This is one of three self-funded research masters available in observational astrophysics under the supervision of Dr Dirk Froebrich in the Centre for Astrophysics and Planetary Science at the University of Kent, Canterbury. The students will work on research topics related to star and planet formation. All projects will analyse data taken either with the University of Kent’s Beacon observatory or as part of the Hunting Outbursting Young Stars with the Centre for Astrophysics and Planetary Science (HOYS) citizen science project.
The following brief outlines are a guide to the research projects available. All projects are extremely flexible and can be adapted to new developments.
By using existing software tools and further developing them, the student will study the completeness of the detection of dips and outbursts in stars as a function of their properties (depth, duration, occurrence rate) in HOYS observations. The algorithms will also be applied to existing GAIA data and used to optimise future observing for HOYS.
All students are expected to actively contribute to the data taking for their research projects via observations with the Beacon observatory – training will be provided. Weather permitting, student are expected to lead the observations for ~75 nights per year. During undergraduate teaching terms, this includes observations with undergraduate students in presence. Furthermore, students will be encouraged to also actively contribute to the continued processing of HOYS data.
Applicants need to have successfully completed an undergraduate BSc or MPhys course in Physics/Astrophysics or related subjects with a upper second class degree or better. Programming experience (esp. Python) is highly desired. There is no deadline – applicants will be assessed on a rolling basis.
For further information or informal enquiries, please contact Dr Dirk Froebrich (D.Froebrich@kent.ac.uk).
To apply please see: https://www.kent.ac.uk/courses/postgraduate/how-to-apply/