Searching for Surviving Planets Around White Dwarfs

Professor: Steph Sallum

Description: We now know of more than 5500 exoplanets – planets that orbit stars other than our own Sun. Only a handful of these planets have been discovered around white dwarfs, the remnants that remain after low mass stars end their main sequence lives. This project will involve using ground and space based data from e.g. Keck Observatory, HST, and JWST to search for and directly image planets orbiting white dwarfs. 

Preferred Qualifications: Python programming skills