Ordinary Meeting with Dr Ben Montet, UNSW

Guest Speaker: Dr Ben Montet, Scientia Senior Lecturer, School of Physics, UNSW

Title: Finding planets around nearby stars

Abstract: Over the past 30 years, thousands of exoplanets have been discovered orbiting nearby stars. How do we find them, what are the primary challenges in understanding their properties, and how can you help in the discovery and characterisation process? I will discuss technological and theoretical advancements over the past few years that have made it easier for us to find Earth-sized planets, future missions that will help us understand the broad architectures of planetary systems, and the involvement of citizen scientists working with the professional community to characterise planetary systems

Biography: Ben received his BS in physics and astronomy from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign and my PhD from Caltech, where he studied low-mass stars and their companions. After graduating, Ben spent three years as a Carl Sagan Fellow at the University of Chicago before moving to Australia to take up the role of Scientia Lecturer in the School of Physics at UNSW. Here in Sydney Ben and his research group are interested in developing new methods to improve our sensitivity to finding small or unusual planets and building improved data analysis approaches to better understand stellar activity and its potential impacts on planetary habitability