Warwick Astronomy and Astrophysics Consolidated Grant 2017-2020
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Warwick
Department Name: Physics
Abstract
What powers the most violent explosions in the Universe? What kind of galaxies host them? How do they relate to more normal galaxies? How do stars interact with each other in binary systems? When such stars spiral together, can we detect the tiny ripples in space-time that Einstein predicted and can we detect any light from such events? What are planets around other stars like? How many are there? What are they made of? These questions, which range from near neighbours in our Galaxy to the furthest reaches of the observable Universe, are those that the Warwick Astronomy and Astrophysics group will investigate. We will do so with a mixture of observations using ground- and space-based telescopes, theoretical developments and computationally-intensive numerical modelling. Although most of the Universe lies far beyond our direct reach, our understanding of physics allows us to extrapolate into regimes of unimaginable temperatures, densities, velocities and magnetic fields. Nevertheless, just as the most powerful computers can only forecast the weather for a few days in advance, the equations governing celestial objects can be formidably complex to solve, and we need observations to guide us. Starting in our backyard, a little over 20 years ago, the only planets we knew about were the planets of our own Solar System. Today, we know of more than 1000 planets around other stars, many of them extraordinarily different from our near neighbours. Warwick is the lead institute in a European collaboration to implement a new survey for Neptune-sized planets. The survey is based upon the decrease of light as the planets blocks light from the star. These are the most interesting planets to find because they allow us to measure both the mass and size of the planet. For a particular mass, the size of a planet depends upon its interior properties, opening up the remarkable possibility of probing the interiors of planets light-years from Earth. Incredibly, there is a more direct method still: we now know of dense, dead stars called white dwarfs which are surrounded by dusty disks of planetary building materials. As this material rains down onto the white dwarf, it is vaporised, allowing us to measure what it is made of. White dwarfs are usually highly stable, but very rarely, if enough matter is dumped onto them as can occur when they have a nearby companion in a binary system, they explode through uncontrolled nuclear fusion. This tears the entire star apart within a few seconds, in the process producing one of the optically-brightest explosions known along with most of the iron in the present day Universe. We are interested in understanding how these rare events come about. Such "supernovae" are so rare that we have to look beyond our own Galaxy to find them, and that is where even rarer and more exotic cataclysms are seen. The brightest explosions of all are the Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs), which are rare, but so bright that they can be seen more than 10 billion light-years away in the distant Universe. Remarkably for such dramatic events, there seem to be multiple ways for them to occur. We aim to understand their underlying cause. Surprisingly, the most powerful events of all may be very dim to our eyes: when a pair of black-holes orbits one another, they spiral-in because of the emission of energy through "gravitational waves", ripples in fabric of space. Physicists are on the verge of sensing these with exotic arrangements of lasers and mirrors designed to pick up tiny perturbations of length. We want to *see* such events, a tough challenge because our gravitational wave "eyes" are poor at pinning down locations on the sky and the events may be very dim. Supernovae, GRBs and merging black-holes come from stars residing in galaxies. To understand them, we need to understand galaxies, how they form stars and how they evolve over the 13 billion year history of the Universe.
Planned Impact
The Astronomy group is extensively involved in both inspirational and industrial impact. In recent years the level of public interest in STFC science has increased exponentially and the astronomy group has engaged to meet this need. Hand-in-hand with this, our research requirements have pushed our industrial collaborators to develop new high value products which feature in their catalogues. Our graduate students and contract staff have benefited from exposure to these relationships and some have become actively involved in product development.
Technology Development:
During the development of the NGTS detectors we worked closely with engineers at Andor Technology. The deep depleted technology of these chips needed new developments and testing and has now become a product listed on their website. This is similar to our work a decade ago resulting in the large format detectors used in the SuperWASP experiment.
We are working closely with Airbus UK to help them compete for the ESA M3 prime contractor contract. If the UK is able to win this contract (and Airbus are one of three short-listed manufacturers) the final contract will be worth as much as 300M euro to UK industry. We expect to work closely with Airbus in the future, especially if they are selected as prime contractor.
Inspiration:
We have a vigorous and successful schools programs which is centred around our travelling planetarium. We visit local schools that contain a some of the most disadvantaged children. This initiative is now effectively run by our PhD students.
We will further expand this activity. Social media can be used to reach much larger audiences than has hitherto been possible. We encourage our students to engage with many social media platforms for astronomical purposes. We also encourage group members to involve the university press office with new and exciting discoveries - our last three press releases were led by PhD students and PDRAs. These have led to more traditional interactions with the mainstream press.
Technology Development:
During the development of the NGTS detectors we worked closely with engineers at Andor Technology. The deep depleted technology of these chips needed new developments and testing and has now become a product listed on their website. This is similar to our work a decade ago resulting in the large format detectors used in the SuperWASP experiment.
We are working closely with Airbus UK to help them compete for the ESA M3 prime contractor contract. If the UK is able to win this contract (and Airbus are one of three short-listed manufacturers) the final contract will be worth as much as 300M euro to UK industry. We expect to work closely with Airbus in the future, especially if they are selected as prime contractor.
Inspiration:
We have a vigorous and successful schools programs which is centred around our travelling planetarium. We visit local schools that contain a some of the most disadvantaged children. This initiative is now effectively run by our PhD students.
We will further expand this activity. Social media can be used to reach much larger audiences than has hitherto been possible. We encourage our students to engage with many social media platforms for astronomical purposes. We also encourage group members to involve the university press office with new and exciting discoveries - our last three press releases were led by PhD students and PDRAs. These have led to more traditional interactions with the mainstream press.
