Thomas Carpentier
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thocarp.bsky.social
Thomas Carpentier
@thocarp.bsky.social
7.4K followers 540 following 940 posts
PhD Researcher at the EUI in Firenze, studying the history of the European Space Agency.
Processing space telescopes data for fun

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thocarp.bsky.social
Thomas Carpentier @thocarp.bsky.social · Oct 11
Introduction post! I am Thomas Carpentier, I studied (and plan to continue) History of space in Toulouse, France. 🔭

My main contribution here is the data processing of space telescopes observations! Here are some examples and more on my Flickr page: www.flickr.com/people/19746...
Reposted by Thomas Carpentier
weratedogs.com
we need to talk about that Ring Super Bowl ad
February 10, 2026 at 8:18 PM
Reposted by Thomas Carpentier
eurospacehistory.bsky.social
😎 This weekend, ESA marks 18 years of Europe’s Columbus laboratory in orbit, and we’ve got a couple of these epic ‘How Columbus Learnt to Fly’ books to give away! Just share this post for a chance to win!👍
ESA’s How Columbus Learnt to Fly book
February 8, 2026 at 10:23 PM
Reposted by Thomas Carpentier
emily.space
Go read about star & planet formation on the shiny new website of The Star Formation Newsletter! It's back! 🎉
February 4, 2026 at 8:07 AM
Reposted by Thomas Carpentier
liraastro.bsky.social
🪐 LENS – LIRA | L’Encadré de la Semaine
Première planète imagée grâce au coronographe français du JWST
Découverte de TWA 7b, une jeune planète de masse comparable à Saturne, dix fois moins massive que les exoplanètes déjà imagées. Une première mondiale.
👉 urls.fr/v7Wrf-
February 2, 2026 at 7:35 AM
thocarp.bsky.social
This is one of my favorite JWST observation ever! 🔭 💙

This is HH288, a star heavier than the Sun being born in front of our eyes! The jets are the result of that process. There is even another star being born near it, as the perpendicular jets are showing.

HD: flic.kr/p/2rUKqvx
Two jets, appearing red and violet, being ejected by a central protostar, hidden behind gas. The jets are extending to the left and right parts of the image. Two perpendicular thinner jets can be seen as well, coming from another protostar. Hundreds of stars can be seen in the background of the image, appearing like bright dots with the JWST trademark diffraction spikes.
February 2, 2026 at 5:08 PM
thocarp.bsky.social
Clearly not as impressive as the images of Northern Europe, but still impressive to catch auroras in Fiesole/Florence, Italy 🔭 🥰

My very first auroras in 28 years, I'm really moved right now 🥺
January 19, 2026 at 10:41 PM
thocarp.bsky.social
It has been a long time since I posted a picture here, so here's one to make it up! 🔭

This is the PGC 50779 galaxy, also known as the Circinus Galaxy, located some 13 million light-years away from us.

HD: flic.kr/p/2rS7tjZ
The centre part of a spiral galaxy where the middle is extremely bright, where the supermassive black hole is located. The middle is surrounded by rings of gas, appearing in darker coulours (mostly red and orange). Some blue gas part can be seen drifting away from the middle as the galaxy is ejecting waves of gas because of its activity.
January 16, 2026 at 3:53 PM
thocarp.bsky.social
And now the MIRI version! 🔭

The observation was made during the night, and just like with NIRCam, the fragments and the tail are beautiful!

HD: flic.kr/p/2rPp5EV
Another infrared observation of the C/2025 K1 comet, seen by the JWST/MIRI. On the left, the main part of the comet, seen as a bright dot, and its coma. On the right, two small dots which are fragments of the comet.
December 30, 2025 at 12:29 PM
thocarp.bsky.social
I am not really good with this kind of observation, but here's my processed version of the JWST observation of the C/2025 K1 comet, which was made today! 🔭

The multiple fragments are clearly visible there, in full beauty

HD: flic.kr/p/2rPhQUz
An infrared observation of a comet, C/2025 K1, seen by the JWST. On the left, the main part of the comet, seen as a bright dot, and its coma. On the right, two small dots which are fragments of the comet.
December 29, 2025 at 8:03 PM
Reposted by Thomas Carpentier
kosmi.bsky.social
One more shot of today's Etna eruption.

