Keith Smith
@drkeithsmith.bsky.social
PhD, occasional astronomer, talking head, science geek, cynic. Senior Editor at @Science.org, responsible for research papers in astronomy and planetary science. Views own, duh. Bio: https://www.science.org/content/author/keith-t-smith
Neptune’s inner moons may have formed from the deep interiors of ancient icy satellites, new observations show. Learn more in #ScienceAdvances: https://scim.ag/4pGwU9f
Neptune’s inner moons and rings are exposed icy body interiors
Triton’s destructive wake exposed clay-like minerals from within ancient icy worlds, now reaccreted as Neptune’s inner moons.
scim.ag
An Editorial in @science.org discusses the recent reorganisation of the UK science ministry, and plans to improve commercialisation of British science. @profgeraintrees.bsky.social & @jameswilsdon.bsky.social argue that capital investment is the main limitation. 🔭🧪⚛️ www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Editor's choice: Will the Sun destroy Earth? Esseldeurs et al. simulate the fate of the inner Solar System when the Sun evolves into a red giant star. ☄️🔭🧪 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
U.K. physics cuts may force iconic 1950s telescope to close | Science | AAAS @science.org 🔭🧪 www.science.org/content/arti...
U.K. physics cuts may force iconic 1950s telescope to close
Jodrell Bank Observatory is one of several projects to lose funding following a review by the cash-strapped Science and Technology Facilities Council
science.org
I am sorry to hear that Ralph Wijers has died aged 62. We were colleagues at MNRAS, where Ralph was a long-standing editor, and he was a great help to me at Science. We both enjoyed swapping opinions on peer review, open access, preprints (he was scientific director of arXiv), and open science. ☄️🔭
Michael Merrifield@astromikemerri.bsky.social · 2w agoSad to learn that astronomy has lost one of its great characters. A thoroughly lovely person, and an excellent scientist. 🔭 www.astronomie.nl/nieuws/en/in...
A great illustration of how wide-field astronomical surveys have improved over the last three decades. The first image here used photographic plates on 1-m class telescopes. The last one is from an 8 m diameter telescope equipped with a digital camera the size of a small car. ☄️🔭🧪⚛️
NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory@vrubinobs.bsky.social · 2w agoTalk about a cosmic glow-up✨📸 This progression of images of galaxy group RSCG 55 shows the evolution of ground-based sky surveys spanning more than three decades🤯, ending with NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory's view. 🔭🧪
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Sar Crespi@boron110.bsky.social · 2w agoWhat would you do if a meteorite crashed through your house? In this case, "The homeowner...quickly sealed the evidence in glass jars, handling the fragments with disposable gloves and aluminum foil." Two years later, we have amino acids and brine! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
I think we can all agree: the correct team lost a terrible game.
The only thing worse than the game so far is the farcical half time show 😳 Does anyone actually like this stuff?
Observing an atmosphere on a rocky #exoplanet orbiting in the habitable zone: Cherubim et al. use transit spectroscopy to identify helium absorption by LHS 1140b. The results indicate a helium-dominated atmosphere that is undergoing transient escape. ☄️🔭🧪 #Exo6 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
NSF has decided to ban collaborations between every U.S. scientist it funds and nearly all Chinese research institutions and their employees. The new policy abandons NSF’s earlier attempt to balance the potential risks and benefits of such collaborations. https://scim.ag/4bw5Of5
New NSF policy would ban almost all collaborations with Chinese scientists
Agency drops attempt to mitigate risk in favor of outright prohibition on working with most Chinese research institutions
science.org
Are Neptune and Uranus really 'ice giants'? @hannah-richter.bsky.social speaks to researchers who have proposed alternative interior compositions. Current data cannot distinguish between them - a spacecraft mission to Uranus is required. ☄️🔭 #planetsci #exoplanets www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Uranus and Neptune may not be ‘ice giants’ after all
A growing number of theories propose Uranus and Neptune are rocky worlds
science.org
The Curiosity rover has found stones composed of near-pure sulphur in an ancient river canyon on #Mars, report VanBommel et al. There's no sign of nearby volcanism, so they propose formation was by decompression of sulphur-rich clathrates. ☄️🔭 #planetsci www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
The protection of dark and quiet skies in the era of satellite constellations is an important topic today at #EAS2026Lausanne @eso.org’s Olivier Hainaut and others explain why
A disturbing vision of the future night sky: 'Each of the 50,000 reflectors would shine as bright as Venus, the brightest object in the sky after the Moon. In a light-polluted city, hundreds of these bright pinpricks would likely be the only “stars” visible.' By @danclery.bsky.social
Proposed new satellite fleets could overwhelm the night sky
Orbiting data centers and sunlight reflectors would scupper astronomy by leaving streaks on telescope images and brightening skies, study finds
science.org
This week I am attending the Exoplanets 6 conference in Porto. If you’re here and interested in publishing in Science (@science.org), please find me in a coffee break for a chat! #Exo6 #exoplanets ☄️
Why did Springer Nature retract two papers by Max Planck, ~70 years after they were published? Any why were they selling blank PDFs for $40? The answer seems to involve a misbehaving unsupervised algorithm. Because of course it does. 🧪⚛️🔭 www.science.org/content/arti...
