Excited to speak this coming Tuesday at the DAI in Heidelberg! I'm hosting a panel discussion on life in the universe - from the origin of life on Earth, to how we could recognize it on other planets, to prospects for interstellar space travel. Tickets on sale now: dai-heidelberg.de/en/events/li...

Exoplanet atmosphere characterization is built on a foundation of lab data and chemistry. We need more reaction rates, cross sections, & line lists, at a broader range of conditions than the Solar System. Got together with Earth/planetary scientists to comment on this: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

PhD opportunity here at MPIA to work with @paulmolliere.bsky.social !!

Incredible opportunity from the MPG to start your own research group!

We have job opportunities in the APEx department at MPIA - please spread the word! Postdocs: aas.org/jobregister/... Tenure-track staff: aas.org/jobregister/... Max Planck Research Group Leaders: aas.org/jobregister/... + happy to host ERC, Humboldt, and other third-party funds.

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

Update on the atmosphere vs no atmosphere debate for TRAPPIST-1 b and c -- here's a nice and (IMO) conclusive result from Gillon and Ducrot et al.: no thick atmosphere on either planet. arxiv.org/pdf/2509.02128

Director at Max Planck - a unique position! The Open Call for Expressions of Interest in Max Planck Directorships is open now and can be submitted by the 31st of October 2025. ➡️ mpg.de/directors - Please share the Open Call among potential candidates.

Our paper on PSO J318 is finally out 💪 . I want to thank all of my coauthors who made this study possible 🙇 !! It could be that we see the first cloud seeding nuclei forming at the top of the atmosphere…? arxiv.org/abs/2507.18691

gorgeous new JWST spectrum of the rogue planet PSO J318 from @paulmolliere.bsky.social ! Strong absorption at 10 microns likely due to small SiO particles, acting as seeds for cloud formation arxiv.org/pdf/2507.18691

Happy to share the first paper from the SPACE Program, led by my student Angelique Kahle! she observed a hot little sub-Neptune, HD 86226c (Rp = 2.3 Re; equilibrium temp = 1300 K). arxiv.org/pdf/2507.13439 The spectrum is *really* flat ! here's the amplitude compared to other gaseous planets.

@astroduncan.bsky.social did the impossible - he put magnetic fields in his models!! Check out this nice paper on how more realistic B fields impact hot Jupiter atmosphere circulation 🧲

Huge congratulations to @sophiavaughan.bsky.social for receiving the Michael Penston Prize from the RAS!!! Sophia is a pioneer in detecting reflected light from exoplanets. Congrats on this well-deserved recognition 😁🔭

Hi exoplaneteers! Please consider submitting an abstract for the Observation and Characterization of Extrasolar Planets session of this year's meeting of the German astronomical society (deadline is 31 July, you first need to register). ag2025.astronomische-gesellschaft.de/view_splinte...

New paper out! This is a review of the published JWST observations of rocky exoplanets so far: arxiv.org/abs/2507.00933 Quick summary of the key points:

My new paper, co-authored with Duncan Christie and Jun Yang, on 3D chemical kinetics simulations of K2-18b has been accepted by MNRAS! This is Part I of a series. In Part I, we examine the planet's atmospheric dynamics and its impact on the transport of passive tracers. arxiv.org/abs/2506.23891

I recommend giving this paper by @jiachenliu.bsky.social, @astroduncan.bsky.social, and Jun Yang a close read: arxiv.org/abs/2506.23891. Sub-Neptunes like K2-18b lie in an interesting regime where both the radiative feedback and mixing of chemical tracers is important, I’m looking forward to Part 2!

Super proud of Nora Bachmann for her first first-author paper, a deep dive into the classic hot Jupiter, HD 209458b! arxiv.org/abs/2506.16232

Minor new release for batman today - if you've had issues with numpy2 incompatibility, please update your installation. I don't get to code very often anymore and I'm always amazed by how much better the software development tools are than when batman was first written.

🚨🚨 Deranged letter from Education Secretary Linda McMahon to Harvard’s president, cutting off federal funding for any new grants. Worth reading in full. It is NUTS.

A new, thorough reanalysis of the data that led to claims of biosignatures on K2-18b from @luiswel.bsky.social & friends - a nicely written lesson on why this stuff is hard. They find no significant evidence for DMS, the gas the Cambridge team claimed to have found. arxiv.org/abs/2504.21788

𝗡𝗼, 𝗮 𝗯𝗶𝗼𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗱𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝗞𝟮-𝟭𝟴𝗯'𝘀 𝗮𝘁𝗺𝗼𝘀𝗽𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲. K2-18b is back in the news, now with a bold claim that biosignature molecules (DMS and/or DMDS) have been 'detected at 3σ'. Most exoplanet astronomers are extremely sceptical about these claims, let's see why (1/n). 🔭🧪🪐 #exoplanet

Shared some (highly skeptical) thoughts on today’s “habitable planet” #K218b news. Thank you @npr.org for the responsible reporting on this topic!

Do you want to do cutting-edge exoplanet science with JWST in a Bavarian castle? If yes (and why would you say no???) there are still a few spots open for the Ringberg Workshop "Signal in the Noise" (Nov 17 - 21). Register here sites.google.com/view/jwst-ri...

Happy to share that the Max Planck postdoc program officially launched! I was lucky to be part of the committee that designed the program - our goal was to provide better and more structured resources for onboarding, career development, & mentoring.

