Thomas Carpentier
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thocarp.bsky.social
Thomas Carpentier
@thocarp.bsky.social
7.4K followers 540 following 940 posts
PhD Researcher at the EUI in Firenze, studying the history of the European Space Agency.
Processing space telescopes data for fun

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thocarp.bsky.social
This is one of my favorite JWST observation ever! 🔭 💙

This is HH288, a star heavier than the Sun being born in front of our eyes! The jets are the result of that process. There is even another star being born near it, as the perpendicular jets are showing.

HD: flic.kr/p/2rUKqvx
Two jets, appearing red and violet, being ejected by a central protostar, hidden behind gas. The jets are extending to the left and right parts of the image. Two perpendicular thinner jets can be seen as well, coming from another protostar. Hundreds of stars can be seen in the background of the image, appearing like bright dots with the JWST trademark diffraction spikes.
February 2, 2026 at 5:08 PM
thocarp.bsky.social
Clearly not as impressive as the images of Northern Europe, but still impressive to catch auroras in Fiesole/Florence, Italy 🔭 🥰

My very first auroras in 28 years, I'm really moved right now 🥺
January 19, 2026 at 10:41 PM
thocarp.bsky.social
It has been a long time since I posted a picture here, so here's one to make it up! 🔭

This is the PGC 50779 galaxy, also known as the Circinus Galaxy, located some 13 million light-years away from us.

HD: flic.kr/p/2rS7tjZ
The centre part of a spiral galaxy where the middle is extremely bright, where the supermassive black hole is located. The middle is surrounded by rings of gas, appearing in darker coulours (mostly red and orange). Some blue gas part can be seen drifting away from the middle as the galaxy is ejecting waves of gas because of its activity.
January 16, 2026 at 3:53 PM
thocarp.bsky.social
And now the MIRI version! 🔭

The observation was made during the night, and just like with NIRCam, the fragments and the tail are beautiful!

HD: flic.kr/p/2rPp5EV
Another infrared observation of the C/2025 K1 comet, seen by the JWST/MIRI. On the left, the main part of the comet, seen as a bright dot, and its coma. On the right, two small dots which are fragments of the comet.
December 30, 2025 at 12:29 PM
thocarp.bsky.social
I am not really good with this kind of observation, but here's my processed version of the JWST observation of the C/2025 K1 comet, which was made today! 🔭

The multiple fragments are clearly visible there, in full beauty

HD: flic.kr/p/2rPhQUz
An infrared observation of a comet, C/2025 K1, seen by the JWST. On the left, the main part of the comet, seen as a bright dot, and its coma. On the right, two small dots which are fragments of the comet.
December 29, 2025 at 8:03 PM
thocarp.bsky.social
Here's to celebrate the end of my first term as a PhD Researcher! 🔭 🎉

This is the Pismis 24 star cluster as seen by the JWST, processed by me! It is located some 6,500 light years away, and it's part of the NGC-6357 nebula.

HD: flic.kr/p/2rMPcYg
A gas cloud seen in infrared light. Near the upper-centre part of the image, a pillar-like structure, just like a finger, can be seen, with a young star at the tip of it. The gas composing the cloud appears in red and orange colours. From top left to top right, a veil of gas can also be spotted, in beige and red colours. It is in the background of that cloud. Dozens of stars cna be spotted as well, with a big one on the centre-bottom part, carving around it the gas cloud thanks to its stellars winds.
December 20, 2025 at 5:37 PM
thocarp.bsky.social
Putting a spiral galaxy in your TL just for the sake of it! 🔭

This is the NGC-4569/M90 galaxy as seen by Hubble and processed by me. It is located some 60M light years away from us!

HD: flic.kr/p/2rJqjVV
A spiral galaxy seen in visible light. The centre is extremely bright, while the arms appear in red and orange. Inside the arms some blue areas can be spotted. These areas are clusters of stars! On the left part of the image, a part of one of the arms appears like going up.
December 1, 2025 at 3:59 PM
thocarp.bsky.social
Look what arrived today! 👀 🔭

This is the October 2025 issue of "Reflets de la Physique" with an image that I processed on its cover, and the book "Onbegrensd Universum" written by @govertschilling.nl with two images of mine inside! 😎
On the left handside: the issue October 2025 of the French journal "Reflets de la Physique" with a nebula picture on its cover. On the right handside: the "Onbegrensd Universum" book, written by Govert Schilling. Two images inside this book, processed by me 😎
November 26, 2025 at 3:38 PM
thocarp.bsky.social
A stellar nursery at its finest! 🔭

This is LHA120-N159 region in the LMC as seen by the JWST one year ago. It is home to MANY new born stars and many more to come!

