How can we build powerful space telescopes faster? Great ideas and lots of positive energy at the 2-day NASA meeting in D.C. on Accelerating Innovation for Astrophysics missions! It was great to see friends and colleagues, and work on an even brighter and fast-paced future for NASA astrophysics!

What if Earth-sized HZ worlds don’t have exactly Earth-like climate feedbacks? Climate Chaos, Snowballs, run-aways - but also many temperate yet not-Earth-like worlds! Congrats to Chaucer Langbert on this cool study! arxiv.org/abs/2602.10369 @uarizonalpl.bsky.social @stewardobservatory.bsky.social

Not Earth-like Yet Temperate? More Generic Climate Feedback Configurations Still Allow Temperate Climates in Habitable Zone Exo-Earth Candidates

Earth's climate is influenced by over a dozen feedbacks, but only three dominate its long-term climate behavior. Models of the exoplanet habitable zone (HZ) assume that this is similar for other Earth...

arxiv.org

Pandora is up in orbit! But how did the launch feel, up close and personal? Read my blog about my experience: distantearths.com/how-did-the-...

How did the launch *feel*?

An incredible 24 hours! After a picture-perfect launch, Pandora is now in orbit, with solar panels deployed and alive (receiving commands from ground! After seven years of working on this project, …

distantearths.com

Our NASA’s Pandora space telescope is on orbit!! Congrats to the team and NASA, LSP, SpaceX, and everyone who helped to get to this exciting point! What will Pandora do and why is it important for exoplanet science? Read my short article on this: theconversation.com/nasas-pandor...

NASA’s Pandora telescope will study stars in detail to learn about the exoplanets orbiting them

The findings from Pandora will complement data from the James Webb Space Telescope to give astronomers more insight into stars and planets outside our solar system.

theconversation.com

Spotted a Sonora bobcat this morning just when it snatched a white-winged dove. Such a beautiful animal!

#ArtAdventCalendar day 20. Already! Here's an animation of a space elevator. Made with #Blender3d because of course. #SciArt #spaceart Please repost 😊

Countdown clock in @stewardobservatory.bsky.social for our NASA Pandora Space Telescope: T-60 days!! Our team is getting ready for the launch of this incredibly exciting mission to explore worlds beyond the Solar System! #exoplanets @uazresearch.bsky.social @uarizonalpl.bsky.social

I had fun talking about exoplanets and search for habitable worlds at The Explorers Club live event in Sedona. Sam Schwann, underwater explorer and artist followed with very cool videos of ocean exploration and swimming with sharks! Will do this again soon - next time in Tucson!

Enjoyed talking w Bruce Dorminey in Iceland about our universal framework to assess which exoplanets & moons may be habitable. Key for search for life beyond Earth! His story: @forbes.com www.forbes.com/sites/bruced... @stewardobservatory.bsky.social @uarizonalpl.bsky.social @uarizona.bsky.social

Much enjoyed last week's Sagan Summer School. Great to see friends, colleagues, & meet early-career scientists! My lecture and blog post on the future of exoplanet/sub-neptune research are now online: www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSzY... distantearths.com/sub-neptunes... @stewardobservatory.bsky.social

For 40 years, Michelle Cournoyer has supported students and faculty, solved problems, and shown up with heart. As she prepares to retire this August, we celebrate the impact of a true Steward Observatory legend: bit.ly/3GWkAQv

Exoplanet demographics are key: Integrative. A key point from today's talk by Daniel Apai at #sagan2025 on future prospects of key planetary processes and trends in the sub-Neptune population. #exoplanets

A new model helps scientists assess whether environments on alien worlds could support specific forms of life, real or hypothetical, based on known biological limits and uncertain data. By @danielapai.bsky.social @uarizona.bsky.social: buff.ly/M4VdDsu

New model helps to figure out which distant planets may host life

As NASA rolls out more powerful telescopes in the future, scientists will need a way to determine where to point them. A new approach could help.

theconversation.com

When is an alien world habitable? Steward Observatory's @danielapai.bsky.social explores this question in his latest article in The Conversation: bit.ly/43vZKQw

With all the buzz about the latest potential sign of life on a distant planet, Steward Observatory's astronomy professor @danielapai.bsky.social puts the discovery in context. Read his take: bit.ly/3S1fYKB

While we're on the topic of biosignatures, I'd like to re-up my last two papers about the challenges of observing O₂ (a key biosignature) on 𝘌𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘩-𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 exoplanets with the biggest upcoming optical/IR telescopes ever built: ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2025AJ..... ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2023AJ.....

