Sophie Newman
@sophienewman.bsky.social
PhD student at the University of Portsmouth generating synthetic observations of high-z galaxies 🌌 Lover of crafts and tea 🧵☕
https://sophie-newman.github.io
https://www.youtube.com/@fieldof_view
https://sophie-newman.github.io
https://www.youtube.com/@fieldof_view
Using this simulated X-ray binary disc, we find that a very exciting result:
The spin and temperature profile of a black hole can be discerned by studying how much their light is magnified during a microlensing event! 4/4
The spin and temperature profile of a black hole can be discerned by studying how much their light is magnified during a microlensing event! 4/4
September 17, 2025 at 6:15 PM
Using this simulated X-ray binary disc, we find that a very exciting result:
The spin and temperature profile of a black hole can be discerned by studying how much their light is magnified during a microlensing event! 4/4
The spin and temperature profile of a black hole can be discerned by studying how much their light is magnified during a microlensing event! 4/4
With co-authors Matthew Middleton and Adam McMaster, maps showing how the brightness of X-ray binaries, for a given black hole spin and temperature profile, vary with distance were then generated! 3/4
September 17, 2025 at 6:12 PM
With co-authors Matthew Middleton and Adam McMaster, maps showing how the brightness of X-ray binaries, for a given black hole spin and temperature profile, vary with distance were then generated! 3/4
In this work we started by generating mock microlensing events caused by white dwarfs moving in front of X-ray sources in the Andromeda galaxy (M31)! For each of these events, we use the angular separation between the white dwarf and source to calculate the resulting magnification A. 2/4
September 17, 2025 at 6:10 PM
In this work we started by generating mock microlensing events caused by white dwarfs moving in front of X-ray sources in the Andromeda galaxy (M31)! For each of these events, we use the angular separation between the white dwarf and source to calculate the resulting magnification A. 2/4
I'm excited to announce that after two years, my Masters project has finally been submitted to MNRAS and is available to read on arXiv! 1/4
arxiv.org/abs/2509.10674
arxiv.org/abs/2509.10674
September 17, 2025 at 6:05 PM
I'm excited to announce that after two years, my Masters project has finally been submitted to MNRAS and is available to read on arXiv! 1/4
arxiv.org/abs/2509.10674
arxiv.org/abs/2509.10674
I'm SO excited to write the follow up paper to our April Fools Day paper after The Life of a Showgirl comes out - was our Taylor expansion correct? Will there be 12 ± 5 unique astrophysics words in her next album?! arxiv.org/abs/2503.24188
August 14, 2025 at 9:20 PM
I'm SO excited to write the follow up paper to our April Fools Day paper after The Life of a Showgirl comes out - was our Taylor expansion correct? Will there be 12 ± 5 unique astrophysics words in her next album?! arxiv.org/abs/2503.24188
Had such a fun time explaining the wonders of @eucliduk.bsky.social to those at @goodwoodrrc.bsky.social yesterday! Time to spot some F1 cars today! 🏎️
July 12, 2025 at 8:14 AM
Had such a fun time explaining the wonders of @eucliduk.bsky.social to those at @goodwoodrrc.bsky.social yesterday! Time to spot some F1 cars today! 🏎️
finally got through my official offer letter from @flatironinstitute.org ... Alexa play Welcome to New York by Taylor Swift 🗽
July 1, 2025 at 6:54 PM
finally got through my official offer letter from @flatironinstitute.org ... Alexa play Welcome to New York by Taylor Swift 🗽
being given money to buy books because I like talking to teenagers about physics and happen to be good at it? sounds like a great deal to me
June 30, 2025 at 5:08 PM
being given money to buy books because I like talking to teenagers about physics and happen to be good at it? sounds like a great deal to me
A bizarre day of doing physics outreach at Portsmouth Comic Con! Never thought I'd be dressed as Feyre from ACOTAR while teaching others how to make a JWST model 👀
May 3, 2025 at 2:44 PM
A bizarre day of doing physics outreach at Portsmouth Comic Con! Never thought I'd be dressed as Feyre from ACOTAR while teaching others how to make a JWST model 👀
Had a super lovely day at the Royal Astronomical Society for their Specialist Discussion Meeting titled 'Exploring extreme stellar populations and initial mass function in the Universe' where I gave a talk on the impact of stellar rotation and Wolf-Rayet phase temperatures on high-redshift spectra!
