*cough* A little bit of extra info to add here: There's only one transit, so the true period is unknown. It could be anywhere between 300 and 550 days. This is an exciting candidate! But (a) we don't know if it's real, and (b) we don't know what its temperature is if it IS real.

New planet just dropped and it 1) is almost exactly Earth-sized 2) has a year that's almost exactly 1 Earth year. 3) orbits a star that is not a 💢temperamental little shit M-dwarf 💢but is instead a 🧡 good orange boi 🧡 Me for @science.org based on results presented at #RockyWorlds4: 🔭🧪

Beaming a lightsail to the stars demands a sail that can stand up to huge accelerations while remaining stable and on course. Holography is one solution. A flat sail carrying the holographic surface of a curved one is now being explored as a solution. www.centauri-dreams.org/2026/01/28/h...

David Kipping's TARS: -Dive into the Sun -Install a large graphene lightsail-tether -Spend nearly a year spinning up ...just to throw a phone-sized payload at 10-40 km/s This concept is just a curiosity and has no potential for interstellar missions. arxiv.org/pdf/2507.17615

That’s a wrap on #SciTech2026. Plenty of interest and sharp conversations around our work on beamed‑energy propulsion and solar‑wind surfing. Feels good to leave a mark on the Space Coast.

A great intro to the science communication challenge facing interstellar travel, from 'Dust Guy' @a-j-higgins.bsky.social at @irg-space.bsky.social: youtu.be/10Zx67TmHa4 The FAQ has been compiled here: interstellarflight.space/faq/

Our group is at #SciTech2026 this week presenting our latest research on laser-thermal propulsion and solar-wind-sailing propulsion.

Self-steering mass beams that can be focused on spots of ~100m across 1000 AU: sacramentol5society.nss.org/wp-content/u... These would be composed of 1 micron spinning 'smart particles' that reflect or absorb external laser pulses to counter dispersion, enabling easy interstellar propulsion.

Inside the Conversations Shaping Humanity’s Interstellar Future https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLaEYPgNFlkhZ5EHqBHZeA8fF33jhRjT83 #IRG2025 #InterstellarSymposium #InterstellarResearch #SpaceExploration #DeepSpace #FutureOfSpace #InterstellarTravel

Let’s proceed to engage this mission. Among all proposed deep‑space initiatives, none are more demanding in terms of propulsion, precision, and endurance than a mission to the Solar Gravitational Lens—but the scientific return would be incredible. www.science.org/content/arti...

Here's a short (2 minute) NASA video on a laser-driven interstellar swarm, published a few months ago... ( Thanks to @bargill33.bsky.social for the link !) youtu.be/XXW_keR5OIM?...

Big new (at least for me): I’m on sabbatical leave from McGill this year and working full-time with General Fusion in Vancouver. With 2026 shaping up to be a pivot year for commercial fusion, I’m excited to be on-site and contributing directly to the effort.

Someone was asking what the interstellar medium around the Sun looks like in 3D. Here's a quick render. I might add an improved version of this to a room in my Star Central VR world. Brown: dust, red: ionized gas, blue: hot stars.

Unfiltered glimpses of our solar system revealed through raw, breathtaking images. Our group works with one goal in mind: to someday capture such images from other solar systems.

Now on @sciam.bsky.social: NASA’s next-gen Habitable Worlds Observatory may be our best chance to find alien life. But can a nation busy ripping itself apart unite to launch a mission to solve life’s cosmic mysteries? By @nadiadrake.bsky.social (and me). www.scientificamerican.com/article/are-...

“How a Billionaire’s Plan to Reach Another Star Fell Apart” Our group is still at it, stubbornly in the trenches, steadily chipping away at the key problems that must be solved to reach the nearest stars. The work continues. Onward! www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-...

Now on @sciam.bsky.social: For the 1st time, we’ve seen hints of an atmosphere around a potentially habitable exoplanet. If confirmed, this would be a monumental discovery, opening a new era in the search for life beyond Earth. By @astrojonny.bsky.social. www.scientificamerican.com/article/jwst...

