Jayne Birkby
@jaynebirkby.bsky.social
Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Oxford. I study the atmospheres of other worlds beyond the Solar system.
Reposted by Jayne Birkby
A bit of good news: a new Exoplanet Travel Bureau poster just debuted at NASA ExoPAG 33!
January 4, 2026 at 12:26 AM
A bit of good news: a new Exoplanet Travel Bureau poster just debuted at NASA ExoPAG 33!
The physics-based realities of Santa’s Christmas Eve present-delivering extravaganza by Dr George Dransfield! 🦌🛷
🎅 Dr George Dransfield from the Department of Physics and Magdalen College investigates the magic of Christmas and the physics-defying feat of one man (and a team of reindeer) visiting millions of homes in a single night...
⬇️ Watch online
⬇️ Watch online
The Truth about Santa: Dark Energy, Sonic Booms, and Plasma Bubbles with Dr. George Dransfield
How does a man in red velvet defy the laws of physics to visit every home on Earth in a single night? What if the "magic" of Christmas is actually just cutti...
youtu.be
December 24, 2025 at 9:42 AM
The physics-based realities of Santa’s Christmas Eve present-delivering extravaganza by Dr George Dransfield! 🦌🛷
Reposted by Jayne Birkby
Parents & anyone else up early on Christmas morning: there’s a bright pass of the International Space Station over the UK, just after 6.15.
Well, I say it’s the ISS. Could be Santa heading home…
Exact timings for where you are at www.heavens-above.com/PassSummary....
Well, I say it’s the ISS. Could be Santa heading home…
Exact timings for where you are at www.heavens-above.com/PassSummary....
ISS - Visible Passes
Satellite predictions and other astronomical data customised for your location.
www.heavens-above.com
December 24, 2025 at 7:53 AM
Parents & anyone else up early on Christmas morning: there’s a bright pass of the International Space Station over the UK, just after 6.15.
Well, I say it’s the ISS. Could be Santa heading home…
Exact timings for where you are at www.heavens-above.com/PassSummary....
Well, I say it’s the ISS. Could be Santa heading home…
Exact timings for where you are at www.heavens-above.com/PassSummary....
Reposted by Jayne Birkby
The application for the ESO Summer Research Programme 2026 has just opened!
It‘s a six week programme in Garching close to Munich where pre-Ph.D students can work on a hands-on project.
Working at @eso.org is a fabulous experience, so please help me spread the word ✨
🔗 eso.org/sci/meetings...
It‘s a six week programme in Garching close to Munich where pre-Ph.D students can work on a hands-on project.
Working at @eso.org is a fabulous experience, so please help me spread the word ✨
🔗 eso.org/sci/meetings...
ESO - SummerResearch2026
ESO is the European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere. It operates the La Silla Paranal Observatory in Chile and has its headquarters in Garching, near Munich, Germany.
eso.org
December 17, 2025 at 1:12 PM
The application for the ESO Summer Research Programme 2026 has just opened!
It‘s a six week programme in Garching close to Munich where pre-Ph.D students can work on a hands-on project.
Working at @eso.org is a fabulous experience, so please help me spread the word ✨
🔗 eso.org/sci/meetings...
It‘s a six week programme in Garching close to Munich where pre-Ph.D students can work on a hands-on project.
Working at @eso.org is a fabulous experience, so please help me spread the word ✨
🔗 eso.org/sci/meetings...
Reposted by Jayne Birkby
Oh to be a little Tardigrade walking across a microscopic slide. 🫧🐻🧪
December 16, 2025 at 7:00 PM
Oh to be a little Tardigrade walking across a microscopic slide. 🫧🐻🧪
Wonderful news, congratulations Prof Markoff, very much looking forward to you joining the UK astronomy community!
I'm very excited and honoured to announce my new position 🧪🔭 in the UK, starting in January! See here for more info:
www.ast.cam.ac.uk/news/profess...
www.ast.cam.ac.uk/news/profess...