March 17, 2025 at 9:28 AM
Had a super lovely day at the Royal Astronomical Society for their Specialist Discussion Meeting titled 'Exploring extreme stellar populations and initial mass function in the Universe' where I gave a talk on the impact of stellar rotation and Wolf-Rayet phase temperatures on high-redshift spectra!
late post but I'm always so, so thankful to all the women who have reminded me that I'm not alone in this often hard and isolating environment of academia!! (Image cred: @abbierosie_ on IG) #internationalwomensday
March 8, 2025 at 9:28 PM
late post but I'm always so, so thankful to all the women who have reminded me that I'm not alone in this often hard and isolating environment of academia!! (Image cred: @abbierosie_ on IG) #internationalwomensday
We then had lots of fun at the University of Portsmouth’s Centre for Creative and Immersive eXtended Reality (CCIXR) where the students were able to explore volumetric and motion capture!
February 27, 2025 at 3:36 PM
We then had lots of fun at the University of Portsmouth’s Centre for Creative and Immersive eXtended Reality (CCIXR) where the students were able to explore volumetric and motion capture!
Loved this dinosaur rocket!
February 27, 2025 at 3:33 PM
Loved this dinosaur rocket!
Very little research but lots of fun was had today while designing some rockets and learning about concepts such as centre of pressure with fifteen year 8 students who are on the JET Blue Skies programme! #astroedu www.joneggingtrust.org.uk/blue-skies/
February 27, 2025 at 3:33 PM
Very little research but lots of fun was had today while designing some rockets and learning about concepts such as centre of pressure with fifteen year 8 students who are on the JET Blue Skies programme! #astroedu www.joneggingtrust.org.uk/blue-skies/
also great for fun office photos
February 12, 2025 at 9:29 AM
also great for fun office photos
10/10 homemade office decor 🌟
February 12, 2025 at 9:27 AM
10/10 homemade office decor 🌟
A brainchild project of mine came to life today at our department's yearly outreach event for local families in Portsmouth! It was so satisfying seeing all the prep I did make children super happy 🌟
February 5, 2025 at 10:14 PM
A brainchild project of mine came to life today at our department's yearly outreach event for local families in Portsmouth! It was so satisfying seeing all the prep I did make children super happy 🌟
First science-y book I've read in a long time and I'm really enjoying it! Have also made the switch from Goodreads to Storygraph if you fancy following me there (@sophiephys)! 📖
February 1, 2025 at 10:33 PM
First science-y book I've read in a long time and I'm really enjoying it! Have also made the switch from Goodreads to Storygraph if you fancy following me there (@sophiephys)! 📖
This morning I had the opportunity to convince people why it's important to do forward modelling and choose their stellar population models carefully at my first conference!
January 23, 2025 at 9:38 PM
This morning I had the opportunity to convince people why it's important to do forward modelling and choose their stellar population models carefully at my first conference!
Finally, we compare our new M24 model, which includes stellar rotation effects, to other models. Rotation leads to much stronger emission lines than our previous models and even stronger at certain ages than models with interacting binary stars!
January 7, 2025 at 10:50 AM
Finally, we compare our new M24 model, which includes stellar rotation effects, to other models. Rotation leads to much stronger emission lines than our previous models and even stronger at certain ages than models with interacting binary stars!
Comparing the strengths of these lines to data from JWST, we learn that galaxies in the early universe had lots of hot, ionising gas, in agreement with other studies.
January 7, 2025 at 10:49 AM
Comparing the strengths of these lines to data from JWST, we learn that galaxies in the early universe had lots of hot, ionising gas, in agreement with other studies.
And that gives us this beautiful set of emission lines! The youngest star populations have the strongest emission lines since they have a lot of hot and massive stars which emit intense radiation, whilst the older populations have weaker emission lines.
January 7, 2025 at 10:49 AM
And that gives us this beautiful set of emission lines! The youngest star populations have the strongest emission lines since they have a lot of hot and massive stars which emit intense radiation, whilst the older populations have weaker emission lines.
To add emission lines to our new model called M24, we used that model as a source of radiation entering a gas cloud. We used a fancy code called Cloudy to calculate the amount of radiation emitted from the cloud in the form of emission lines.
January 7, 2025 at 10:48 AM
To add emission lines to our new model called M24, we used that model as a source of radiation entering a gas cloud. We used a fancy code called Cloudy to calculate the amount of radiation emitted from the cloud in the form of emission lines.
The telescope JWST has been observing many of these emission lines in some of the earliest galaxies we have ever observed, and so these lines can tell us a lot about what elements were around stars and galaxies in the early universe!
January 7, 2025 at 10:47 AM
The telescope JWST has been observing many of these emission lines in some of the earliest galaxies we have ever observed, and so these lines can tell us a lot about what elements were around stars and galaxies in the early universe!