Leigh Fletcher
@leighfletcher.bsky.social
Planetary scientist, Dad-in-training, space enthusiast, Professor based at the University of Leicester
https://linktr.ee/leigh.fletcher
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5834-9588
https://linktr.ee/leigh.fletcher
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5834-9588
Our #ESAJuice meeting is over, so a quick moment for some sightseeing. This is the Gänseliesel "goose girl" statue in Göttingen... apparently it's tradition for newly minted PhDs to climb the fountain, kiss the statue, and present a bunch of flowers...
November 14, 2025 at 6:54 PM
Our #ESAJuice meeting is over, so a quick moment for some sightseeing. This is the Gänseliesel "goose girl" statue in Göttingen... apparently it's tradition for newly minted PhDs to climb the fountain, kiss the statue, and present a bunch of flowers...
Although it's not an easy journey (involving planes, trains, & automobiles), I finally made it to @mpsgoettingen.bsky.social for the #ESAJuice Science Team Meeting (our 26th!). Personal first for me: I've never been to Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research and this bit of Germany before.
November 12, 2025 at 9:05 AM
Although it's not an easy journey (involving planes, trains, & automobiles), I finally made it to @mpsgoettingen.bsky.social for the #ESAJuice Science Team Meeting (our 26th!). Personal first for me: I've never been to Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research and this bit of Germany before.
Looking to start a PhD in Physics & Astronomy in 2026? The team @physicsuol.bsky.social have announced their STFC-funded projects on offer next year, spanning astrophysics, planetary science, and space instrumentation. Deadline: Jan 18th, contact us to learn more!
le.ac.uk/study/resear...
le.ac.uk/study/resear...
November 7, 2025 at 1:32 PM
Looking to start a PhD in Physics & Astronomy in 2026? The team @physicsuol.bsky.social have announced their STFC-funded projects on offer next year, spanning astrophysics, planetary science, and space instrumentation. Deadline: Jan 18th, contact us to learn more!
le.ac.uk/study/resear...
le.ac.uk/study/resear...
End of an amazing week @stsci.edu, enormous thanks to @chrisinbaltimore.bsky.social & the ESA team for making me feel so welcome, and to all the researchers from STScI, Johns Hopkins, and APL that came to chat. I'm going home brimming with ideas, and in awe of the work everyone's doing with #JWST.
October 31, 2025 at 7:39 PM
End of an amazing week @stsci.edu, enormous thanks to @chrisinbaltimore.bsky.social & the ESA team for making me feel so welcome, and to all the researchers from STScI, Johns Hopkins, and APL that came to chat. I'm going home brimming with ideas, and in awe of the work everyone's doing with #JWST.
Fourth day of meetings and talks here in Baltimore, and I'd like to say a massive thank-you to those who decided that I was only allowed to meet people called Sarah on Thursday afternoon. Some top-quality trolling there, almost spat out my coffee. #SarahThursday
October 30, 2025 at 1:30 PM
Fourth day of meetings and talks here in Baltimore, and I'd like to say a massive thank-you to those who decided that I was only allowed to meet people called Sarah on Thursday afternoon. Some top-quality trolling there, almost spat out my coffee. #SarahThursday
Thanks to the team at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory for hosting me today: home of Dragonfly quadcopter to Titan (model below), Parker Solar Probe, New Horizons to Pluto, DART asteroid impactor, and more. Talked HabWorlds, JWST, heliophysics and exoplanets, all in one exhausting day.
October 28, 2025 at 11:18 PM
Thanks to the team at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory for hosting me today: home of Dragonfly quadcopter to Titan (model below), Parker Solar Probe, New Horizons to Pluto, DART asteroid impactor, and more. Talked HabWorlds, JWST, heliophysics and exoplanets, all in one exhausting day.
On the plus side, it gave me an extra day to settle into ESA's visitor office at Space Telescope, and to meet with some of the team working tirelessly to keep Hubble and JWST at the top of their games, despite <<waves hands at everything>>
October 27, 2025 at 8:27 PM
On the plus side, it gave me an extra day to settle into ESA's visitor office at Space Telescope, and to meet with some of the team working tirelessly to keep Hubble and JWST at the top of their games, despite <<waves hands at everything>>
I'm in Baltimore this week, meeting colleagues at Space Telescope and staying near Johns Hopkins' Homewood campus: a beautiful, peaceful campus in the autumn sun, all red brick and marble styled after the Homewood house (1800s, now a museum).
