Dr Ryan MacDonald
@distantworlds.space
Lecturer in Extrasolar Planets 🪐 🔭 at the University of St Andrews 🏴
Pinned
I'm excited to announce that I will be joining the University of St Andrews as a Lecturer in Extrasolar Planets in June 2025! 🌟 🪐 🔭 🌍 🏴
If you're interested in pursuing a PhD, postdoc, or fellowship in exoplanet atmospheres in beautiful Scotland (from Autumn 2025), please feel free to get in touch.
If you're interested in pursuing a PhD, postdoc, or fellowship in exoplanet atmospheres in beautiful Scotland (from Autumn 2025), please feel free to get in touch.
Reposted by Dr Ryan MacDonald
Job vacancy 💻📝
Passionate about building vibrant professional communities?
The RAS is seeking a dynamic Head of Membership to develop and deliver our membership strategy and play a pivotal role in growing our membership through retention and recruitment.
Apply here👇
ras.ac.uk/news-and-pre...
Passionate about building vibrant professional communities?
The RAS is seeking a dynamic Head of Membership to develop and deliver our membership strategy and play a pivotal role in growing our membership through retention and recruitment.
Apply here👇
ras.ac.uk/news-and-pre...
October 24, 2025 at 11:57 AM
Job vacancy 💻📝
Passionate about building vibrant professional communities?
The RAS is seeking a dynamic Head of Membership to develop and deliver our membership strategy and play a pivotal role in growing our membership through retention and recruitment.
Apply here👇
ras.ac.uk/news-and-pre...
Passionate about building vibrant professional communities?
The RAS is seeking a dynamic Head of Membership to develop and deliver our membership strategy and play a pivotal role in growing our membership through retention and recruitment.
Apply here👇
ras.ac.uk/news-and-pre...
The Norman Lockyer Fellowship is a great opportunity for postdoc research in #Exoplanets, and we'd love to host you at St Andrews!
Feel free to reach out if you're interested in joining our exoplanet group in beautiful Scotland 🏴🪐
Feel free to reach out if you're interested in joining our exoplanet group in beautiful Scotland 🏴🪐
🧑🔬 Need funding to support your research?🧑🔬
We're now accepting applications for the Norman Lockyer Fellowship, offered to outstanding candidates to enable them to pursue research in the UK in the disciplines advanced by the Royal Astronomical Society. 🔭🪐
⤵️
We're now accepting applications for the Norman Lockyer Fellowship, offered to outstanding candidates to enable them to pursue research in the UK in the disciplines advanced by the Royal Astronomical Society. 🔭🪐
⤵️
October 3, 2025 at 11:47 AM
The Norman Lockyer Fellowship is a great opportunity for postdoc research in #Exoplanets, and we'd love to host you at St Andrews!
Feel free to reach out if you're interested in joining our exoplanet group in beautiful Scotland 🏴🪐
Feel free to reach out if you're interested in joining our exoplanet group in beautiful Scotland 🏴🪐
We observed the habitable zone planet TRAPPIST-1e with JWST to search for an atmosphere.
You've seen the headlines, now let's dive into the science! 🧪
THREAD (1/N)
#Exoplanets 🔭
You've seen the headlines, now let's dive into the science! 🧪
THREAD (1/N)
#Exoplanets 🔭
A rocky planet in its star’s ‘habitable zone’ could be the first known to have an atmosphere – here’s what we found
The largest telescope in space has been trained on a rocky exoplanet.
theconversation.com
September 9, 2025 at 11:14 PM
We observed the habitable zone planet TRAPPIST-1e with JWST to search for an atmosphere.
You've seen the headlines, now let's dive into the science! 🧪
THREAD (1/N)
#Exoplanets 🔭
You've seen the headlines, now let's dive into the science! 🧪
THREAD (1/N)
#Exoplanets 🔭
We looked for an atmosphere on TRAPPIST-1d using JWST, but we didn't see any atmospheric absorption.
So TRAPPIST-1d is quite different from Earth, despite lying just inside the habitable zone. The planet is either:
➡️ A bare rock.
➡️ Very cloudy.
➡️ Has a thin, Mars-like atmosphere.
#Exoplanets 🔭
So TRAPPIST-1d is quite different from Earth, despite lying just inside the habitable zone. The planet is either:
➡️ A bare rock.
