I am all for saving Jodrell Bank, but please don’t lose sight of the fact that it is simply the most visible manifestation of a much bigger problem, which isn’t solved if someone magically finds the money to keep it going, simply to shut people up. 🔭🧪

Another excellent thread on all this.

Suzanne Aigrain @airbornegrain.bsky.social · last wk.

Like all my colleagues I'm dismayed and angry at the cuts announced by STFC to UK astronomy, most prominently to Jodrell Bank and the associated radio astronomy facilities.

Fully agreed with this thread, thanks @airbornegrain.bsky.social for writing it.

Suzanne Aigrain @airbornegrain.bsky.social · last wk.

Like all my colleagues I'm dismayed and angry at the cuts announced by STFC to UK astronomy, most prominently to Jodrell Bank and the associated radio astronomy facilities.

Like all my colleagues I'm dismayed and angry at the cuts announced by STFC to UK astronomy, most prominently to Jodrell Bank and the associated radio astronomy facilities.

The townspeople of Watlington are banding together to buy shops on their High Street, so they can “let them at fair rents to tenants who benefit the town” and keep them out of the hands of “landlords who want to maximise their yield”. They are raising £600,000 and have targeted three properties.

The @heisingsimonsfdn.bsky.social has created a new fellowship scheme for instrumentation research in astronomy, called Astronova. A really good initiative for supporting early career researchers who work in technology development or instrument building 🔭 www.hsfoundation.org/programs/sci...

Astronova Fellowship

Launched in 2026, the Heising-Simons Foundation’s Astronomical Innovation (Astronova™) Fellowship provides support for promising postdoctoral scientists to revolutionize the fields of astronomy and as...

hsfoundation.org

My kid is starting secondary school in September, and his school want every child to have their own Chromebook. I don't object to reasoned laptop use in class but I'm uncomfortable about the way Google is built into the tools our children are using. Is this a thing people get exercised about?

Advertising international Masters and PhD scholarships in astronomy at Macquarie, one of Australia's leading institutes! Submit an Expression of Interest by 12 July to start your studies in January 2027. We have projects on offer on stars, planets, and galaxies; and instrumentation and data.

I've recently finished teaching a 4-week optional course for first year @oxfordphysics.bsky.social undergraduates. The students who turned up looked interested, but very few asked questions, and the turnout was depressingly low, despite this being a usually popular topic. 1/n

Join Professor Kirsty Duffy at Oxford Physics on May 13th, 7pm, to discover how elusive neutrinos might explain the universe’s existence. A free public talk for all curious minds - Register now: https://www.physics.ox.ac.uk/events/neutrinos-universe-and-everything

Summer undergrad internships at QUB's Astrophysics Research Centre (Deadline is May 8) www.qub.ac.uk/research-cen... 🔭☄️

Before installing the detector it's essential to take some time out and see the gorgeous spectrum with your own eyes. It's impossible to capture what the eye sees but this photo gives you an idea ...

It's so exciting to see the HARPS3 instrument coming together in real time at the Isaac Newton Telescope! Looking forward to the first light soon

Terra Hunting Experiment@terrahunting.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Successful Echelle installation 🎉 The heart of HARPS3 is looking amazing 😍

I have had a few students go through this program and strongly recommend it!

NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory@vrubinobs.bsky.social · 5mo ago

📢 Applications are open for the 2026 LSST Discovery Alliance Data Science Fellowship! 🔭🧪 Learn the skills needed to work with the huge datasets from NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory’s 10-year survey. Apply by Mar 27: lsstdiscoveryalliance.org/lsst-discovery-alliance-programs/data-science-fellowship

This sounds like a really cool paper, definitely going on my reading list!

Andrew Mann@amann.bsky.social · 5mo ago

I'm super excited to share a HUGE paper out from Young Worlds Lab team member Andy Boyle. I present for you, ~900,000 rotation periods from TESS! 🤯🔭🧪⭐ #exoplanets #stellarrotation arxiv.org/abs/2603.05586

TFW you tick an item off your todo list and you realise it's over 5 years old...

Very happy to advertise a Postdoctoral Research Associate in Exoplanet Science position with me and Christian Schwab at Macquarie University in Sydney. We'll be working on applying machine learning & differentiable physics models to extremely precise radial velocity surveys.

