PTYS/LPL Faculty
Gilda Ballester
Senior Research Scientist
Planetary atmospheres, Exoplanets
Ph.D., 1989, Johns Hopkins University
Years with LPL: 2000 to present
Characterization of exoplanets with transit spectroscopic observations at UV, optical and IR wavelengths with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and through collaborative ground-based observations. Proposals for other instruments. The research spans the properties of the lower, middle, and upper atmospheres, as well as of the planet-star interaction (magnetospheric) regions. With our current HST Panchromatic Comparative Exoplanet Treasury program (PanCET) we are characterizing ultra-hot, hot, and warm Jupiters, as well as warm Saturns, Neptunes, and super-Earths. Early research on Io's atmosphere and plasma torus, and on the upper atmospheres, auroras and magnetospheric interactions of Jupiter, Saturn (ongoing) and Uranus with both imaging and spectroscopy. Current collaborations with researchers at: IAP (France), U. of Exeter (UK), T.U. of Berlin (D.E.), U. Reims (France), INTA (Spain), Tennessee State (USA), U. of Arizona Steward (USA), Johns Hopkins U. (USA) STScI (USA), JPL (USA), other.
Student Collaborations/Advising
Former Students
- K. L. Jessup
Former Postdocs
- David K. Sing
- Walt Harris
Complete publications list available from: NASA ADS Author Search: Gilda Ballester
Refereed publications (NASA ADS): Calendar Years 2017 and 2018
Alam, M. K., Nikolov, N., López-Morales, M., Sing, D. K., Goyal, J. M., Henry, G. W., Sanz-Forcada, J., Williamson, M. H., Evans, T. M., Wakeford, H. R., Bruno, G., Ballester, G. E., Stevenson, K. B., Lewis, N. K., Barstow, J. K., Bourrier, V., Buchhave, L. A., Ehrenreich, D., García Muñoz, A. The HST PanCET Program: Hints of Na I and Evidence of a Cloudy Atmosphere for the Inflated Hot Jupiter WASP-52b 2018AJ....156..298A
Evans, T. M., Sing, D. K., Goyal, J. M., Nikolov, N., Marley, M. S., Zahnle, K., Henry, G. W., Barstow, J. K., Alam, M. K., Sanz-Forcada, J., Kataria, T., Lewis, N. K., Lavvas, P., Ballester, G. E., Ben-Jaffel, L., Blumenthal, S. D., Bourrier, V., Drummond, B., García Muñoz, A., López-Morales, M., Tremblin, P., Ehrenreich, D., Wakeford, H. R., Buchhave, L. A., Lecavelier des Etangs, A., Hébrard, É., Williamson, M. H. An Optical Transmission Spectrum for the Ultra-hot Jupiter WASP-121b Measured with the Hubble Space Telescope 2018AJ....156..283E
Bourrier, V., Lecavelier des Etangs, A., Ehrenreich, D., Sanz-Forcada, J., Allart, R., Ballester, G. E., Buchhave, L. A., Cohen, O., Deming, D., Evans, T. M., García Muñoz, A., Henry, G. W., Kataria, T., Lavvas, P., Lewis, N., López-Morales, M., Marley, M., Sing, D. K., Wakeford, H. R. Hubble PanCET: an extended upper atmosphere of neutral hydrogen around the warm Neptune GJ 3470b 2018A&A...620A.147B
Nikolov, N., Sing, D. K., Fortney, J. J., Goyal, J. M., Drummond, B., Evans, T. M., Gibson, N. P., De Mooij, E. J. W., Rustamkulov, Z., Wakeford, H. R., Smalley, B., Burgasser, A. J., Hellier, C., Helling, C., Mayne, N. J., Madhusudhan, N., Kataria, T., Baines, J., Carter, A. L., Ballester, G. E., Barstow, J. K., McCleery, J., Spake, J. J. An absolute sodium abundance for a cloud-free `hot Saturn' exoplanet 2018Natur.557..526N
Nikolov, N., Sing, D. K., Goyal, J., Henry, G. W., Wakeford, H. R., Evans, T. M., López-Morales, M., García Muñoz, A., Ben-Jaffel, L., Sanz-Forcada, J., Ballester, G. E., Kataria, T., Barstow, J. K., Bourrier, V., Buchhave, L. A., Cohen, O., Deming, D., Ehrenreich, D., Knutson, H., Lavvas, P., Lecavelier des Etangs, A., Lewis, N. K., Mandell, A. M., Williamson, M. H. Hubble PanCET: an isothermal day-side atmosphere for the bloated gas-giant HAT-P-32Ab 2018MNRAS.474.1705N
Wakeford, H. R., Sing, D. K., Deming, D., Lewis, N. K., Goyal, J., Wilson, T. J., Barstow, J., Kataria, T., Drummond, B., Evans, T. M., Carter, A. L., Nikolov, N., Knutson, H. A., Ballester, G. E., Mandell, A. M. The Complete Transmission Spectrum of WASP-39b with a Precise Water Constraint 2018AJ....155...29W
Evans, T. M., Sing, D. K., Kataria, T., Goyal, J., Nikolov, N., Wakeford, H. R., Deming, D., Marley, M. S., Amundsen, D. S., Ballester, G. E., Barstow, J. K., Ben-Jaffel, L., Bourrier, V., Buchhave, L. A., Cohen, O., Ehrenreich, D., García Muñoz, A., Henry, G. W., Knutson, H., Lavvas, P., Lecavelier Des Etangs, A., Lewis, N. K., López-Morales, M., Mandell, A. M., Sanz-Forcada, J., Tremblin, P., Lupu, R. An ultrahot gas-giant exoplanet with a stratosphere 2017Natur.548...58E
Wakeford, H. R., Stevenson, K. B., Lewis, N. K., Sing, D. K., López-Morales, M., Marley, M., Kataria, T., Mandell, A., Ballester, G. E., Barstow, J., Ben-Jaffel, L., Bourrier, V., Buchhave, L. A., Ehrenreich, D., Evans, T., García Muñoz, A., Henry, G., Knutson, H., Lavvas, P., Lecavelier des Etangs, A., Nikolov, N., Sanz-Forcada, J. HST PanCET program: A Cloudy Atmosphere for the Promising JWST Target WASP-101b 2017ApJ...835L..12W
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 Gildaslongbio-Aug2018-LPL.pdf | 230.76 KB | December 15, 2018 |