Organisations
- University of Warwick (Lead Research Organisation)
- Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands (Collaboration)
- University of Chile (Collaboration)
- California Institute of Technology (Collaboration)
- University of Manchester (Collaboration)
- Swinburne University of Technology (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF LEICESTER (Collaboration)
- KEELE UNIVERSITY (Collaboration)
- Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-III) (Collaboration)
- University of St Andrews (Collaboration)
- University of Portsmouth (Collaboration)
- German Aerospace Centre (DLR) (Collaboration)
- Armagh Observatory (Collaboration)
- Andor Technology (Collaboration)
- QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY BELFAST (Collaboration)
- University of Turku (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE (Collaboration)
- Paris Institute of Astrophysics (Collaboration)
- University of Geneva (Collaboration)
- The Open University (Collaboration)
- University of Sheffield (Collaboration)
- National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand (Collaboration)
- Monash University (Collaboration)
Publications
Kirk J
(2017)
Rayleigh scattering in the transmission spectrum of HAT-P-18b
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Kirk J
(2021)
ACCESS and LRG-BEASTS: A Precise New Optical Transmission Spectrum of the Ultrahot Jupiter WASP-103b
in The Astronomical Journal
Kirk J
(2019)
LRG-BEASTS: Transmission Spectroscopy and Retrieval Analysis of the Highly Inflated Saturn-mass Planet WASP-39b
in The Astronomical Journal
Kirk James
(2019)
A comparison of retrieved water abundances using the clear-atmosphere, hot-Saturn WASP-39b as a test case
in AAS/Division for Extreme Solar Systems Abstracts
Kirkby-Kent J
(2018)
Absolute parameters for AI Phoenicis using WASP photometry (Corrigendum)
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Kirkby-Kent J
(2018)
WASP 0639-32: a new F-type subgiant/K-type main-sequence detached eclipsing binary from the WASP project
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Kostrzewa-Rutkowska Z
(2018)
A gravitationally lensed quasar discovered in OGLE
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Kreidberg L
(2018)
Global Climate and Atmospheric Composition of the Ultra-hot Jupiter WASP-103b from HST and Spitzer Phase Curve Observations
in The Astronomical Journal
Kuin N
(2019)
Swift spectra of AT2018cow: a white dwarf tidal disruption event?
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Kunovac Hodžic V
(2020)
The EBLM project - VII. Spin-orbit alignment for the circumbinary planet host EBLM J0608-59 A/TOI-1338 A
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Kupfer T
(2017)
The OmegaWhite Survey for Short-period Variable Stars. V. Discovery of an Ultracompact Hot Subdwarf Binary with a Compact Companion in a 44-minute Orbit
in The Astrophysical Journal
Kupfer T
(2020)
A New Class of Roche Lobe-filling Hot Subdwarf Binaries
in The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Kupfer T
(2018)
LISA verification binaries with updated distances from Gaia Data Release 2
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Kupfer T
(2020)
The First Ultracompact Roche Lobe-Filling Hot Subdwarf Binary
in The Astrophysical Journal
Lam K
(2017)
From dense hot Jupiter to low-density Neptune: The discovery of WASP-127b, WASP-136b, and WASP-138b
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Lam K
(2018)
K2-265 b: a transiting rocky super-Earth
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Lamb G
(2019)
Short GRB 160821B: A Reverse Shock, a Refreshed Shock, and a Well-sampled Kilonova
in The Astrophysical Journal
Lamb G
(2019)
The Optical Afterglow of GW170817 at One Year Post-merger
in The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Lata S
(2019)
Short-period Variable Stars in Young Open Cluster Stock 8
in The Astronomical Journal
Lavie B
(2017)
The long egress of GJ 436b's giant exosphere
Lavie B
(2017)
The long egress of GJ~436b's giant exosphere
Lavie B
(2017)
The long egress of GJ 436b's giant exosphere
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Lendl M
(2020)
TOI-222: a single-transit TESS candidate revealed to be a 34-d eclipsing binary with CORALIE, EulerCam, and NGTS
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Description | The work of this award spans a wide range of questions relating to extrasolar planets, binary stars and cosmic explosions. Numerous papers in each of these areas were published. Highlights are: many discoveries of new planets outside our solar system but also successful attempts to probe their atmospheres by observing the light that passes through the atmospheres as the planets cross the faces of their host stars; the discovery of a remarkable planetesimal, akin to an asteroid, in an orbit just 2 hours long around a white dwarf; a rapidly spinning white dwarf that turns once every 39 seconds; an ultra-massive white dwarf that shows all the signs of being a remnant of a merger of two white dwarfs; remnants of the violent merger of two neutron stars, first seen in gravitational waves and gamma rays, and still optically detectable over 100 days later; evidence for accretion of matter from an unseen planet orbiting a white dwarf; detection of a sequence of white dwarfs caught in a stage during which their cores crystalize, a process hypothesised over 50 years earlier, but unproven until this point. |
Exploitation Route | The results from this research have already been used, and are being used as the basis for further research internationally. |
Sectors | Education Other |
URL | https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2020NatAs...4..663H/abstract,https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2019Sci...364...66M/abstract,https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2018NatAs...2..751L/abstract,https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2019Natur.576...61G/abstract,https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2019Natur.565..202T/abstract |
Description | The chief non-academic impact of our work is in the dissemination of new discoveries to the public at large. We have a long and proud record of press releases accompanied by artwork commissioned by us. The discoveries of the crystallization of white dwarfs and the giant planet accreting onto a white dwarf are two examples of this from this award. In the latter case we also produced animations of the system.This was picked up widely in the median and online. A more commercial area of impact in the area of monitoring of satellite debris in the near-Earth environment started during the period of this award. This work emerged as a result of our work on wide-field surveys for exoplanets. |
First Year Of Impact | 2019 |
Impact Types | Cultural Societal |
Description | STFC Ernest Rutherford Fellowships - 2019, 2020 and 2021 |
Geographic Reach | National |
Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
Description | XMM Panel - 2011/12, 2017/18 |
Geographic Reach | Europe |
Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
Description | The Gravitational wave Optical Transient Observer |
Amount | £1,909,964 (GBP) |
Funding ID | ST/T003103/1 |
Organisation | Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 03/2020 |
End | 12/2023 |
Description | The Gravitational wave Optical Transient Observer |
Amount | £804,228 (GBP) |
Funding ID | ST/T007184/1 |
Organisation | Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 01/2020 |
End | 04/2020 |
Description | The Next Generation Transit Survey (NGTS): Operations 2019-2022 |
Amount | £538,923 (GBP) |
Funding ID | ST/S002642/1 |
Organisation | Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 03/2019 |
End | 03/2023 |
Description | Warwick Astronomy & Astrophysics Consolidated Grant 2023-2026 |
Amount | £2,428,922 (GBP) |
Funding ID | ST/X001121/1 |
Organisation | Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 03/2023 |
End | 03/2026 |
Title | 13-150M_Jup_ eclipsing binaries transiting comp. |
Description | VizieR online Data Catalogue associated with article published in journal Astronomy & Astrophysics with title 'Populating the brown dwarf and stellar boundary: Five stars with transiting companions near the hydrogen-burning mass limit.' (bibcode: 2021A&A...652A.127G) |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2021 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
URL | https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/A+A/652/A127 |
Title | AR Sco VLA radio observations |
Description | VizieR online Data Catalogue associated with article published in journal Astronomy & Astrophysics with title 'VLA radio observations of AR Scorpii.' (bibcode: 2018A&A...611A..66S) |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2018 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
URL | https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/A+A/611/A66 |
Title | Binary Population and Spectral Synthesis (BPASS) v2.2 |
