Planetary scientist, Dad-in-training, space enthusiast, Professor based at the @UniOfLeicester. https://xitter.cf/t.co/9Auw6gkEUM
Leicester, England
Joined February 2009
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With the help of masters students here in Leicester, we've been playing with @NASAHubble observations to investigate seasonal changes on #Uranus - here's a rough animation of a quarter-century of 619-nm images from 1995 to 2020 from the public archive (Credit: NASA/ESA)
Leigh Fletcher retweeted
A new Uranus study! The Sun's variability even out at the distant planet Uranus may have misled us for decades about that planet's plasma environment (see bonus NOT-to-scale cartoon from JPL)! Good overview by @Astro_Jonny below. Actual paper here: nature.com/articles/s41550-0…
When Voyager 2 flew past Uranus in 1986, the planet's magnetosphere seemed super weird. There was no plasma, and the radiation belts were mega intense.
Now we might know why, because of rare solar activity hitting the planet.
Story by me @nytimes
nytimes.com/2024/11/11/scien…
One of my @PhysicsUoL tutees is going to be on University Challenge next week - fingers crossed for them, what an opportunity!
Our team of bright minds is taking on the nation's top universities! 🧠 Tune in to @BBCTwo on Monday at 8.30pm to watch the University of Leicester team battle it out with @LSEnews on #UniversityChallenge.
le.ac.uk/news/2024/october/u…
Good luck to Noah, Greg, George and Edward!
Heading to @spacecentre during half-term tomorrow? Join me in the Live Space gallery, where I'll be talking about NASA's Europa Clipper mission, and what we might find lurking in those dark and hidden ocean depths... spacecentre.co.uk/whats-on/m…
So: maybe we should skip #JWST Cycle 5**, and just award twice as many hours in Cycle 4 to save thousands of people lots of work next October...
(**apart from some kind of rapid response mode for unexpected discoveries...).
STScI received 2,377 proposals for #JWST Cycle 4 – breaking its own record from Cycle 3 – requesting about 78,000 hours of observing time. Get more proposal submission statistics: bit.ly/3NLxuka
Excellent news - several of the @PhysicsUoL planetary science team were asked to provide ideas, support, and reviews of this new Solar System Adventure, so it's great to see this Jury Award for @NSCcreative!
👏 Congratulations to @NSCcreative who have won the Jury Award @FULLDOMEUK #FDUK2024 for their latest planetarium show, The Great Solar System Adventure. 🪐
📽️ @NSCcreative is our in-house immersive storytelling studio that created the award-winning We Are Stars and CAPCOM GO!
Leigh Fletcher retweeted
PSA, particularly for science writers/journalists:
PLEASE stop saying Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS was "last seen 80,000yrs ago", and/or "will return in 80,000yrs". Neither of these are even remotely correct!
[Details to follow...]
Leigh Fletcher retweeted
From one fellow icy world explorer to another, we're keeping our fingers crossed for a smooth launch, @EuropaClipper! 🚀
We're hopefully just a few hours away (16:06UT = 17:06 in the UK) from the #EuropaClipper launch, decades in the making, and after many twists, turns, and hurdles. NASA will stream the Falcon Heavy launch live:
youtube.com/watch?v=lQToTWKw…
Best way to keep track of briefings is through the #EuropaClipper Blog, and the images on the multimedia page, but JPL also has a handy press kit to explain all the details:
blogs.nasa.gov/europaclipper…
science.nasa.gov/mission/eur…
jpl.nasa.gov/press-kits/euro…
Spotted amongst all the press briefings - a cool cardboard model of #EuropaClipper that you can cut out and build. My kids are going to love this: europa.nasa.gov/resources/29…
Leigh Fletcher retweeted
The Thermal Structure and Composition of Jupiter's Great Red Spot From JWST/MIRI. buff.ly/3ZTDChm A series of stratospheric hot-spots were discovered to be co-moving with the GRS in the longitude direction; elevated phosphine and NH3 gas were observed inside the GRS.
Leigh Fletcher retweeted
After so many years of chasing the aurora in the UK and never really seeing it well there’s a little bit of a tear down my eye tonight - blown away & a happy happy chappy at Seahouses @BBCWthrWatchers @itvnews @bbcweather @BBCSpringwatch @RNLISeahouses
A personal first - name in the credits of a BBC show :-) I worked with the production team on their "Storm Worlds" episode for the new Brian Cox Solar System series, providing a fun insight into how these shows are made: bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0…
The @royalsociety Dorothy Hodgkin #Fellowships are for researchers <6 years post-PhD, and specifically for those who need flexible working patterns, providing funds for up to 8 years. Deadline October 29th. #Physics #Astronomy
royalsociety.org/grants/doro…
The @royalsociety Career Development #Fellowships provide 4 years of funding to support researchers from Black or Mixed Black African, Black Caribbean or other Black heritage backgrounds, deadline Nov 19th. #Physics #Astronomy
royalsociety.org/grants/care…
The new Green Future #Fellowships from the Royal Academy of Engineering might also be of interest for #Physics researchers, deadline Nov 5th:
raeng.org.uk/green-future-fe…
There are a few opportunities for #Fellowships in #Physics and #Astronomy in the UK at the moment - all are highly competitive, and have different deadlines, eligibility criteria, etc., but I’ll try to list some of them below. Do email us if you’d like to host one @PhysicsUoL
Round 10 of the UKRI Future Leaders #Fellowships will provide 4 years of funding to early-career researchers - Leicester has a call for expressions of interest, due October 31st. #Physics #Astronomy
le.ac.uk/news/2024/september…