➡️ Very cloudy.
➡️ Has a thin, Mars-like atmosphere.
#Exoplanets 🔭
The TRAPPIST-1 d exoplanet may be Earth-sized 🌍 but it has no Earth-like atmosphere.
Webb’s #NIRSpec has found no traces of molecules that are common in Earth’s atmosphere.
Read more 👉 www.esa.int/Science_Expl... 🔭 🧪
Webb’s #NIRSpec has found no traces of molecules that are common in Earth’s atmosphere.
Read more 👉 www.esa.int/Science_Expl... 🔭 🧪
August 13, 2025 at 5:24 PM
We looked for an atmosphere on TRAPPIST-1d using JWST, but we didn't see any atmospheric absorption.
So TRAPPIST-1d is quite different from Earth, despite lying just inside the habitable zone. The planet is either:
➡️ A bare rock.
➡️ Very cloudy.
➡️ Has a thin, Mars-like atmosphere.
#Exoplanets 🔭
So TRAPPIST-1d is quite different from Earth, despite lying just inside the habitable zone. The planet is either:
➡️ A bare rock.
➡️ Very cloudy.
➡️ Has a thin, Mars-like atmosphere.
#Exoplanets 🔭
Reposted by Dr Ryan MacDonald
If you want know all things #HabitableWorldsObservatory then follow @drjovian.bsky.social for the next two days as she posts from the #HWO25 meeting in Washington DC.
Thanks Jo for keeping us posted ☺️
Thanks Jo for keeping us posted ☺️
This week I'm lucky enough to be at the #HWO25 meeting, hearing and talking about the Habitable Worlds Observatory, its design and the (many) science cases feeding into it. We're being treated to a fantastic opening talk about the search for biosignatures from interim project scientist Giada Arney.
July 28, 2025 at 3:33 PM
If you want know all things #HabitableWorldsObservatory then follow @drjovian.bsky.social for the next two days as she posts from the #HWO25 meeting in Washington DC.
Thanks Jo for keeping us posted ☺️
Thanks Jo for keeping us posted ☺️
Wow! I wonder if astronomers using AI to 'assist' their coding also have the same overall *slowdown* found by the study below?
👇🔭
👇🔭
We ran a randomized controlled trial to see how much AI coding tools speed up experienced open-source developers.
The results surprised us: Developers thought they were 20% faster with AI tools, but they were actually 19% slower when they had access to AI than when they didn't.
The results surprised us: Developers thought they were 20% faster with AI tools, but they were actually 19% slower when they had access to AI than when they didn't.
July 11, 2025 at 7:52 AM
Wow! I wonder if astronomers using AI to 'assist' their coding also have the same overall *slowdown* found by the study below?
👇🔭
👇🔭
Seems I'm a trusted news source for astronomy! 🔭
I'd encourage other professional astronomers to fill in the short official Bluesky form to apply for verification:
bsky.social/about/blog/0...
I'd encourage other professional astronomers to fill in the short official Bluesky form to apply for verification:
bsky.social/about/blog/0...
June 30, 2025 at 12:39 PM
Seems I'm a trusted news source for astronomy! 🔭
I'd encourage other professional astronomers to fill in the short official Bluesky form to apply for verification:
bsky.social/about/blog/0...
I'd encourage other professional astronomers to fill in the short official Bluesky form to apply for verification:
bsky.social/about/blog/0...
Reposted by Dr Ryan MacDonald
Thank you @distantworlds.space and @drjovian.bsky.social for bsky covering the conference.
June 29, 2025 at 11:07 AM
Thank you @distantworlds.space and @drjovian.bsky.social for bsky covering the conference.
Last talk of the conference!
Patricio Ernesto Cubillos (INAF Osservatorio Astrofisico di Torino): Upper-Atmosphere Exoplanet Constraints from Ultraviolet Transmission Observations.
#Exoplanets
#AllTheWavelengths
Patricio Ernesto Cubillos (INAF Osservatorio Astrofisico di Torino): Upper-Atmosphere Exoplanet Constraints from Ultraviolet Transmission Observations.
#Exoplanets
#AllTheWavelengths
June 29, 2025 at 10:06 AM
Last talk of the conference!