Multispectral image taken by Sentinel-2.
December 27, 2025 at 2:08 PM
thocarp.bsky.social
Here's to celebrate the end of my first term as a PhD Researcher! 🔭 🎉

This is the Pismis 24 star cluster as seen by the JWST, processed by me! It is located some 6,500 light years away, and it's part of the NGC-6357 nebula.

HD: flic.kr/p/2rMPcYg
A gas cloud seen in infrared light. Near the upper-centre part of the image, a pillar-like structure, just like a finger, can be seen, with a young star at the tip of it. The gas composing the cloud appears in red and orange colours. From top left to top right, a veil of gas can also be spotted, in beige and red colours. It is in the background of that cloud. Dozens of stars cna be spotted as well, with a big one on the centre-bottom part, carving around it the gas cloud thanks to its stellars winds.
December 20, 2025 at 5:37 PM
Reposted by Thomas Carpentier
eui-history.bsky.social
📣 Applications for our fully-funded #PhD programme are still open 📣

ℹ️ Check the programme's webpage 👉 loom.ly/pvk17dc

⏰ and apply by 15 January 2026!

🎓 #PhDlife #academicsky #history #skystorians
December 16, 2025 at 9:29 AM
Reposted by Thomas Carpentier
andrealuck.bsky.social
My version of the latest Saturn and Triton release by JWST

Full size & more info: flic.kr/p/2rLJqnZ 🔭🧪
Credit: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI/AndreaLuck

JWST/NIRCAM
F150W2-F164N, F212N
2024-11-29
Proposal PI: Macarena Garcia Marin
Proposal ID 9219
In this JWST image, Saturn appears as a pale gold/brownish sphere with horizontal bands, encircled by a bright whithish, thin oval ring system. The atmosphere is showing off a few circle whithish storm-like features. On the top left also its world Titan is visible as a gold glowing sphere.
December 14, 2025 at 5:06 PM
Reposted by Thomas Carpentier
ryanjfrench.bsky.social
Physics in action: a truly mesmerising #SolarFlare on the Sun last night, from the same region that produced strong flares and triggered widespread aurora back in mid-November. The flare gives a hypnotic example of how plasma and magnetic fields interact in the Sun’s atmosphere.
December 1, 2025 at 6:54 PM
thocarp.bsky.social
Putting a spiral galaxy in your TL just for the sake of it! 🔭

This is the NGC-4569/M90 galaxy as seen by Hubble and processed by me. It is located some 60M light years away from us!

HD: flic.kr/p/2rJqjVV
A spiral galaxy seen in visible light. The centre is extremely bright, while the arms appear in red and orange. Inside the arms some blue areas can be spotted. These areas are clusters of stars! On the left part of the image, a part of one of the arms appears like going up.
December 1, 2025 at 3:59 PM
thocarp.bsky.social
Look what arrived today! 👀 🔭

This is the October 2025 issue of "Reflets de la Physique" with an image that I processed on its cover, and the book "Onbegrensd Universum" written by @govertschilling.nl with two images of mine inside! 😎
On the left handside: the issue October 2025 of the French journal "Reflets de la Physique" with a nebula picture on its cover. On the right handside: the "Onbegrensd Universum" book, written by Govert Schilling. Two images inside this book, processed by me 😎
November 26, 2025 at 3:38 PM
thocarp.bsky.social
A stellar nursery at its finest! 🔭

This is LHA120-N159 region in the LMC as seen by the JWST one year ago. It is home to MANY new born stars and many more to come!

I was in awe with how beautiful this region is while I was processing these data earlier this morning!

HD: flic.kr/p/2rGG32u
A large portion of a gas cloud seen in infrared light. Most of the cloud appears in red, orange and yellow colours. Some sort of cavities can be seen in the cloud, being brighter and in blue: this is where large stars being born have pushed away the gas around them. Hundreds of small dots can be spotted everywhere, being stars in the LMC galaxy around and in the observed region.
November 21, 2025 at 2:51 PM
thocarp.bsky.social
A few days before ESA's Ministerial, this is really huge! 🔭

In 2023, Canada's budget for ESA was €34M for instance.

www.canada.ca/en/space-age...
November 18, 2025 - Longueuil Quebec Today, at the SpaceBound 2025 Conference, the Honourable Mélanie Joly Minister of Industry and Minister responsible for Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions, made he historic announcement that Canada will increase its investment to Europear Space Agency (ESA) programs by $528.5 million. This investment represents a tenfold increase compared to previous contributions and is set ta advance research and development of Canadian-made space technologies for poth civilian and defence purposes. It wil help build an industrial base that is ready and capable of supporting Canada's tommercial, defence and security needs.
November 18, 2025 at 11:59 PM
Reposted by Thomas Carpentier
eui-history.bsky.social
🎓 📚 What could you do with us?

