Sarah E Moran

✨✨✨Another Virga advert✨✨✨ Introducing V2.0, with fractal aggregate clouds! Restricted to spheres no more! We handle the dynamics and the optics self consistently. Led by me and PhD candidate extraordinaire Matt Lodge (who is looking for a postdoc 👀 and is amazing). arxiv.org/abs/2509.06708

Prof. Xinting Yu gave a fantastic Urey Prize talk (2025 winner) at the DPS meeting this morning. She was a 51 Pegasi b Fellow at UC Santa Cruz. She's looking for a lab-work focused grad student at UT San Antonio!

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To do so, Emeline conducted 3D atmosphere simulations with the ADAM GCM as input to the 1D CARMA cloud microphysics model, and post-processed her results with PICASO. Perhaps the most puzzling result is that we find that clouds should form across the atmosphere, but this doesn't fit observations.

It's (belated) paper day! Emeline Fromont (Ph.D student @umdscience.bsky.social) simulated the atmospheric dynamics and cloud microphysics of WASP-43b, finding that nightside-only clouds provide a good fit to both the HST and MIRI spectra as well as the MIRI phase curve: arxiv.org/abs/2610.30243.

Should have mentioned the time. 11am-1pm EST, 8am-10am PST!

Next Wed 11/4, Ella Sciamma-O'Brien & Lora Jovanovic of NASA Ames, James Mang (UT Austin), and I are leading a JWebbinar on how to use the Optical Constants Database for your science. Learn to run atmospheric models using the most up-to-date lab data! Join and share! www.stsci.edu/contents/eve...

Incredible new work from Reuters on what they term 'heat storms' -- a must read.

I did a deep dive on my newest paper on AAS's YouTube channel! This one's for the true nerds that want to know all about what material strength is, how giant impact codes work and why we're still not quite sure how the Moon formed. If that's you, this interview is for you!

Death by malicious negligence is a defining characteristic of concentration camps

So...any other faculty have the dream where you realize you have an exam in a class you've never attended in 2 hours, but instead you're the professor and you haven't written the exam?? And for some reason your chair is coming to observe the final? Or is that a thing my awful brain just invented?

Reminder that ExoExplorer applications are due tomorrow Oct15th! It’s a great opportunity to share your science and grow your professional network! science.nasa.gov/astrophysics...

Hi all! I will be hiring a PhD student to work on extracting dynamic information (think storms!) from exoplanet spectra. This work will be done within the ERC project VORTEX. If you are interested, please apply through IMPRS until 3 November: www.imprs-hd.mpg.de/3354/How-to-... #astro #exoplanet

It's paper day! @stellarplanet.bsky.social, David Grant and I produced the first-ever transmission map of an exoplanet, exploring how the atmosphere changes around the limb: from sunrise, sunset, the poles, and everything in between 🧵

Planets are 3D! Shocking I know but when we measure an exoplanet we collapse the info into an average while assuming the planet is a perfect circle. UNTIL NOW! @lili-alderson.bsky.social presents: A Spatial Map of the Atmospheric Limb of a Hot Jupiter arxiv.org/abs/2610.18806 1/n🔭🧪

I'm looking for a new #postdoc to join Leicester's #planetsci atmospheres team, working with us on the treasure-trove of #JWST giant planet data to study atmospheric composition, weather, and variability. Deadline Nov 5th with a start date in early 2027. jobs.le.ac.uk/vacancies/13...

We are soon going to have to come to grips with the fact that this shit is asbestos for the mind

The term everyone is dancing around is "secret police", a hallmark of totalitarian regimes.

New study led by @bemiles.bsky.social, reporting the detection of variable water clouds(!) in the cold brown dwarf WISE 0855

www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasas-s... "brown dwarfs are kind of goth" is my new personality, sorry

You guys are never gonna believe this, but it turns out that I have to keep making lectures -- and GIVING them -- even after the (first) midterm (!) what's next? Making another problem set??? #FirstYearProfLife😅

Read about Hannah Wakeford's project which measures exoplanet atmospheres, aiming to better understand how their clouds impact the nature of the planet’s climate. media.leverhulme.ac.uk/feature/hwak... @bristoluni.bsky.social

'There is an amazing diversity of worlds out there, and each one requires different questions and different techniques to explore them.' Exoplanet scientist, @stellarplanet.bsky.social, on uncovering the universal mechanisms that govern planetary formation. @expeditions.bsky.social #WorldSpaceWeek

Great opportunity to come to LPL for a postdoc to work on outer solar system atmospheres w/ Prof. Tommi Koskinen. Exoplanet folks, this is your chance to broaden into solar system atmospheres & build your experience with a world expert on atmos. structure and E balance. aas.org/jobregister/...

Now extended to 5pm EDT Oct 1.

Still server issues. Now Laura Watkins (head of science policy at STScI) is saying new deadline tomorrow, Oct. 1st at 5pm EDT for all proposers.

STScI says deadline extended 1 hour to 9pm EDT, unless issues persist in which case this time will be updated

#JWSTC6 APT has crashed with ~8 minutes before the deadline tonight. Chatter says the deadline will be extended but we don't know until when...

The quote that went around when Wendell Berry died, "the next great division of the world will be between people who wish to live as creatures and people who wish to live as machines" comes to mind *often* these days. Trying to live as a creature is becoming my north star.

another monday where I had grand plans for my scientific to-do list, another monday I have spent whack-a-moling things on fire (hitting fires with a hammer to make them go out has mixed results, in case you were wondering)

For those who have forgotten the past 40 years: Tax cuts for the rich ...don’t trickle down Boosting military spending ...doesn’t bring peace Slashing regulations ...doesn’t create jobs Folks, we’ve seen this all before.

Happy to share two postdoc ads for positions in the APEx department at MPIA - please spread the word! - direct imaging and spectroscopy of wide-separation planets with Wolfgang Brandner aas.org/jobregister/... - forward modeling of exoplanet atmospheres with Elsie Lee aas.org/jobregister/...

I'm so excited about every single one of these projects-- when you apply to one, note you'll get enthusiastic support from us all across the collaboration ☁️🪐☁️

THIS 👇 HERE.......

Yes! It’s an amazing group of cross-disciplinary experts we’ve assembled. Come work with us on some really cool projects! 😎😶‍🌫️🤩

A student in my intro class just sent me a news article applying an astro concept to their sport and how excited they were to make the connection, and I'm so touched 🥹 something something the kids are alright

Nice campaign by the Norwegian Consumer Council about the declining lifespan of products. Enjoy!

If you are asked to review a paper/proposal, and you intend to use AI to conduct the review, please do not accept the request. Peer review is a fundamental component of the scientific process. Using AI to conduct this not only insults the authors, but your own expertise.

We're hiring - part 2! We currently have two tenure track positions open, one for high energy astrophysics and one for exoplanet science. Here's the info for the exoplanet position. Closing date is October 16. 🔭 werkenbij.uva.nl/en/vacancies...

I'm debating printing and framing this.

This is a fascinating conversation about recent discoveries in archaeology about autocracy. The research contradicts a lot of common beliefs, including that farming and large populations lead to autocracy. knowablemagazine.org/content/arti...

Do you remember when the Internet was just stupid, strange, and beautiful?

New way to form the Moon just dropped, featuring new modelling by yours truly: iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3...

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope leaves Earth behind for good. Between 2018 and 2024, the Trump Administration tried no fewer than 4 times to cancel NASA’s next flagship observatory. Congress wisely told the White House to stuff it. Science won, as it always must. Go Roman.