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NGTS-4b: A sub-Neptune transiting in the desert

CEH member Richard West leads the fascinating discovery of an exoplanet that falls in the middle of what has been termed the 'Neptunian desert'. This refers to a region close-in to the parent star where previously no Neptune-sized exoplanets had been found. NGTS-4b has a mass 20 times that of the Earth and orbits its star (a 13th mag K dwarf) once every 1.34 days! What's more, it's the smallest planet discovered by a wide-field ground-based photometric survey to date - excellent work!

This study was published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 486, Issue 4, July 2019, Pages 5094–5103

Open access link: arXiv

CEH members involved: Richard West (lead), Daniel Bayliss, James Jackman, George King, James McCormac, Peter Wheatley, David Armstrong, Paul Chote, Ben Cooke, Emma Foxell, Boris Gänsicke, Tom Louden & Don Pollacco


Dynamical and Biological Panspermia Constraints Within Multiplanet Exosystems

Dimitri Veras leads an interdisciplinary team of astronomers and biologists in a study exploring the dynamical and biological constraints of interplanetary panspermia. This is the theory that life can hop from planet to planet via some mechanism, most likely aboard asteroids or comets.

This work was published in Astrobiology, Volume 18, Number 9

Open access link: arXiv

CEH members involved: Dimitri Veras (lead), David Armstrong, James Blake, Jose Gutiérrez-Marcos & Hendrik Schäefer


Ground-based detection of G star superflares with NGTS

CEH member James Jackman leads a recent study of flares in G-type stars, as observed using NGTS. The study shows that G-stars can have flares many times the energy of the Carrington event, and the primary detection is one of the largest amplitude superflares detected from a bright G star.

This work was published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 477, Issue 4, p.4655-4664

Open access link: arXiv

CEH members involved: James Jackman (lead), Peter Wheatley, Chloe Pugh, Boris Gänsicke, Anne-Marie Broomhall, David Armstrong & James McCormac


Cool DZ white dwarfs II: compositions and evolution of old remnant planetary systems

CEH member Mark Hollands leads a new study which examines pollution of cool DZ white dwarfs.

This work was published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 477, Issue 1, p.93-111

Open access link: arXiv

CEH members involved: Mark Hollands (lead), Boris Gänsicke


Automatic vetting of planet candidates from ground based surveys: Machine learning with NGTS

CEH member David Armstrong has published a new study on automatic vetting of exoplanet candidates using machine learning techniques. In this work he applies it to candidates from NGTS, but the technique is extendable to other transiting exoplanet surveys.

This work was published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 478, Issue 3, August 2018, Pages 4225–4237

Open access link: arXiv

CEH members involved: David Armstrong (lead), James McCormac, Daniel Bayliss, Tom Louden, Don Pollacco, Richard West & Peter Wheatley


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