Description | The Binary Population and Spectral Synthesis (BPASS) models are a direct result of the collaboration of Elizabeth Stanway with Dr J J Eldridge (University of Auckland). These model the effects of stellar binary interactions on individual stars and thus on the composite light measured from distant galaxies. They can be used for fitting data and analysing predictions for observations to reconstruct galaxy properties. version 2.0 was released in 2015. version 2.1 was released in autumn 2017 Version 2.2 of the models was developed in 2017/18 and released in May 2018 Continuous updates are provided, including data associated with papers in 2020 and 2021 |
Type Of Material | Computer model/algorithm |
Year Produced | 2018 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | To date there have been a larger number publications accepted based on BPASS v2.2, including those by research groups with which we have no association, with several more in preparation. These models have helped transform our interpretation of galaxies in the distant universe. |
URL | http://bpass.auckland.ac.nz |
Title | EBLM J2349-32 photometry, RV and spectra |
Description | VizieR online Data Catalogue associated with article published in journal Astronomy & Astrophysics with title 'The EBLM project. VI: Mass and radius of five low-mass stars in F+M binaries discovered by the WASP survey.' (bibcode: 2019A&A...626A.119G) |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2019 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
URL | https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/A+A/626/A119 |
Title | SPIDERMAN |
Description | SPIDERMAN is an open source piece of software to model the phase curves of exoplanets, made available at https://github.com/tomlouden/SPIDERMAN |
Type Of Material | Computer model/algorithm |
Year Produced | 2016 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | Papers: SPIDERMAN: an open-source code to model phase curves and secondary eclipses (doi: 10.1093/mnras/sty558 ) An ultra-short period rocky super-Earth with a secondary eclipse and a Neptune-like companion around K2-141 (doi: 10.3847/1538-3881/aaa5b5 ) The Transiting Exoplanet Community Early Release Science Program for JWST (doi: 10.1088/1538-3873/aadbf3 ) Global Climate and Atmospheric Composition of the Ultra-Hot Jupiter WASP-103b from HST and Spitzer Phase Curve Observations (doi: 10.3847/1538-3881/aac3df ) |
URL | https://github.com/tomlouden/SPIDERMAN |
Title | TERMINATOR |
Description | This code is for modelling the transmission spectra of planets with asymetric atmospheres at high resolution. it is made publicly available at https://github.com/tomlouden/TERMINATOR |
Type Of Material | Computer model/algorithm |
Year Produced | 2018 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | 3 first author papers currently in prep using this new technique. |
URL | https://github.com/tomlouden/TERMINATOR |
Title | TESS and NGTS LCs and RVs of NGTS-11 |
Description | VizieR online Data Catalogue associated with article published in journal Astronomical Journal (AAS) with title 'NGTS-11 b (TOI-1847 b): a transiting warm Saturn recovered from a TESS single-transit event.' (bibcode: 2020ApJ...898L..11G) |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2021 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
URL | https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/ApJ/898/L11 |
Title | Transit photometry of NGTS-14Ab |
Description | VizieR online Data Catalogue associated with article published in journal Astronomy & Astrophysics with title 'NGTS-14Ab: a Neptune-sized transiting planet in the desert.' (bibcode: 2021A&A...646A.183S) |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2021 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
URL | https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/A+A/646/A183 |
Title | Two long-period transiting exoplanets |
Description | VizieR online Data Catalogue associated with article published in journal Astronomy & Astrophysics with title 'Two long-period transiting exoplanets on eccentric orbits: NGTS-20 b (TOI-5152 b) and TOI-5153 b.' (bibcode: 2022A&A...666A..46U) |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2022 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
URL | https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/A+A/666/A46 |
Title | WASP-186 and WASP-187: two hot Jupiters discovered bySuperWASP and SOPHIE with additional observations by TESS (dataset) |
Description | 6 csv files containing the WASP, SOPHIE, and TESS data used to characterize WASP-186b and WASP-187b. Files contain the date, measurement, and error, and the SOPHIE dataset also includes the observing mode. Further information is available in ReadMe.txt |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2020 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
URL | https://research-portal.st-andrews.ac.uk/en/datasets/wasp-186-and-wasp-187-two-hot-jupiters-discover... |
Title | iz photometry of S190814bv ctp candidates |
Description | VizieR online Data Catalogue associated with article published in journal Astronomy & Astrophysics with title 'Observational constraints on the optical and near-infrared emission from the neutron star-black hole binary merger candidate S190814bv.' (bibcode: 2020A&A...643A.113A) |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2020 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
URL | https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/A+A/643/A113 |
Description | Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence |
Organisation | Swinburne University of Technology |
Country | Australia |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Partner Investigator, ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery |
Collaborator Contribution | Centre is led from Swinburne |
Impact | Centre kicked off recently, main outputs under publications |
Start Year | 2017 |
Description | Eclipse Modelling of Eclipsing AM CVns |
Organisation | California Institute of Technology |
Department | Caltech Astronomy |
Country | United States |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | I have aided in the modelling of an eclipsing binary system, using my previous experience performing similar analysis. I also contributed software, and advised on its use, to help with this analysis. |
Collaborator Contribution | Caltech astronomers collected the data and performed the bulk of the analysis. |
Impact | The paper presenting our results is in preparation. |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | GOTO collaboration |
Organisation | Armagh Observatory and Planetarium |
Department | Armagh Observatory |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Warwick leads this international project, Steeghs is the overall PI |
Collaborator Contribution | Capital investments for hardware and substantial in-kind contributions |
Impact | Press releases, media coverage, Nature Astronomy feature. |
Start Year | 2015 |
Description | GOTO collaboration |
Organisation | Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands |
Country | Spain |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Warwick leads this international project, Steeghs is the overall PI |
Collaborator Contribution | Capital investments for hardware and substantial in-kind contributions |
Impact | Press releases, media coverage, Nature Astronomy feature. |
Start Year | 2015 |
Description | GOTO collaboration |
Organisation | Monash University |
Country | Australia |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Warwick leads this international project, Steeghs is the overall PI |
Collaborator Contribution | Capital investments for hardware and substantial in-kind contributions |
Impact | Press releases, media coverage, Nature Astronomy feature. |
Start Year | 2015 |
Description | GOTO collaboration |
Organisation | National Astronomical Research Institute Of Thailand |
Country | Thailand |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | Warwick leads this international project, Steeghs is the overall PI |
Collaborator Contribution | Capital investments for hardware and substantial in-kind contributions |
Impact | Press releases, media coverage, Nature Astronomy feature. |
Start Year | 2015 |
Description | GOTO collaboration |
Organisation | University of Leicester |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Warwick leads this international project, Steeghs is the overall PI |
Collaborator Contribution | Capital investments for hardware and substantial in-kind contributions |
Impact | Press releases, media coverage, Nature Astronomy feature. |
Start Year | 2015 |
Description | GOTO collaboration |
Organisation | University of Manchester |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Warwick leads this international project, Steeghs is the overall PI |
Collaborator Contribution | Capital investments for hardware and substantial in-kind contributions |
