Josh Lothringer
@jlothringer.bsky.social
Assistant Astronomer at @spacetelescope.bsky.social researching exoplanet and brown dwarf atmospheres. Opinions expressed are my own.
https://jlothringer.github.io/
https://jlothringer.github.io/
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 😀).
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 😀).
October 31, 2025 at 1:35 PM
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 😀).
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 meeting will be December 5th, 2025 at JHU Applied Physics Lab. Hope to see you there.
www.chexo.org/chexo12
chexo.org - CHEXO #12
The Chesapeake Bay Area Exoplanet Meeting brings together all lovers of exoplanets and related science from the DC area and beyond. This series of one-day meetings enable the sharing of ideas in an in...
www.chexo.org
October 16, 2025 at 1:06 PM
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 meeting will be December 5th, 2025 at JHU Applied Physics Lab. Hope to see you there.
www.chexo.org/chexo12
October 3, 2025 at 1:09 PM
Reposted by Josh Lothringer
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 ⬇️
Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA), top Democrat on Senate Commerce Cmte, is out with a Democratic staff report: "The Destruction of NASA's Mission: Whistleblowers Reveal OMB's Unconstitutional Plot to Gut the Agency."
www.commerce.senate.gov/services/fil...
www.commerce.senate.gov/services/fil...
September 29, 2025 at 2:13 PM
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 ⬇️
Reposted by Josh Lothringer
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 🔭
September 17, 2025 at 6:29 PM
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
🔭 #exoplanets
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...
Check it out and let me know if you've any questions. 🔭 #exoplanets
www.stsci.edu/contents/eve...
Atmospheric Escape and Replenishment in Planetary Systems Workshop
www.stsci.edu
September 10, 2025 at 4:24 PM
Registration is open now for our fall workshop on Atmospheric Escape and Replenishment in Planetary Systems!
🔭 #exoplanets
🔭 #exoplanets
Reposted by Josh Lothringer
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
🔭 #exoplanets
Rocky Worlds DDT Updates: Final Target List and Virtual Information Session
www.stsci.edu
September 4, 2025 at 2:26 PM
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
🔭 #exoplanets
Reposted by Josh Lothringer
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...
Giacconi Fellowship
Learn about the requirements for STScI’s Giacconi Fellowship, which recognizes postdoctoral researchers in astronomy, astrophysics, and planetary science.
www.stsci.edu
August 28, 2025 at 3:09 AM
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...
Reposted by Josh Lothringer
The application to join the LPL Planetary Sciences PhD program is now open! Visit lpl.arizona.edu/admissions for more information.
August 25, 2025 at 9:33 PM
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. 🔭🪐
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. 🔭🪐
August 15, 2025 at 1:24 PM
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. 🔭🪐
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. 🔭🪐
Reposted by Josh Lothringer
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 🔭 🧪
August 7, 2025 at 3:03 PM
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...
Check it out and let me know if you've any questions. 🔭 #exoplanets
www.stsci.edu/contents/eve...
Atmospheric Escape and Replenishment in Planetary Systems Workshop
www.stsci.edu
July 14, 2025 at 4:38 PM
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...
Check it out and let me know if you've any questions. 🔭 #exoplanets
www.stsci.edu/contents/eve...
Reposted by Josh Lothringer
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)
June 25, 2025 at 4:33 PM
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)
Reposted by Josh Lothringer
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
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
June 23, 2025 at 4:06 AM
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
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
Reposted by Josh Lothringer
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) 🧵 🧪 🔭
April 23, 2025 at 5:33 PM
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) 🧵 🧪 🔭
Reposted by Josh Lothringer
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
April 22, 2025 at 3:04 PM
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
Reposted by Josh Lothringer
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...
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...
Trump White House budget proposal eviscerates science funding at NASA
“This would decimate American leadership in space.”…
arstechnica.com
April 11, 2025 at 2:37 PM
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...
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...
Reposted by Josh Lothringer
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.
It has now been removed.
April 3, 2025 at 3:29 PM
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.
It has now been removed.
Reposted by Josh Lothringer
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...
March 25, 2025 at 4:40 PM
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!
We observed ultra-hot Jupiter WASP-178b with HST and JWST to try to figure out where the planet comes from!
Refractory and Volatile Species in the UV-to-IR Transmission Spectrum of Ultra-hot Jupiter WASP-178b with HST and JWST
The atmospheres of ultra-hot Jupiters are unique compared to other planets because of the presence of both refractory and volatile gaseous species, enabling a new lens to constrain a planet's composit...
arxiv.org
March 20, 2025 at 12:46 PM
🔭 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!
We observed ultra-hot Jupiter WASP-178b with HST and JWST to try to figure out where the planet comes from!
Reposted by Josh Lothringer
This is extraordinarily disturbing and borderline Orwellian. It must stop, or we wind up in a very, very scary place.
French scientist denied US entry after phone messages critical of Trump found
France’s research minister said the scientist was traveling to Houston for a conference when his phone was searched
www.theguardian.com
March 20, 2025 at 1:39 AM
This is extraordinarily disturbing and borderline Orwellian. It must stop, or we wind up in a very, very scary place.
Reposted by Josh Lothringer
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. 🔭🧪
Today we got word that the federal government is laying off the entire group. 🔭🧪
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...
*whose line is it anyway?* An interactive tool for identifying atomic spectral lines. 🧪🔭 #stars
install:
pip install whoseline
source:
github.com/bmorris3/who...
March 19, 2025 at 5:26 PM
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. 🔭🧪
Today we got word that the federal government is laying off the entire group. 🔭🧪
Reposted by Josh Lothringer
March 17, 2025 at 2:02 PM
Reposted by Josh Lothringer
🔭 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)
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)
March 11, 2025 at 10:08 PM
🔭 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)
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)
Reposted by Josh Lothringer
Quoth me from last year on the other place:
![A screenshot of a tweet reading as follows:
To everyone who got bad JWST news today, here's what I often say to myself after reading a negative proposal review:
...
...
...
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN THE PROPOSAL DOESN'T EXPLAIN [X]!? THERE'S LITERALLY AN ENTIRE HALF A PAGE EXPLAINING [X]"
Hope that helps!](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:6tufdzlxrd322oniosdl6beg/bafkreigsfy7uu7txz5hyxddpu2exgzsyigxzoepfiwbbjs3seyvcfm527y@jpeg)
March 11, 2025 at 6:05 PM
Quoth me from last year on the other place: