Poetry Corner

So. Farewell
Then
Leap second.

Cause of joy
And agony
For all timekeepers everywhere.

Now we will have
Leap hours instead.

Which will not cause
Any problems whatsoever.
Obviously.

E.J. Thribb (17.5 != TAI-UTC)

BIPM resolution

#astrodon #astronomy #NoLeapSecond #exoplanets https://www.bipm.org/en/cgpm-2026/resolution-5

RE: https://mastodon.social/@setiinstitute/117400226864733949

*double take* 36 inch reflector? In a London suburb? In 1883?

I watched “Back to the Future” for the n’th time last night. It’s a brilliant piece of storytelling, as tight as a drum. With each rewatch I appreciate more just how much physical humour Fox, Lloyd, Thompson, Glover and Wilson put into their roles. Go watch it! #scifi #HelloMcFly

From stepping off the plane at #AMS, through passport control, onto a train to #Leiden, bike from the train station to home - 43 minutes total. At #LGW the same amount of time left me waiting for a delayed train at the airport railway station….. good #infrastructure really makes a difference.

RE: https://mathstodon.xyz/@gregeganSF/117007720227191036

You'd be shocked how many academics have "MY_CV.PDF" or "MY_THESIS.PDF" as the filename too...

RE: https://mastodon.art/@Nick_Stevens_graphics/116967777482962224

Wow. Just.... wow.

At that point with two(!) papers where I’m trying to nail down the last few typos and numbers required from collaborators before we all evaporate for the holidays #AcademicChatter #WhackAnAcademic

Exomoons in 2026 - close but no cigar (yet): https://kenworthy.micro.blog/2026/06/05/exomoons-in-close-but-no.html

I led a paper on “Upper limits on exosatellites around Beta Pictoris b” where we searched for exomoons/satellites around the closest known directly imaged exoplanet. We combined CRIRES+ radial velocity and astrometry showing nothing >150 Earth mass in the Hill sphere #astrodon #exoplanets 🔭 /1 https://arxiv.org/abs/2606.04685

Casassus+ on Hourly radio variability of PDS70c from time-differential photometry using the ALMA array to see fluctuations around this exoplanet and circumplanetary disk. Very cool to see how quickly this flux can change! #astrodon #exoplanets https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.24991

I really love the new YouTube “you’re not a bot” sign in page, because when I click to watch a video this dialog pops up and I ask myself “Do I really need to watch this video?” and the answer is almost always “No I don’t” and I go do something more productive/useful instead. #lifehack

Oh now this is VERY cool! Denis+ on “Cold and eccentric: a high-spectral resolution view of 51 Eri b with
VLT/HiRISE” where radial velocity measurements of the exoplanet enable a determination of the 3D orbit, and therefore you can calculate the PHASE as seen by Earth! #astrodon #exoplanet ☄ https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.10260

Huh. It takes just over 7 minutes for the Earth to cross its own diameter when going around the Sun… #astrodon #astrosci

Many #exoplanet astronomers are at #ESO headquarters near Munich to talk about #exoplanets with the Extremely Large Telescope #ELT this week - first light in 2029/2030 - you can put one of the 8.4m VLT telescopes on the instrument platform of the #ELT… gulp! ☄️ #astrodon Follow along on #ExoELT

So, I have a 2019 Macbook Pro whose battery life is now less than one hour. I asked our IT department for a quote to replace the battery, but apparently it is now considered “vintage” by Apple and would cost the best part of 1000 Euros to replace(!) or until I get the urge to fix it myself…

A polite golf clap to Suárez Mascareño with “In space there will be no need to scream
Limits to the presence of giant planets in the ζ² Ret system” allowing us to all breathe a sigh of relief that Weyland Yutani will not be endangering the Earth any time soon… 👽 #astrosci #astrodon https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.26483

mastodon dropped the other links, so here's the github repo for the paper: https://github.com/mkenworthy/ARAA_HCC

Together with Sebastiaan Haffert our review on “High-Contrast Coronagraphy” is out - writing an ARA&A review has been on my academic bucket list, and I’m very proud of the result. It uses the showyourwork! framework, making it a completely reproducible paper. #FAIR #astrodon #exoplanets https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.02907

I enjoy teaching, but after teaching/managing three courses last semester and now having a semester free of teaching for the first time in five years, I am burning through those residual research TODOs for several papers… wheee! #AcademicChatter

Sometimes several feelings can be conveyed in only a couple dozen words…