Reading planetary atmospheres in starlight.

I study the physics and chemistry of exoplanet atmospheres—particularly how we can turn telescope observations into reliable knowledge about distant worlds.

01 · Giant planets

Hot, gaseous worlds

Hydrogen-rich exoplanets are exceptional laboratories for planetary physics. Their extended atmospheres produce strong signals that can be measured with the Hubble Space Telescope and the James Webb Space Telescope.

I study hot Jupiters in both transmission and emission, using their spectra to constrain atmospheric temperatures, molecular abundances and the composition and behaviour of clouds. I led one of the first atmospheric analyses of a hot Jupiter using JWST observations.

Read the JWST WASP-96b paper

02 · Terrestrial planets

Searching for smaller atmospheres

Studying nearby terrestrial planets brings us closer to answering one of astronomy’s defining questions: are we alone? The challenge is that the host star can leave a much stronger imprint on the data than the planet itself.

I work on the TRAPPIST-1 system and other small worlds, developing ways to distinguish stellar contamination from planetary signals and determine whether these planets retain detectable atmospheres.

Read the TRAPPIST-1c paper

03 · Methods

Retrievals and machine learning

Atmospheric retrievals connect observed spectra to physical properties, but different modelling assumptions can produce different answers. I develop and compare retrieval methods to understand those differences and make our conclusions more robust.

As a former Schmidt AI in Science Fellow, I also investigate how modern machine-learning techniques can accelerate atmospheric models, identify unexpected structure in spectra and help us explore complex chemistry.