Debra Fischer

Last updated
Debra Ann Fischer
Debra fischer 1.jpg
Fischer with a keplerian fit for υ And
Born1953
Alma mater University of Iowa, San Francisco State University, University of California at Santa Cruz
Known for Astronomy, Exoplanetology
Scientific career
Fields Astronomy
Institutions Yale University

Debra Ann Fischer is an American astronomer who is the Eugene Higgins professor of astronomy at Yale University researching detection and characterization of exoplanets. She has detected hundreds of exoplanets and was part of the team to discover the first known multiple-planet system. [1] [2]

Contents

Education

Fischer received her degree in nursing from the University of Iowa in 1975, a masters of science in physics from San Francisco State University in 1992, and her PhD in astrophysics from the University of California at Santa Cruz in 1998. [3] [4] [5]

Research and career

Fischer has co-authored more than 300 papers on dwarf stars and exoplanets. In two papers with Jeff Valenti, [6] she quantified a correlation between the chemical composition of host stars and the formation of orbiting gas giant planets. [7] [8] She led the N2K Consortium with Gregory P. Laughlin, detecting dozens of exoplanets around metal-rich stars at Keck Observatory, Subaru Observatory, and the Magellan Observatory. [2] [9] Her work "The Twenty Five Year Lick Planet Search" is summarized in a 2014 paper. [10] In 2015, she organized an international workshop on Extreme Precision Radial Velocities at Yale University [11] and led the conference proceedings paper with 55 co-authors. [12] With the Oxford Zooniverse team, Fischer co-founded the Planet Hunters Citizen Science project. [13]

Fischer has worked on instruments to improve measurement sensitivity for the detection of exoplanets. In 2011, she started the Fiber-optic Improved Next-generation Doppler Search for Exo-Earths with the Planetary Society, an improvement that helped planet hunters find smaller, more Earth-like extrasolar planets. [14] In 2014, she worked with colleagues at Yale University on a microcomb for precise wavelength calibration. [15] She was the principal investigator for three spectrographs: CHIRON, the CTIO High Resolution Spectrometer, [16] VUES, the Vilnius University Echelle Spectrograph [17] and EXPRES, the EXtreme PREcision Spectrograph. [18] [19] [20] [21] [22]

Fischer and colleagues [23] [24] [25] have also helped to advance statistical and machine learning methods to improve data analysis and sensitivity to low mass planets. Fischer served as the Division Director at the National Science Foundation from 2021 - 2023. [26]

Projects and Contributions

When Fischer discovered the first multiple planet system in 1999, she contributed to the acknowledgement of planet formation by using an analysis that identified and collaborated the impact of structures of planets and their gas giants and even the chemical composition of host stars. [27] [28]

Fischer also created a project called planethunters.org, which helped with her and her organization with planet detection. According to Fischer, her "Planet Hunters" project was based on the Kepler Project, further resulting her and her group's expectations of their project to exceed successfully. [29]

Honors and awards

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">40 Eridani</span> Triple star system in the constellation Eridanus

40 Eridani is a triple star system in the constellation of Eridanus, abbreviated 40 Eri. It has the Bayer designation Omicron2 Eridani, which is Latinized from ο2 Eridani and abbreviated Omicron2 Eri or ο2 Eri. Based on parallax measurements taken by the Gaia mission, it is about 16.3 light-years from the Sun.

HD 88133 is a yellow star with an orbiting exoplanet in the equatorial constellation of Leo. It has an apparent visual magnitude of 8.01, which is too faint to be visible to the naked eye. With a small telescope it should be easily visible. The distance to this system, as measured through parallax, is 240 light years, but it is slowly drifting closer with a radial velocity of −3.6 km/s.

HD 20782 is the primary of a wide binary system located in the southern constellation Fornax. It has an apparent magnitude of 7.38, making it readily visible in binoculars but not to the naked eye. The system is located relatively close at a distance of 117 light-years based on Gaia DR3 parallax measurements, but it is receding with a heliocentric radial velocity of 40.7 km/s. At its current distance, HD 20782's brightness is diminished by 0.12 magnitudes due to interstellar extinction and it has an absolute magnitude of +4.61.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">55 Cancri e</span> Hot Super-Earth orbiting 55 Cancri A

