Academic Interests

Much of my work is focused on analysing observations of exoplanets' host stars at X-ray wavelengths with data from space telescopes such as ESA's XMM-Newton, and NASA's Chandra. Light at such high energies can have a profound impact on planets, as they can work to remove large amounts of material from their atmospheres. This is particularly an issue for planets residing much closer to their star than Earth does the Sun - and a large fraction of the exoplanets discovered to date do.

I have also helped with efforts to make new exoplanet discoveries, and have examined a few thousand light curves mainly from K2, but also SuperWASP, and NGTS.

I am passionate about outreach, where most of my focus in this area over the past few years has been with volunteering with the Astronomy Group's planetarium.

Publications

First Author

• The XUV irradiation and likely atmospheric escape of the super-Earth π Men c

G. W. King, P. J. Wheatley, V. Bourrier, D. Ehrenreich; MNRAS 484, L49 (2019).

• The XUV environments of exoplanets from Jupiter-size to super-Earth

G. W. King, P. J. Wheatley, M. Salz, V. Bourrier, S. Czesla, D. Ehrenreich, J. Kirk, A. Lecavelier des Etangs, T. Louden, J. Schmitt, P. C. Schneider; MNRAS 478, 1193 (2018).

Contributing Author

• NGTS-6b: an ultrashort period hot-Jupiter orbiting an old K dwarf

  J. I. Vines, J. S. Jenkins, J. S. Acton, J. Briegal, D. Bayliss, F. Bouchy, C. Belardi, E. M. Bryant, M. R. Burleigh, J. Cabrera, S. L. Casewell, A. Chaushev, B. F. Cooke, S. Csizmadia, P. Eigmuller, A. Erikson, E. Foxell, S. Gill, E. Gillen , M. R. Goad, J. A. G. Jackman, G. W. King, T. Louden , J. McCormac, M. Moyano, L. D. Nielsen, D. Pollacco, D. Queloz, H. Rauer, L. Raynard , A. M. S. Smith, M. G. Soto, R. H. Tilbrook, R. Titz-Weider, O. Turner, S. Udry, S. R. Walker, C. A. Watson, R. G. West and Peter J. Wheatley; MNRAS 489, 4125 (2019).

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

  R. G. West, E. Gillen, D. Bayliss, M. R. Burleigh, L. Delrez, M. N. Guenther, S. T. Hodgkin, J. A. G. Jackman, J. S. Jenkins, G. King, J. McCormac, L. D. Nielsen, L. Raynard, A. M. S. Smith, M. Soto, O. Turner, P. J. Wheatley, Y. Almleaky, D. J. Armstrong, C. Belardi, F. Bouchy, J. T. Briegal, A. Burdanov, J. Cabrera, S. L. Casewell, A. Chaushev, B. Chazelas, P. Chote, B. F. Cooke, S. Csizmadia, E. Ducrot, P. Eigmueller, A. Erikson, E. Foxell, B. T. Gaensicke, M. Gillon, M. R. Goad, E. Jehin, G. Lambert, E. S. Longstaff, T. Louden, M. Moyano, C. Murray, D. Pollacco, D. Queloz, H. Rauer, S. Sohy, S. J. Thompson, S. Udry, S. R. Walker, C. A. Watson; MNRAS 486, 5094 (2019).

• K2-265 b: a transiting rocky super-Earth

K. W. F. Lam, A. Santerne, S. G. Sousa, A. Vigan, D. J. Armstrong, S. C. C. Barros, B. Brugger, V. Adibekyan, J.-M. Almenara, E. Delgado Mena, X. Dumusque, D. Barrado, D. Bayliss, A. S. Bonomo, F. Bouchy, D. J. A. Brown, D. Ciardi, M. Deleuil, O. Demangeon, F. Faedi, E. Foxell, J. A. G. Jackman, G. W. King, J. Kirk, R. Ligi, J. Lillo-Box, T. Lopez, C. Lovis, T. Louden, L. D. Nielsen, J. McCormac, O. Mousis, H. P. Osborn, D. Pollacco, N. C. Santos, S. Udry, P. J. Wheatley; A&A 620, A77 (2018).

