Congratulations to Dr Martha Mak on her poster presentation at #Exo6!

Congratulations to Mitchell Yzer on his poster presentation at #Exo6!

Congratulations to Alex McGinty (@alexmcginty.bsky.social) on his poster presentation at #Exo6!

Happy LSST-has-started day to all who celebrate!! Now let's find me a target 🔭☄️

Explore Oxford Physics at our Open Days on July 1–2 (10am, Martin Wood COmplex)! September info day also available. Details and link in bio, scan QR code or https://www.physics.ox.ac.uk/events/physics-open-day

Talking Comet Interceptor in St Andrews today at @bpsc2026.bsky.social ☄️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

The hunt for water on the Moon is 🔛 Our @esa.int's Prospect package will drill beneath the lunar South Pole in search of water ice and oxygen to fuel future exploration. Launch is set for 2027 🚀 👀 Curious about the mission? Meet Prospect at #ILA2026 or at esa.int/prospect #Space4Future

Astonishingly generous. Much appreciated.

I've accidentally purchased a eurorack module. The decline to stereotyped middle age is truly in progress.

Professor Myles Allen (Head of AOPP) hosting the last Afternoon of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Planetary Physics, with guest speakers, Prof Tim Palmer FRS 'The D-Day Weather Forecasts'; and Dr Carly Howett, 'Life on Jupiter’s Moon Europa?'.

Dr Bethan Gregory's version of the Planetary Climate Model has a realistic chlorine cycle that repeats year to year. Here she is deftly handling a number or interested questions. #EGU #EGU2026 Good start to a Wednesday morning!! #planetsci

Fiona Henderson pitching the Earth observing version of BEBOP to the Oxford Moonshot competition!!! Well done!!! 🧪🔭

This week the CI Science Working Team convened at a sunny ESTEC ☀️ thanks to everyone who attended for 3 days of discussions and presentations on all things comets! ☄️

PhD opportunity: join Dr Katherine Shirley’s infrared spectroscopy team to advance techniques and experiments that can maximise the science returned from upcoming landers and orbital spacecraft.  More: https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/graduate/courses/dphil-atmospheric-oceanic-and-planetary-physics

Are you watching the Artemis II launch tonight? Learn more about the search for water on the moon from DPhil candidate Fiona Henderson.

Congratulations to DPhil student Alex McGinty on his fantastic UKExom presentation concerning the GCM modelling of the ultrashort-period planet TOI-561b. He's been making comparisons to the JWST phase curve, results are still in prep so cannot post, but look interesting!

Congratulations to Dr Baptiste Klein (@astroklein.bsky.social) on his talk at #UKExoM meeting in Bristol. He explains how he accounts for stellar variability when studying exoplanets at high resolution!

Congratulations to DPhil student John Allen on his poster talk and presentation! He’s been doing lots of interesting GCM modelling of WASP-76b and comparing his results to the recently observed JWST phase curve!

The data Giotto collected are still available for anybody to download and use through the Planetary Science Archive 👉 https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/psa/giotto And if you're curious about what future endeavours we have in plan as far as comets are concerned, check out esa.int/cometinterceptor 3/3

Fiona Henderson ( @oxfordphysics.bsky.social ) and I have written a new article for @theconversation.com on what a #Moon base could look like. Fi's a lunar scientist and did a great job, check it out! 🧪🔭 #planetsci theconversation.com/nasa-plans-t...

Planets Day 2026 is a one-day meeting for researchers interested in how planets work; how to observe them; and how they could develop complex life. If you work/study in any Oxford school or department check the link in bio for more. 📍 16 March, 9am to 6pm, Jesus College, Oxford.

NASA plans to establish the first elements of a permanent Moon base by 2030. From nuclear reactors to lava tubes and lunar south pole ice - here’s how it could actually happen ⬇️

OK, didn't see this one coming: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Heritage for both came from Lunar Trailblazer and Comet Interceptor. #planetsci Direct link to the pdf here: ceoi.ac.uk/wp-content/u...

CEOI has made a case study for the @oxfordphysics.bsky.social thermal imaging system development that lead to our Broad Horizons Earth-observing prototype and the BEBOP/LightShip Mars mission. Check our Broad Horizons here: ceoi.ac.uk/technologies... 🔬🔭 #planetsci

5 days left to apply for a postdoc job with me, working on Martian glaciation! Advert: tinyurl.com/6rzzk5d4 Relevant for glaciologists, geomorphologists, ice flow modellers, GIS or deep learning folks. Closes 19th Jan. Queries via email. 📸HiRISE / @theseaning.bsky.social

ESA’s Comet Interceptor mission moves up launch A delay in one European Space Agency mission is creating an opportunity for an earlier, and more capable, launch for another ESA spacecraft.

Congratulations to Prof Suzanne Aigrain (@airbornegrain.bsky.social), who has been awarded the George Darwin Lectureship!

