Patrick Tamburo

My research focuses on the detection of transiting Earth-sized exoplanets around L and T dwarfs, objects that span the boundaries of low-mass stars and brown dwarfs. Transiting planets pass in front of their host from our line of sight, which allows for follow-up atmospheric characterization, as the presence of chemicals and molecules in the planet’s atmosphere can be inferred by how the host’s light gets absorbed during transit. This has not yet been done for an Earth-sized exoplanet, because the transit depths of such planets are very small around typical stars. By looking for them around the smallest stars and brown dwarfs, we hope to deliver some of the most amenable Earth-sized  targets for follow-up atmospheric characterization with current and upcoming technologies, like the James Webb Space Telescope.

Research interests: exoplanets, low-mass stars, and brown dwarfs

Website: https://patricktamburo.github.io/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PatrickTamburo