Science at IPAC

Our community of active researchers is key to the strategic development and execution of all programs supported by IPAC. IPAC scientific staff are engaged in forefront research spanning a broad range of fields in astrophysics and planetary sciences. Areas of special focus include exoplanets; dark energy and cosmology; star formation and galaxy evolution; asteroids and the solar system; and the area in which IPAC has provided leadership for over three decades -- exploration of the infrared and sub-mm universe.

Latest Research Publications

Erratum: "The POKEMON Speckle Survey of Nearby M Dwarfs. II. Observations of 1125 Targets" (2024, AJ, 167, 56)

November 2024 • Clark, Catherine A. • van Belle, Gerard T. • Horch, Elliott P. • et al.

Catherine Clark

JPL Postdoctoral Fellow

Research Interests: Multi-star systems, exoplanets, low-mass stars, instrumentation.

Erratum: "The POKEMON Speckle Survey of Nearby M Dwarfs. III. The Stellar Multiplicity Rate of M Dwarfs within 15 pc" (2024, AJ, 167, 174)

November 2024 • Clark, Catherine A. • van Belle, Gerard T. • Horch, Elliott P. • et al.

Catherine Clark

JPL Postdoctoral Fellow

Research Interests: Multi-star systems, exoplanets, low-mass stars, instrumentation.

Up, Up, and Away: Winds and Dynamical Structure as a Function of Altitude in the Ultrahot Jupiter WASP-76b

November 2024 • Kesseli, Aurora Y. • Beltz, Hayley • Rauscher, Emily • et al.

Due to the unprecedented signal strengths offered by the newest high-resolution spectrographs on 10 m class telescopes, exploring the 3D nature of exoplanets is possible with an unprecedented level of precision. In this paper, we present a new technique to probe the vertical structure of exoplanetary winds and dynamics using ensembles of planet absorption lines of varying opacity, and apply it to the well-studied ultrahot Jupiter WASP-76b. We then compare these results to state-of-the-art global circulation models (GCMs) with varying magnetic drag prescriptions. We find that the known asymmetric velocity shift in Fe I absorption during transit persists at all altitudes, and observe tentative trends for stronger blueshifts and more narrow line profiles deeper in the atmosphere. By...

Aurora Kesseli

Assistant Scientist

Research Interests: The characterization of exoplanets through the study of their atmospheres, primarily via transmission and emission spectroscopy. I aim to use these observations to study the diversity of planetary systems and learn how they form and...