Professor Sera Markoff appointed Plumian Professor of Astronomy and Experimental Philosophy at University of Cambridge | Institute of Astronomy
Professor Sera Markoff has been appointed Plumian Professor of Astronomy and Experimental Philosophy at the University of Cambridge.
www.ast.cam.ac.uk
December 8, 2025 at 5:54 PM
Wonderful news, congratulations Prof Markoff, very much looking forward to you joining the UK astronomy community!
Reposted by Jayne Birkby
Interested in finding transiting planets at long periods, e.g. with the @platomissioncon.bsky.social?
We just published a Research Note led by Geert Jan Talens, showing that such transits can be much longer or shorter than usually assumed iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3...
We just published a Research Note led by Geert Jan Talens, showing that such transits can be much longer or shorter than usually assumed iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3...
December 3, 2025 at 12:21 PM
Interested in finding transiting planets at long periods, e.g. with the @platomissioncon.bsky.social?
We just published a Research Note led by Geert Jan Talens, showing that such transits can be much longer or shorter than usually assumed iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3...
We just published a Research Note led by Geert Jan Talens, showing that such transits can be much longer or shorter than usually assumed iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3...
Reposted by Jayne Birkby
🌞🛰️Sun-watcher SOHO turns 30! 🎂
"SOHO has overcome nail-biting challenges to become one of the longest-operating space missions of all time" – Prof. @cmundell.esa.int , ESA Director of Science
👉 www.esa.int/Science_Expl...
🔭🧪
"SOHO has overcome nail-biting challenges to become one of the longest-operating space missions of all time" – Prof. @cmundell.esa.int , ESA Director of Science
👉 www.esa.int/Science_Expl...
🔭🧪
December 2, 2025 at 10:03 AM
🌞🛰️Sun-watcher SOHO turns 30! 🎂
"SOHO has overcome nail-biting challenges to become one of the longest-operating space missions of all time" – Prof. @cmundell.esa.int , ESA Director of Science
👉 www.esa.int/Science_Expl...
🔭🧪
"SOHO has overcome nail-biting challenges to become one of the longest-operating space missions of all time" – Prof. @cmundell.esa.int , ESA Director of Science
👉 www.esa.int/Science_Expl...
🔭🧪
Reposted by Jayne Birkby
Eminent researchers have written an open letter to the Chilean Government appealing for the protection of the #DarkSkies above our Paranal Observatory, threatened by the industrial complex INNA — planned to be located just a few kilometres away.
https://www.eso.org/public/announcements/ann25009
🔭 🧪
https://www.eso.org/public/announcements/ann25009
🔭 🧪
December 2, 2025 at 12:03 PM
Eminent researchers have written an open letter to the Chilean Government appealing for the protection of the #DarkSkies above our Paranal Observatory, threatened by the industrial complex INNA — planned to be located just a few kilometres away.
https://www.eso.org/public/announcements/ann25009
🔭 🧪
https://www.eso.org/public/announcements/ann25009
🔭 🧪
Reposted by Jayne Birkby
Pretty exciting news, a long-thought possibly - that dry dust storms produce enough static energy to create little lighting bolts - has been kind of observed on Mars!!
🧪🔭 #planetsci
doi.org/10.1038/s415...
🧪🔭 #planetsci
doi.org/10.1038/s415...
Detection of triboelectric discharges during dust events on Mars - Nature
The SuperCam microphone aboard the Perseverance rover captured 55 triboelectric discharges during dust events on Mars over two Martian years, providing implications for examining the planet’s surface ...
doi.org
November 29, 2025 at 9:03 PM
Pretty exciting news, a long-thought possibly - that dry dust storms produce enough static energy to create little lighting bolts - has been kind of observed on Mars!!
🧪🔭 #planetsci
doi.org/10.1038/s415...
🧪🔭 #planetsci
doi.org/10.1038/s415...
Reposted by Jayne Birkby
We are hiring a new Assistant Professor in Astrophysics at Trinity College Dublin!! ☘
Job ad here: aas.org/jobregister/...
Deadline: Jan 02 2026
Please share widely! 🪐🔭
Job ad here: aas.org/jobregister/...
