A University of Southern Queensland (UniSQ) researcher has been awarded an ARC Future Fellowship grant to investigate the formation of some of the biggest planets orbiting other stars – otherwise known as "Jovian planets".
Senior Research Fellow (Astrophysics) Dr Chelsea Huang will receive $871,587 towards her research, Probing the formation and migration pathways of Jovian planets, a project she hopes will put our solar system into the cosmic context.
"We're trying to understand where Jupiter-like planets around other stars have been formed and how they moved to their current orbits," Dr Huang said.
"One unique feature of our solar system is that we have planets of all sorts of sizes; we have two giant planets – Jupiter and Saturn – and then we have four rocky planets interior to their orbits.
"We are also investigating why most of the planets around other stars stayed smaller than Neptune instead of forming Jovian planets."
Dr Huang will lead a team of researchers from UniSQ and will utilise flagship international facilities, including NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and the Very Large Telescope at the European Southern Observatory.
Dr Huang said the two key focuses of the research would involve measuring the properties of planets' top atmosphere layers and the sizes of their cores.
"We believe the molecules in the planets' atmospheres record their formation history, so the idea is that we'll be able to look at the current day atmosphere and be able to tell where the planet was formed in relation to its star," she said.
"Our JWST program just downlinked initial data in August. It's a very exciting time for the entire group.
"By measuring the size of a planet's core, we will also be able to tell how challenging or easy it was to form Jovian planets around other stars."
The research project Probing the formation and migration pathways of Jovian planets is a collaboration between the UniSQ Centre for Astrophysics, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the University of Warwick, United Kingdom and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).
Dr Huang said the funding from the ARC Future Fellowship would allow her to expand the expertise of her research group by hiring new HDR students and a postdoctoral researcher experienced in studying planetary atmospheres.
Interested in a career in astrophysics? Apply now to study Astrophysics at the University of Southern Queensland.
