Hannah Wakeford
LightNews LightNews
banner
stellarplanet.bsky.social
Hannah Wakeford
@stellarplanet.bsky.social
1.2K followers 200 following 170 posts
Exoplanet scientist. Science communicator. Author. Podcaster. Miniature painter. Wife. Cat mum.
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Hannah Wakeford
lkreidberg.bsky.social
Fully funded opportunity for bachelors and masters students to come work at MPIA in summer 2026!
mpi-astro.bsky.social Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie @mpi-astro.bsky.social · 11d
Are you a bachelor or master student anywhere in the world, and would like to come to us to work full-time on a supervised research project? Applications for the 2026 MPIA Summer Internship are open now!
Summer internships
www.mpia.de
December 21, 2025 at 3:06 PM
stellarplanet.bsky.social
Got a wonderful gift from a former postdoc today! A terrarium based on The forest moon of Endor complete with its own little Ewok & R2D2 😁

The tank was previously used on BBC The Sky at Night to demonstrate optical depth in a planetary atmosphere. A happy repurposing & joyful addition to my office
Terrarium in a large rectangular fish tank. The moss and gravel is made to look like the forest moon of Endor from Star Wars and a small model of an Ewok and R2D2 are in the foreground
December 18, 2025 at 4:28 PM
stellarplanet.bsky.social
Doing some filming for a potential project this morning. I always get so nervous before filming things. The more prep for something there is the more nervous I become. Very much more comfortable with the hit and hope method. But nevertheless here we go!
Desk with spotlight lamp, microphone and camera set up for filming.
December 16, 2025 at 8:59 AM
Reposted by Hannah Wakeford
cosmicshambles.com
As ever, we'll be doing a foodbank collection at Nine Lessons this year. The list of most urgently needed items are at cosmicshambles.com/ninelessons CC @robinince.bsky.social, @soozuk.bsky.social, @nataliehaynes.bsky.social, @seismatters.bsky.social, @profaliceroberts.bsky.social
December 15, 2025 at 11:42 AM
Reposted by Hannah Wakeford
cosmicshambles.com
Next Thursday night is the first night of Nine Lessons 2025. It's also when we will announce the secret project we've been working on for the last four years. Make sure you're in your seats by 7! www.kingsplace.co.uk/whats-on/nin...
December 13, 2025 at 5:04 PM
stellarplanet.bsky.social
Work from @danvalentine.bsky.social !
rasjournals.bsky.social RAS Journals @rasjournals.bsky.social · 20d
Published in #MNRAS: "Eclipse mapping with Ariel: future prospects for a population-level mapping survey", Valentine et al. This is Fig. 2: for the caption & to read the paper please visit academic.oup.com/mnras/articl... @royalastrosoc.bsky.social @academic.oup.com
HD 189733b eclipse maps, with flux profiles shown above. The cross and dashed line mark the location of the substellar point, whilst the star and dash-dotted line mark the location of the hotspot. Left: Simulated version of the JWST MIRI/LRS map, derived from two eclipses (M. Lally et al. 2025). Middle: Equivalent Ariel AIRS Ch1 map, also derived from two eclipse observations. Right: Difference map (JWST–Ariel). The flat structure shows that we recover consistent thermal structures between the instruments, although with a slightly shallower day–night gradient for the latter as a consequence of its smaller bandwidth (see the text). The overlap of the differenced hotspot with the substellar point shows that we accurately and precisely recover this key parameter.
December 9, 2025 at 6:38 PM
Reposted by Hannah Wakeford
aberuni.bsky.social
🪐 The #ExoMars team at the University has welcomed the UK Space Agency’s renewed backing for the Rosalind Franklin rover mission, a flagship project that will see Europe’s first Mars rover launch in 2028.