Deadline: Jan 02 2026
Please share widely! 🪐🔭
Assistant Professor in Astrophysics | American Astronomical Society
The School of Physics at Trinity College Dublin invites applications for a position at the level of Assistant Professor in the field of observational or theoretical astrophysics. We seek motivated ind...
aas.org
November 24, 2025 at 12:27 PM
We are hiring a new Assistant Professor in Astrophysics at Trinity College Dublin!! ☘
Job ad here: aas.org/jobregister/...
Deadline: Jan 02 2026
Please share widely! 🪐🔭
Job ad here: aas.org/jobregister/...
Deadline: Jan 02 2026
Please share widely! 🪐🔭
Reposted by Jayne Birkby
Webb has revealed for the first time that there are four shells of dust around this pair of Wolf-Rayet stars, which are known as Apep.
Read more 👉 https://esawebb.org/images/wolf-rayet-apep/
🔭
Read more 👉 https://esawebb.org/images/wolf-rayet-apep/
🔭
November 19, 2025 at 4:04 PM
Webb has revealed for the first time that there are four shells of dust around this pair of Wolf-Rayet stars, which are known as Apep.
Read more 👉 https://esawebb.org/images/wolf-rayet-apep/
🔭
Read more 👉 https://esawebb.org/images/wolf-rayet-apep/
🔭
Reposted by Jayne Birkby
Remember that lovely aurora last week?
Well...um...this is what Euclid saw... 😱
🧵
Well...um...this is what Euclid saw... 😱
🧵
November 19, 2025 at 11:51 AM
Remember that lovely aurora last week?
Well...um...this is what Euclid saw... 😱
🧵
Well...um...this is what Euclid saw... 😱
🧵
Reposted by Jayne Birkby
Lots of fun work out from APEx postdocs in the past week! first up was Sophia Vaughan @sophiavaughan.bsky.social on a deep search for reflected light from a hot Neptune w/ the VLT. This summed up light from ALL FOUR 8m telescopes over 2 nights- a preview of ELT-like data! arxiv.org/abs/2511.08691
November 18, 2025 at 4:52 PM
Lots of fun work out from APEx postdocs in the past week! first up was Sophia Vaughan @sophiavaughan.bsky.social on a deep search for reflected light from a hot Neptune w/ the VLT. This summed up light from ALL FOUR 8m telescopes over 2 nights- a preview of ELT-like data! arxiv.org/abs/2511.08691
Reposted by Jayne Birkby
⭐️🔭Applications open at Anton Pannekoek Institute in Amsterdam for the 7th ASPIRE program: aspire.science.uva.nl. This 2026 summer school provides astronomy research experience for talented MSc students from countries where opportunities to move into a PhD program are limited. [1/2]
ASPIRE
aspire.science.uva.nl
November 18, 2025 at 3:41 PM
⭐️🔭Applications open at Anton Pannekoek Institute in Amsterdam for the 7th ASPIRE program: aspire.science.uva.nl. This 2026 summer school provides astronomy research experience for talented MSc students from countries where opportunities to move into a PhD program are limited. [1/2]
But what about the ELT instruments themselves I hear you ask, how big are they? Well, dear reader, they are giraffe-sized and weigh four elephants #ExoELT 👀🦒🐘
November 17, 2025 at 1:38 PM
But what about the ELT instruments themselves I hear you ask, how big are they? Well, dear reader, they are giraffe-sized and weigh four elephants #ExoELT 👀🦒🐘
Reposted by Jayne Birkby
I may have to form a rock band, so I can use this as the cover of our first cd.
www.livescience.com/space/the-su...
www.livescience.com/space/the-su...
Astrophotographer snaps 'absolutely preposterous' photo of skydiver 'falling' past the sun's surface
Astrophotographer Andrew McCarthy has snapped a striking shot of a skydiving YouTuber perfectly aligned with the fiery surface of the sun. The unlikely image, dubbed "The Fall of Icarus," required met...
www.livescience.com
November 15, 2025 at 4:00 PM
I may have to form a rock band, so I can use this as the cover of our first cd.
www.livescience.com/space/the-su...
www.livescience.com/space/the-su...
