on my webpage! I am an experienced spacecraft analyst at the European Space Operations Centre via Telespazio Germany GmbH. Currently, I am the analyst for the X-ray astronomy mission XMM-Newton, but have worked as an analyst for almost all Earth Explorer spacecrafts previously. In the past I have worked as an astrophysicist studing accreting neutron stars and cosmological neutrino sources. For more details please have a look at the “About me” menu.
ESA Space Science News
Webb takes a fresh look at a classic deep field
01/08/2025
This image from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope revisits one of the most iconic regions of the sky, the Hubble Ultra Deep Field, through the eyes of two of Webb’s instruments.
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Webb traces details of complex planetary nebula
30/07/2025
More than one star contributes to the irregular shape of NGC 6072 – Webb’s newest look at this planetary nebula in the near- and mid-infrared shows what may appear as a very messy scene resembling splattered paint. However, the unusual, asymmetrical scene hints at more complicated mechanisms underway, as the star central to the scene approaches the very final stages of its life and expels shells of material, losing up to 80 percent of its mass.
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New Apollo Earthrise view shows Juice’s RIME working well
18/07/2025
When the European Space Agency’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) flew past our Moon in August 2024, its Radar for Icy Moon Exploration (RIME) instrument listened to radio wave echoes to reveal the height of the lunar surface.
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Smile passes gruelling set of tests
15/07/2025
All its parts have been built and put together. It has been wrapped in shiny gold insulating foil. Its launch is getting closer. But the Smile spacecraft had one major phase to pass before it could be certified ready for space – and it involved testing, testing and yet more testing.
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Testing, testing, testing – Let’s Smile (episode 3)
15/07/2025
Smile is a brand-new space mission currently in the making.
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You can’t judge a star by its protoplanetary disc
14/07/2025
This image tells the story of redemption for one lonely star.
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Webb scratches under Cat’s Paw Nebula for third anniversary
10/07/2025
To mark its third year of highly productive science, astronomers used the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope to scratch beyond the surface of the Cat’s Paw Nebula (NGC 6334), a massive, local star-forming region.
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Clingy planets can trigger own doom, suspect Cheops and TESS
02/07/2025
Astronomers using the European Space Agency’s Cheops mission have caught an exoplanet that seems to be triggering flares of radiation from the star it orbits. These tremendous explosions are blasting away the planet’s wispy atmosphere, causing it to shrink every year.This is the first-ever evidence for a ‘planet with a death wish’. Though it was theorised to be possible since the nineties, the flares seen in this research are around 100 times more energetic than expected.
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Plato’s eyes meet brain
30/06/2025
On 11 June, engineers at OHB’s facilities in Germany joined together the two main parts of ESA’s Plato mission.
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Webb spots a starburst shining in infrared
30/06/2025
A starburst shines in infrared (MIRI)
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Solar Orbiter gets world-first views of the Sun’s south pole
11/06/2025
What if we could look at the Sun from a whole new angle, one we've never seen before?
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Meet Smile
04/06/2025
An animation showing ESA’s Smile mission watching on as the Sun’s solar wind interacts with Earth’s magnetic field.
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Webb glimpses the distant past
27/05/2025
A glimpse of the distant past by Webb
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Streaks on Mars
19/05/2025
Bright and dark streaks covering the slopes of the Olympus Mons aureole, as seen by the Colour and Stereo Surface Imaging System (CaSSIS) onboard the European Space Agency’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter.
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Exoplanets explained by Nobel Prize winner (part 1) | The 5 Ws
02/05/2025
Astrophysicist and Nobel Prize Laureate Didier Queloz answers the who, what, where, when and why of exoplanets in this 3-part series.
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