Finding Planets Around Nearby Stars

Over the past 25 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 in 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.

Dr Ben Montet

I received my BS in physics and astronomy from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign and my PhD from Caltech, where I studied low-mass stars and their companions. After graduating, I 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 my research group and I are interested in developing statistical methods to improve our sensitivity to detecting small planets and building improved data analysis approaches to better understand stellar activity and its potential impacts on planetary habitability.