(July 2024) The discovery of a hot Earth-sized planet orbiting the M-type star SPECULOOS-3, reported by Gillon et al. (2024), has been featured on the cover of Nature Astronomy!  Read the paper by Gillon et al. (2024) and the press release by UCSD Physical Sciences.

(June 2024) Research led by Adam Burgasser and Roman Gerasimov were both featured in press conferences at the AAS 244 meeting in Madison, Wisconsin. Adam reported the discovery of a remarkably fast-moving, metal-poor L dwarf uncovered by citizen scientists that may be on its way to escaping the Milky Way. Roman reported the first discovery of brown dwarfs in JWST observations of the globular cluster NGC 6397. Learn more by watching the AAS 244 press conferences by Adam and Roman; you can also see some of the press images for the speedy L subdwarf in the UCSD Physical Science press release. 

(May 2024) Cool Star Lab PI Adam Burgasser was awarded a UCSD Graduate and Professional Student Association Outstanding Faculty Teaching award! This annual award honors a faculty member at UCSD who is an exceptional educator at the graduate and/or professional level. Adam was nominated by Physics graduate student Thomas Wong. Congratulations Adam!

(May 2024) Cool Star Lab undergraduate researcher and TRELS scholar Sara Morrissey has been inducted into Phi Beta Kappa honor society. Phi Beta Kappa was founded in 1776, and is the oldest academic society in the US. Nominees represent no more than 10% of the student population, and requires a minimum GPA of 3.85, a broad academic curriculum, and completion of a foreign language. Congratulations Sara!

(May 2024) Former Cool Star Lab graduate Roman Gerasimov has been awarded the 2023 IAU Dissertation Prize, which recognizes outstanding scientific achievements among astronomy PhD students worldwide. Roman was awarded the Division G: Stars and Stellar Physics Prize, which noted “Dr. Gerasimov's thesis work highly impactful and relevant. The Committee was impressed by the combination of theoretical and observational aspects of the thesis, the extent of Dr. Gerasimov's acquired expertise ..and his commitment to work with undergraduate students.” Congratulations Roman!

(Apr 2024) Cool Star Lab PI Adam Burgasser led a cruise expedition on board the Holland America Koningsdam to view the total solar eclipse off the coast of Mexico. The crew were met with clear skies and over 4 minutes of totality! Adam also held several outreach talks on brown dwarfs, searches for life, and exciting results from JWST. See some of the media coverage at USA Today, Fox 5 San Diego, and ABC 10 San Diego.

(July 2024) Adam Burgasser led a study on a remarkably fast-moving, metal-poor L dwarf uncovered by citizen scientists associated with the Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 program. The source, CWISE J1249+3621, has speed of 456± 27 km/s in the Milky Way rest frame, placing it near the local Galactic escape velocity. The research team considered several possible origins for the source, including ejection from the center of the Milky Way or globular clusters after interaction with black holes, escape from an exploding Type Ia supernova, and infall from a Milky Way satellite. The result was highlighted in a press conference at AAS 244 (read the preprint by Burgasser et al.)

(July 2024) Members of the TRAPPIST-1 Community Initiative, including Adam Burgasser, have published a Nature Astronomy Perspective presenting a roadmap for study of the multi-planet systems around mid- and late-M dwarf stars like TRAPPIST-1 with JWST. Multi-planet systems are particularly useful for correcting for flare and spot modulations from the star, which can overwhelm any atmosphere detection. The specific plan advocated is to first conduct MIRI emission observations to first assess the presence of an atmosphere among inner planets, which can be inferred from phase variation. When there are inner planets lacking atmospheres, these can be used to calibrate for stellar variations in the atmospheric exploration of other planets in the system. In cases where the inner planets have atmospheres, monitoring of the full stellar rotation curve is required. This plan realizes the unique benefits of observing multiple simultaneous transits and the coordination of joint space- and ground-based programs to maximize the science return for these unique systems. (read the Nature Astronomy perspective by the Trappist-1 Community Initiative)

