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
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...
Reposted by Jayne Birkby
📈 Record interest in ERC Starting Grants 2026!
4,807 proposals - a 22% increase compared to last year’s call.
👩🔬 Women submitted nearly 43% of proposals - the highest share ever recorded in an ERC call.
More stats 👉 bit.ly/4hcYJln
#ChooseEurope
4,807 proposals - a 22% increase compared to last year’s call.
👩🔬 Women submitted nearly 43% of proposals - the highest share ever recorded in an ERC call.
More stats 👉 bit.ly/4hcYJln
#ChooseEurope
Starting Grants 2026 applications: Facts and figures
The ERC Starting Grants 2026 call closed for applications on 14 October 2025. These are the preliminary data on submitted proposals:
bit.ly
October 16, 2025 at 12:40 PM
📈 Record interest in ERC Starting Grants 2026!
4,807 proposals - a 22% increase compared to last year’s call.
👩🔬 Women submitted nearly 43% of proposals - the highest share ever recorded in an ERC call.
More stats 👉 bit.ly/4hcYJln
#ChooseEurope
4,807 proposals - a 22% increase compared to last year’s call.
👩🔬 Women submitted nearly 43% of proposals - the highest share ever recorded in an ERC call.
More stats 👉 bit.ly/4hcYJln
#ChooseEurope
Reposted by Jayne Birkby
Cosmologists! We have a faculty job going here in Oxford - happy to answer questions. Brief version is that this remains a great & collaborative place to do science and the students are superb. 🔭 www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DOP628/a...
Associate Professor of Cosmology at University of Oxford
Recruiting now: Associate Professor of Cosmology on jobs.ac.uk. Click for details and explore more academic job opportunities on the top job board
www.jobs.ac.uk
October 14, 2025 at 9:16 AM
Cosmologists! We have a faculty job going here in Oxford - happy to answer questions. Brief version is that this remains a great & collaborative place to do science and the students are superb. 🔭 www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DOP628/a...
Reposted by Jayne Birkby
w/ Oli Shorttle, @johannateske.bsky.social & Eliza Kempton we reviewed our current understanding and prospects for peaking on the inside of small #exoplanets in "Constraining exoplanet interiors using observations of their atmospheres": www.science.org/stoken/autho... & arxiv.org/abs/2510.08844 🔭🧪⚒️☄️
October 13, 2025 at 12:27 PM
w/ Oli Shorttle, @johannateske.bsky.social & Eliza Kempton we reviewed our current understanding and prospects for peaking on the inside of small #exoplanets in "Constraining exoplanet interiors using observations of their atmospheres": www.science.org/stoken/autho... & arxiv.org/abs/2510.08844 🔭🧪⚒️☄️
😮🤩
What do you mean I saw PLATO with my own eyes today?? 🫢🫨 #ESAopenday #exoplanet
October 12, 2025 at 10:09 PM
😮🤩
Happy 30th discovery day 51 Peg b! We're at Observatoire de Haute Provence where it all happened, listening to Michel Mayor & Didier Queloz tell us all about that extraordinary radial velocity discovery with ELODIE on the 1.93m in 1995 and the incredible exoplanet science that followed. What a day!
October 6, 2025 at 8:59 AM
Happy 30th discovery day 51 Peg b! We're at Observatoire de Haute Provence where it all happened, listening to Michel Mayor & Didier Queloz tell us all about that extraordinary radial velocity discovery with ELODIE on the 1.93m in 1995 and the incredible exoplanet science that followed. What a day!
Reposted by Jayne Birkby
If any of you fine folks are planetarians in (or want to be in) mid-Michigan, the Abrams Planetarium is hiring a full-time-staff position for the first time in 11 years!! Come work with the astro, scicomm, and informal ed folks at MSU!! 🔭 🧪 (reskeets welcome) careers.msu.edu/jobs/educati...
Educational Program Coordinator II - East Lansing, Michigan, United States
Position Summary
The program coordinator will maintain the planetarium, present live shows, and create new planetarium visualizations. In addition, this position will assist customers, assist in educa...
careers.msu.edu
September 29, 2025 at 4:21 PM
If any of you fine folks are planetarians in (or want to be in) mid-Michigan, the Abrams Planetarium is hiring a full-time-staff position for the first time in 11 years!! Come work with the astro, scicomm, and informal ed folks at MSU!! 🔭 🧪 (reskeets welcome) careers.msu.edu/jobs/educati...