Impact | Press releases, media coverage, Nature Astronomy feature. |
Start Year | 2015 |
Description | GOTO collaboration |
Organisation | University of Portsmouth |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Warwick leads this international project, Steeghs is the overall PI |
Collaborator Contribution | Capital investments for hardware and substantial in-kind contributions |
Impact | Press releases, media coverage, Nature Astronomy feature. |
Start Year | 2015 |
Description | GOTO collaboration |
Organisation | University of Sheffield |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Warwick leads this international project, Steeghs is the overall PI |
Collaborator Contribution | Capital investments for hardware and substantial in-kind contributions |
Impact | Press releases, media coverage, Nature Astronomy feature. |
Start Year | 2015 |
Description | GOTO collaboration |
Organisation | University of Turku |
Country | Finland |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Warwick leads this international project, Steeghs is the overall PI |
Collaborator Contribution | Capital investments for hardware and substantial in-kind contributions |
Impact | Press releases, media coverage, Nature Astronomy feature. |
Start Year | 2015 |
Description | NGTS Consortium |
Organisation | Andor Technology |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | We are leading the development of the Next Generation Transit Survey (NGTS), which is a project aiming to discover small planets around bright stars using an array of robotic telescopes at the ESO Paranal site in Chile. We initiated the project with an institutional investment of £300k, and have been joined by 5 partner institutes all making comparable financial investments. At Warwick we have purchased key components of the facility (including CCD cameras and telescope mounts), led site negotiations with ESO, and we are leading the development of the observatory control and data analysis software. In the operational phase of the project, with support from STFC, we will carrying out the data analysis and lead the search for new planets in NGTS data. |
Collaborator Contribution | Geneva - have purchased key equipment and led the mechanical and optical design of the telescope array. DLR - have purchased CCD cameras and contributed to the development of data analysis software. Leicester - have purchased CCD cameras and computing hardware and led the calibration of the CCD cameras. Cavendish - have purchased key equipment and provided staff support for the installation of the facility in Chile. Belfast - developed a prototype instrument for La Palma that demonstrated the scientific feasibility of the survey. |
Impact | Primary output will be the discovery and characterisation of new exoplanets (published in peer reviewed journals). The NGTS data will also be made publicly available through the ESO data archive. Our collaboration with the manufacturer of our CCD cameras (Andor) has resulted in a new camera product and an improved understanding of CCD camera stability. |
Start Year | 2009 |
Description | NGTS Consortium |
Organisation | German Aerospace Centre (DLR) |
Department | DLR Institute Of Planetary Research |
Country | Germany |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | We are leading the development of the Next Generation Transit Survey (NGTS), which is a project aiming to discover small planets around bright stars using an array of robotic telescopes at the ESO Paranal site in Chile. We initiated the project with an institutional investment of £300k, and have been joined by 5 partner institutes all making comparable financial investments. At Warwick we have purchased key components of the facility (including CCD cameras and telescope mounts), led site negotiations with ESO, and we are leading the development of the observatory control and data analysis software. In the operational phase of the project, with support from STFC, we will carrying out the data analysis and lead the search for new planets in NGTS data. |
Collaborator Contribution | Geneva - have purchased key equipment and led the mechanical and optical design of the telescope array. DLR - have purchased CCD cameras and contributed to the development of data analysis software. Leicester - have purchased CCD cameras and computing hardware and led the calibration of the CCD cameras. Cavendish - have purchased key equipment and provided staff support for the installation of the facility in Chile. Belfast - developed a prototype instrument for La Palma that demonstrated the scientific feasibility of the survey. |
Impact | Primary output will be the discovery and characterisation of new exoplanets (published in peer reviewed journals). The NGTS data will also be made publicly available through the ESO data archive. Our collaboration with the manufacturer of our CCD cameras (Andor) has resulted in a new camera product and an improved understanding of CCD camera stability. |
Start Year | 2009 |
Description | NGTS Consortium |
Organisation | Queen's University Belfast |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | We are leading the development of the Next Generation Transit Survey (NGTS), which is a project aiming to discover small planets around bright stars using an array of robotic telescopes at the ESO Paranal site in Chile. We initiated the project with an institutional investment of £300k, and have been joined by 5 partner institutes all making comparable financial investments. At Warwick we have purchased key components of the facility (including CCD cameras and telescope mounts), led site negotiations with ESO, and we are leading the development of the observatory control and data analysis software. In the operational phase of the project, with support from STFC, we will carrying out the data analysis and lead the search for new planets in NGTS data. |
Collaborator Contribution | Geneva - have purchased key equipment and led the mechanical and optical design of the telescope array. DLR - have purchased CCD cameras and contributed to the development of data analysis software. Leicester - have purchased CCD cameras and computing hardware and led the calibration of the CCD cameras. Cavendish - have purchased key equipment and provided staff support for the installation of the facility in Chile. Belfast - developed a prototype instrument for La Palma that demonstrated the scientific feasibility of the survey. |
Impact | Primary output will be the discovery and characterisation of new exoplanets (published in peer reviewed journals). The NGTS data will also be made publicly available through the ESO data archive. Our collaboration with the manufacturer of our CCD cameras (Andor) has resulted in a new camera product and an improved understanding of CCD camera stability. |
Start Year | 2009 |
Description | NGTS Consortium |
Organisation | University of Cambridge |
Department | Cavendish Laboratory |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | We are leading the development of the Next Generation Transit Survey (NGTS), which is a project aiming to discover small planets around bright stars using an array of robotic telescopes at the ESO Paranal site in Chile. We initiated the project with an institutional investment of £300k, and have been joined by 5 partner institutes all making comparable financial investments. At Warwick we have purchased key components of the facility (including CCD cameras and telescope mounts), led site negotiations with ESO, and we are leading the development of the observatory control and data analysis software. In the operational phase of the project, with support from STFC, we will carrying out the data analysis and lead the search for new planets in NGTS data. |
Collaborator Contribution | Geneva - have purchased key equipment and led the mechanical and optical design of the telescope array. DLR - have purchased CCD cameras and contributed to the development of data analysis software. Leicester - have purchased CCD cameras and computing hardware and led the calibration of the CCD cameras. Cavendish - have purchased key equipment and provided staff support for the installation of the facility in Chile. Belfast - developed a prototype instrument for La Palma that demonstrated the scientific feasibility of the survey. |
Impact | Primary output will be the discovery and characterisation of new exoplanets (published in peer reviewed journals). The NGTS data will also be made publicly available through the ESO data archive. Our collaboration with the manufacturer of our CCD cameras (Andor) has resulted in a new camera product and an improved understanding of CCD camera stability. |
Start Year | 2009 |
Description | NGTS Consortium |
Organisation | University of Chile |
Department | Department of Astronomy (DAS) |
Country | Chile |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | We are leading the development of the Next Generation Transit Survey (NGTS), which is a project aiming to discover small planets around bright stars using an array of robotic telescopes at the ESO Paranal site in Chile. We initiated the project with an institutional investment of £300k, and have been joined by 5 partner institutes all making comparable financial investments. At Warwick we have purchased key components of the facility (including CCD cameras and telescope mounts), led site negotiations with ESO, and we are leading the development of the observatory control and data analysis software. In the operational phase of the project, with support from STFC, we will carrying out the data analysis and lead the search for new planets in NGTS data. |
Collaborator Contribution | Geneva - have purchased key equipment and led the mechanical and optical design of the telescope array. DLR - have purchased CCD cameras and contributed to the development of data analysis software. Leicester - have purchased CCD cameras and computing hardware and led the calibration of the CCD cameras. Cavendish - have purchased key equipment and provided staff support for the installation of the facility in Chile. Belfast - developed a prototype instrument for La Palma that demonstrated the scientific feasibility of the survey. |
Impact | Primary output will be the discovery and characterisation of new exoplanets (published in peer reviewed journals). The NGTS data will also be made publicly available through the ESO data archive. Our collaboration with the manufacturer of our CCD cameras (Andor) has resulted in a new camera product and an improved understanding of CCD camera stability. |
Start Year | 2009 |
Description | NGTS Consortium |
Organisation | University of Geneva |
Country | Switzerland |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | We are leading the development of the Next Generation Transit Survey (NGTS), which is a project aiming to discover small planets around bright stars using an array of robotic telescopes at the ESO Paranal site in Chile. We initiated the project with an institutional investment of £300k, and have been joined by 5 partner institutes all making comparable financial investments. At Warwick we have purchased key components of the facility (including CCD cameras and telescope mounts), led site negotiations with ESO, and we are leading the development of the observatory control and data analysis software. In the operational phase of the project, with support from STFC, we will carrying out the data analysis and lead the search for new planets in NGTS data. |
Collaborator Contribution | Geneva - have purchased key equipment and led the mechanical and optical design of the telescope array. DLR - have purchased CCD cameras and contributed to the development of data analysis software. Leicester - have purchased CCD cameras and computing hardware and led the calibration of the CCD cameras. Cavendish - have purchased key equipment and provided staff support for the installation of the facility in Chile. Belfast - developed a prototype instrument for La Palma that demonstrated the scientific feasibility of the survey. |
Impact | Primary output will be the discovery and characterisation of new exoplanets (published in peer reviewed journals). The NGTS data will also be made publicly available through the ESO data archive. Our collaboration with the manufacturer of our CCD cameras (Andor) has resulted in a new camera product and an improved understanding of CCD camera stability. |
Start Year | 2009 |
Description | NGTS Consortium |
Organisation | University of Leicester |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | We are leading the development of the Next Generation Transit Survey (NGTS), which is a project aiming to discover small planets around bright stars using an array of robotic telescopes at the ESO Paranal site in Chile. We initiated the project with an institutional investment of £300k, and have been joined by 5 partner institutes all making comparable financial investments. At Warwick we have purchased key components of the facility (including CCD cameras and telescope mounts), led site negotiations with ESO, and we are leading the development of the observatory control and data analysis software. In the operational phase of the project, with support from STFC, we will carrying out the data analysis and lead the search for new planets in NGTS data. |
Collaborator Contribution | Geneva - have purchased key equipment and led the mechanical and optical design of the telescope array. DLR - have purchased CCD cameras and contributed to the development of data analysis software. Leicester - have purchased CCD cameras and computing hardware and led the calibration of the CCD cameras. Cavendish - have purchased key equipment and provided staff support for the installation of the facility in Chile. Belfast - developed a prototype instrument for La Palma that demonstrated the scientific feasibility of the survey. |
Impact | Primary output will be the discovery and characterisation of new exoplanets (published in peer reviewed journals). The NGTS data will also be made publicly available through the ESO data archive. Our collaboration with the manufacturer of our CCD cameras (Andor) has resulted in a new camera product and an improved understanding of CCD camera stability. |
Start Year | 2009 |
Description | Planet evaporation collaboration |
Organisation | Paris Institute of Astrophysics |
Country | France |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | We work together on a series of space telescope observations of evaporating exoplanets, primarily Hubble Space Telescope, Chandra and XMM-Newton. This has resulted in a series of papers in which we investigate the physical conditions driving planet evaporation. The Warwick contribution has been to lead observations of the X-ray irradiation of the planets, thought to drive planetary evaporation. |
Collaborator Contribution | Paris and Geneva bring expertise in high precision observations with the Hubble Space Telescope, which is necessary to detect the resulting mass loss from the exoplanets. |
Impact | Five papers to date in refereed journals (listed separately) including one on Nature and further observations with Hubble, Chandra and XMM-Newton scheduled. |
Start Year | 2011 |
Description | Planet evaporation collaboration |
Organisation | University of Geneva |
Country | Switzerland |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | We work together on a series of space telescope observations of evaporating exoplanets, primarily Hubble Space Telescope, Chandra and XMM-Newton. This has resulted in a series of papers in which we investigate the physical conditions driving planet evaporation. The Warwick contribution has been to lead observations of the X-ray irradiation of the planets, thought to drive planetary evaporation. |
Collaborator Contribution | Paris and Geneva bring expertise in high precision observations with the Hubble Space Telescope, which is necessary to detect the resulting mass loss from the exoplanets. |
Impact | Five papers to date in refereed journals (listed separately) including one on Nature and further observations with Hubble, Chandra and XMM-Newton scheduled. |
Start Year | 2011 |
Description | SDSS collaboration |
Organisation | Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-III) |
Country | United States |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | This is a collaboration to survey all-sky. Within the survey our team proposed observations of all kind of white dwarfs. I have participate in two workshops to meet the team. We will provide with the target list and scientific outputs |
Collaborator Contribution | They are currently employing engineering operations and software development. |
Impact | The operations are scheduled to 2020. So far pipelines for reduction and calibration that are in development can be utilized for current available or archival data. |
Start Year | 2018 |
Description | The Gravitational wave Optical Transient Consortium |
Organisation | Armagh Observatory and Planetarium |
Department | Armagh Observatory |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Capital investment and instrument development Software & technique development Scientific data analysis Science exploitations Project Management |
Collaborator Contribution | Capital investment and instrument development Software & technique development Scientific data analysis Science exploitations |
Impact | Refereed publications (see direct attributions) Media events and news stories Software code and algorithms (shared via github) |
Start Year | 2014 |
Description | The Gravitational wave Optical Transient Consortium |
Organisation | Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands |
Country | Spain |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Capital investment and instrument development Software & technique development Scientific data analysis Science exploitations Project Management |
Collaborator Contribution | Capital investment and instrument development Software & technique development Scientific data analysis Science exploitations |