🖱️ tinyurl.com/d3m5ysah

@esa.int
@ukspaceagency.bsky.social
@abercompsci.bsky.social
December 4, 2025 at 3:53 PM
stellarplanet.bsky.social
Goes with their long proud tradition of running red lights
December 3, 2025 at 5:34 PM
stellarplanet.bsky.social
At the wonderful venue of the Balmoral ship docked in Bristol Quay to preset to the Bristol Science Cafe. A great team of volunteers on the ship and the science cafes lead Bob who has been running this for over 2 decades bring science to Bristolian life. #exoplanets #scicomm
Large iron ship docked along Bristol Quay. The name Balmoral can be seen in yellow letters along the front
December 2, 2025 at 7:30 PM
stellarplanet.bsky.social
This weekend we headed to London for the world premiere of @robertlaidlow.bsky.social’s #Exoplanet suite. The London Philharmonic Orchestra were on fine form bring the amazing worlds we study to life. So grateful to have been a tiny part of the journey. Check out Rob describing the piece 👇 #sciart
robertlaidlow.bsky.social Robert Laidlow @robertlaidlow.bsky.social · Nov 25
In this video I explain how @stellarplanet.bsky.social and @climatebook.bsky.social research into these classes of planets inspired and informed some of the music.

The concert premiere of "Exoplanets" is at 7.30pm on Saturday 29th November at the Royal Festival Hall in London - tickets here:
Sheku Kanneh-Mason Plays Bloch | Southbank Centre
www.southbankcentre.co.uk
December 1, 2025 at 8:10 AM
stellarplanet.bsky.social
Check out this awesome talk by @danvalentine.bsky.social all about his research showing how the @esa.int Ariel mission could perform the most extraordinary phase curve survey to teach us all about #exoplanets
#proudAdvisor #astronomy #science
November 28, 2025 at 9:57 PM
Reposted by Hannah Wakeford
robertlaidlow.bsky.social
In this video I explain how @stellarplanet.bsky.social and @climatebook.bsky.social research into these classes of planets inspired and informed some of the music.

The concert premiere of "Exoplanets" is at 7.30pm on Saturday 29th November at the Royal Festival Hall in London - tickets here:
Sheku Kanneh-Mason Plays Bloch | Southbank Centre
www.southbankcentre.co.uk
November 25, 2025 at 11:19 AM
Reposted by Hannah Wakeford
robertlaidlow.bsky.social
Holst's planets suite may have its famous "Jupiter" and "Neptune", but my new "Exoplanets" for @lporchestra.bsky.social has HOT Jupiters and SUB Neptunes 🪐🪐🪐 (Saturday 29th at 7.30pm!)

