Australia- a young Student at the University of Tasmania heading to NASA in the hope to shed a bit more light on planets beyond our solar system. Her research work involves measuring the mass of Celestial bodies in space, their properties, and more.

Katie Vandorou, a Ph.D. student, extremely interest in exoplanets, though they are tough to spot, they do not have their light, yet it is possible to discover their properties.

Katie uses a new technique called gravitational microlensing for a better understanding of these bodies. In an interview, she said, ‘they’re quite mysterious because they’re difficult to detect, they don’t emit their light.’’

She added,

“Some of these planets are all the way at the centre of our galaxy-which is about 25,000 light-years away.”

In the gravitational microlensing technique, timing is everything. It is less common in the research field, as it heavily relies on the earth, the exoplanet, its star, and light from the background starts.

“it can be quite difficult to detect that way,” Katie Vandorou said.

DISCOVERING EXOPLANETS WITH GRAVITATIONAL MICROLENSING

Katie Vandorou’s project focuses on the existence of the exoplanet system, and confirm some cases, as well as finding their properties. Also, discovering their distance from their orbit star and their mass.

Vandorou supervisor, associate professor Andrew Cole said,

‘’We are observing very rare events so we need to maximize our opportunities by looking at the densest, brightest parts of the galaxy, that’s only visible from the southern hemisphere.’’

He added it’s quite fundamental and cool because although many thousands of exoplanets have been detected, many of them are not all that interesting.’’

Ms. Vandorou and the professor works using the relatively specialized technique, and find other interesting planets. Vandorou is especially looking for three exoplanet systems.

She said, ‘’ One of the planetary systems that I’ve confirmed is called MOA 2013 BLG-220L and it’s a super-Jupiter, so it’s three times the size of Jupiter, and orbits a star similar to our sun.’’

Though the technique gravitational microlensing is not accurate in detecting the properties, it is reliable for finding the existence of the planets.

Ms. Vandorou also remotely accesses the telescope in Hawaii Observatory to know more about the exoplanets. All the information she collects goes into an exoplanet archive, which is an open-source site for all scientists around the globe.

Vandorou is very optimistic about her work, and acceptance at NASA. She will continue to do her work on exoplanets.