Impact | Refereed publications (see direct attributions) Media events and news stories Software code and algorithms (shared via github) |
Start Year | 2014 |
Description | The Gravitational wave Optical Transient Consortium |
Organisation | Monash University |
Country | Australia |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Capital investment and instrument development Software & technique development Scientific data analysis Science exploitations Project Management |
Collaborator Contribution | Capital investment and instrument development Software & technique development Scientific data analysis Science exploitations |
Impact | Refereed publications (see direct attributions) Media events and news stories Software code and algorithms (shared via github) |
Start Year | 2014 |
Description | The Gravitational wave Optical Transient Consortium |
Organisation | National Astronomical Research Institute Of Thailand |
Country | Thailand |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | Capital investment and instrument development Software & technique development Scientific data analysis Science exploitations Project Management |
Collaborator Contribution | Capital investment and instrument development Software & technique development Scientific data analysis Science exploitations |
Impact | Refereed publications (see direct attributions) Media events and news stories Software code and algorithms (shared via github) |
Start Year | 2014 |
Description | The Gravitational wave Optical Transient Consortium |
Organisation | University of Leicester |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Capital investment and instrument development Software & technique development Scientific data analysis Science exploitations Project Management |
Collaborator Contribution | Capital investment and instrument development Software & technique development Scientific data analysis Science exploitations |
Impact | Refereed publications (see direct attributions) Media events and news stories Software code and algorithms (shared via github) |
Start Year | 2014 |
Description | The Gravitational wave Optical Transient Consortium |
Organisation | University of Manchester |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Capital investment and instrument development Software & technique development Scientific data analysis Science exploitations Project Management |
Collaborator Contribution | Capital investment and instrument development Software & technique development Scientific data analysis Science exploitations |
Impact | Refereed publications (see direct attributions) Media events and news stories Software code and algorithms (shared via github) |
Start Year | 2014 |
Description | The Gravitational wave Optical Transient Consortium |
Organisation | University of Portsmouth |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Capital investment and instrument development Software & technique development Scientific data analysis Science exploitations Project Management |
Collaborator Contribution | Capital investment and instrument development Software & technique development Scientific data analysis Science exploitations |
Impact | Refereed publications (see direct attributions) Media events and news stories Software code and algorithms (shared via github) |
Start Year | 2014 |
Description | The Gravitational wave Optical Transient Consortium |
Organisation | University of Sheffield |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Capital investment and instrument development Software & technique development Scientific data analysis Science exploitations Project Management |
Collaborator Contribution | Capital investment and instrument development Software & technique development Scientific data analysis Science exploitations |
Impact | Refereed publications (see direct attributions) Media events and news stories Software code and algorithms (shared via github) |
Start Year | 2014 |
Description | The Gravitational wave Optical Transient Consortium |
Organisation | University of Turku |
Country | Finland |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Capital investment and instrument development Software & technique development Scientific data analysis Science exploitations Project Management |
Collaborator Contribution | Capital investment and instrument development Software & technique development Scientific data analysis Science exploitations |
Impact | Refereed publications (see direct attributions) Media events and news stories Software code and algorithms (shared via github) |
Start Year | 2014 |
Description | WASP Consortium |
Organisation | Keele University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | The WASP project searches for exoplanets around bright stars using the transit technique. Warwick hosts the WASP Data Centre, where data from telescopes in South Africa and La Palma are analysed. We play a leading role in the discovery and characterisation of planets discovered with WASP. |
Collaborator Contribution | Keele leads the operations and data reduction for the facility in South Africa. St Andews led development of the WASP data reduction pipeline. Leicester originally hosted the WASP Data Centre and purchased much of the computing equipment. Queen's Belfast led the development of the instrument design (although the Belfast PI Pollacco has since moved to Warwick). Geneva have contributed telescope time for confirmation of exoplanets. The Open University contributed CCD cameras and has led some WASP follow up observations. |
Impact | WASP is the world-leading project for the discovery of giant transiting exoplanets. It has resulted in the publication hundreds of refereed journal articles, listed separately. |
Description | WASP Consortium |
Organisation | Open University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | The WASP project searches for exoplanets around bright stars using the transit technique. Warwick hosts the WASP Data Centre, where data from telescopes in South Africa and La Palma are analysed. We play a leading role in the discovery and characterisation of planets discovered with WASP. |
Collaborator Contribution | Keele leads the operations and data reduction for the facility in South Africa. St Andews led development of the WASP data reduction pipeline. Leicester originally hosted the WASP Data Centre and purchased much of the computing equipment. Queen's Belfast led the development of the instrument design (although the Belfast PI Pollacco has since moved to Warwick). Geneva have contributed telescope time for confirmation of exoplanets. The Open University contributed CCD cameras and has led some WASP follow up observations. |
Impact | WASP is the world-leading project for the discovery of giant transiting exoplanets. It has resulted in the publication hundreds of refereed journal articles, listed separately. |
Description | WASP Consortium |
Organisation | Queen's University Belfast |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | The WASP project searches for exoplanets around bright stars using the transit technique. Warwick hosts the WASP Data Centre, where data from telescopes in South Africa and La Palma are analysed. We play a leading role in the discovery and characterisation of planets discovered with WASP. |
Collaborator Contribution | Keele leads the operations and data reduction for the facility in South Africa. St Andews led development of the WASP data reduction pipeline. Leicester originally hosted the WASP Data Centre and purchased much of the computing equipment. Queen's Belfast led the development of the instrument design (although the Belfast PI Pollacco has since moved to Warwick). Geneva have contributed telescope time for confirmation of exoplanets. The Open University contributed CCD cameras and has led some WASP follow up observations. |
Impact | WASP is the world-leading project for the discovery of giant transiting exoplanets. It has resulted in the publication hundreds of refereed journal articles, listed separately. |
Description | WASP Consortium |
Organisation | University of Geneva |
Country | Switzerland |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | The WASP project searches for exoplanets around bright stars using the transit technique. Warwick hosts the WASP Data Centre, where data from telescopes in South Africa and La Palma are analysed. We play a leading role in the discovery and characterisation of planets discovered with WASP. |
Collaborator Contribution | Keele leads the operations and data reduction for the facility in South Africa. St Andews led development of the WASP data reduction pipeline. Leicester originally hosted the WASP Data Centre and purchased much of the computing equipment. Queen's Belfast led the development of the instrument design (although the Belfast PI Pollacco has since moved to Warwick). Geneva have contributed telescope time for confirmation of exoplanets. The Open University contributed CCD cameras and has led some WASP follow up observations. |