youtu.be/kXi3TbD4_VA?...
Robert Laidlow on Exoplanets
YouTube video by London Philharmonic Orchestra
youtu.be
November 25, 2025 at 11:19 AM
stellarplanet.bsky.social
CDT in Aerosol Science is welcoming applications for fully-funded PhD studentships as part of our 8th cohort to start in autumn 2026: www.aerosol-cdt.ac.uk/2026-projects/
Aerosol science is crucial to so many things, check out the linked project catalogue for studentships!
#PhD #academicjobs
2026 projects | Aerosol Science CDT
www.aerosol-cdt.ac.uk
November 25, 2025 at 11:01 AM
stellarplanet.bsky.social
Had a fabulous week at Ringberg for the “Signal in the Noise“ workshop hosted by two brilliant ECRs in the #exoplanet field @eahrer.bsky.social & @lili-alderson.bsky.social. Loads of ideas on how to get the most out of #jwst data & many new collaborations formed across an eager cohort of scientists
Ringberg castle in the snow with mountains in the background Looking through the gateway arch of Ringberg castle at the main doors and a courtyard blanketed in a dusting of snow
November 21, 2025 at 3:17 PM
stellarplanet.bsky.social
We have snow in Ringberg! ❄️🏰❄️ the sky has fallen, wonderful rainout of the atmosphere followed by a clearing and lowered opacity.
snow falling over the forest viewed through a large two story double wide castle doorway View over a forest and lake with the trees glistening with fresh snowfall
November 17, 2025 at 5:01 PM
stellarplanet.bsky.social
Beautiful lessons in opacity from normal versus slant geometries from the plane as I left Abu Dhabi, some beautiful cloud formations over the Iranian mountains, and beautiful sunset over Romania
Looking out the left side of an airplane with the jet engine and wing visible. The view to the ground is clear but the view to the near horizon steadily gets whiter and whiter due to the observation at slant geometry through thin scattering particles in the atmosphere Epic clouds seen out a aeroplane window. A sun beam cuts from top to bottom. The clouds appear to form two cliffs with deep valley between them. Multiple layers of different cloud shapes can be seen. Formed due to tiny changes in the local conditions. Sunset through the atmosphere viewed from an airplane. Deep blue at the top turns to lighter and lighter blue until almost white and then becomes a thin layer of orange blending into red. The sun is partially obscured by a dark cloud and the image fades to black at the bottom
November 16, 2025 at 8:28 PM
stellarplanet.bsky.social
Had a great time @nyuad-oaa.bsky.social and an interesting time adventuring in the Abu Dhabi 🐪. Now time to head to Germany for the “signal in the noise” conference led by @lili-alderson.bsky.social and @eahrer.bsky.social held at Ringberg Castle 🏰
November 16, 2025 at 6:13 AM
Reposted by Hannah Wakeford
chrislintott.bsky.social
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
Reposted by Hannah Wakeford
cosmicshambles.com
Given news of recent days and the way the entire landscape of broadcasting and production is going in the UK right now, we are even more excited to tell about what we've been up to. All will be revealed Dec 18 one night one of Nine Lessons. cosmicshambles.com/ninelessons
November 11, 2025 at 1:17 PM
stellarplanet.bsky.social
Got my foundation tutorial group this morning (we’re onto Mechanic and angular momentum) then down to the coach station to head to T4 for a flight to Abu Dhabi to give a talk @nyuad-oaa.bsky.social and chat about #exoplanet science for a few days!
Exhausted thinking about it but excited as well 😎🤓
November 11, 2025 at 7:04 AM
stellarplanet.bsky.social
What the US government is doing to Goddard Space Flight Center is devastating. GSFC is the largest science center at NASAs disposal. It is home of Hubble operations, I was lucky enough to see JWST, Osiris-Rex &Roman built there. This destruction will gut US &global space science for decades to come
climatebrad.hillheat.com Brad Johnson @climatebrad.hillheat.com · Nov 4
Goddard spacecraft engineer: "I think it just kind of speaks to the atmosphere of the agency and the nation, where people are like, 'Well, laws don't matter for the people at the top anymore.'"
NASA is sinking its flagship science center during the government shutdown — and may be breaking the law in the process, critics say
"There is just a general acknowledgement that a lot of what is happening is illegal…"
www.space.com
November 6, 2025 at 11:16 PM
stellarplanet.bsky.social
Very sad that I will not be able to perform for nine lessons this year in Cardiff. @cosmicshambles.com do this for the love of sharing science, art, & stories & make no money personally. If you like things like that buy tickets to support local events and help maintain the joy of spreading stories.
robinince.bsky.social Robin Ince @robinince.bsky.social · Nov 5
Sad to say - we have had to cancel 9 Lessons in Cardiff - Cardiff just wasn’t very interested and we still had very low sales at the beginning of the week - we never make money on the shows , but we can’t afford to lose £1000s - sorry to those of you who were looking forward to it
robinince.bsky.social Robin Ince @robinince.bsky.social · Oct 28
We always try to get Nine Lessons shows beyond London - it is never profitable but we hope it makes it accessible for others - This year is CARDIFF - but no one seems to want to come - so we will pull it next week if we see that it is going to lose us too much money

www.glee.co.uk/performer/ni...
November 6, 2025 at 7:51 AM
Reposted by Hannah Wakeford
chrislintott.bsky.social
On a bus back to Oxford after a great time talking at Wantage Literary Festival. Anyone want to #askanastronomer anything? 🔭
November 1, 2025 at 7:38 PM
Reposted by Hannah Wakeford
astrokat.bsky.social
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...
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