Jake Kurlander - talking about the predicted LSST asteroid and TNO discoveries - 80% Solar System small bodies will be discovered in the first two years #EPSCDPS2025

Michelle's final paper investigates interstellar objects (such as the 3 detected interstellar comets) for signs of alien technosignatures! So far, all 3 objects are comets, but if there were a probe out there, how could we find out? This paper outlines the methods. 🔭 ☄️ arxiv.org/abs/2508.16825

We’re reading “Lightsails for Interstellar Travel: Photonics for Propulsion, Thermal Management and Stability” pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

Issue 50 of Principium is now published - Lead Feature : BOOK REVIEW, The Ross 248 Project. - Project Hyperion - Breakthrough Disc - "Where do you look for ET" - IAC25 - The Journals - Interstellar News .. and more ! Read it here : - i4is.org/principium-50/ Editor: @johninghamdavies.bsky.social

Reduce the radiation load by more than half, increase efficiency by 20% and make ignition easier by using spin-polarization in a fusion rocket, which aligns the DT fuel atoms and make their neutron release directional. By @gbruhaug.bsky.social: arxiv.org/pdf/2108.01211

Technosignature Searches Of Interstellar Objects astrobiology.com/2025/08/tech... #astrobiology #3IATLAS #interstellar #SETI

Congratulations to Space Concordia Rocketry Division on the successful launch of Starsailor, featuring the largest student-built bipropellant rocket engine ever flown (35 kN thrust). The launch occurred approximately 1 hr 16 mins into the livestream linked below. www.youtube.com/live/610YciE...

We're reading (and hoping for a successful flyby target🤞🤞): "An Extremely Deep Rubin Survey to Explore the Extended Kuiper Belt and Identify Objects Observable by New Horizons" by @megschwamb.bsky.social doi.org/10.3847/1538...

Why were we able to see the spiral rocket plume last night, but not during other rocket launches? The time of day, the Sun’s light, and the direction the rocket heads into space causes this effect…

A Saturn mass gas giant may be orbiting Alpha Centauri A, based on solid JWST infrared results and exhaustive simulations of its orbit. It's still a candidate rather than a confirmed world, but follow-up work will tell us soon. www.centauri-dreams.org/2025/08/08/a...

Direct images from the James Webb Space Telescope show what could be a Saturn-mass planet around Alpha Centauri. skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-ne... . . #astronomy #exoplanets #planetaryscience #cosmology #alphacentauri #jwst #newplanet

I have a complaint about Avi Loeb's latest work and I want to speak to management. medium.com/@steve.desch...

After years of searching, astronomers have found strong evidence of a planet around Alpha Centauri, a near-twin of our Sun in the nearest neighboring star system. This would also be the closest exoplanet ever observed directly. 🧪🔭 webbtelescope.org/contents/new...

Now on @sciam.bsky.social: Using JWST, astronomers have spotted what seems to be a gas giant planet in the habitable zone of Alpha Centauri A, the nearest sunlike star to our solar system. This is *huge* if true. By @meghanbartels.bsky.social. www.scientificamerican.com/article/jwst...

It gets worse and worse. If you're interested in the slow-motion train wreck that is Avi's sci-comm on this, here are some of the latest (it's very hard to keep up!) In which spacecraft can have comae, 3I/ATLAS has a 60% chance of being alien, and new papers validate and adopt his calculations.

🌌 Announcing the Winners of the Project Hyperion Design Competition 🌌 ... hosted by i4iS. Can we imagine a society that thrives on the journey to the stars? 🏆 Winners 🥇 Chrysalis 🥈 WFP Extreme 🥉 Systema Stellare Proximum Plus 10 mentions... Full details are here : www.projecthyperion.org

New paper! Allow me to introduce TARS = Torqued Accelerator using Radiation from the Sun. TARS (yes inspired by Interstellar!) is a rotating light sail that's capable of launching chip sats into interstellar space using only radiation from the Sun, so let's dive into how it works.

