430 Portola Plaza, Box 951547
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1547
email : ianc [at] astro dot ucla dot edu
Ian J. M. Crossfield
Artist's impression of GJ 1214b
ESO/L. Calçada
Recent Results
2011: The nearby star GJ 1214 hosts a planet intermediate in radius and mass between Earth and Neptune, resulting in some uncertainty as to its nature. We observed this planet, GJ 1214b, during transit with the near-infrared NIRSPEC spectrograph on the Keck II telescope to characterize the planet's atmosphere. When taken in concert with constraints from other groups, our results support a consensus model in which the atmosphere of GJ 1214b contains significant H and He, but where methane is depleted. Our paper has been published in the Astrophysical Journal; you can access the official version (or free preprint) here.
IJC on Mt. San Gorgonio
About Me
I'm a graduating fifth-year student in the Astronomy Department at UCLA. My interests lie in exoplanet formation, detection, and characterization, and the development of instrumentation to further those pursuits. I am currently studying extrasolar planets using both photometry and high-resolution spectroscopy. with Brad Hansen. I worked for three years at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for three years on various space and ground telescopes, including the Gemini Planet Imager, the Thirty Meter Telescope, and the star-crossed Space Interferometry Mission, . I received my Master's Degree in Astronomy from UCLA in June 2009, and intend to graduate with my doctorate in 2012. I also wrote the software to run UCLA Astronomy's weekly astro-ph coffee discussions.
Travel
Publications, Proceedings, and Talks
Curriculum Vitae
Contact Information:
Ian J. M. Crossfield
Office: KH 3-145 J
Physics and Astronomy Building
430 Portola Plaza, Box 951547
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1547