Christopher Watson

Personal profile

Research Interests

I am the head of the Exoplanet Group within the Astrophysics Research Centre in the School of Mathematics and Physics, as well as the Deputy Head of School. My research interests lie with discovering and characterising planets orbiting other stars - known as exoplanets. This work naturally attracts a lot of public and press attention, and has led to a number of global press releases over the years. As a result I have written expert articles for the BBC News, as well as filmed for BBC Horizon, as well as many recorded and live Radio and TV appearances across the UK, USA, and further afield.

My key interests lie with improving detection methods for 'weighing' exoplanets, in the push to confirming the first true (and so far, elusive!) 'Earth-analog' world outside our own solar system. In addition, I also dabble in characterising their atmospheres - and was recently part of a team that showed that it was possible with current techniques to find water in the atmospheres of super-Earths.

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Projects 2009 2019

4 Active
7 Finished

R1099APL: STFC PhD Studentship Allocations 2019

Mathioudakis, M., Ballance, C., Fitzsimmons, A., Jess, D., Keenan, F., Millar, T., Ramsbottom, C., Riley, D., Sarri, G., Sim, S., Smartt, S. & Watson, C.

11/08/2019 → …

Project: Research

R1915APL: PATT Linked Grant for observational astrophysics at QUB: 2018 - 2020

Jess, D., Fitzsimmons, A., Fraser, W., Gibson, N., Keenan, F., Lacerda, P., Maguire, K., Mathioudakis, M., Millar, T., Sim, S., Smartt, S. & Watson, C.

03/07/2018 → …

Project: Research

R1711APL: QUB Astronomy Observation and Theory Consolodated Grant 2017-2020

Smartt, S., Ballance, C., Gibson, N., Keenan, F., Kotak, R., Maguire, K., Millar, T., Mueller, B., Poppenhaeger, K., Ramsbottom, C., Riley, D., Sarri, G., Sim, S. & Watson, C.

20/01/2017 → …

Project: Research

R1057APL: PATT linked grant for observational astrophysics at QUB: supplememtary funding

Keenan, F. & Watson, C.

01/08/2009 → 12/12/2019

Project: Research

R1461APL: Supplement to Queen's University Belfast Consolidated Grant

Keenan, F., Fitzsimmons, A., Kotak, R., Mathioudakis, M., Millar, T., Ramsbottom, C., Sim, S., Smartt, S. & Watson, C.

02/09/2014 → 31/03/2015

Project: Research

Research Output 2000 2019

95 Article
8 Paper
4 Abstract
4 Letter
5 More

4 Citations (Scopus)

A giant impact as the likely origin of different twins in the Kepler-107 exoplanet system

Bonomo, A. S., Zeng, L., Damasso, M., Leinhardt, Z. M., Justesen, A. B., Lopez, E., Lund, M. N., Malavolta, L., Silva Aguirre, V., Buchhave, L. A., Corsaro, E., Denman, T., Lopez-Morales, M., Mills, S. M., Mortier, A., Rice, K., Sozzetti, A., Vanderburg, A., Affer, L., Arentoft, T. & 32 othersBenbakoura, M., Bouchy, F., Christensen-Dalsgaard, J., Collier Cameron, A., Cosentino, R., Dressing, C. D., Dumusque, X., Figueira, P., Fiorenzano, A. F. M., García, R. A., Handberg, R., Harutyunyan, A., Johnson, J. A., Kjeldsen, H., Latham, D. W., Lovis, C., Lundkvist, M. S., Mathur, S., Mayor, M., Micela, G., Molinari, E., Motalebi, F., Nascimbeni, V., Nava, C., Pepe, F., Phillips, D. F., Piotto, G., Poretti, E., Sasselov, D., Ségransan, D., Udry, S. & Watson, C., 04 Feb 2019, In : Nature Astronomy. 8 p.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article

Open Access

File

extrasolar planets

planets

radii

Neptune (planet)

silicates

Classifying exoplanet candidates with convolutional neural networks: application to the Next Generation Transit Survey

