Warwick Astronomy and Astrophysics Consolidated Grant 2020-2023
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Warwick
Department Name: Physics
Abstract
How do stars, galaxies and planets form? What are they made of? How do they die? These are some of the questions addressed by the research programme of the Warwick Astronomy and Astrophysics group. Answering them is becoming possible in ways not imagined just 5 years ago. We now know of thousands of planets outside our Solar system, many of them exotic worlds closer to their stars than even Mercury is to the Sun. These planets are seen against overwhelming glare from their host stars, but remarkably it is now possible to tease out information on their compositions imprinted in their star's light as it passes through their atmospheres. The Solar system contains not just planets, but debris in the form of comets, asteroids and dust left-over from their formation. Other solar systems do too, but again the glare from stellar hosts makes it hard to see this material. A cutting-edge technique called interferometry allows us to see faint sources close to the star; we will use this to study remnant planetary material. The same planetary material can survive the entire lifetime of the stars until all that remains of the stars are hot, ultra-dense remnants known as white dwarfs. White dwarfs have extraordinary gravities, 200,000 times that of Earth, so high that only the lightest elements, hydrogen or helium, are typically visible in their atmospheres. How then do some of them show heavier elements? We believe that we are actually seeing recent or even present-day accretion of their remnant planetary disks. It is remarkable that this happens at all because just before turning into white dwarfs, stars swell by one hundred times in size, and should clear all planetary material out to a distance corresponding to Earth's orbit and beyond. Nevertheless, this gives us a unique insight into the composition of extra-solar planets and planetesimals, and is work that will be pursued in this grant. White dwarfs themselves are sites of exotic physics, allowing us to test quantum mechanics in dense fluids and to see matter in magnetic fields far stronger than can be generated on Earth. They are archaeological remnants of the history of our Galaxy, which betray their ages not through radio-carbon dating, but temperature, as they cool so slowly that they can still be detected over 10 billion years after formation. As a result of the Gaia satellite, we now know of more than 250,000 white dwarfs; we will carry out theoretical research to map the history of our Galaxy through its star formation. We will search these stars for pulsars, stellar lighthouses driven by rotating magnetic fields. Star formation and how it evolves crucial to our understanding of other galaxies, and how they build up chemical elements, right back to the most distant galaxies visible in the far Universe. We have developed models which account for the unusual evolutionary pathways made possible in binary star systems (close pairs of stars). We aim to build a consistent model of the build up of chemical elements which will be needed to interpret the observations soon to flow from the next great mission of astronomy, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Looking far outside our Galaxy, we can encompass millions of other galaxies, allowing us to see events that may only occur once in 100,000 years in our own Galaxy. This has recently allowed the detection of ripples in space-time from the violent merger of black-holes and the super-dense neutron stars, processes that may form much of the heavy element content of the Universe. We will pursue the detection of such events in visible light through rapid-alert observation of wide areas of the sky. Finally, returning closer to home, the same wide-field observations have found many of the most interesting known exo-planets by seeing them pass in front of their host stars. We will follow such systems found near bright stars by NASA's TESS satellite in order to probe planet formation and planetary atmospheres.
Planned Impact
The Astronomy and Astrophysics group at Warwick has developed considerable expertise in the deployment and operation of, and the analysis and curation of data from, wide-field survey telescopes. We have used these to search for exoplanets and more recently to search for the electromagnetic counterparts of gravitational wave transients. during our current consolidated grant, we have begun to employ these skills in a very different arena, which is the security of the near-Earth environment populated by artificial man-made satellites. The immediate beneficiaries of this work are our collaborators the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL), the US Air Force (USAF), and the European Office of Aerospace Research and Development (EOARD), but the security of the satellite network is critical to the functioning of the modern world and of immense national and international significance. In this new application, we apply to continue and extend the wide-field astronomical survey work from which the satellite work emerged. The two strands of work will cross-fertilise each other other in terms of software infrastructure and technologies.
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. In the new grant we will continue to push the limits of what these devices can deliver, and to feed data back to Andor. More recently, we have engaged at a similar level with the manufacturers of our GOTO telescopes which include novel optics and mount. The companies involved APL Professional Telescopes and JTW Astronomy have secured orders for products that have benefitted from our input, and this will continue as the project progresses. Our work with high-speed detectors will similarly be of mutual benefit to us and from interaction with the ATC Edinburgh, the European Southern Observatory (ESO) and CCD manufacturer e2v, who were all involved in the design and building of the most recently-developed camera, the five-band HiPERCAM.