Exciting nights! We are integrating the first prototype telescope based on Nautilus multi-order diffractive optics! At Mt Lemmon Sky Center. Our telescope is unique, custom-built to demonstrate broadband imaging with a light, flat lens! @stewardobservatory.bsky.social @uarizona.bsky.social

Here is a great postdoc opportunity at LPL with Sukrit Ranjan to study photochemistry and atmospheric escape for terrestrial planets. arizona.csod.com/ux/ats/caree...

PUBLISHED!!! Go check out IF we will be able to look for a key biosignature (oxygen!) with the Giant Magellan Telescope and the Extremely Large Telescope! 🔭🪐🧪 iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3...

Bioverse: Giant Magellan Telescope and Extremely Large Telescope Direct Imaging and High-resolution Spectroscopy Assessment—Surveying Exo-Earth O2 and Testing the Habitable Zone Oxygen Hypothesis - IOPscienceSearchopens in new tab

Bioverse: Giant Magellan Telescope and Extremely Large Telescope Direct Imaging and High-resolution Spectroscopy Assessment—Surveying Exo-Earth O2 and Testing the Habitable Zone Oxygen Hypothesis, Hardegree-Ullman, Kevin K., Apai, Dániel, Haffert, Sebastiaan Y., Schlecker, Martin, Kasper, Markus, Kammerer, Jens, Wagner, Kevin

iopscience.iop.org

Kevin Hardegree-Ullman@kevinkhu.bsky.social · 2y ago

It took a while, but our paper has finally been accepted to the Astronomical Journal! Check out the updated version, which is ~5 pages longer (now with more figures and tables)! Our O₂ survey yields are slightly higher after two minor code corrections. arxiv.org/abs/2405.11423 🔭🪐🧪

The Art of Planetary Science is in full swing at @uarizonalpl.bsky.social Come visit this weekend!

Happy to announce we have joined BlueSky and look forward to sharing information about the amazing discoveries we make at CSS. Stick around for some neat stuff! #astronomy #asteroids #planetarydefense

Glen Schneider (1955–2025) was a self-confessed "umbraphile" -- a "shadow-lover" who pursued solar eclipses around the globe and earned a world record for the greatest number of total solar eclipses ever experienced. Read about his work and lasting legacy: bit.ly/4hVUaet

Glenn was an exceptional scholar and kind colleague whose office door was always open. His debris disk images will continue to inspire. As a dedicated solar eclipse chaser, he captured the rare ethereal beauty of science around the globe. Ad Astra, Glenn! nicmosis.as.arizona.edu:8000/UMBRAPHILLIA...

András Gáspár@andrasgaspar.bsky.social · last yr.

I am sad to let everyone in the astronomy community know that Glenn Schneider passed away yesterday. I've worked together with him closely in the past decade and learned a lot from him. He had a long career, culminating in various HST related projects. He was a lead scientist of the NICMOS project,

I am thrilled to speak in the College of Science Lecture Series "Can We Talk?". On March 27, Chris Impey and I will explore a really cool topic: communicating with alien civilizations! science.arizona.edu/community-en... @stewardobservatory.bsky.social @uarizona.bsky.social @uarizonalpl.bsky.social

Excellent study of a very exciting substellar companion in the Pleiades!

Gabe Weible@gabeweible.bsky.social · 2y ago

I'm very excited to share that my first (and first-author) publication is up on the arXiv today! arxiv.org/abs/2501.16429 We studied a circumbinary brown dwarf companion in the Pleiades with direct imaging taken using both apertures of the Large Bincocular Telescope.

Unlike in 2024 I won't be offering a topic this year but this is really a unique program for students in astrophysics, software engineering, instrument calibration/support, and public outreach/scientific writing. Check out the SASP @spacetelescope.bsky.social & apply! www.stsci.edu/opportunitie...

Space Astronomy Summer Program

Fostering hands-on astronomy, engineering, and public outreach project opportunities to serve upper-division undergraduate students.

stsci.edu

A great visit to White Sands National Park. We enjoyed a hike deep into the dune fields. Amazing wind-sculpted landscape! Pretty cool that the gypsum ultimately originates from layers deposited by the Permian Sea on the Pangea supercontinent about 250 million years ago!

Have questions to NASA Astrophysics Division Director and about Program Analysis Groups? Attend the Joint PAG Session at the AAS on January 12. More info here: cor.gsfc.nasa.gov/copag/meetin...

Our exoplanets and astrobiology research group – what a thrill to work with this amazing team on exploring new worlds! @gabeweible.bsky.social @stewardobservatory.bsky.social @bemiles.bsky.social @sailorsupernova.bsky.social @matthewmurphy.bsky.social @kevinkhu.bsky.social

An Impact in Elysium Planitia This image shows an impact crater in Elysium Planitia that was first discovered by the Mars Context Camera that formed between February 2012 and June 2014. More: uahirise.org/hipod/ESP_03... NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona #Mars #science #NASA