Impact | WASP is the world-leading project for the discovery of giant transiting exoplanets. It has resulted in the publication hundreds of refereed journal articles, listed separately. |
Description | WASP Consortium |
Organisation | University of Leicester |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | The WASP project searches for exoplanets around bright stars using the transit technique. Warwick hosts the WASP Data Centre, where data from telescopes in South Africa and La Palma are analysed. We play a leading role in the discovery and characterisation of planets discovered with WASP. |
Collaborator Contribution | Keele leads the operations and data reduction for the facility in South Africa. St Andews led development of the WASP data reduction pipeline. Leicester originally hosted the WASP Data Centre and purchased much of the computing equipment. Queen's Belfast led the development of the instrument design (although the Belfast PI Pollacco has since moved to Warwick). Geneva have contributed telescope time for confirmation of exoplanets. The Open University contributed CCD cameras and has led some WASP follow up observations. |
Impact | WASP is the world-leading project for the discovery of giant transiting exoplanets. It has resulted in the publication hundreds of refereed journal articles, listed separately. |
Description | WASP Consortium |
Organisation | University of St Andrews |
Department | School of Physics and Astronomy |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | The WASP project searches for exoplanets around bright stars using the transit technique. Warwick hosts the WASP Data Centre, where data from telescopes in South Africa and La Palma are analysed. We play a leading role in the discovery and characterisation of planets discovered with WASP. |
Collaborator Contribution | Keele leads the operations and data reduction for the facility in South Africa. St Andews led development of the WASP data reduction pipeline. Leicester originally hosted the WASP Data Centre and purchased much of the computing equipment. Queen's Belfast led the development of the instrument design (although the Belfast PI Pollacco has since moved to Warwick). Geneva have contributed telescope time for confirmation of exoplanets. The Open University contributed CCD cameras and has led some WASP follow up observations. |
Impact | WASP is the world-leading project for the discovery of giant transiting exoplanets. It has resulted in the publication hundreds of refereed journal articles, listed separately. |
Description | @WarwickAstro Twitter Feed |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Warwick Astro Twitter Feed provides links and information about our STFC funded research to a wide audience, often engaging with school twitter accounts, the media and the university feeds in addition to reaching individual members of the general public directly. Audience often respond directly, and any questions can be addressed |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013,2014,2015,2016,2017,2018,2019,2020,2021 |
URL | https://twitter.com/WarwickAstro |
Description | Appearance of BBC Breakfast and 5Live |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | The main headline TV and radio intereviews by Andrew Levan in respect of the discovery of the electromagnetic counterpart of gravitational waves. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | BBC website request to comment |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Asked by BBC website to comment on exoplanet news story. Quoted extensively in story. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-49855058 |
Description | ESO press conference: Multi-messenger Astronomy |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | Andrew Levan presented our results highlighting the discovery of the first electromagnetic counterpart to a gravitational wave source at the European Southern Observatory in Munich. The event was watched live by over 7000 people and rapidly accured 70,000 views on YouTube. It directly led to apperences on BBC Breakfast and 5Live to discuss the science behind the results. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ISr4juIkDg |
Description | Evening seminars |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Casual talks are held fortnightly in which postgrad students present their work to each other. I have presented annually for the past two years. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017,2018 |
Description | Gravitational waves workshop |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | Visits to schools by Prof Andrew Levan to deliver a day-long event investigating the nature of gravitational waves with hands on programming experience. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
URL | http://www.astro.warwick.ac.uk/biggestbangs |
Description | Hubble release gravitational waves |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | Andrew Levan led the first observations of the gravitational wave detected binary neutron star merger with the Hubble Space Telescope. The image created from these images was one of the most widely used in discussing the event in the media. It had 3180 press clippings reporting the result. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
URL | http://www.spacetelescope.org/news/heic1717/ |
Description | Interview for BBC Earth podcast |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | I gave an interview about my work on detecting weather systems on planets outside the solar system for the BBC Earth Podcast. This was for a general audience, and also included a description of planets in the solar system, and my predictions for future developments in the field. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Invited talk for Stratford Astronomical Society |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Gave an outreach talk on recent research in the field of exo-planets around white dwarfs for the Society |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
Description | Media Interview - podcast |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | An interview that was broadcast as a podcast |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
URL | https://starspotpodcast.com/2017/07/23/building-on-gravitational-wave-astronomy-danny-steeghs/ |
Description | PLATO Selection Outreach |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Press release over the selection of PLATO as ESA M3 mission. Picked up by many organisations. Here is one from the telegraph. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
URL | http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/space/10700476/Britain-joins-new-hunt-for-E.T..html |
Description | Planetarium Outreach |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | We used our STFC & Department funded mobile planetarium to present informative sessions at primary and secondary schools, and other general public events on and off campus. Along with a video presentation, these sessions includes researchers sharing their knowledge during question-and-answer sessions and telling audiences about the research they undertake at the university. We estimate that we have presented these sessions to ~3000 school children. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019,2020 |
Description | Planetarium Shows |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | Our mobile planetarium tours local schools at a rate of ~2 per week and provides shows to ages 4-18 as well as the opportunity to ask questions of scientists. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017,2018 |
Description | Planetarium visit to Big Bang Fair at Leicester Grammar School - Feb 2019 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | We used out STFC-funded mobile planetarium to present our STFC-funded research on exoplanet detection and characterisation to a total audience of around 400 members of the general public at the Big Bang Science Fair held at Leicester Grammar School. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | https://nearme.thebigbangfair.co.uk/view/?eve_id=1970 |
Description | Presentation to joint meeting of BAAA/AAVSO, July 2018 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | This was a talk to a joint meeting of British and American variable star observers, keen "amateurs" if you will, but many of them with advanced technical backgrounds. These are people that the group at Warwick works with. I was presenting results on a star originally discovered by amateur astronomers which was published in Nature, and I was able to meet some of the amateur astronomers who made this work happen. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Press release announcing the NGTS discovery of a sub-Neptune sized exoplanet in the Neptunian desert |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | Press release announcing the NGTS discovery of a sub-Neptune sized exoplanet in the Neptunian desert |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://warwick.ac.uk/newsandevents/pressreleases/the_forbidden_planet/ |