Lots of news just came out about strange, rhythmic goings-on in the outer regions of our solar system. An object called 2020 VN40 moves in sync with Neptune (1 orbit for every 10 of Neptune), suggesting a large population of bodies in similar resonances. 🧪🔭 www.cfa.harvard.edu/news/astrono...

It's paper day! The first science paper with data from @vrubinobs.bsky.social's survey camera, the mighty LSSTCam, is a VERY quick turnaround of Rubin's observations thus far of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS. ☄️ Chandler et al., submitted 🔭 A 🧵

On Avi and 3I/ATLAS: sites.psu.edu/astrowright/... ☄️ 🔭

The preview of 'Laser Propulsion in Space' has an excellent introduction: books.google.co.uk/books?id=9Cf... It could offers variable 1000-10,000 Isp and good thrust/watt performance, but its strongest advantage is how the heavy generator and spacecraft can be separated by long distances.

The dragon is dead. breakingdefense.com/2025/06/darp... The DRACO nuclear thermal rocket program has been terminated by DARPA. Reasons cited: -SpaceX Starship will deliver so much propellant into orbit that fuel efficiency won't matter -Future nuclear-electric propulsion could be more promising

Fusion starships from BIS: indico.esa.int/event/309/at... There's the classic Daedalus, the Icarus pinning its hopes on Ultra-Dense Deuterium, the mind-boggling Firefly and now the 'Ghost' using a plasma-jet magneti-inertial fusion drive to reach 0.05C then stop at its destination.

Our group focuses on near-term technologies for the first robotic forays beyond our solar system. But it’s worth addressing the oft-repeated claim: “The speed of light is a hard limit: You can’t travel to the stars in a lifetime, so it won’t happen. [1/9]

3I/ATLAS is the third interstellar object we've identified. Almost surely a comet, it's moving toward perihelion in October, and is already active as its surface warms. We'll learn a great deal more about it as this process intensifies. Thoughts on ISO's: www.centauri-dreams.org/2025/07/10/3...

Go to my latest starship blog for the Initiative for Interstellar Studies (i4is), concerning missions to the third interstellar object to be discovered, 3I/ATLAS: @i4interstellar.bsky.social i4is.org/missions-to-...

Subthread 🧵:what does VLT/MUSE show us about interstellar object 3I/ATLAS? Plenty! First: 3I has a coma, so it is also a comet. Here's the 'white light' (summed whole-MUSE-wavelength range) deep stack image of our observations on July 3 🔭

quick scicomm: we get interstellar objects in the Milky Way because we are In the MW: it's primarily a direction of travel effect (there's more, but for that, see technical discussion linked) 🔭

The Nautilus array of space telescopes, using fresnel diffractive lenses that are 8.5m wide yet 10x lighter than same-sized solid glass lenses, working together to act like a 50m wide telescope to find 1000+ earth-like exoplanets within 1000 ly: arxiv.org/pdf/1906.05079

Our students achieved another successful high-altitude balloon flight last night in collaboration with @uvic.ca and with support from the CSA’s FAST program. Onward and upward!

Our high-altitude balloon launches have been on hold for months as we worked around a fault in our once-trusty Globalstar-based tracker (which recently proved far from trusty). Having resolved the issue, we’re ready to fly high again tonight from a remote site north of Montreal.

Reminder: At any time, dozens of comets cross into our inner solar system. The discovery of interstellar visitor 3I/ATLAS deservedly excites us, but I'm seeing the tropes of “nature’s wake-up call” or “the dinosaurs didn’t have a space program.” Comets are *always* zipping in. /1

Now on @sciam.bsky.social : Detected on July 1, the comet 3I/Atlas is only the third interstellar object ever witnessed passing through the solar system. It'll have its closest approach to the sun on October 30. Nice piece by @norabradford.bsky.social www.scientificamerican.com/article/new-...