I am a PhD student in the Astronomy and Astrophysics group at the University of Warwick, supervised by Prof Danny SteeghsLink opens in a new window. I completed my MPhys in Physics with Astrophysics with the Exoplanet groupLink opens in a new window at the University of Exeter, supervised by Prof Sasha HinkleyLink opens in a new window.

Research

GOTO

My work focuses on the development of the Gravitational-wave Optical Transient Observer (GOTOLink opens in a new window); A wide field robotic telescope network designed to locate electromagnetic counterparts to gravitational wave events.

GOTO-FAST

The Fast Analysis & Spectroscopy of Transients (FAST) programme combines the transient discovery power of GOTO with spectroscopic facilities co-located with the northern node on La Palma. We leverage the GOTO stream along with visitor mode observations at the Isaac Newton Telescope to rapidly classify young supernovae and other fast evolving transients.

GOTO CMOS

Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) technology has enabled the development of a new class of image sensors with drastically reduced read noise and times compared to traditional CCDs. We developed a pathfinder system to demonstrate the advantages of applying this technology to a future GOTO camera upgrade.

Multi-Messenger Astronomy

Alongside the primary goal of identifying electromagnetic counterparts to gravitational wave events, GOTO is an effective tool for investigating a number of other multi-messenger and multi-wavelength transients from gamma-ray bursts to neutrino detections. As a member of the GRB and GW working groups I support this effort as a frequent burst/GW event advocate.

Isaac Newton Group Studentship

During the 2nd year of my PhD I am completing an 11 month studentship with the Isaac Newton Group who operate a number of telescopes at the Roque de los Muchachos (ORM) observatory in La Palma, the location of GOTO-North.

First as a support astronomer at the 2.54m Isaac Newton TelescopeLink opens in a new window, where I enabled visiting astronomers to complete their observing programmes, carried out service mode observations, and completed tests of the control and observing systems during discretionary time.

By June 2024 the Isaac Newton Telescope was preparing to stand-down for a period of over a year to enable the installation of a high-resolution spectrograph, HARPS3.

At this time I moved to working at the 4.2m William Herschel Telescope, utilising its new multi-object spectrograph WEAVE. Here I carried out queue observations using its Large Integral Field Unit (LIFU).