October 26, 2025 at 1:36 PM
I'm in Baltimore this week, meeting colleagues at Space Telescope and staying near Johns Hopkins' Homewood campus: a beautiful, peaceful campus in the autumn sun, all red brick and marble styled after the Homewood house (1800s, now a museum).
A day off to decompress, despite the stormy skies. #Leicester's Bradgate Park is fabulous in the autumn colours, fallow deer everywhere. This 850-acre park, a rocky moorland covered in bracken and woodland with the River Lin running through it, is just north of the city and spectacular year round.
October 23, 2025 at 3:57 PM
A day off to decompress, despite the stormy skies. #Leicester's Bradgate Park is fabulous in the autumn colours, fallow deer everywhere. This 850-acre park, a rocky moorland covered in bracken and woodland with the River Lin running through it, is just north of the city and spectacular year round.
Sundays are for bringing 35-year-old Sierra Cosworths back to life on the Scalextric. Tiny parts tested my eyesight, fingers raw from rubbing down tarnished tracks, but it's aliiiiive, and the boy is off his playstation for a few hours....
October 5, 2025 at 4:34 PM
Sundays are for bringing 35-year-old Sierra Cosworths back to life on the Scalextric. Tiny parts tested my eyesight, fingers raw from rubbing down tarnished tracks, but it's aliiiiive, and the boy is off his playstation for a few hours....
Oxford in the autumn sunshine. Can't beat it.
September 25, 2025 at 5:35 PM
Oxford in the autumn sunshine. Can't beat it.
Spent time at the @spacecentre.bsky.social today, meeting primary school teachers to show them the breadth of STFC research in planetary and astrophysics happening at Leicester - part of a professional development course for local teachers ahead of them bringing Year-5s to NSC in October.
September 22, 2025 at 2:13 PM
Spent time at the @spacecentre.bsky.social today, meeting primary school teachers to show them the breadth of STFC research in planetary and astrophysics happening at Leicester - part of a professional development course for local teachers ahead of them bringing Year-5s to NSC in October.
Conference here in Helsinki has been great so far, but time to turn it up a notch - this morning at #EPSCDPS2025 we begin 2 days celebrating the contributions of #JWST to #planetaryscience, beginning with ice giants, then moving to Jupiter, Saturn, comets, asteroids, TNOs, and more. Venus room 0930!
September 10, 2025 at 5:46 AM
Conference here in Helsinki has been great so far, but time to turn it up a notch - this morning at #EPSCDPS2025 we begin 2 days celebrating the contributions of #JWST to #planetaryscience, beginning with ice giants, then moving to Jupiter, Saturn, comets, asteroids, TNOs, and more. Venus room 0930!
Bet the view is amazing, if a little toasty. You can follow #ESAJuice on its Venus flyby (happening right now) via the NASA Eyes app: eyes.nasa.gov/apps/solar-s...
August 31, 2025 at 6:56 AM
Bet the view is amazing, if a little toasty. You can follow #ESAJuice on its Venus flyby (happening right now) via the NASA Eyes app: eyes.nasa.gov/apps/solar-s...
Subaru decommissioned their mid-IR instrument (COMICS) in 2020. Gemini's MICHELLE and T-ReCS instruments went in 2011-12. CanariCam (on GTC) went in 2021. And Keck's LWS has been retired for years. VISIR was the last mid-IR imager/spectrometer on an 8-m observatory, and has done an amazing job.
August 15, 2025 at 7:42 AM
Subaru decommissioned their mid-IR instrument (COMICS) in 2020. Gemini's MICHELLE and T-ReCS instruments went in 2011-12. CanariCam (on GTC) went in 2021. And Keck's LWS has been retired for years. VISIR was the last mid-IR imager/spectrometer on an 8-m observatory, and has done an amazing job.
Full details of all the #StompRoundLeicester elephants, plus a walking trail, can be found here: stomproundleicester.co.uk
August 13, 2025 at 5:01 PM
Full details of all the #StompRoundLeicester elephants, plus a walking trail, can be found here: stomproundleicester.co.uk
How many universities do you know with their own space elephant? This is 'Ele-gene Voyager' (by Marta Zubieta), celebrating @uniofleicester.bsky.social roles in space exploration @physicsuol.bsky.social and DNA fingerprinting. Part of the Loros #StompRoundLeicester
August 13, 2025 at 4:58 PM
How many universities do you know with their own space elephant? This is 'Ele-gene Voyager' (by Marta Zubieta), celebrating @uniofleicester.bsky.social roles in space exploration @physicsuol.bsky.social and DNA fingerprinting. Part of the Loros #StompRoundLeicester
Long train to Durham to attend the National Astronomy Meeting... got bashed in the head by handbags 3x; sat next to crying baby while trying to write a paper; and cooked on a packed carriage. Still, Durham turns out to be not too shabby!