Helen Grant (Kent) is now talking at @royalastrosoc.bsky.social on sample return from flying through the watery plumes of Enceladus and the volcanic plumes of Io. What missions those would be!

At the @royalastrosoc.bsky.social getting very excited about future sample return missions, including JAXA's MMX - launch next year, bringing back bits of Mars' moon Phobos. The hope is we'll get Martian samples sitting on the surface of the moon too. www.mmx.jaxa.jp/en/

Prof Patrick Irwin won the prestigious David Bates Medal from the EGU 2026, recognizing his exceptional contributions to planetary and solar system sciences. Irwin shared, "I am humbled to be joining such a list of laureates...I am absolutely thrilled and very thankful to my colleagues and the EGU."

And here is the 'Small Body Sample Return Missions' SDM...

In 1647, self-taught astronomer and brewer Johannes Hevelius created the first detailed map of the Moon 🌕 Nearly four centuries later, @bodleian.ox.ac.uk have brought his Selenographia into the digital age – letting anyone explore the world’s first lunar atlas. Learn more ⬇️

Great Astrophysics colloquium today given by Prof Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social about interstellar objects and what we know so far about 3I/ATLAS

The Department's annual Intl Observe the Moon Night drew 66 visitors for an evening of lunar discovery, where families explored the Moon's science & history. Catch up on our lunar research: https://www.physics.ox.ac.uk/news/celebrating-international-observe-moon-night-2025 or https://bit.ly/4qS5EoD

Atmospheric, Oceanic and Planetary Physics (AOPP) Open Day 2025 Online, 2 Dec, 1:30-4pm Meet academics plus drop-in sessions with ample opportunity for you to ask questions. Fill in the form via https://www.physics.ox.ac.uk/study/postgraduates/dphil-atmospheric-oceanic-and-planetary-physics

Looking to start a PhD in Physics & Astronomy in 2026? The team @physicsuol.bsky.social have announced their STFC-funded projects on offer next year, spanning astrophysics, planetary science, and space instrumentation. Deadline: Jan 18th, contact us to learn more! le.ac.uk/study/resear...

Oxford’s BEBOP thermal camera has been selected for ESA's 2032 Mars mission! It'll provide critical weather data to boost the safety of future robotic and human explorers. Read the full article: Link in bio or visit https://www.physics.ox.ac.uk/news/oxford-instrument-lined-esa-mars-mission

We are hiring again, help us test a bunch space-bound instruments from comets to exoplanets: my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru... If you are at #EPSCDPS2025 come find me or any of the Oxford people from more info..

One possible target for Comet Interceptor (and so our @ukspaceagency.bsky.social supported MIRMIS instrument) is an interstellar object. However, as Colin and Pau show the odds are still against this but it will be interesting to see how this changes with detections from deeper survey.

Congratulations to Dr Tobias Meier (@tgmeier.bsky.social) on his #ExoclimesVII poster presentation about the lava world K2-141b!

Congratulations to Dr Jake Taylor (@astrojake.bsky.social) on his poster at #ExoclimesVII concerning the JWST NIRISS/SOSS transmission spectrum of the super-Earth GJ 357b. The paper is published and can be read here: academic.oup.com/mnras/articl...

We've just had plenary talks from Prof Leigh Fletcher, of the University of Leicester, on JWST's insights on the giant planets in our solar system and Prof Steven Longmore, of Liverpool John Moores University, exploring the environmental dependence of star and planet formation over cosmic time. ⤵️

Oxford Physics Space Instrumentation is hiring again! We are looking for a Product Assurance Manager/Engineer to support our various flight hardware projects. If you want to help us monitor the Earth's climate, explore the Moon or fly past a comet details are here: www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/42...

Our Ariel mission will take us from 'discovering' towards 'studying and understanding' exoplanets. The mission will survey about 1000 exoplanets, ranging from rocky planets to gas giants, to better understand the link between exoplanets and their parent stars 👉 www.esa.int/Science_Expl... 🔭 🧪

Join us Wed and Thu for #OxfordOpenDays - the perfect time to come if you are considering studying at #Oxford. All info for the Physics Department is at www.physics.ox.ac.uk/study/underg... For general @ox.ac.uk #OpenDays info visit www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/u...

We did a thing! ESA LightShip AO responses were due today! Let's go BEBOP! #planetsci #Mars 🔭🧪

I'm looking for a postdoc for my group at the University of Oxford (UK) to study #Europa surface. The position is open to international candidates and the university can sponsor visa etc. Please apply/forward as you see fit. Full details here: my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru... #planetary #job

New friend joined us for lunch at the ISAS canteen! This is the “Comet Interceptor” mission in Lego! The mission has a mothership developed by ESA and two small probes, one by ESA and one by JAXA. The plan is to take images from a bunch of angles of a long period comet (from the Oort Cloud, baby!).