I was in awe with how beautiful this region is while I was processing these data earlier this morning!

HD: flic.kr/p/2rGG32u
A large portion of a gas cloud seen in infrared light. Most of the cloud appears in red, orange and yellow colours. Some sort of cavities can be seen in the cloud, being brighter and in blue: this is where large stars being born have pushed away the gas around them. Hundreds of small dots can be spotted everywhere, being stars in the LMC galaxy around and in the observed region.
November 21, 2025 at 2:51 PM
thocarp.bsky.social
A few days before ESA's Ministerial, this is really huge! 🔭

In 2023, Canada's budget for ESA was €34M for instance.

www.canada.ca/en/space-age...
November 18, 2025 - Longueuil Quebec Today, at the SpaceBound 2025 Conference, the Honourable Mélanie Joly Minister of Industry and Minister responsible for Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions, made he historic announcement that Canada will increase its investment to Europear Space Agency (ESA) programs by $528.5 million. This investment represents a tenfold increase compared to previous contributions and is set ta advance research and development of Canadian-made space technologies for poth civilian and defence purposes. It wil help build an industrial base that is ready and capable of supporting Canada's tommercial, defence and security needs.
November 18, 2025 at 11:59 PM
thocarp.bsky.social
A really nice book by the way! I bought it at the shop in the Galileo Museum in Firenze, and I really don't regret that purchase 👏
November 15, 2025 at 3:28 PM
thocarp.bsky.social
Recently I started to learn how to obtain and process data from Herschel, a former ESA space telescope (2009-13). Here's an image from one observation of that telescope! 🔭

This is the Eagle Nebula seen in infrared, and if you zoom in: the Pillars of Creation are there!

HD: flic.kr/p/2rD4JDu
An infrared observation of a dense gas cloud region, the Eagle Nebula. The whole image is covered by the gas, mostly appearing orange and blue. On the right hand side of the image lie the Pillars of Creation: three finger-like gas formations, looking like a claw. Some bright dots can be spotted as well: stars being born in that region! A focus on the Pillars of Creation
November 2, 2025 at 5:49 PM
thocarp.bsky.social
A JWST wonder, once again! 🔭

This is the image of the NGC-2440 planetary nebula as seen by the JWST one year ago, that I processed last night! Look how wonderful that thing is 😍
And if you zoom on the centre, you can see a little dot which is suspect is the white dwarf!

HD: flic.kr/p/2rCzjR1
The NGC-2440 planetary nebula seen in infrared light. The outer part looks like a bubble that is expanding in every directions, appearing mostly in grey and violet colours. In the middle of that bubble lie the outer layers, appearing in orange, of the dead star being pushed away, mostly towards the right and left side of the bubble. In the very centre of that lies a little white dot, which I suspect is the remnant of the dead star: the white dwarf. Several stars and far away galaxies can be spotted in the background.
October 31, 2025 at 3:25 PM
thocarp.bsky.social
Achievement of the day: one of my images on the cover of a French journal, "Les Reflets de la Physique" 😎 🔭

A big thank you to @oliberne.bsky.social who made it possible!
October 22, 2025 at 12:21 PM
thocarp.bsky.social
The violent beauty of stars being born in full display thanks to the JWST! 🔭

This is the region around the HOPS-108 protostar in the Orion Nebula. There are so many beautiful jets produced by baby stars tantrum 🤩

HD: flic.kr/p/2rAgnuW
A gas region seen in infrared light. At the centre of the image lies a protostar creating jets. Other jets can be spotted in the image. The gas appears brown and blue where there is no star; orange, red and violet where stars are.
October 19, 2025 at 3:38 PM
thocarp.bsky.social
Welcome to Westerhout 3 (or W3) as seen by the JWST! 🔭

This is just a small part of the giant molecular cloud, which is itself located 6,000 light years away from us. It is actively producing new massive stars at a high rate!

