Cristina Madurga Favieres
I am a second year PhD student in the Astronomy and Astrophysics group at the University of Warwick, supervised by Dr. Paul Strøm. My current research focuses on detecting and characterising unusual transits, in particular, exocomets, icy small bodies sublimating when passing close to their orbiting star. I have experience working with both photometric and spectroscopic observations. My study so far has been focused on identifying exocomets by the variable absorption lines of ionized species, getting to know their composition and a bit of their dynamics (distance to their host star, their acceleration).
I have also studied photometric transits, not only from exocomets, but from unknown objects, trying to identify them.
Publications
First author:
Madurga Favieres, Cristina; Kissler-Patig, Markus; Xu, Siyi; Bonsor, Amy, 2024, A&A, vol. 688, A.168.
Teaching
- Lab demonstrator (Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA)) for Physics and Astrophysics Laboratory I (PX151 and PX152): 2023/2024, 2024/2025.
Conferences, seminars and workshops
| Seminar White Dwarfs Meeting | November 2024, University of Warwick |
Talk |
A sample of 554 white dwarfs showing infrared excess from Gaia EDR3 and CatWISE catalogs |
| UKI disc meeting | September 2024, University of Warwick |
Poster Best poster award |
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| ISSI Exocomets Workshop | July 2024, Bern | ||
| Seminar Exoplanet Meeting | June 2024, University of Warwick | Talk | Beta Pictoris exocomets and analysis of Tabby's star |
| European Astronomical Society (EAS) Annual Meeting | July 2023, Krakov | Poster | Sample of white dwarfs showing infrared excess from Gaia EDR3 and CatWISE catalogs |
Observing Proposals
PI:
| Las Cumbres Observatory (LCO) | 2025A | Waiting for the decision | Requested 88 hours to monitor Tabby's star using Teide, Mc Donald and Haleakala observatories. |
| Liverpool Telescope (LT) | 2025A | Waiting for the decision | Requested 29.5 hours to obtain photometric data from Tabby's star |
| Opticon | 2024B | Successful |
Allocation of 2.0 nights to observe Tabby's star at Haute-Provence Observatory (OHP) |
Co-PI:
| Hubble Space Telescope (HST) | Cycle 31 | Successful | Shocking detections: Characterising exocometary shock fronts by tracking star-grazing comets using the UV AlIII line |
Observations
- Haute-Provence Observatory (OHP): November 2023. Seven nights planning and conducting spectroscopic observations of other PI exoplanets programs.
- TRAPPIST-NORTH, Morocco: February 2022. Five nights planning and conducting photometric observations to analysis variable stars. Part of my Master's program at the University of Liège.
Previous Research
I completed my Master's in Astrophysics at the University Complutense in Madrid, in collaboration with the University of Liège, where I studied five months of it (by an Erasmus awarded internship). I did my master thesis at the European Space Agency (ESAC), supervised by Dr. Markus Kissler-Patig (ESAC), Dr. Siyi Xu (Gemini lab, Hawaii) and Dr. Amy Bonsor (University of Cambridge). We looked for infrared excess around white dwarfs, which results from low-mass companions or dusty material. We presented a new catalog of candidates of white dwarfs with infrared excess, combining Gaia EDR3 and CatWISE. Our catalog has 554 white dwarfs with which accretion of planetary material can be studied, and new white-dwarf-brown-dwarf pairs.
Previously, I develop two scientific projects (funded by Erasmus awarded internships): at the Swedish Institute of Space Physics in Uppsala (Sweden) studying the past and future encounter of comets with space missions (with Dr. Anders Eriksson); and at the University Observatory Munich, Ludwig-Maximilians University (Germany) studying spectra from protoplanetary disks with potential Polycyclic Aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) signatures (with Prof. Dr. Barbara Ercolano). Also, I was an ESAC Trainee while working on the Solar Orbiter mission (with Pedro Osuna and Dr. Andrew Walsh).
