Well, isn’t this a sight for sore eyes! 😍 Our beloved Hubble appears in this amazing image from one of Vantor's WorldView Legion satellites. It was 36 years ago today that Hubble was launched in the bay of the Space Shuttle Discovery from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Credit: Vantor.

If you're following along today for the #ArtemisII flyby, here's some notes on what to expect. 🧪🔭🚀🌘

The #JWST Cycle 5 General Observer Program selections have been made. Find out what JWST will study in its fifth year of science, which begins July 1, 2026: ow.ly/M4UQ50YtvP4

Been checking the science topics of the proposals approved by the ESO OPC for ESPRESSO. 75% of the time went to one type of proposal. Statistics-focused follow up of transiting systems. There isn't a single proposal focused on discoveries, atmospheres, or anything low-mass planets 🔭#exoplanets

One of my new fav. astronomy plots - so much cool physics in one plot!

New job opportunity at @stsci.edu: Senior Astronomical Data Scientist for data analysis tools, working closely with my team and me. This role is very similar to mine. If you have questions, I'm happy to answer them. 🧪🔭

Applications are open for STScI's Space Astronomy Summer Program: an opportunity for college students to work with researchers and staff on projects that include astrophysics research; science software engineering; science instrument calibration; and science public outreach: https://bit.ly/4ptMkfs 🔭

ICYMI: Over the winter holidays, my student's paper on KELT-9b was accepted: arxiv.org/abs/2512.19662! With the Hubble Space Telescope's STIS instrument, we find enormous escape of metal ions from the hottest hot Jupiter, KELT-9b! 🪐🔭💫

Very good news for NASA Science in the compromise 2026 funding bill released by Congress today:

Exclusive: The Trump administration is moving to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado, according to a senior White House official, taking aim at one of the world's leading climate research labs.

The CHesapeake bay area EXOplanet Meeting #CHEXO12 has started @jhuapl.bsky.social with a nice and big crowd despite the snow! www.chexo.org #exoplanets

Hey #astrosci community! After working on this project for 3 years, there's a new Hubble Spectroscopic Legacy Archive that's just been newly made available at @stsci.edu: archive.stsci.edu/missions-and... follow me to learn more! (1/n)

We've collected 65 individual exoplanet atmosphere composition measurements to look for population-level trends 🔭 #exoplanets To do this, we had to create a toolkit to standardize between definitions of . We call it ExoComp. (Yes, that's a Star Trek reference 😀).

Abstracts are due by tomorrow for the 12th installment of the Chesapeake Bay Area Exoplanet Meeting! The meeting will be December 5th, 2025 at JHU Applied Physics Lab. Hope to see you there. www.chexo.org/chexo12

The last day to register for STScI's fall workshop is today! www.stsci.edu/contents/eve...

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 ⬇️

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 🔭

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

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

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...

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

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. 🔭🪐

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 🔭 🧪

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...

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)

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

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) 🧵 🧪 🔭

<The Biggest Planet We Know Is Doomed> 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

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...

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.

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...

🔭 New paper day on the arXiv! arxiv.org/abs/2503.15472 We observed ultra-hot Jupiter WASP-178b with HST and JWST to try to figure out where the planet comes from!

This is extraordinarily disturbing and borderline Orwellian. It must stop, or we wind up in a very, very scary place.

The atomic spectral lines in this app come from the NIST atomic spectroscopy group, which has provided the world with spectroscopic measurements for 120 years. Today we got word that the federal government is laying off the entire group. 🔭🧪

Tada webbtelescope.org/contents/new...

🔭 The JWST Cycle 4 science program is out today! 🔭 Some truly exhilarating #exoplanet programs will be carried out by JWST starting in July 2025. Let's take a look at some highlights. 🛰️🔭🪐 THREAD (1/9)

Quoth me from last year on the other place:

So long, Solar System. arstechnica.com/space/2025/0...

Tired of wondering which atomic lines are in your spectra? You need: *whose line is it anyway?* An interactive tool for identifying atomic spectral lines. 🧪🔭 #stars install: pip install whoseline source: github.com/bmorris3/who...

A dark and painful day at a space agency that brings so much light and joy to the world. arstechnica.com/space/2025/0...

Trump and the GOP are in a full-out war against science. I have a lot to say about that. badastronomy.beehiiv.com/p/the-attack... 🧪 🔭

paper with some good photons in it just got accepted here's a preview: 🪐 🪐 🪐 🌟 🪐

❗❗NASA is pausing program analysis groups activities. These are the groups that provide community input to the Astrophysics and Planetary Divisions to help shape the science that NASA supports. Source: I'm on the ExoPAG executive committee (repost with more emails blocked)

The Art of Planetary Science is returning to Kuiper in a month!

Devastating for scientists and their research, and everyone who benefits from that research. I’m not sure if everyone outside academia is aware that a delay or “pause” in grant funding often means the researchers themselves are lost from the field, along with their expertise.

Here's an e-mail that just went out to NASA agency wide. 🔭

Applications are open for the Space Astronomy Summer Program (SASP) at STScI. Every year, a dozen highly motivated college students work individually with STScI researchers and staff on science projects. Learn more and apply: www.stsci.edu/opportunitie... 🔭 🧪

STScI invites scientists to participate in Cycle 33 of the Hubble Space Telescope. We anticipate allocating up to 2600 orbits in this cycle. Read through the goals, requirements, and policies for General Observer and Archival Research programs: bit.ly/41HvQIn 🔭 🧪

I made a new gif for a new site tracking JWST observations of exoplanets (still a work in progress): jlothringer.github.io/Dashboard.html What an exciting ~3 years it has been! ✨🔭✨