HD: flic.kr/p/2rz8d85
Observation of a gas cloud in infrared light. The gas can be seen in the whole image in different colours: some blue parts, which are hotter, beige, orange and violet. A orange/red little cloud can be spotted on the left handside of the image, in front of the giant cloud. Dozens of stars can be seen as well. A nice detail: a faint bubble-like cloud can be seen on the right handside!
October 13, 2025 at 4:02 PM
thocarp.bsky.social
Last night, the JWST observed Uranus for calibration. Even like that the result is awesome, so here you go with my processed image of that observation! 🔭

HD: flic.kr/p/2ry78y3
Observation of Uranus by the JWST. The planet itself appears mostly blue, but the pole, a big patch, is white. Some storms can also be spotted near the pole. The rings of the planet can be spotted in infrared light, so they appear in that image (in orange color).
October 8, 2025 at 2:23 PM
thocarp.bsky.social
The best part of processing space telescopes' data is to discover new regions that I didn't even know existed in the first place! 🔭

This is G054.093+01.748, a star forming region in our galaxy, as seen by the JWST recently, located in the Outer Scutum–Centaurus spiral arm.

HD: flic.kr/p/2rxLQyT
A big gas cloud where new stars are being born seen in infrared light. The gas cloud itself appears in red, orange, and violet colours, occupying almost the entire image. Hundreds of dots are spread across the picture, as they are stars in our own galaxy.
October 7, 2025 at 4:47 PM
thocarp.bsky.social
La Repubblica published that 60k people were in the streets in Florence, but I believe we were far more than that.

So many Italian cities are rising up for this important cause, and we are all ready to keep going as long as we need to!
October 3, 2025 at 2:18 PM
thocarp.bsky.social
There were so many people in the streets in Florence this morning, it was amazing! 🇵🇸✊

Firenze lo sa da quale parte stare!
October 3, 2025 at 2:18 PM
thocarp.bsky.social
I am bringing your TL some sparkles! 🔭 ✨

This is the NGC-1850 star cluster in the LMC, as seen by Hubble! The number of stars in that part of the cluster is bonkers 🤯

Processing that data was really fun!

HD: flic.kr/p/2ruwYSH
An observation of a star cluster by the Hubble Space Telescope. Thousands of stars can be seen in the image, appearing in blue, red, orange or white colors. A blue and white veil of gas goes from the upper left part of the image to the middle down part of it.
October 1, 2025 at 12:59 PM
thocarp.bsky.social
Some things deserve a focus 🔭

First, the jets created by the formation of new stars, that are sooooo beautiful;

the spiral galaxies in the background that are impressive as well;

and this gravitational lensed background galaxy is a nice touch!
Jets created by the new stars being born A spiral galaxy seen face on, exposing its arms system Another spiral galaxy on the right part of this focus, with other background galaxies everywhere else A gravitational lensed galaxy
September 21, 2025 at 10:03 AM
thocarp.bsky.social
The JWST had a new look into the IC348 star forming region last year, and here's my processed image of that observation! 🔭

IC348 is located some 1,000 light years away from us and is made of hundreds of new stars born there.

HD: flic.kr/p/2ruCvCz
A focus on a star forming region seen in infrared light. Hundreds of white dots, big and small ones, can be seen everywhere in the image as they are stars! A lot of gas can be seen in the image, covering almost every part of it. This gas is what is helping the new stars to be formed there. In the upper left part, multiple jets can be spotted: they are stars being born at this very moment! A lot of background galaxies can also be spotted in the whole image
September 21, 2025 at 10:03 AM
thocarp.bsky.social
TWA7 is a small star located ~111 light years away, and with the MIRI data, they spotted what is most probably a sub-Jovian exoplanet! This is the red dot on the right, located 52 AU away from the star. 🔭

You can also see three rings around the star, that I focused on during my processing time.
The same image but with indication: the rings are highlighted by dashed-lines; a scale on the bottom shows that the exoplanet is located some 50+ AU from the star and the farthest ring has a diameter of 200 AU; the North is indicated on the top and the East is on the left.
September 3, 2025 at 2:16 PM
thocarp.bsky.social
This is a big one! 🔭

A few weeks ago, I worked with a team of astronomers, led by Anne-Marie Lagrange, on SPHERE and MIRI data. It was about the TWA7 exoplanet, something you probably read about in June.

They asked me to produce another image, so here's the result:
A star, which has been blocked by a black circle, surrounded by three rings (the smaller one is the nearest, the biggest one the farthest). A red dot can be spotted on the right side of the second ring. The rings are in orange colour.
September 3, 2025 at 2:16 PM