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  • Stephanie Merritt - Student Profile

Stephanie Merritt - Student Profile

Stephanie Merritt

Current research project

Characterising exoplanet atmospheres using high-resolution spectroscopy

The exoplanets known as hot Jupiters (gas giants orbiting close to their parent stars) represent a unique opportunity to explore extreme atmospheric chemistry. The hottest of these planets have temperatures > 2500K and are predicted to host thermal inversions (the rise of temperature with altitude) due to the presence of gaseous titanium oxide and vanadium oxide causing local heating. However, evidence to confirm these models has proven elusive. My work used Doppler spectroscopy in an attempt to unambiguously detect the presence of TiO or VO in the hot Jupiter WASP-121b, which has previously been shown to host a thermal inversion. I have found neither, suggesting that TiO and VO are not always the main drivers of thermal inversions and that our models need to be refined. Future work will focus on detecting other potential drivers of the thermal inversion in WASP-121b and on exploring the atmospheres of other ultra-hot Jupiters to clarify our understanding of these extreme worlds.

Biography

I was born in Surrey, England, but have lived in Northern Ireland for 15 years. I am a mature student and returned to education at the age of 22, completing an Access Diploma in Physics and Mathematics at Belfast Metropolitan College in 2010 with a distinction, followed by A-levels in Physics, Mathematics and English Literature (ABA* respectively). In 2012 I began my 4-year MSci degree in Physics with Astrophysics at QUB, and graduated with 1st Class Honours in 2016, starting my PhD in October that year. I captained the QUB University Challenge team in 2017/18, and in 2019 I was featured by the Institute of Physics in a short film promoting the Bell-Burnell Graduate Scholarship Fund (which can be found here https://beta.iop.org/bellburnellfund) as an inspirational minority student.
 
Research interests
  • Exoplanet atmospheres

  • Transmission spectroscopy

  • High-resolution spectroscopy

  • Statistical methods

  • Atmospheric modelling

 

 

PhD Research Students
  • PhD Research Students
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