Chaushev, A., Raynard, L., Goad, M. R., Eigmüller, P., Armstrong, D. J., Briegal, J. T., Burleigh, M. R., Casewell, S. L., Gill, S., Jenkins, J. S., Nielsen, L. D., Watson, C. A., West, R. G., Wheatley, P. J., Udry, S. & Vines, J. I., Oct 2019, In : Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 488, 4, p. 5232-5250

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article

Open Access

File

extrasolar planets

transit

classifying

planets

education

3 Citations (Scopus)

Detection of a giant flare displaying quasi-periodic pulsations from a pre-main-sequence M star by the Next Generation Transit Survey

Jackman, J. A. G., Wheatley, P. J., Pugh, C. E., Kolotkov, D. Y., Broomhall, A-M., Kennedy, G. M., Murphy, S. J., Raddi, R., Burleigh, M. R., Casewell, S. L., Eigmüller, P., Gillen, E., Günther, M. N., Jenkins, J. S., Louden, T., McCormac, J., Raynard, L., Poppenhaeger, K., Udry, S., Watson, C. A. & 1 othersWest, R. G., 01 Feb 2019, In : Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 482, 4, p. 5553–5566

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article

Open Access

File

pre-main sequence stars

M stars

transit

flares

energetics

Doppler tomography as a tool for detecting exoplanet atmospheres

Watson, C. A., de Mooij, E. J. W., Steeghs, D., Marsh, T. R., Brogi, M., Gibson, N. P. & Matthews, S., 03 Oct 2019, In : Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 490, 2, p. 1991-2006 16 p.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article

Open Access

File

extrasolar planets

tomography

atmospheres

atmosphere

radial velocity

4 Citations (Scopus)

Filtering solar-like oscillations for exoplanet detection in radial velocity observations

Chaplin, W. J., Cegla, H. M., Watson, C. A., Davies, G. R. & Ball, W. H., 02 Apr 2019, In : Astronomical Journal. 157, 4, 8 p.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article

Open Access

File

planet detection

solar oscillations

radial velocity

oscillation

Earth analogs

Prizes

Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society

Christopher Watson (Recipient), 2002

Prize: Election to learned society

Postdoctoral Fellowship

Christopher Watson (Recipient), 2005

Prize: Fellowship awarded competitively

Activities 2004 2013

9 Participation in conference
9 Public lecture/debate/seminar
5 Membership of peer review panel or committee
3 Participation in workshop, seminar, course
7 More

Talk on "Future visions of exoplanets" to the Jubilee meeting of the Society for Popular Astronomy

Christopher Watson (Speaker)

21 Sep 2013

Activity: Talk or presentation types › Public lecture/debate/seminar

Astrotomography II - Imaging at the micro-arcsecond scale

Christopher Watson (Invited speaker)

2013

Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Participation in conference

Jupiter Watch

Christopher Watson (Organiser)

08 Jan 2013

Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Participation in Festival/Exhibition

Talk and public discussion on "Exoplanets" as part of the Large Hadron Collider STFC Tour

Christopher Watson (Speaker)

07 May 2013

Activity: Talk or presentation types › Public lecture/debate/seminar

ASGI Summer Meeting

Christopher Watson (Chair)

07 Jun 2013

Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Participation in conference

Impact

Engaging the Public in Science and Increasing Awareness of Physics and Astronomy

Alan Fitzsimmons (Participant), Samuel Duddy (Participant), Henry Hsieh (Participant), Stephen Smartt (Participant), Stephen Lowry (Participant), Heather Cegla (Participant), Sergiy Shelyag (Participant), Victoria Moulds (Participant), Michail Mathioudakis (Participant), Don Pollacco (Participant), John Burton (Participant), Christopher Watson (Participant)

Impact: Societial Impact

Thesis

High Contrast Imaging: Exoplanet and Low Stellar Mass Populations

Author: Durkan, S., Apr 2018

Supervisor: Watson, C. A. (Supervisor) & Fitzsimmons, A. (Supervisor)

Student thesis: Doctoral Thesis › Doctor of Philosophy

File

Unearth: Revealing the Effects of Stellar Activity on Exoplanet Host Stars

Author: Thompson, A. P. G., 2019

Supervisor: Watson, C. (Supervisor)

Student thesis: Doctoral Thesis › Doctor of Philosophy

File