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Philip Muirhead

@philipmuirhead.bsky.social

Astronomer at Boston University. Director of the Perkins Telescope Observatory.

66 Posts502 Follower319 Folgt
Philip Muirhead@philipmuirhead.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Wrapping up our senior field trip to Arizona! Got amazing tours of Lowell Observatory, the LDT, the Grand Canyon, and we observed with BU's Perkins Telescope for student projects. As always, thanks to our gift fund and generous donors who help sponsor these trips!

Students with the Perkins TelescopeStudents with the Grand CanyonStudents with the Pluto discovery telescope at Lowell Observatory
Dr. Gerard van Belle@fringedoctor.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Brief life update: On Monday I resigned from my appointment at Lowell Observatory. I wish my remaining friends and colleagues the best of luckin their endeavors in increasing new visitor center visitation, and continuing to pursue world-class research in the face of having ended tenure today.

Casey Dreier@caseydreier.bsky.social · last yr.

Four charts showing the extent of cuts to NASA in the FY26 budget: - Cuts to every science division - Smallest science funding since 1984 - 19 active, inflight missions cancelled - Smallest NASA budget since FY 1961

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Johanna Vos@johannavos.bsky.social · last yr.

Check out our newest results from JWST, led by @alliemccarthy.bsky.social and published today in ApJ Letters! 🔭🪐

Space Telescope Science Institute@stsci.edu · last yr.

Astronomers using #NASAWebb have captured thousands of infrared spectra, revealing evidence for patchy clouds layers, high-altitude hot spots, and variations in chemistry around a swiftly spinning, free-floating object 20 light-years from Earth: webbtelescope.pub/4hVeLjt 🔭 🧪

Illustration of a large spherical object that looks like a gas giant planet or a brown dwarf. The object appears to be glowing, with wavy, horizontal bands of yellow, orange, and red forming patterns similar to those in the atmosphere of Jupiter. In the mid-latitudes of the northern hemisphere, just to the right of center, is a large, elliptical, dark red feature similar to Jupiter’s Great Red Spot. Hints of a blue-green auroral glow emanate from the south pole. Larger blue-green auroral arcs descend from the north pole down toward the middle northern latitudes. The background is filled with thousands of distant stars that form a Milky Way-like band running from left to light. The object is isolated, with no host star nearby. The words “Artist’s Concept” are in the lower left corner.
Allie McCarthy@alliemccarthy.bsky.social · last yr.

Check out the press release for our recent work using JWST observations of SIMP0136! Also published today on ApJL: iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3...

The JWST Weather Report from the Isolated Exoplanet Analog SIMP 0136+0933: Pressure-dependent Variability Driven by Multiple Mechanisms - IOPscienceSearchopens in new tab

The JWST Weather Report from the Isolated Exoplanet Analog SIMP 0136+0933: Pressure-dependent Variability Driven by Multiple Mechanisms, McCarthy, Allison M., Vos, Johanna M., Muirhead, Philip S., Bil...

iopscience.iop.org

Space Telescope Science Institute@stsci.edu · last yr.

Astronomers using #NASAWebb have captured thousands of infrared spectra, revealing evidence for patchy clouds layers, high-altitude hot spots, and variations in chemistry around a swiftly spinning, free-floating object 20 light-years from Earth: webbtelescope.pub/4hVeLjt 🔭 🧪

Illustration of a large spherical object that looks like a gas giant planet or a brown dwarf. The object appears to be glowing, with wavy, horizontal bands of yellow, orange, and red forming patterns similar to those in the atmosphere of Jupiter. In the mid-latitudes of the northern hemisphere, just to the right of center, is a large, elliptical, dark red feature similar to Jupiter’s Great Red Spot. Hints of a blue-green auroral glow emanate from the south pole. Larger blue-green auroral arcs descend from the north pole down toward the middle northern latitudes. The background is filled with thousands of distant stars that form a Milky Way-like band running from left to light. The object is isolated, with no host star nearby. The words “Artist’s Concept” are in the lower left corner.
Philip Muirhead@philipmuirhead.bsky.social · 2y ago

Recently forwarded an article by @griffithobserv.bsky.social about the unknown telescope in Hugo Ballin's mural in their rotunda. Turns out it's BU's own Perkins Telescope! A "modern telescope" that we still think is pretty modern 😇 griffithobservatory.org/exhibits/w-m...

Hugo Ballin Murals - Griffith Observatory - Southern California’s gateway to the cosmos!

On the vaulted ceiling and upper walls of the W. M. Keck Foundation Central Rotunda are Griffith Observatory's greatest artistic treasure: the Hugo Ballin Murals. Workers have carefully and completely...

griffithobservatory.org

Philip Muirhead@philipmuirhead.bsky.social · 2y ago

Really hoping the Social Security Fairness Act passes the Senate this week. My mom lives on a meager Texas teacher’s pension (below poverty earnings) but can’t collect her or my late father’s social security from their non-govt work because of the GPO provision. SSFA would fix that!

Philip Muirhead@philipmuirhead.bsky.social · 2y ago

Check out BU PhD-student @alliemccarthy.bsky.social's paper just accepted to ApJL! JWST spectral light curves of SIMP 0136 show clear pressure-dependence, indicating three variability mechanisms: clouds, hot spots and C chemistry. @johannavos.bsky.social is the JWST PI! arxiv.org/abs/2411.16577

The JWST Weather Report from the Isolated Exoplanet Analog SIMP 0136+0933: Pressure-Dependent Variability Driven by Multiple Mechanisms

Isolated planetary-mass objects share their mass range with planets but do not orbit a star. They lack the necessary mass to support fusion in their cores and thermally radiate their heat from formati...

arxiv.org

Philip Muirhead@philipmuirhead.bsky.social · 2y ago

Pro tip: If you are writing NSF proposals and can't upload it because research(dot)gov says you don't have a broader impacts section, when most definitely do have a broader impacts section, try moving your figures further from the broader impacts heading.

Philip Muirhead@philipmuirhead.bsky.social · 2y ago

10 years of service to Boston University including endless thankless roles (grad admissions, faculty council, gen ed council, grad AND undergrad curriculum revision committees, observatory director, Nat Sci taskforce, to name a few) and yet my daughter was still denied a spot in BU daycare. 🤬