Patricio Ernesto Cubillos (INAF Osservatorio Astrofisico di Torino): Upper-Atmosphere Exoplanet Constraints from Ultraviolet Transmission Observations.
#Exoplanets
#AllTheWavelengths
Patricio Ernesto Cubillos (INAF Osservatorio Astrofisico di Torino): Upper-Atmosphere Exoplanet Constraints from Ultraviolet Transmission Observations.
#Exoplanets
#AllTheWavelengths
Marco Pezzella (Università G. Annunzio Chieti-Pescar): NRMolCol: Inelastic Scattering Data for (exo)Planetary Atmospheres.
#Exoplanets
#AllTheWavelengths
#Exoplanets
#AllTheWavelengths
June 29, 2025 at 9:18 AM
Marco Pezzella (Università G. Annunzio Chieti-Pescar): NRMolCol: Inelastic Scattering Data for (exo)Planetary Atmospheres.
#Exoplanets
#AllTheWavelengths
#Exoplanets
#AllTheWavelengths
Rafael Rianco-Silva (Instituto de Astrofisica e Ciencias do Espaco / UCL): A Study of Very High-Resolution Visible Spectra of Titan: Line Characterisation in Visible CH4 and the Search for C3.
#AllTheWavelengths
#AllTheWavelengths
June 29, 2025 at 9:01 AM
Rafael Rianco-Silva (Instituto de Astrofisica e Ciencias do Espaco / UCL): A Study of Very High-Resolution Visible Spectra of Titan: Line Characterisation in Visible CH4 and the Search for C3.
#AllTheWavelengths
#AllTheWavelengths
Oleksiy Smola (UCL): Towards a Spectroscopic Potential Energy Surface of Methanol.
#AllTheWavelengths
#AllTheWavelengths
June 29, 2025 at 8:42 AM
Oleksiy Smola (UCL): Towards a Spectroscopic Potential Energy Surface of Methanol.
#AllTheWavelengths
#AllTheWavelengths
Final conference day of 'Spectroscopy of #Exoplanets: Across #AllTheWavelengths'.
Helgi Hróðmarsson (Paris-Est Créteil): Addressing Laboratory Challenges in the VUV for Exoplanet Atmospheres: Photodissociation and Photoionization.
Helgi Hróðmarsson (Paris-Est Créteil): Addressing Laboratory Challenges in the VUV for Exoplanet Atmospheres: Photodissociation and Photoionization.
June 29, 2025 at 8:03 AM
Final conference day of 'Spectroscopy of #Exoplanets: Across #AllTheWavelengths'.
Helgi Hróðmarsson (Paris-Est Créteil): Addressing Laboratory Challenges in the VUV for Exoplanet Atmospheres: Photodissociation and Photoionization.
Helgi Hróðmarsson (Paris-Est Créteil): Addressing Laboratory Challenges in the VUV for Exoplanet Atmospheres: Photodissociation and Photoionization.
Haitao Li (Chinese Academy of Scientists): The Earth 2.0 (ET) Space Mission.
#Exoplanets
#AllTheWavelengths
#Exoplanets
#AllTheWavelengths
June 28, 2025 at 4:02 PM
Haitao Li (Chinese Academy of Scientists): The Earth 2.0 (ET) Space Mission.
#Exoplanets
#AllTheWavelengths
#Exoplanets
#AllTheWavelengths
Gopal Hazra ( IIT Kanpur): Constraining Atmospheric Evaporation Rate From Gas Giants by Simultaneous Modelling of Lyman-α, Hα and Helium Transit Spectra.
#Exoplanets
#AllTheWavelengths
#Exoplanets
#AllTheWavelengths
June 28, 2025 at 3:42 PM
Gopal Hazra ( IIT Kanpur): Constraining Atmospheric Evaporation Rate From Gas Giants by Simultaneous Modelling of Lyman-α, Hα and Helium Transit Spectra.
#Exoplanets
#AllTheWavelengths
#Exoplanets
#AllTheWavelengths
Jo Barstow (Open University): Three Years of Transiting Exoplanet Spectroscopy with JWST.
#Exoplanets
#AllTheWavelengths
#Exoplanets
#AllTheWavelengths
June 28, 2025 at 3:06 PM
Jo Barstow (Open University): Three Years of Transiting Exoplanet Spectroscopy with JWST.
#Exoplanets
#AllTheWavelengths
#Exoplanets
#AllTheWavelengths
David Haegele (MPIA): RACER (RApid Calculation of Exoplanetary Radiative Opacities): a New PYTHON Package to Efficiently Calculate Opacities.
#Exoplanets
#AllTheWavelengths
#Exoplanets
#AllTheWavelengths
June 28, 2025 at 2:24 PM
David Haegele (MPIA): RACER (RApid Calculation of Exoplanetary Radiative Opacities): a New PYTHON Package to Efficiently Calculate Opacities.
#Exoplanets
#AllTheWavelengths
#Exoplanets
#AllTheWavelengths
Matthieu Ravet (Côte d'Azur): Multi-Modal Atmospheric Characterisation of β Pictoris-b: Adding High-Resolution Continuum Spectra from GRAVITY.
#Exoplanets
#AllTheWavelengths
#Exoplanets
#AllTheWavelengths
June 28, 2025 at 2:07 PM
Matthieu Ravet (Côte d'Azur): Multi-Modal Atmospheric Characterisation of β Pictoris-b: Adding High-Resolution Continuum Spectra from GRAVITY.
#Exoplanets
#AllTheWavelengths
#Exoplanets
#AllTheWavelengths
Sergey Yurchenko (UCL): How to Characterise Uncertainties in Molecular Opacities: An ExoMol Study.
#Exoplanets
#AllTheWavelengths
#Exoplanets
#AllTheWavelengths
June 28, 2025 at 1:45 PM
Sergey Yurchenko (UCL): How to Characterise Uncertainties in Molecular Opacities: An ExoMol Study.
#Exoplanets
#AllTheWavelengths
#Exoplanets
#AllTheWavelengths
Éric Hébrard (Exeter): Some Like it Hot, Some Like it Cold, Some Like it Mild but Old: Chemical Kinetics of (Exo)planetary Atmospheres.
#Exoplanets
#AllTheWavelengths
#Exoplanets
#AllTheWavelengths
June 28, 2025 at 1:03 PM
Éric Hébrard (Exeter): Some Like it Hot, Some Like it Cold, Some Like it Mild but Old: Chemical Kinetics of (Exo)planetary Atmospheres.
#Exoplanets
#AllTheWavelengths
#Exoplanets
#AllTheWavelengths
Elizabeth Guest (UCL): Predicting the Rotational Dependence of Line-Broadening Using Machine Learning.
#Exoplanets
#AllTheWavelengths
#Exoplanets
#AllTheWavelengths
June 28, 2025 at 11:22 AM
Elizabeth Guest (UCL): Predicting the Rotational Dependence of Line-Broadening Using Machine Learning.
#Exoplanets
#AllTheWavelengths
#Exoplanets
#AllTheWavelengths
Louis Siebenaler (Leiden): New Mean-Opacity Tables for Probing Stable Stratification in Giant Planets.
#Exoplanets
#AllTheWavelengths
#Exoplanets
#AllTheWavelengths
June 28, 2025 at 11:06 AM
Louis Siebenaler (Leiden): New Mean-Opacity Tables for Probing Stable Stratification in Giant Planets.
#Exoplanets
#AllTheWavelengths
#Exoplanets
#AllTheWavelengths
Jack Davey (UCL): Investigating the Influence of Asymmetric Error Bars in Retrievals of Exoplanet Transmission Spectra.
#Exoplanets
#AllTheWavelengths
#Exoplanets
#AllTheWavelengths
June 28, 2025 at 10:45 AM
Jack Davey (UCL): Investigating the Influence of Asymmetric Error Bars in Retrievals of Exoplanet Transmission Spectra.
#Exoplanets
#AllTheWavelengths
#Exoplanets
#AllTheWavelengths
June 28, 2025 at 10:06 AM
Ray Jayawardhana (Johns Hopkins): Spectroscopy of Free-Floating Planetary-Mass Objects and their Disks with JWST.
#Exoplanets
#AllTheWavelengths
#Exoplanets
#AllTheWavelengths
June 28, 2025 at 9:20 AM
Ray Jayawardhana (Johns Hopkins): Spectroscopy of Free-Floating Planetary-Mass Objects and their Disks with JWST.
#Exoplanets
#AllTheWavelengths
#Exoplanets
#AllTheWavelengths