Q for folks outside of astronomy - where are postdoc positions most often advertised?

Ashamed of my country today. NASA is supposed to represent the very best of who we are and what we can achieve.

Proud to see the special collection of Transiting Exoplanet Community Early Release Science papers out (all open-access)! www.nature.com/collections/... This has been such a whirlwind of effort over the last few years, with a great team - it's hard to even imagine the pre-JWST era now.

The Roman Coronagraph team is soliciting input on what to do with 2200 hours on the highest contrast coronagraph ever flown! There is no open-time program, so fill out this survey on the technology demonstration and science that you think would be most interesting! docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Classic astronomy ... when you have more than 6 data points, time to do a demographic study! nice work, Fu et al. :) arxiv.org/pdf/2501.02081

Awesome to see over 100 small (~10m) asteroids discovered in the foreground of TRAPPIST-1! news.mit.edu/2024/mit-ast... The original goal of our observations (and others) was to study the atmospheres of the TRAPPIST planets, but there are also many asteroids zooming by (movie cred: Sebastian Zieba)

Applications are open for MPIA summer internships! this is a fully funded opportunity, open to bachelor's and master's students anywhere in the world: www.mpia.de/en/careers/i...

The Max Planck Institute for Astronomy Summer Internships are open for applications! This is an opportunity for bachelor and masters students 🤩 If you are interested in doing some exoplanets research, contact me! More info: www.mpia.de/en/careers/i... 🔭🪐⭐🧪👩‍🔬

Just, you know, hanging out with a gigantic refracting telescope. As one does. Thanks to Uni Vienna for a great visit!

My supervisor, Jens Hoeijmakers, is advertising a postdoc position: lu.varbi.com/en/what:job/... Working with Jens and being part of his group has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life—I enjoyed every second of it. Ask me anything! I'm an open book! 🪐🔭

Neat new way for scientists to evaluate articles about scientific results! I think this is especially useful for cases where 1 scientist supports a result, and 99 others are skeptical (here's looking at you Hycean worlds) authentisci.com

PhD Advertisement! 4-yr PhD position as part of the EPSRC Aerosols CDT to work with me and Prof Jonathan Reid at Bristol on Laboratory experiments to measure the Optical Properties of Silicate aerosols for applications to exoplanet atmospheres. See Application instructions and details via link

Most of the planet formation models assume a Solar-type central star. But exoplanets form around stars of various masses and compositions. Do you want to work on exoplanet formation models? Apply now to join our group as a postdoctoral researcher next year!

New building at MPIA - it's finally happening!

Applications are open for Max Planck Research Group Leaders! this is an amazing opportunity to build an independent research group that comes with 2.7 MEuro support over 6 years. If you're interested in being hosted @mpi-astro.bsky.social , please contact me! www.mpg.de/career/max-p...

1/ Astronomers, including former #MPIA scientist Maria Steinrück and Laura Kreidberg (@lkreidberg.bsky.social), Director of MPIA's #APEx department, measured differences in the conditions between the morning and evening atmospheres of a hot gas planet. 🔭 www.mpia.de/news/science...

Happy to share the final report from the Working Group on Strategic Exoplanet Initiatives with HST and JWST! We recommended a 500 hr DDT program for rocky exoplanet characterization, key science themes for HST and JWST, optimal timing and support, & more. Check it out here: arxiv.org/abs/2404.02932

Do you love planets? Do you love stars? Do you love high-res spectra? Do you love horses & great conference logos? If you answered yes to two or more of the above, Two HoRSEs is the conference for you! Join us 15 - 19 July in Berlin. Register by 16 Feb: sites.google.com/view/two-hor...

Interested in an internship at MPIA (@mpi-astro.bsky.social)? Apply for our summer program! this is a paid internship for bachelors and masters students anywhere in the world. Come join us for a summer of science in Heidelberg! www.mpia.de/en/careers/i...

Y'all check out this beautiful necklace from Boutique Academia! It shows Earth-like exoplanets detected by the Kepler telescope (with input from Ethan Kruse and yours truly!). Great conversation starter to get folks interested in science. www.boutiqueacademia.com/products/exo...

Attention, all those enthusiastic about high-resolution spectroscopy, planets, stars, and/or horses, the registration for: 🐴 Two HoRSEs 🐴 High-Resolution Exoplanet and Stellar Characterization Today and in the ELT Era Berlin, 15-19 July 2024 is open! sites.google.com/view/two-hor...

Hey #astro sky, if you're prepping an exoplanet atmosphere proposal for #JWST Cycle 3, you might be interesting in a preprint we just posted to arXiv exploring aerosol cover in exo-Neptune atmospheres! 🛰️🔭 arxiv.org/abs/2310.07714

We’re hiring postdocs at the APEx Department at MPIA! We have two ads, one for an independent fellow and the other focused on atmospheric retrievals.  Please spread the word! Application deadline Nov 30. jobregister.aas.org/ad/962606a4 jobregister.aas.org/ad/3358501a

Hi y'all, are any of you experts on Mayan astronomy? (asking for a journalist who's interested in reporting on this)

Great summary from @distantworlds.space about the new K2-18b spectrum. This result is a great step forward in our understanding of sub-Neptunes, but *not at all* indicative of signs of life.