July 8, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Long train to Durham to attend the National Astronomy Meeting... got bashed in the head by handbags 3x; sat next to crying baby while trying to write a paper; and cooked on a packed carriage. Still, Durham turns out to be not too shabby!
Amplifying the call from Marc Delcroix and co. over the weekend: the team are looking to verify/refute a potential impact on #Saturn on July 5th, 09:00-09:15UT. Videos taken by amateur observers at that time might hold the key. This 📸 credit: Mario Rana
pvol2.ehu.eus/pvol2/news/v...
pvol2.ehu.eus/pvol2/news/v...
July 7, 2025 at 7:37 AM
Amplifying the call from Marc Delcroix and co. over the weekend: the team are looking to verify/refute a potential impact on #Saturn on July 5th, 09:00-09:15UT. Videos taken by amateur observers at that time might hold the key. This 📸 credit: Mario Rana
pvol2.ehu.eus/pvol2/news/v...
pvol2.ehu.eus/pvol2/news/v...
International or UK researcher looking for a #fellowship in #astrophysics, #planetaryscience, and/or space instrumentation? Leicester @physicsuol.bsky.social is inviting expressions of interest for this year's STFC 5-year Ernest Rutherford Fellowships (deadline June 26th):
le.ac.uk/physics/rese...
le.ac.uk/physics/rese...
June 2, 2025 at 2:36 PM
International or UK researcher looking for a #fellowship in #astrophysics, #planetaryscience, and/or space instrumentation? Leicester @physicsuol.bsky.social is inviting expressions of interest for this year's STFC 5-year Ernest Rutherford Fellowships (deadline June 26th):
le.ac.uk/physics/rese...
le.ac.uk/physics/rese...
Spent the day in Bristol's School of Earth Sciences examining for a PhD viva: new Cassini/CIRS results for Titan's atmospheric dynamics and composition, showing that there's still so much to learn from this precious 13-year dataset. Congrats to Nick Teanby's student, Dr. Lucy Wright!
May 21, 2025 at 6:04 PM
Spent the day in Bristol's School of Earth Sciences examining for a PhD viva: new Cassini/CIRS results for Titan's atmospheric dynamics and composition, showing that there's still so much to learn from this precious 13-year dataset. Congrats to Nick Teanby's student, Dr. Lucy Wright!
And finished our centenary celebrations with cake and solar viewing...
May 17, 2025 at 2:47 PM
And finished our centenary celebrations with cake and solar viewing...
Hosted a whistle-top tour of Leicester’s research in planetary science, astrophysics, space projects, and Earth observation science. Ten minutes each to show where we are after our first century, and where we dream of going next.
May 17, 2025 at 2:46 PM
Hosted a whistle-top tour of Leicester’s research in planetary science, astrophysics, space projects, and Earth observation science. Ten minutes each to show where we are after our first century, and where we dream of going next.
Our research started with gas physics, then atmospheric physics and rocket physics in the 1960s. Working with a new Astronomy Dept. (1973), Leicester introduced a physics with astrophysics degree (the first in the UK). The groups merged to make the Department of Physics and Astronomy in 1987.
May 17, 2025 at 10:46 AM
Our research started with gas physics, then atmospheric physics and rocket physics in the 1960s. Working with a new Astronomy Dept. (1973), Leicester introduced a physics with astrophysics degree (the first in the UK). The groups merged to make the Department of Physics and Astronomy in 1987.
Today we're celebrating 100 years of Physics and Chemistry at Leicester. Ten Physics undergraduates started at Leicester in 1925, today it's more like 650 students. Ken Pounds sharing a history of space science and astronomy @physicsuol.bsky.social from the 1960s onwards.
May 17, 2025 at 10:32 AM
Today we're celebrating 100 years of Physics and Chemistry at Leicester. Ten Physics undergraduates started at Leicester in 1925, today it's more like 650 students. Ken Pounds sharing a history of space science and astronomy @physicsuol.bsky.social from the 1960s onwards.