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Érika Le Bourdais

@astroerika.bsky.social

Sometimes I think about geriatric stars that eat dead planets | PhD Student at UMontreal and Trottier Institute for Research on Exoplanets 🇨🇦

95 Posts295 Follower167 Folgt
Kevin Hardegree-Ullman@kevinkhu.bsky.social · last mo.

In recent years, Astronomy on Tap events have grown, hopefully reaching audiences that wouldn't normally go to public talks. However, as an astronomer who doesn't drink and has exactly zero interest in doing outreach at bars, are there other creative outlets you've seen for non-standard outreach? 🔭

Katie Mack@astrokatie.com · 5mo ago

When Einstein developed general relativity the closest thing to a practical application that could even be imagined at the time was a slightly more precise description of where to look for the planet Mercury in the sky, and yet now we’d all be literally lost without it. Anyway: fund basic research.

Mike Boylan-Kolchin@mbkplus.bsky.social · 5mo ago

GPS satellites move at 1/100000 the speed of light, causing their clocks to tick slower by 7 microseconds per day, and orbit at a height that makes their clocks tick faster by 45 microseconds per day. Two relativistic effects, both at the 1 part in 10 billion level, both essential for GPS accuracy 🧪

Érika Le Bourdais@astroerika.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Really important thread! Most importantly: stop comparing yourself to others and focus on yourself!

Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌@chanda.blacksky.app · 10mo ago

A note on learning physics ⚛️ for starting PhD students: At the risk of saying something completely useless because everyone has it worked out There is no magic trick, your classmates *may* be faster than you, but they are still studying as long as they need to and you are quite capable of the same

Érika Le Bourdais@astroerika.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Super interesting project I’ve been working on lately where we try do detect exoplanets orbiting white dwarf stars! My colleague John explains here one of our recent results! 🔭

John Debes@johndebes.bsky.social · 11mo ago

A little sneak peak from the MEAD survey of white dwarfs within 25 pc using MIRI 10 and 15 micron imaging filters. Visit 101 of the survey captured images of EGGR 199, which is just 16pc away. No planets down to 3 Mjup found nearby the white dwarf! (1/2) #astrosci 🔭

A false color image of the JWST MIRI field of view. The white dwarf is a blue point source roughly in the middle of the image, surrounded by blue and orange stars and galaxies.
Marc Kuchner | Author@marckuchner.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Congrats to NASA Citizen Scientist @melina-iras07572.bsky.social! In 2019, Melina discovered the oldest white dwarf with a debris disk. Now this white dwarf is in the news again. @astroerika.bsky.social et al. suggest it may have recently engulfed a rocky planet. iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3...

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Space Telescope Science Institute@stsci.edu · 11mo ago

A dead star has been spotted ripping a planet apart! “Something clearly disturbed this system long after the star’s death,” said co-investigator John Debes of the Space Telescope Science Institute. (1/4) 🔭 🧪 🧵

At image center is a small, white star against a gray background. It is surrounded by a large translucent disk with rings and gaps that extends from upper left to lower right. In the foreground, irregular chunky rocks are floating in space along the bottom of the frame. A stream of material extends from lower right toward the central star. The words, artist’s concept are at lower left.
Gordon Hundley@drgoon.bsky.social · 11mo ago

This is very cool - LSPM J0207+3331 was discovered by citizen scientist Melina Thévenot while searching ESA's GAIA catalog for brown dwarfs. blog.backyardworlds.org/2019/02/19/t... Here's the paper that STScI quotes: iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3...

The Crystal Ball White Dwarf

Today is a big day at Backyard Worlds: Planet 9!  We’re celebrating our 2nd anniversary, our reboot, and announcing our second paper, published in the Astrophysical Journal letters.   (You ca…

blog.backyardworlds.org

Space Telescope Science Institute@stsci.edu · 11mo ago

Astronomers have identified a rare, ancient planetary system still being actively consumed by its central white dwarf star, LSPM J0207+3331, which is located 145 light-years from Earth. (2/4)

Érika Le Bourdais@astroerika.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Want to know more about my recent paper about this cool geriatric white dwarf eating its planets? 🤩 It’s all detailed in this news article by @stsci.edu ! 🔭

Space Telescope Science Institute@stsci.edu · 11mo ago

Astronomers have found a rare, ancient planetary system 145 light-years away, where a white dwarf star is actively consuming debris from a disrupted planet—the oldest and most “polluted” disk ever seen around such a star: https://bit.ly/47mYktj 🔭 🧪

At image center is a small, white star against a gray background. It is surrounded by a large translucent disk with rings and gaps that extends from upper left to lower right. In the foreground, irregular chunky rocks are floating in space along the bottom of the frame. A stream of material extends from lower right toward the central star. The words, artist’s concept are at lower left.
Érika Le Bourdais@astroerika.bsky.social · 12mo ago

My latest paper is finally out! 🎊 Turns out that that odd white dwarf discovered by @melina-iras07572.bsky.social is accreting a MASSIVE rocky planetary object, hinting that planetary systems can stay active billions of years after the death of their star! 🌟 🪨🪐 For more: arxiv.org/abs/2510.08676

Tracing Planetary Accretion in a 3 Gyr-old Hydrogen-Rich White Dwarf: The Extremely Polluted Atmosphere of LSPM J0207+3331

We report the detection of 13 heavy elements (Na, Mg, Al, Si, Ca, Ti, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, and Sr) in the photosphere of LSPM J0207+3331, a ~3 Gyr old hydrogen-rich white dwarf with an effective te...

arxiv.org

Érika Le Bourdais@astroerika.bsky.social · last yr.

I love studying these systems as we keep finding new things! 🪨🪐 The paper I just submitted has one of these super exciting discoveries for a super duper old white dwarf and I can’t wait to tell everyone about it! 😁 Hint: Planetary systems can hang around a LONG time after their death 🙊

Phil Plait@philplait.bsky.social · last yr.

Zombie stars feed off their children. And it happens a *lot*. [This issue is for paid subscriptions only - sign up to get lots of articles by me on cool astronomy and other topics!] badastronomy.beehiiv.com/p/white-dwar...

Érika Le Bourdais@astroerika.bsky.social · last yr.

The replies made this insecure #WomanInSTEM smile. I love unsolicited mentions of women pioneers ❤️ Also, the main post says a lot about the state of journalism these days.

Ben Collins@bencollins.bsky.social · last yr.

I'd just like to point out how weird it is that places with hundreds or even thousands of reporters — the NYT, WaPo, CBS, NBC, AP, etc. — are all getting pummeled on every major story by the dozen computerboys at Wired. To fumble the bag this consistently is, at some point, cowardice and a choice.