Check our faculty areas of supervision 👉 loom.ly/3GVxVSU
and apply for our #PhD programme by 15 January 2026!

🤔 Want to know more? Meet us at our:
🌐 Virtual Open Day - 2 Dec 2025 👉 loom.ly/sp5lOKM

📣 #skystorians #academicsky
November 18, 2025 at 9:32 AM
Reposted by Thomas Carpentier
rami.spaceaustralia.com
Well, here's some very exciting news!

I've been wanting to share this for a few months, but had to wait for the pre-print to drop.

A NEW GLITCH ON A MILLISECOND PULSAR HAS BEEN OBSERVED!

These events are extremely rare - only two others since MSPs discovered.

🔭🧪📡
spaceaustralia.com SpaceAustralia.com @spaceaustralia.com · Nov 17
For only the third time ever, a glitch event has been observed on a millisecond #pulsar.

@rami.spaceaustralia.com chats with lead author and PhD candidate Bhavnesh Bhat about the significance of this important, yet rare, event.

www.spaceaustralia.com/news/new-gli...

#SpaceAustralia

📸 NASA SVS
November 17, 2025 at 8:05 PM
Reposted by Thomas Carpentier
stsci.edu
The brightest point in this Hubble image of FS Tau is a binary system, consisting of two stars orbiting each other, that have cleared much of its surrounding dust and gas away.

Credit: NASA, ESA, K. Stapelfeldt (NASA JPL), G. Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America). 🔭 🧪
A nebula that contains stars and protostars. To the right of center, there is a bright white point made up of two orbiting stars with a four-pronged diffraction pattern. At 2 o’clock from this star, there is another, smaller bright light, a protostar, surrounded by a dark, edge-on disk of matter, which appears as a vertical line. In the center of the image is a cavity where the clouds are thinner and background stars shine through. The stars and protostar are on the edges of this cavity and are surrounded by dark clouds that appear like thick smoke in the light. A thin, short blue jet of material extends roughly horizontally, emerging from both sides of the disk. The jet is interrupted by the cavity and then continues to the left, cutting through the center of the frame.
November 14, 2025 at 2:59 PM
Reposted by Thomas Carpentier
eurospacehistory.bsky.social
#OTD: 12 November 2014, @esa.int's Rosetta Philae lander made history by touching down on the surface of a comet, the first spacecraft ever to do so. The landing was confirmed at 16:03 GMT/17:03 CET 🧪🔭

www.esa.int/Science_Expl...

@cnes.fr @dlr-de.bsky.social @operations.esa.int @science.esa.int
Rosetta’s lander Philae is safely on the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, as these first two CIVA images confirm. One of the lander’s three feet can be seen in the foreground. The image is a two-image mosaic (pic: ESA/Rosetta/Philae/CIVA)
November 12, 2025 at 11:19 AM
Reposted by Thomas Carpentier
ec-euclid.bsky.social
We are releasing seven new science publications today, based on our Q1 data release earlier this year. All revolve around galaxies, from dust to interactions to active centers.These are accompanied by two new image collages drawn from the same release.

1/

🔭 #astronomy #space #ESA
November 5, 2025 at 9:15 AM
thocarp.bsky.social
Recently I started to learn how to obtain and process data from Herschel, a former ESA space telescope (2009-13). Here's an image from one observation of that telescope! 🔭

This is the Eagle Nebula seen in infrared, and if you zoom in: the Pillars of Creation are there!

HD: flic.kr/p/2rD4JDu
An infrared observation of a dense gas cloud region, the Eagle Nebula. The whole image is covered by the gas, mostly appearing orange and blue. On the right hand side of the image lie the Pillars of Creation: three finger-like gas formations, looking like a claw. Some bright dots can be spotted as well: stars being born in that region! A focus on the Pillars of Creation
November 2, 2025 at 5:49 PM