Reposted by Jayne Birkby
We *absolutely* should celebrate it. Do your part by enjoying the 200+ page masterpiece in its entirety on ADS! ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1925PhDT... 🔭
Special shoutout to Figure 2, an incredible piece of art that I want on my wall (and suspect could even make an excellent tattoo if executed well?)
Special shoutout to Figure 2, an incredible piece of art that I want on my wall (and suspect could even make an excellent tattoo if executed well?)
September 23, 2025 at 8:03 PM
We *absolutely* should celebrate it. Do your part by enjoying the 200+ page masterpiece in its entirety on ADS! ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1925PhDT... 🔭
Special shoutout to Figure 2, an incredible piece of art that I want on my wall (and suspect could even make an excellent tattoo if executed well?)
Special shoutout to Figure 2, an incredible piece of art that I want on my wall (and suspect could even make an excellent tattoo if executed well?)
Reposted by Jayne Birkby
Cantiello @kantyellow.bsky.social at @flatironinstitute.org explains, in terms of fundamental physics, why we won’t be simulating stars in full 3D, ever. I likey.
September 19, 2025 at 9:45 PM
Cantiello @kantyellow.bsky.social at @flatironinstitute.org explains, in terms of fundamental physics, why we won’t be simulating stars in full 3D, ever. I likey.
Reposted by Jayne Birkby
The official number of exoplanets has surpassed 6,000! And you can access data on all 6,007 of them right here at IPAC 📈 🪐
Watch the video & read all about the center of the exoplanet universe (also known as NExScI!) here:
www.ipac.caltech.edu/news/the-nas...
Watch the video & read all about the center of the exoplanet universe (also known as NExScI!) here:
www.ipac.caltech.edu/news/the-nas...
September 18, 2025 at 12:19 AM
The official number of exoplanets has surpassed 6,000! And you can access data on all 6,007 of them right here at IPAC 📈 🪐
Watch the video & read all about the center of the exoplanet universe (also known as NExScI!) here:
www.ipac.caltech.edu/news/the-nas...
Watch the video & read all about the center of the exoplanet universe (also known as NExScI!) here:
www.ipac.caltech.edu/news/the-nas...
Reposted by Jayne Birkby
1/ A rising telescope under a rising Sun and Moon! 🔭☀️🌕
This montage is a kaleidoscope of moments from the construction of our Extremely Large Telescope.
Creating this #ELT collage took Boris Häußler, an ESO astronomer in Chile, years of meticulous planning.
This montage is a kaleidoscope of moments from the construction of our Extremely Large Telescope.
Creating this #ELT collage took Boris Häußler, an ESO astronomer in Chile, years of meticulous planning.
September 15, 2025 at 7:02 AM
1/ A rising telescope under a rising Sun and Moon! 🔭☀️🌕
This montage is a kaleidoscope of moments from the construction of our Extremely Large Telescope.
Creating this #ELT collage took Boris Häußler, an ESO astronomer in Chile, years of meticulous planning.
This montage is a kaleidoscope of moments from the construction of our Extremely Large Telescope.
Creating this #ELT collage took Boris Häußler, an ESO astronomer in Chile, years of meticulous planning.
Reposted by Jayne Birkby
My periodic reminder for #astrosci #astrodon #exoplanets Early Career Researchers to please, please, please have a simple web site with your current email address on it - rationale here: kenworthy.space/advice/
September 12, 2025 at 4:22 AM
My periodic reminder for #astrosci #astrodon #exoplanets Early Career Researchers to please, please, please have a simple web site with your current email address on it - rationale here: kenworthy.space/advice/
😮🤩 safe journey HARPS3!
Today HARPS3 is leaving the nest and migrating south!
September 8, 2025 at 10:51 AM
😮🤩 safe journey HARPS3!