Description | Press release on GW170817 late-time Hubble Space telescope observations |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | Press release on first optical observations of the gamma-ray burst afterglow associated with the first gravitational-wave multi-messenger event GW170817. Picked up by major news outlets. Top of r/space on Reddit (millions of members), engagement with readers on Reddit. Wrote higher-level companion article for Nature Astronomy. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
URL | https://warwick.ac.uk/newsandevents/pressreleases/researchers_wait_over/ |
Description | Press release on pre-MS stellar flare |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | Press release on a remarkably energetic stellar flare detected from a young star that is likely to influence the formation of planets. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
URL | https://warwick.ac.uk/newsandevents/pressreleases/baby_stars_fiery |
Description | Press release on the NGTS contribution to a Nature paper announcing the discovery of the exposed core of an evaporated exoplanet |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | Press release on the NGTS contribution to a Nature paper announcing the discovery of the exposed core of an evaporated exoplanet |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://warwick.ac.uk/newsandevents/pressreleases/first_exposed_planetary/ |
Description | Press release on the NGTS discovery of a hot Jupiter with a year lasting only 18 hours |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | Press release announcing the discovery with NGTS of a Jupiter-sized exoplanet with a year lasting only 18 hours. This is the Jupiter with the shortest orbital period yet found. Measurement of its orbital decay will provide sensitive test of tidal interaction theory. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://warwick.ac.uk/newsandevents/pressreleases/18-hour_year_planet/ |
Description | Press release on the discovery of the "monster planet" NGTS-1b |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | Press release announcing the first exoplanet detected with the STFC-funded NGTS project. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
URL | https://warwick.ac.uk/newsandevents/pressreleases/monster_planet_discovery/ |
Description | Press release on the possibility of liquid water on the Earth-sized planets in the TRAPPIST-1 system |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | Press release on the possibility of liquid water and hence a habitable environment on the Earth-sized planets of the TRAPPIST-1 system. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
URL | https://warwick.ac.uk/newsandevents/pressreleases/earth-sized_planets_forty/ |
Description | Reddit AskScience AMA session on gravitational wave discovery |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Joe Lyman participated in a Reddit AskScience "Ask Me Anything" post on our involvement in the discovery of the first multi-messenger gravitational wave source, as part of the European Southern Observatory. The platform allows the general public to ask questions and provide comments directly to scientists. The intention was to engage with harder-to-reach sections of the public that may not already harbour an interest in Science, and are thus less likely to attend or participate in traditional outreach activities (e.g. talks, presentations). Removing the media barrier allowed for proper interaction between the Scientists and the public, to clarify discussion, and provide a more personal, and thus more impactful, response to their inquiries. The post attracted hundreds of questions and was view by thousands. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
URL | https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/76ne3p/askscience_ama_series_european_southern/ |
Description | Schools talk 2018/19 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | This is a catch all for 7 public talks ranging from a school in a deprived area, to talks to postgraduate/undergraduate clubs at university. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018,2019 |
Description | Science week assemblies - King Edward VI school Stratford |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | A series of assemblies delivered by Andrew Levan as part of National Science Week 2018. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Sky at Night magazine interview |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Did an interview with the Sky at Night magazine in their Q&A section. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
Description | TV interview for the BBC |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Gave an interview for the BBC on the discovery of a giant planet around a white dwarf published in Nature by Warwick astronomy researchers |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkVwxi-5pwM |
Description | Talk to British Astronomical Association |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Talk on STFC-funded exoplanet research to the British Astronomical Society Spring Meeting, Nottingham. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://www.britastro.org/nottingham2020 |
Description | Talk to Melton Astronomical Society - May 2019 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Talk on exoplanets to a local astronomical society. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Talk to Nottingham Astronomical Society |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | This was a talk on the NGTS project and my wider astronomical research on exoplanets to the Nottingham Astronomical Society hosted by the British Geological Survey. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | Talk to Warwick Astrosoc - Nov 2018 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
Results and Impact | Talk on the habitability of exoplanets to the Astronomy Society at the University of Warwick. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | TalkRADIO interview |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Interview on James Whale Radio show about PLATO/UKSA and alien life. This was a 15min discussion about PLATO (its funding and science) |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Two press release on interpretation of galaxy and stellar phenomena |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Press releases for BPASS-related science papers on Globular Clusters (May 2018) and GRB progenitors (Jan 2020). Both reached large, international audiences through media outlets inside and outside of the UK |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018,2020 |
Description | WOMAD 2018 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Delivery of gravitational waves results to a large audience at the WOMAD festival in 2018. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Warwick Christmas Lecture 2018 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | The Warwick Christmas Lecture 2018, entitled "Out of this world" was delivered by 3 Warwick Astronomers, Ann-Marie Broomhall, Dan Bayliss and Andrew Levan. It presented much of the current research in Warwick surrouding solar physics, exoplanets and extragalactic astronomy, aimed at audiences from 8-80 and packed with practical demonstrations (both in the lecture and outside). It was delivered to ~1200 people on 3 Dec 2018. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
URL | https://www.warwickartscentre.co.uk/whats-on/2018/warwick-christmas-lectures-2018-out-of-this-world/ |
Description | Work experience for 6 year 12 students from local schools |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | I hosted 6 year 12 students for work experience over 2 days. I briefly introduced them to life as a researcher and demonstrated the capabilities of our telescopes. The students found a number of EBLM systems which will form form part of a telescope application for the 1-m telescope at SAAO, South Africa. The sessions were productive and sparked lots of interesting debates about science, physics, engineering and careers. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
URL | https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/physics/intranet/work_experience/schedule |
Description | Written Conversation article for outreach |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | This article was written for the curious kids section of the Conversation website, which has currently been read by over 75,000 people. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
URL | https://theconversation.com/curious-kids-what-would-happen-if-the-sun-exploded-115329 |
Description | warwick open day talks |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | Talks to groups of 200-300 at University of Warwick open days |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019,2020,2021,2022,2023 |