Research Supervisor

Prof Johanna Vos, School of Physics Trinity College Dublin

Overview

My project aims to investigate the mysteries of the cosmos – the aurorae of a free-floating brown dwarf. A brown dwarf is an object that is between a star and a planet. It can be from 13 to 75 times the mass of Jupiter but does have stable nuclear fusion. I will use new data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to search for moons orbiting giant extrasolar planets. I will observe 2MASS J10475385+2124234, which is a brown dwarf approximately 41 times the mass of Jupiter. It exhibits aurorae, the same as on Earth; however, the Earth’s aurora is caused by the sun and 2M1047 is a free floating object (without a star). My project theorises that the aurora is caused by a satellite orbiting it. By analysing this data, I aim to detect if an exomoon is the driver of aurora. I will adapt machine learning techniques such as Gaussian processes, to search for faint signals of a transiting satellite.

Detail

Studying exoplanets and their moons allows us to enrich our understanding of planetary systems and identify biomarkers to sustain life. The launch of the JWST has opened a new frontier to space exploration. Usually, giant exoplanets have many moons, like Jupiter, for example, has around 95 moons. 2M1047 is a gas giant of similar size and hence, may have a similar number of moons orbiting it. Exomoon (moons of other exoplanets) detection and confirmation have been notoriously difficult, and to date, there are no confirmed exomoons.
I intend to use the exomoon detection method of analysing slight dips in the object’s brightness to find whether there are any indicators of something orbiting the planet itself called the transit method. Aurorae are usually driven by their host planet’s star, or due to a moon orbiting 2M1047. For example, Jupiter’s aurorae as they are driven by its moons Io. Using this idea, we have theorised that 2M1047 may be exhibiting aurora due to a satellite similar in size to Io.