About Me

I am currently a student at Leiden Observatory, pursuing a Master of Astronomy. In the past, I have studied the enormous rings around the planet J1407b , and the future of our Solar System. Currently, I am studying ALMA observations of the disks around Herbig Ae/Be stars. You can see more details about my research here. A current version of my CV can be found here.

In my freetime, I love doing photography, and here you can read about some of my work.

My Research

Rings around Exoplanets

In the summer of 2016, I started working with Dr. Matthew Kenworthy at Leiden Observatory on J1407-system. Planets form in the gaseous disks around young stars, and accrete a smaller circumplanetary disk out of gas and dust around them. Although these disks likely dissipate rather quickly, this is the time and space where moons will form, producing ring-like gaps in the disk. The young star J1407 underwent a series of erratic dimmings, that span nearly two months in April and May 2007. The interpretation is that we observed an eclipse of such an extended disk, which is hosted by an unseen planetary companion orbiting J1407, dubbed J1407b.

However, as we observed only a single eclipse of the system, it was only possible to constrain the ring system and its planetary host. In order to obtain the mass and orbital period of J1407b, we needed another observation of a transit of the ring system. Hence, we mined the photographic plate archive at Harvard (DASCH), Sonneberg Observatory, and Bamberg Observatory (both Germany) for another eclipse of J1407. Although we did not find an eclipse, we were able to considerably constrained the dynamics of the ring system. We were also able to limit the planet's orbital period to 14 to 17 years, which means that we can expect another extended and deep eclipse of J1407 some time betweeen 2021 and 2024! However, if the planet with its extended ring system actually is not bound to J1407 at all but rather is a free floating planet, then of course we will likely never see another transit of the ring system.

Percentage of possible orbital periods of J1407b.

My Photography

In the summer of 2018, I first picked up a DSLR, an "ancient" Canon 350D from 2004. Since then, photography has grown from an interest to an intense passion of mine. Here, I show you a bit of my work since then.

Abstract

Wildlife

A seal enjoying the afternoon sun off the coast of Le Conquet, Brittany - August 2019

Landscape

An unknown wanderer at the Black Sand Beach on Iceland - August 2019

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while (!deck.isInOrder()) {
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print 'It took ' + i + ' iterations to sort the deck.';

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Item One Ante turpis integer aliquet porttitor. 29.99
Item Two Vis ac commodo adipiscing arcu aliquet. 19.99
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Item Four Vitae integer tempus condimentum. 19.99
Item Five Ante turpis integer aliquet porttitor. 29.99
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