• An Earth-sized exoplanet with a Mercury-like composition

A. Santerne, B. Brugger, D. J. Armstrong, V. Adibekyan, J. Lillo-Box, H. Gosselin, A. Aguichine, J.-M. Almenara, D. Barrado, S. C. C. Barros, D. Bayliss, I. Boisse, A. S. Bonomo, F. Bouchy, D. J. A. Brown, M. Deleuil, E. Delgado Mena, O. Demangeon, R. F. Díaz, A. Doyle, X. Dumusque, F. Faedi, J. P. Faria, P. Figueira, E. Foxell, H. Giles, G. Hébrard, S. Hojjatpanah, M. Hobson, J. Jackman, G. King, J. Kirk, K. W. F. Lam, R. Ligi, C. Lovis, T. Louden, J. McCormac, O. Mousis, J. J. Neal, H. P. Osborn, F. Pepe, D. Pollacco, N. C. Santos, S. G. Sousa, S. Udry, A. Vigan; Nature Astronomy 2, 393 (2018).

• LRG-BEASTS III: ground-based transmission spectrum of the gas giant orbiting the cool dwarf WASP-80

J. Kirk, P.J. Wheatley, T. Louden, I. Skillen, G.W. King, J. McCormac, P.G.J. Irwin; MNRAS 474, 876 (2018).

• K2-110 b: a massive mini-Neptune exoplanet

H. P. Osborn, A. Santerne, S. C. C. Barros, N. C. Santos, X. Dumusque, L. Malavolta, D. J. Armstrong, S. Hojjatpanah, O. Demangeon, V. Adibekyan, J.M. Almenara, D. Barrado, D. Bayliss, I. Boisse, F. Bouchy, D. J. A. Brown, A.C. Cameron, D. Charbonneau, M. Deleuil, E. Delgado Mena, R.F. Díaz, G. Hébrard, J. Kirk, G. W. King, K. W. F. Lam, D. Latham, J. Lillo-Box, T. M. Louden, C. Lovis, M. Marmier, J. McCormac, E. Molinari, D. Pollacco, S. G. Sousa, S. Udry, S. R. Walker; A&A 604, A19 (2017).

• From dense hot Jupiter to low-density Neptune: The discovery of WASP-127b, WASP-136b, and WASP-138b

K. W. F. Lam, F. Faedi, D. J. A. Brown, D. R. Anderson, L. Delrez, M. Gillon, G. Hébrard, M. Lendl, L. Mancini, J. Southworth, B. Smalley, A. H. M. Triaud, O. D. Turner, K. L. Hay, D. J. Armstrong, S. C. C. Barros, A. S. Bonomo, F. Bouchy, P. Boumis, A. Collier Cameron, A. P. Doyle, C. Hellier, T. Henning, E. Jehin, G. King, J. Kirk, T. Louden, P. F. L. Maxted, J. J. McCormac, H. P. Osborn, E. Palle, F. Pepe, D. Pollacco, J. Prieto-Arranz, D. Queloz, J. Rey, D. Ségransan, S. Udry, S. Walker, R. G. West, P. J. Wheatley; A&A 599, A3 (2017).

• No hydrogen exosphere detected around the super-Earth HD97658 b

V. Bourrier, D. Ehrenreich, G. King, A. Lecavelier des Etangs, P. J. Wheatley, A. Vidal-Madjar, F. Pepe, S. Udry; A&A 597, A26 (2017).

Conference Presentations

Talks

• XMM-Newton Observations of the HD189733 System - UK Exoplanet Community Meeting, Oxford, March 2018.
• X-ray Transit Observations of HD 189733 - Transiting Exoplanets, Keele, July 2017.

Posters

• Exoplanet XUV Environments with XMM-Newton - UK Exoplanet Community Meeting, St Andrews, March 2017.
• High-Energy Environments of Close-in Exoplanets - UK Exoplanet Community Meeting, Exeter, March 2016.

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Other Interests

Outside of astronomy, I am a huge cricket fan, and play club cricket with varying levels of success for Massey Ferguson Cricket Club, a local club side in Coventry.

For various musings on test match and county cricket, politics, TV shows I'm watching, music I'm listening to, Birmingham City FC, and (occasionally!) science, feel free to follow me on Twitter: @georgeking