This month the exocast team chat to exoplanetary astronomer Dr Maximillian Guenther. We talk about finding transiting exoplanets with TESS & NGTS, open-source transit modelling, flares from M-dwarf stars, the role of UV in prebiotic chemistry, chemical mixing experiments in zero-g aboard the vomit comet, connections between science and art, and his role as project scientist of the ESA CHEOPS mission. And, of course, hear which important and personally connected planetary system Max has adopted
The Exocast team are back and this time joined by the esteemed Nikole Lewis, Professor and Deputy director of the Carl Sagan institute at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, USA. We chat all things career, JWST, the future of exoplanet characterisation with the Roman Space Telescope and Nikole add her favourite Neptune mass exoplanet GJ 436b to the Exocast Adopted Planets archive.
In this episode the Exocast gang are joined by veteran exoplaneteer Dr Mark Marley from NASA Ames. During a nearly hour-long discussion, we probe Mark’s experience of early exoplanet discovery and characterisation efforts in the 1990s, his work on clouds and atmospheric circulation models, ‘ice’ giants, brown dwarfs, his leadership role with the LUVOIR space telescope concept, as well as his cheerleading efforts during the Exocup.
This month Hannah, Hugh, and Andrew chat with Dr Sarah Casewell about her work on irradiated brown dwarfs. Sarah is an Earnest Rutherford Fellow at the University of Leicester where she has spent her career since undergrad. We chat all things brown dwarfs and what makes the irradiated ones so special to study. Sarah also shares her journey in academia from PhD, to postdoc, manager, and now fellow, all while becoming a mum (twice). We