Postdoctoral Research Associate in Exoplanet Science

PRIMARY DETAIL - Salary Package: $109,272 - $117,108 (HEW Level A.6-A.8) - plus 17% employer's superannuation contribution and annual leave loading. - Full time, 3 year fixed-term role - Macquarie Uni...

mq.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com

The 2026 ESA Graduate Trainee positions are waiting for your applications! Step into a unique role where you’ll contribute to inspiring space missions and work alongside leading professionals from across Europe. Discover the available positions 👉 jobs.esa.int #ESArecruits 🔭 🧪

🔊 Calling UK early career researches in astro, particle & nuclear physics. Please sign this open response to the proposed cuts at STFC ⚛️🧪🔭 "Protecting the UK's reputation as a science superpower requires not only investment, but continuity, confidence, and people" ✍️ ecr-openletter-stfc.github.io

Christopher Berry@cplberry.bsky.social · 6mo ago

An excellent open-letter enumerating the dangers to early career researchers and then wider society of proposed changes to UK science funding ecr-openletter-stfc.github.io Early-career researchers may like to add their signatures 🧪⚛️🔭 #AcademicSky #UKpol

Great commentary on the recently announced budget cuts to physics and astronomy in the UK, by @chrislintott.bsky.social www.ox.ac.uk/news/2026-02...

Expert Comment: Cuts to fundamental research will hurt the UK’s

Chris Lintott, Professor of Astrophysics at Oxford’s Department of Physics, responds to the news that University funding for astronomy and physics research will be cut by almost a third.

ox.ac.uk

We're recruiting international MRes and PhD students at Macquarie across stars & planets, galaxies, and instrumentation. Sign up here by February 8! In particular, I'm recruiting for exoplanet projects generally and have funding for RVs in particular. Submit your expressions of interest here!

Here's a fun piece of code I wrote to visualize the astrometric orbital elements. To run the visualization for yourself, check it out here: github.com/sblunt/show-... Black dashed is the line of nodes, and lighter purple indicates the part of the orbit that is behind the plane of the sky. Enjoy!

Anyone happen to know how I can query GAIA DR3 given ESA servers are down? 🔭 Interested in light curves specifically

That image just blows my mind

Landru79@landru79.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Cualquier recorte es una delicia, las capacidades del #JWST se hacen extraordinariamente evidentes. James #Webb Space Telescope #JWST Imaging dust knots in a planetary nebula TARG: #NGC7293 #Helix Nebula 2024-10-24 PI: Garcia Marin, Macarena NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI/j. Roger

It was an absolute pleasure hosting you, @johannavos.bsky.social, and hearing about the exciting work going on in your group. What fantastic datasets. I'm looking forward to learning lots more about the variability of ~Jupiter-sized objects in the coming months/years!

Johanna Vos@johannavos.bsky.social · 7mo ago

I had such a great time visiting Oxford yesterday and getting a preview of all the cool science coming out of the exoplanets groups. Thanks so much for hosting me @airbornegrain.bsky.social @jaynebirkby.bsky.social ! 🪐

I'm absolutely delighted to have been awarded the 2026 George Darwin Lecture by the RAS @royalastrosoc.bsky.social !

Royal Astronomical Society@royalastrosoc.bsky.social · 7mo ago

And finally, the awarding of this year's lectureships! Professor Suzanne Aigrain, of @oxfordphysics.bsky.social, is awarded the George Darwin Lectureship. 🥳 ⤵️

This week we are hosting the @terrahunting.bsky.social science team in Oxford. Terra Hunting will use HARPS3 which is right now being installed on the Isaac Newton Telescope in La Palma to search for nearby Earth analogues. Exciting times! @oxfordphysics.bsky.social @oxoplanets.bsky.social

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

mpia.de

⭐️✨🔭Please help us get the message out about the 7th annual international ASPIRE program at @api.uva.nl. This summer 2026 school provides astronomy research experience for talented MSc students from countries where opportunities to move into a PhD program are limited. Applications are due 17 Dec! ⭐️✨🔭

Interested in finding transiting planets at long periods, e.g. with the @platomissioncon.bsky.social? We just published a Research Note led by Geert Jan Talens, showing that such transits can be much longer or shorter than usually assumed iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3...