(July 2024) The SPECULOOS team, including Adam Burgasser and Cool Star Lab aluma Aishwarya Iyer, have conducted a comprehensive reanalysis of the host star of the TRAPPIST-1 system, combining spectral data from the UV to the infrared, including data from JWST. The analysis provides the best constraints on the temperature, luminosity, and metallicity of this source, and investigated spectral model fits for a heterogenous atmosphere. One of the key conclusions is that even the most advanced spectral models are unable to accurately replicate the spectrum of this important star, motivating the need to improve spectral modeling of low-mass planet host stars. (read the ApJ Letter by Davoudi et al.)

(May 2024) Cool Star Lab members contributed to the discovery of three new Earth-sized planets orbiting M dwarfs. The new planets, TOI-5720 b, TOI-6008 b, and TOI-6086 b all have orbit periods of about 1 day, and so close to their stars that they are too hot to be habitable. CSL member helped characterize the host stars using optical spectroscopy obtained with the Kast spectrograph on Lick Observatory (see the preprint by Barkaoui et al.)

(May 2024) The Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 collaboration reports the discovery of a new unusually red and young L dwarf. The source, VHS J1831-5513, lies right on the L dwarf/T dwarf transition and is the second reddest brown dwarf identified to date. Its near-infrared spectrum shows evidence of an unusually low surface gravity, and kinematic analysis suggests it is a member of the 22 Myr-old Beta Pictoris association. With an estimated mass of only 6.5±1.5 Jupiter masses, VHS J1831-5513 is a rare "free floating planet" (read the preprint by Bickle et al.)

(May 2024) Three new studies of the globular cluster NGC 6397 conducted with JWST have been released, including one led by former CLS graduate student Roman Gerasimov. Roman demonstrated the robust detection of brown dwarfs in this ancient stellar systems, and his new suite of SANDee evolutionary models successfully reproduced their location on the HR Diagram and demonstrated the determination of the brown dwarf cooling age of a globular cluster for the first time (read the preprints by Bedin et al., Gerasimov et al., and Scalco et al.)

(May 2024) Cool Star Lab members shared the wonders of the Universe with the public as part of the Space Day event at the San Diego Air & Space Museum. In addition to physics and astronomy demonstrations, participants got the chance to collectively build a Garden Galaxy, creating various cosmic sources with crafts and imagination. 

(Apr 2024) Cool Star Lab PI Adam Burgasser led a cruise expedition on board the Holland America Koningsdam to view the total solar eclipse off the coast of Mexico. The crew were met with clear skies and over 4 minutes of totality! Adam also held several outreach talks on brown dwarfs, searches for life, and exciting results from JWST. See some of the media coverage at USA Today, Fox 5 San Diego, and ABC 10 San Diego.

(Jan 2024) Cool Star Lab members participated in the Southern California Workshop for Cal-Bridge Scholars, hosted at UCSD. In addition to running lab tours for visiting Scholars, Genevive Bjorn & Adam Burgasser led a 3-hour workshop on the CERIC method for reading the primary literature.

(Jan 2024) Members of the UCSD Astronomy & Astrophysics and Physics community participated in the 2024 CUWIP conference, hosted regionally by the University of San Diego. Faculty and students participated in discussion panels, workshops, and graduate program information sessions. UCSD is gearing up to host the 2025 CU*IP conference in January 2025!

(Nov 2023) Adam Burgasser joined UCSD community members to share lunch with members of the crew of the Hōkūleʻa, an event hosted by the Birch Aquarium and the Polynesian Voyaging Society. This famous Polynesian traditional voyaging vessel, or wa'a, was ending its first leg of the Moananuiākea voyage before going back to Hawai'i.

(Oct 2023) UCSD Astronomy & Astrophysics students, faculty, and researchers came out to celebrate and educate the partial eclipse of the Sun on October 14th at the Fleet Museum at Balboa Park. We brought various telescopes for viewing and projecting the eclipse for several hundred community members, some of whom got to hold the crescent Sun in their hands! [see the news coverage...]