Reposted by Jayne Birkby
3I/ATLAS is the first interstellar object bright enough for amateurs to image: so fabulous to see the delight ☄️😍
I got it... I actually got it... Interstellar comet 3i, imaged from the middle of light-polluted Kendal, at 6am this morning, using my Seestar S50... This comet was already billions of years old before our Sun was even *born*... Very chuffed with this!
November 16, 2025 at 8:51 AM
3I/ATLAS is the first interstellar object bright enough for amateurs to image: so fabulous to see the delight ☄️😍
Reposted by Jayne Birkby
On Saturday we held the inaugural Afternoon of Astrophysics in @oxfordphysics.bsky.social. Myself, Prof Suzanne Aigrain @airbornegrain.bsky.social and Prof Jayne Birkby @jaynebirkby.bsky.social discussed the cutting edge of exoplanet research with the public, moderated by @chrislintott.bsky.social
November 14, 2025 at 12:06 AM
On Saturday we held the inaugural Afternoon of Astrophysics in @oxfordphysics.bsky.social. Myself, Prof Suzanne Aigrain @airbornegrain.bsky.social and Prof Jayne Birkby @jaynebirkby.bsky.social discussed the cutting edge of exoplanet research with the public, moderated by @chrislintott.bsky.social
Reposted by Jayne Birkby
Londoners! Drink excellent wine and chat with me about space, next week: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/cosmology-...
Cosmology and Wine: An evening with Chris Lintott
Super excited to welcome you for an evening of wine, cheese & cosmological
conversation with one of the UK’s most celebrated cosmologists
www.eventbrite.co.uk
November 12, 2025 at 10:42 AM
Londoners! Drink excellent wine and chat with me about space, next week: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/cosmology-...
🤩 moving doors!
Open Sesame!
The ELT doors have moved for the first time. This was no small feat, as each door will weigh 650 tonnes once completed.
The ELT dome & its doors will guard the telescope from the harsh conditions of the Atacama Desert.
https://www.eso.org/public/videos/potw2544a/
🔭 🧪
📹 ESO/ACe
The ELT doors have moved for the first time. This was no small feat, as each door will weigh 650 tonnes once completed.
The ELT dome & its doors will guard the telescope from the harsh conditions of the Atacama Desert.
https://www.eso.org/public/videos/potw2544a/
🔭 🧪
📹 ESO/ACe
November 3, 2025 at 2:05 PM
🤩 moving doors!
Reposted by Jayne Birkby
Are you a grad student interested in writing for Astrobites, or do you know one? We're recruiting! Apply by November 26 :)
astrobites.org/2025/10/31/a...
astrobites.org/2025/10/31/a...
Apply to Write for Astrobites 2025!
Love astronomy, astrophysics, and science communication? Come join the Astrobites team! Applications due November 26th.
astrobites.org
October 31, 2025 at 6:40 PM
Are you a grad student interested in writing for Astrobites, or do you know one? We're recruiting! Apply by November 26 :)
astrobites.org/2025/10/31/a...
astrobites.org/2025/10/31/a...
Reposted by Jayne Birkby
We are awarding our President's Medal to 'In Our Time' as it has done so much to showcase humanities & social sciences. We'd decided this before the news of Melvyn Bragg stepping down, but glad we got our timing right & had a chance to celebrate with him!
www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/news/renowne...
www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/news/renowne...
Renowned BBC Radio 4 programme In Our Time receives prestigious British Academy President’s Medal for 2025
The British Academy has awarded its prestigious President’s Medal to the long-running and beloved BBC Radio 4 programme In Our Time. Recognising its outstanding contribution to humanities and social s...
www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk
October 17, 2025 at 8:23 AM
We are awarding our President's Medal to 'In Our Time' as it has done so much to showcase humanities & social sciences. We'd decided this before the news of Melvyn Bragg stepping down, but glad we got our timing right & had a chance to celebrate with him!
www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/news/renowne...
www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/news/renowne...