News

UVA Arts & Sciences

One Day on a Distant Planet Offers Clues to Its Origins

UVA covers our measurement of β Pictoris b's rotation with JWST and explains how a planet's changing brightness can inform studies of its atmosphere and formation. The Deep Dive distinguishes the measured spin inclination from the still-unknown three-dimensional obliquity.

Read at UVA Arts & Sciences Read the Deep Dive: uva beta pic b Paper on ADS: uva beta pic b

ESO

Faintest planet ever imaged from Earth found after more than 10 years of hide-and-seek

ESO reports the discovery of β Pictoris d by the collaboration co-led by Ben Sutlieff and Markus Bonse, with Yifan as a co-author. The team combined new VLT observations with archival VLT and JWST images. This discovery is separate from our rotation measurement of β Pictoris b.

Read at ESO Paper on ADS: eso beta pic d

PKU / Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics

PKU astronomers develop a new method to search for planets with JWST

KIAA profiles Yihan Li's search for distant giant planets in existing MIRI observations. The report describes her work with Yifan and Gregory Herczeg and explains how data collected for transiting planets can also constrain outer companions.

Read at PKU / Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics Read the Deep Dive: pku miri planet search Paper on ADS: pku miri planet search

UVA Arts & Sciences

Danya Alboslani receives an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship

Danya Alboslani, a graduate student in our group, received a 2026 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. UVA Arts & Sciences highlights her work on atmospheric circulation and changing weather in brown dwarfs and planet-like worlds.

Read at UVA Arts & Sciences Meet our graduate students

Nature Astronomy

The varying accretion at PDS 70

Nature Astronomy highlights our Hubble study alongside independent MagAO-X observations. The report focuses on changes in the planets' hydrogen-alpha emission and what repeated measurements reveal about gas accretion.

Read at Nature Astronomy Read the Deep Dive: nature pds70 accretion Paper on ADS: nature pds70 accretion

Subscription may be required

American Astronomical Society

Maddie Chapleski receives a Chambliss student award

The American Astronomical Society names Madalyn Chapleski of UVA among the undergraduate Chambliss Astronomy Achievement Student Award winners at its 245th meeting.

Read at American Astronomical Society Recent mentees and alumni

Arthur Adams develops a method to map partially eclipsed brown dwarfs

Arthur's new preprint tests which atmospheric structures partial eclipses can reveal and applies the method to JWST observations of WD 1202 B. Interpreting the inferred map requires further work to separate observational systematics from atmospheric emission.

Paper on ADS: partial eclipse mapping Irradiated brown dwarf research

Three-dimensional models explore ZTF0038B's asymmetric chemistry

Yanhong Lai and collaborators couple atmospheric circulation, clouds, and chemical reactions in models of ZTF0038B. Spatial variations in carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide offer a possible explanation for the observed carbon dioxide phase-curve asymmetry. The paper is accepted by The Astrophysical Journal.

Paper on ADS: ztf0038 cloud chemistry Irradiated brown dwarf research

Daphne Broski-Laing measures day-to-night changes on ZTF0038B

Daphne's first-author paper, published in The Astrophysical Journal on September 25, presents JWST spectra across a full orbit of a white dwarf–brown dwarf binary. The observations show inefficient heat transport to the nightside and an asymmetric carbon dioxide absorption feature. The nightside emission also helps constrain the system's age.

Read the Deep Dive: ztf0038 phase curve Published paper: ztf0038 phase curve

We measure β Pictoris b's rotation with JWST

Our paper in The Astronomical Journal measures a 9.00 ± 0.13-hour period from two infrared light curves. The quoted uncertainty is the formal fit error; atmospheric evolution can increase it. Combined with existing rotation-speed measurements, the result favors an equator-on view of the planet.

Read the Deep Dive: beta pic b rotation Paper on ADS: beta pic b rotation

Yihan Li searches MIRI images for distant giant planets

Yihan's first-author paper uses archival 15-micron observations of ten M-dwarf systems to search for outer planets. It reports detection limits and examines nearby sources, without confirming new planets. Converting brightness limits to masses depends on the systems' ages and the available atmospheric and cooling models.

Read the Deep Dive: miri wide orbit planets Paper on ADS: miri wide orbit planets

Madalyn Chapleski compares changing brown-dwarf spectra

Madalyn's paper with Yifan in The Astrophysical Journal presents Hubble time-series spectra of three brown dwarfs. Their variability across a water absorption band differs from the pattern in the comparison object 2MASS J2139. The results test how clouds and temperature contribute to atmospheric changes.

Read the Deep Dive: gray brown dwarf variability Paper on ADS: gray brown dwarf variability

Arthur Adams follows 2M1207 A and b with JWST

Arthur's first-author paper in The Astronomical Journal measures how both members of 2M1207 change across a 12.56-hour observation. The companion's spectral variability is broadly consistent with changes in the visible coverage of clouds. The study also identifies where light from the host limits measurements of the faint companion.

Read the Deep Dive: 2m1207 time series Paper on ADS: 2m1207 time series

Hubble observations show PDS 70 c's accretion signature changing

Our paper in The Astrophysical Journal Letters compares Hubble observations from 2020 and 2024. PDS 70 c became significantly brighter in hydrogen-alpha emission, a tracer of accretion. The result shows why repeated observations matter when searching for planets that are still growing.

Read the Deep Dive: pds70 variable accretion Paper on ADS: pds70 variable accretion