Why have papers by one of history’s most famous physicists been retracted?
Springer Nature has removed two studies by Max Planck. A bot may be to blame
science.org
Editor's choice: Is it possible to focus neutrinos? Britzen et al. demonstrate a lens that does the job. ☄️🔭⚛️ #highenergyastro www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Stellar activity affects #exoplanets, but how about the other way around? Revilla et al. identify periodic stellar activity induced by a Neptune-mass exoplanet orbiting a red dwarf star. The strength of the interaction constrains the exoplanet's magnetic field. ☄️🔭 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
A high-risk mission will soon attempt to save the Swift observatory. A rescue spacecraft, designed & built in just 7 months, will rendezvous with the space telescope, grab on, then boost it to a higher orbit. If it works. Report by @danclery.bsky.social 🛰️☄️🔭🧪 www.science.org/content/arti...
A space telescope is falling to Earth. NASA is racing to rescue it
Vehicle will attempt a daring capture-and-boost mission to extend the life of the Swift observatory
science.org
Marchi et al. report results from the the flyby of asteroid Donaldjohanson (DJ) by the Lucy spacecraft. They find DJ has a bi-lobed shape and is in a tumbling spin. The crater density is consistent with an age of about 150 million years. ☄️🔭 #planetsci www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Astronomy & Astrophysics has published a statement on the use of artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted technologies by authors in the journal. www.aanda.org/component/co...
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Science Magazine@science.org · 2mo ago"Ten years ago, the Brexit referendum began the United Kingdom’s departure from the EU, forcing British science to confront a serious question: What place should the UK occupy in European research?" writes Ben Johnson and Will Stone in a new #ScienceEditorial. https://scim.ag/4xvL4hf
☄️🔭 #planetsci #instrumentation
Science Magazine@science.org · 2mo agoThe Japanese lunar lander SLIM successfully deployed a compact spherical robot that transformed into a wheeled rover and explored the lunar surface, highlighting the promise of small-scale robots for space exploration. Learn more in #ScienceRobotics: https://scim.ag/4eCZX9K
Shin et al. find that super-earth and mini-neptune #exoplanets are on orbits with different eccentricity trends. The results imply that dynamic processes (such as impacts) play a role in generating the radius valley. ☄️🔭 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
"The goal is not just more capable AI, but AI that is more intelligible, accountable, and aligned with human aims. The window for achieving that future is narrowing," argue Eric Horvitz and Robert West in a new #ScienceEditorial. https://scim.ag/4oaIYig
![Comic. [Article titled “Evidence for liquid water on the surface of a terrestrial planet in the habitable zone,” with unreadable text but including pictures of a beach and of people playing on a beach.] [caption] Planetary science journals have asked astronomers to please stop submitting their vacation photos.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cz73r7iyiqn26upot4jtjdhk/bafkreiabfmtaoraxvc6vm3kblaozbl3lla473bvzruovdodt5arv7ttjha)