blue gas, and streaked with dark, finger-like veins of dust that divide it into three parts. It radiates a gentle, misty glow, diffuse and soft like the warmth of breath on a cold hand. To the lower left, the much larger Lagoon Nebula stretches wide like a churning sea of magenta gas, with bright blue, knotted clumps sprinkled throughout where new stars are born. Both nebulae are embedded in a soft tan backdrop of gas that is brighter on the left than on the right, etched with dark tendrils of dust and sprinkled with the pinpricks of millions of stars.

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Reposted by Josh Lothringer

Space Telescope Science Institute @stsci.edu · Apr 23

Celebrate Hubble’s 35th year in orbit! In honor of the legendary space telescope that redefined the universe, NASA released an assortment of observations recently taken by Hubble, including data used in this video of Mars at the start of Martian spring. (1/5) 🧵 🧪 🔭

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Reposted by Josh Lothringer

William O. Balmer @balmer.bsky.social · Apr 22

I don't know if that's good enough clickbait but I am intensely proud of Gavin Wang (recent Goldwater winner!) whose paper "A Revised Density Estimate for the Largest Known Exoplanet, HAT-P-67 b" was accepted to AJ and is on arXiv: arxiv.org/abs/2504.13997

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Reposted by Josh Lothringer

Eric Lopez @astroericl.bsky.social · Apr 11

tbc this is only a proposal and is just the start of the FY26 budget process, but jfhc this is apocalyptically bad!

a 50% cut to science (2/3 to Earth Science!), cancelling all upcoming missions, even ones mostly built like Roman, and fully closing Goddard

arstechnica.com/space/2025/0...

Trump White House budget proposal eviscerates science funding at NASA

“This would decimate American leadership in space.”…

arstechnica.com

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Reposted by Josh Lothringer

Sean Carroll @seanmcarroll.bsky.social · Apr 3

Until a couple of months ago, this sign hung in the lobby of the Space Telescope Science Institute: "STScI promotes an inclusive, equitable workplace and cultivates a diverse, engaged workforce."

It has now been removed.

Lobby plaque with motto proclaiming the virtues of inclusiveness, equitability, diversity, and engagement.

Blank wall after plaque has been removed, presumably reflecting an underlying change in values.

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Reposted by Josh Lothringer

Casey Dreier @caseydreier.bsky.social · Mar 25

Using public data, I've found 40 NASA contracts totaling $42M canceled in the past few days, impacting climate science, DEI, education, and administration activities. $25.2M was already paid out, so resulting savings is $17 million. Running list of cancelations here: docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

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Josh Lothringer @jlothringer.bsky.social · Mar 20

Personally, these funds were vital in enabling me to do research with how busy I was teaching during the academic year at UVU. These data took years to fully analyze, and without the funding it would still be languishing.

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Josh Lothringer @jlothringer.bsky.social · Mar 20

🔭 Because it is more relevant now more than ever, this research was supported by funding from both NASA and NSF which allowed me, four undergraduate students, and two co-authors to spend time analyzing these data.

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Josh Lothringer @jlothringer.bsky.social · Mar 20

There's a lot more in the paper so I hope you'll check it out. This work was a long time coming, based on two COVID-era proposals from my postdoc. I couldn't have done it without a great team who contributed so much to the work!

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