Reposted by Jayne Birkby
Serious Q for the 🔭 community: is anyone planning to observe the 3I/ATLAS comet with any of the large ground-based telescopes (VLT etc) any time soon before it gets too close to the Sun (which is when)? Or have maybe already done so? ☄️💫
August 19, 2025 at 12:04 PM
Serious Q for the 🔭 community: is anyone planning to observe the 3I/ATLAS comet with any of the large ground-based telescopes (VLT etc) any time soon before it gets too close to the Sun (which is when)? Or have maybe already done so? ☄️💫
Reposted by Jayne Birkby
I am community sourcing a list of people who are actively in search of MS/PhD students in planetary science/astrobiology/exoplanets for Fall 2026. If you are such a person, please fill out the following google form:
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
Planetary Science MS/PhD Positions for Fall 2026
Crowd sourced list of people who are looking for MS/PhD students to help connect prospective students with advisors so we can do even more fabulous planetary science! (Submitting a response indicates ...
docs.google.com
August 5, 2025 at 6:03 PM
I am community sourcing a list of people who are actively in search of MS/PhD students in planetary science/astrobiology/exoplanets for Fall 2026. If you are such a person, please fill out the following google form:
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
Yes, high spectral resolution in space is surely the future for exoplanets. It doesn't even need to be that "high" res, JWST's R=2,700 is delivering great science, just think what could be done with a R=3,000-5,000 integral field spectrograph behind a coronagraph on HWO 🤯
Next up is Jean-Baptiste Ruffio urging everyone to consider the potential of moderate-to-high resolution spectroscopy for HWO. We need to consider what is the optimal resolution for detecting biosignatures - trade off between spreading light over more pixels and increased information content. #HWO25
July 29, 2025 at 1:26 PM
Yes, high spectral resolution in space is surely the future for exoplanets. It doesn't even need to be that "high" res, JWST's R=2,700 is delivering great science, just think what could be done with a R=3,000-5,000 integral field spectrograph behind a coronagraph on HWO 🤯
Reposted by Jayne Birkby
gorgeous new JWST spectrum of the rogue planet PSO J318 from @paulmolliere.bsky.social ! Strong absorption at 10 microns likely due to small SiO particles, acting as seeds for cloud formation arxiv.org/pdf/2507.18691
July 28, 2025 at 11:43 AM
gorgeous new JWST spectrum of the rogue planet PSO J318 from @paulmolliere.bsky.social ! Strong absorption at 10 microns likely due to small SiO particles, acting as seeds for cloud formation arxiv.org/pdf/2507.18691
Reposted by Jayne Birkby
Hubble Space Telescope images of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS are out! These were taken 5 hours ago. Plenty of cosmic rays peppering the images, but the comet's coma looks very nice and puffy. Best of luck to the researchers trying to write up papers for this... archive.stsci.edu/proposal_sea... 🔭
July 21, 2025 at 9:28 PM
Hubble Space Telescope images of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS are out! These were taken 5 hours ago. Plenty of cosmic rays peppering the images, but the comet's coma looks very nice and puffy. Best of luck to the researchers trying to write up papers for this... archive.stsci.edu/proposal_sea... 🔭
Reposted by Jayne Birkby
Want to come and join our lovely facilitation team in Oxford Physics? my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...
Job Details
my.corehr.com
July 14, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Want to come and join our lovely facilitation team in Oxford Physics? my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...
Stunning data, brightness maps of the supergiant star Antares showing its convective cells 😲 congrats Pilate et al.! ⭐
The brightest star in Scorpius, Antares, is nearing the end of its 15 million year life. It's so large that the orbits of Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars would be inside the star. 🔭🧪
Pilate et al. published brightness maps of the star, showing gigantic convective cells.
arxiv.org/abs/2507.08614
Pilate et al. published brightness maps of the star, showing gigantic convective cells.
arxiv.org/abs/2507.08614
July 14, 2025 at 4:25 PM
Stunning data, brightness maps of the supergiant star Antares showing its convective cells 😲 congrats Pilate et al.! ⭐
Reposted by Jayne Birkby
You can read more about how high resolution spectroscopy can constrain sub-Neptune atmospheres (and provide constraints that are comparable with JWST…) in the paper we published this year! (ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2025MNRA...)
Limits on the atmospheric metallicity and aerosols of the sub-Neptune GJ 3090 b from high-resolution CRIRES+ spectroscopy
The sub-Neptune planets have no solar system analogues, and their low bulk densities suggest thick atmospheres containing degenerate quantities of volatiles and H/He, surrounding cores of unknown size...
ui.adsabs.harvard.edu
July 12, 2025 at 4:21 AM
You can read more about how high resolution spectroscopy can constrain sub-Neptune atmospheres (and provide constraints that are comparable with JWST…) in the paper we published this year! (ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2025MNRA...)