Building crazy planetary systems on my blog planetplanet.net. Solar System formation. Exoplanets. Free-floating planets and interstellar objects. Astronomy poem book: http://amzn.to/3muytqo He/him.
Sean Raymond (planetplanet.net)
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This week in my "Planets in Science Fiction" class, I will be discussing the amazing short story "Nightfall" by Isaac Asimov and its insights into the nature of scientific bias. Also be sure to check out the incredible work of @planetplanet.bsky.social at planetplanet.net.
It's official. I just took over as the new director of the Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Bordeaux (@labastrobordeaux)!
It's a whole new gig -- wish me luck!
Looks like the link's not working. You can access the paper here: arxiv.org/abs/2512.07979
I never thought I'd get the chance to shake hands with the president and have a one-on-one chat -- for a solid 15 seconds, during which one subject of conversation was, indeed, my tie (thanks to Marisa for suggesting it!)
Left: the comet in Deep Impact (1998)
Centre: the comet in Armageddon (1998)
Right: an actual, real-life comet (2015)
@elizabethtasker.bsky.social made an amazing and amazingly clear all about sample return mission from asteroids. Well worth your time!
I love this new paper about planets in AGN disks around supermassive black holes!
arxiv.org/abs/2605.19241
Naturally, it also helps to motivate some of the crazy planetary systems I've built:
planetplanet.net/2018/06/01/t...
For your Monday, here's one of the JWST Deep Field images.
This is a portion of the sky about one-fifth the size of a full Moon. And it contains THOUSANDS of galaxies—some of which extend back to when the Universe was a couple of billion years old.
The redder a galaxy, the farther away it is.
how have I never seen this Georgia O'Keefe painting called "Ladder to the Moon" 😭
My new paper with Nate Kaib explores what triggered the dynamical instability that took place among the giant planets in the young Solar System.
We show that the flyby of a low-mass brown dwarf or free-floating planet could have done it (probability ~5%).
ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2025arXi...
Video
An instability among the giant planets' orbits can match many aspects of the Solar System's current orbital architecture. We explore the possibility that this dynamical instability was triggered by th...
The outer regions of AGN disks have temperatures similar to those of circumstellar disks, permitting dust condensation. Therefore, planet formation and growth could be active in these dust tori throug...
arxiv.org
Stephen Kane
Sean Raymond (planetplanet.net)
Sean Raymond (planetplanet.net)
Sean Raymond (planetplanet.net)
Paul Byrne
Sean Raymond (planetplanet.net)
Sean Raymond (planetplanet.net)
Opinion Editor @ Bluesky
Paul Byrne
Sean Raymond (planetplanet.net)
Hayabusa, Hayabusa2, and OSIRIS-REx: three missions 🛰️ to three different asteroids 🔭 that risked everything to bring a sample back to Earth 🧪. These are some of humanity's most difficult robotic missions. Why take on such audacious challenges? [🧵: 1/4]
🚀 Nouveau chapitre au @labastrobordeaux.bsky.social
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@planetplanet.bsky.social et Benoît Lavraud prennent la direction par intérim
Objectifs : exceller en instrumentation, renforcer la gouvernance et placer l’humain au cœur du labo
To infinity and beyond! 🌌
astrophy.u-bordeaux.fr/transition-a...