Inspiration: During the current grant, our travelling planetarium has gone from strength to strength and is the centrepiece of our schools programme. We will maintain this as as a link from the University to schools in the local area, particularly to those catering for the most disadvantaged children. The astronomy group itself is a beneficiary of this effort as it places our PhD students into very different circumstances from their day-to-day research work. We are finding that similar mutual benefit and exchanges come from social media activity connected to our research. We will continue to pursue both of these avenues of public engagement which reach non-traditional audiences, and to encourage out students to engage with them. We will also continue our long-standing work in collaboration with our university press office to publicise our research. This is a more traditional use, but still one of enormous potential impact, particularly when it feeds on-line media.
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. In the new grant we will continue to push the limits of what these devices can deliver, and to feed data back to Andor. More recently, we have engaged at a similar level with the manufacturers of our GOTO telescopes which include novel optics and mount. The companies involved APL Professional Telescopes and JTW Astronomy have secured orders for products that have benefitted from our input, and this will continue as the project progresses. Our work with high-speed detectors will similarly be of mutual benefit to us and from interaction with the ATC Edinburgh, the European Southern Observatory (ESO) and CCD manufacturer e2v, who were all involved in the design and building of the most recently-developed camera, the five-band HiPERCAM.
Inspiration: During the current grant, our travelling planetarium has gone from strength to strength and is the centrepiece of our schools programme. We will maintain this as as a link from the University to schools in the local area, particularly to those catering for the most disadvantaged children. The astronomy group itself is a beneficiary of this effort as it places our PhD students into very different circumstances from their day-to-day research work. We are finding that similar mutual benefit and exchanges come from social media activity connected to our research. We will continue to pursue both of these avenues of public engagement which reach non-traditional audiences, and to encourage out students to engage with them. We will also continue our long-standing work in collaboration with our university press office to publicise our research. This is a more traditional use, but still one of enormous potential impact, particularly when it feeds on-line media.
Organisations
- University of Warwick (Lead Research Organisation)
- Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands (Collaboration)
- University of Chile (Collaboration)
- University of Manchester (Collaboration)
- Swinburne University of Technology (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF LEICESTER (Collaboration)
- University of Portsmouth (Collaboration)
- German Aerospace Centre (DLR) (Collaboration)
- Armagh Observatory (Collaboration)
- Andor Technology (Collaboration)
- QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY BELFAST (Collaboration)
- Paris Institute of Astrophysics (Collaboration)
- University of Turku (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE (Collaboration)
- University of Geneva (Collaboration)
- University of Sheffield (Collaboration)
- National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand (Collaboration)
- Monash University (Collaboration)
Publications
Torres M
(2021)
Delimiting the black hole mass in the X-ray transient MAXI J1659-152 with Ha spectroscopy
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Tilbrook R
(2021)
NGTS 15b, 16b, 17b, and 18b: four hot Jupiters from the Next-Generation Transit Survey
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Tetarenko A
(2021)
Measuring fundamental jet properties with multiwavelength fast timing of the black hole X-ray binary MAXI J1820+070
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Teske J
(2021)
The Magellan-TESS Survey. I. Survey Description and Midsurvey Results* †
in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series
Tang P
(2020)
Dependence of gravitational wave transient rates on cosmic star formation and metallicity evolution history
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters
Szkody P
(2021)
The Heating and Pulsations of V386 Serpentis after Its 2019 Dwarf Nova Outburst
in The Astrophysical Journal
Swan A
(2021)
Collisions in a gas-rich white dwarf planetary debris disc.
in Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Description | Chair of STFC oversight committee for new robotic telescope |
Geographic Reach | Europe |
Policy Influence Type | Membership of a guideline committee |
Description | UKRI Future Leader Fellowship: New frontiers in transient astrophysics: gravitational wave multi-messenger events and exotic stellar explosions |
Amount | £1,400,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | United Kingdom Research and Innovation |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 08/2020 |
End | 09/2027 |
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 |
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 | 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 | National Space Week public talk |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Online presentation as part of an astronomer Q&A panel, and a science of Science Fiction talk on Mars in SF for National Astronomy Week. Delivered via Youtube and a zoom live stream as part of a series hosted by the Royal Astronomical Society. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://www.astronomyweek.org.uk/ |
Description | Planet Hunters NGTS Citizen Science Project (on zooniverse platform) |
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 | 5500 volunteers from the general public are carrying out a citizen science project to find new extra-solar planets in the NGTS dataset |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021,2022 |
URL | https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/mschwamb/planet-hunters-ngts |
Description | Press release annoucing discovery of rapidly spinning white dwarf |
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 involving preparation of materials to do with a discovery made in Aug 2021 of what is probably the most rapidly spinning white dwarf known. Subject of the paper "Found: a rapidly spinning white dwarf in LAMOST J024048.51+195226.9", by Pelisoli, Marsh et al 2022, MNRAS 509, L31. We also commissioned well-known space artist Mark Garlick to prepare a visualisation of the subject of the press release. This press release had a highly unusual impact: it appeared as the subject of a question on a popular Italian TV quiz show "L'eridita". The question translates as "At Warwick, they recently identified a star as big as the Earth. But how long does it take to spin?" with possible answers of (a) a century, (b) 365 days, (c) 24 hours and (d) less than 25 seconds. [(d) is correct.] This appeared on the show around Jan 26, 2022. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://warwick.ac.uk/newsandevents/pressreleases/high-speed_propeller_star/ |
Description | Press release announcing Planet Hunters NGTS citizen science project |
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 announcing the launch of our Planet Hunters NGTS citizen science project |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://warwick.ac.uk/newsandevents/pressreleases/researchers_call_for_armchair_astronomers_to_help_... |
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 for Nature Astronomy paper: Vaporised crusts of Earth-like planets found in dying stars |
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, international coverage including BBC. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://warwick.ac.uk/newsandevents/pressreleases/vaporised_crusts_of |
Description | Press release for Nature Astronomy paper: White dwarfs reveal new insights into the origin of carbon in the universe |
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 |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://warwick.ac.uk/newsandevents/pressreleases/white_dwarfs_reveal/ |
Description | Press release on NGTS contribution to discovery of a resonant chain of 6 exoplanets in a single planetary 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 NGTS transit detections contributing to the discovery of a resonant chain of 6 exoplanets in a single planetary system. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://warwick.ac.uk/newsandevents/pressreleases/rhythmic_six-exoplanet_system/ |
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 discovery of a long-period Saturn-sized exoplanet with NGTS and TESS |
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 discovery of a Saturn-sized exoplanet in a wide orbit, using a new technique based on NGTS recovery of a transit signal initially found as a single event with NASA TESS space telescope. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://warwick.ac.uk/newsandevents/pressreleases/lost_worlds_rediscovery/ |
Description | Press release on the discovery of planetary debris material around a white dwarf |
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 associated with the discovery of planetary debris material around a white dwarf. This was primarily prepared by the PI institute (UCL); I organised a local release at Warwick. The discovery itself (Farihi et al 2022, MNRAS, 511, 1647) was made possible by an STFC-funded instrument ULTRACAM that I operate in collaboration with Sheffield. This discovery was referenced indirectly in a joke about another topic on the "Have I Got News For You" twitter feed on Feb 11. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://warwick.ac.uk/newsandevents/pressreleases/planetary_bodies_observed |
Description | Press released for Nature paper: Final moments of planetary remnants seen for first time |
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. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://warwick.ac.uk/newsandevents/pressreleases/final_moments_of |
Description | Public talks in Rugby and Solihull - November 2021 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Talk to regional Astronomy Societies. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | Radio interview on the Saturn-Jupiter planetary alignment |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Having already written an article on the rare alignment of Jupiter and Saturn, this was a radio interview to explain it to a wider auidence. It nicely fits with the core exoplanet theme of the Warwick group. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
Description | Talk to Warwick Astronomy Society - Feb 2021 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
Results and Impact | Lecture and discussion on hunting for exoplanets with the NGTS facility and other instruments. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | http://warwickastrosoc.wordpress.com |
Description | Talk to Warwick Astronomy Society - October 2021 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
Results and Impact | 40 undergraduate students attended an Astro talk |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | Video answering astronomy questions from school children |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | Video presentation to school children answering their questions about astronomy research |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |