Meet the Planet Hunters NGTS Team

The Next-Generation Transit Survey (NGTS) is a collaboration between the University of Warwick, University of Cambridge, University of Leicester, Queen’s University Belfast, Geneva Observatory, German Aerospace Center, Universidad de Chile, the Universidad Católica del Norte, and the European Southern Observatory. Key members of the Planet Hunters NGTS team are listed below:

Sarah Casewell is an STFC Ernest Rutherford Research Fellow at the University of Leicester, UK where she researches failed stars called brown dwarfs that are irradiated by a white dwarf companion as well as exoplanets and M dwarfs. She is an observational astronomer, using large telescopes around the world to follow up her discoveries. She leads the NGTS working group on M dwarf binaries and is also a member of the Backyard Worlds Zooniverse project searching for nearby brown dwarfs.

Sam Gill is a research assistant at the University of Warwick. He studies long-period planets discovered with TESS and leads the monotransit working group within NGTS. He also researches red dwarfs to empirically calibrate the physical properties of the latest-type stars and is a keen spectroscopist and binary star enthusiast. In his free time, Sam enjoys Brewing and hiking with his beagle, Bruce.

Sean O'Brien - Sean is a PhD student at the Astrophysics Research Centre at Queen's University Belfast. He studies exoplanetary systems and anything else interesting that we can find in the NGTS data and will be taking the lead in analysing the classifications made by Planet Hunters NGTS. In his free time, Sean can be found riding his bike or watching any sport he can find.

Meg Schwamb - Meg is a planetary scientist and astronomer. She is a lecturer in the Astrophysics Research Centre at Queen's University Belfast. She studies small bodies in the Solar System, Mars, and exoplanets. She is also involved in the Planet Four citizen science projects and was a founding member of the original Planet Hunters project. Meg has a penchant for drinking bubbly and cooking.

See Min (@syralie) - See Min is a Planet Hunters NGTS Talk moderator. She is a pre-university student from Singapore who aspires to become an astrophysicist. Having previously researched in applied mathematics, she enjoys research work and volunteers with citizen science projects as an alternative way to contribute. She loves cats and enjoys reading novels, as well as taking out her small telescope to stargaze at night.

Arttu Sainio (@SpaceR2) - Arttu is a Planet Hunters NGTS Talk moderator. He is well experienced Citizen scientist from Finland. His work is themed with a work ability expertise as well as helping people to get known with their passions and follow them. This is one of reasons why Citizen science projects like this are interesting for him. Previously Arttu has been credited for his work with Brown Dwarfs on Backyard Worlds and research on variable stars on Citizen ASAS-SN -project.Arttu enjoys hiking, running and company of cats as well as wood crafting projects. Occasionally Arttu might relax with company of good red wine.

The NGTS facility is operated by the consortium institutes with support from the UK Science and Technology facilities council (STFC) under grants ST/M001962/1 and ST/S002642/1