55 Cancri e is an exoplanet orbiting a Sun-like host star, 55 Cancri A. The mass of the exoplanet is about eight Earth masses and its diameter is about twice that of the Earth. 55 Cancri e was discovered on 30 August 2004, thus making it the first super-Earth discovered around a main sequence star, predating Gliese 876 d by a year. It is the innermost planet in its planetary system, taking less than 18 hours to complete an orbit. However, until the 2010 observations and recalculations, this planet had been thought to take about 2.8 days to orbit the star.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">HD 136118</span> Star in the constellation Serpens

HD 136118 is a star in the Serpens Caput section of the Serpens constellation. The star is too dim to be readily visible to the naked eye, having an apparent visual magnitude of 6.93. It is located at a distance of 165 light years from the Sun based on parallax, and is drifting closer with a radial velocity of −3 km/s.

14 Herculis c or 14 Her c is an exoplanet approximately 58.4 light-years away in the constellation of Hercules. The planet was found orbiting the star 14 Herculis, with a mass that would make the planet a gas giant roughly the same size as Jupiter but much more massive. It was discovered on November 17, 2005 and published on November 2, 2006, although its existence was not confirmed until 2021.

HD 68988 is a star in the northern constellation of Ursa Major. It has been given the proper name Násti, which means star in the Northern Sami language. The name was selected in the NameExoWorlds campaign by Norway, during the 100th anniversary of the IAU. HD 68988 is too faint to be seen with the naked eye, having an apparent visual magnitude of 8.20. The star is located at a distance of 199 light years from the Sun based on parallax. It is drifting closer with a radial velocity of −69 km/s and is predicted to come as close as 78 light-years in 617,000 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">HD 125612 b</span> Extrasolar planet in the constellation of Virgo

HD 125612 b is an extrasolar planet which orbits the G-type main sequence star HD 125612, located approximately 188 light years away in the constellation Virgo. This planet was detected using the doppler spectroscopy method and the discovery was first announced in a paper submitted to the arXiv preprint repository on April 10, 2007.

HD 179079 is a star with an exoplanetary companion in the equatorial constellation of Aquila. It has an apparent visual magnitude of approximately 7.96, making it too faint to be readily visible to the naked eye. The distance to this star can be determine using parallax measurements, which yields an estimate of approximately 228 light years. It is drifting further away with a radial velocity of +20 km/s.

Kepler-421 is a yellow main sequence star, being of spectral class G7V. Orange star of spectral class K9V, projected on sky plane just 1.085″ away, is not physically associated to it. The distance to star KOI-1274 A is approximately 1150 light-years, and to KOI-1274 B is about 1900 light-years.

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HD 221420 is a likely binary star system in the southern circumpolar constellation Octans. It has an apparent magnitude of 5.81, allowing it to be faintly seen with the naked eye. The object is relatively close at a distance of 102 light years but is receding with a heliocentric radial velocity of 26.5 km/s.

References

  1. ↑ Butler, Paul; Marcy, Geoffrey W.; Fischer, Debra A.; Brown, Timothy M.; Contos, Adam R.; Korzennik, Sylvain G.; Nisenson, Peter; Noyes, Robert W. (December 1999). "Evidence for Multiple Companions to υ Andromedae". The Astrophysical Journal. 526 (2): 916–927. Bibcode:1999ApJ...526..916B. doi:10.1086/308035. S2CID   123172934.
  2. 1 2 Overbye, Dennis (12 May 2013). "Finder of New Worlds". The New York Times . Retrieved 13 May 2014.
  3. ↑ Avitia, Claudia (2022-03-03). "Debra Fischer On Scientific Culture and Life On Other Planets". 1400 Degrees. Retrieved 2024-11-12.
  4. ↑ "Radcliffe Institute Guest Lecturer Bio". Archived from the original on 12 March 2009. Retrieved 4 February 2008.
  5. ↑ "Interview with D. Fischer, Planet-Hunter". theWoman Astronomer. 1 January 2008. Retrieved 4 February 2008.
  6. ↑ "DR. JEFF VALENTI".
  7. ↑ Fischer, Debra A.; Valenti, Jeff (2005). "The Planet-Metallicity Correlation". The Astrophysical Journal. 622 (2): 1102. Bibcode:2005ApJ...622.1102F. doi:10.1086/428383.
  8. ↑ Valenti, Jeff A.; Fischer, Debra A. (2005). "Spectroscopic Properties of Cool Stars (SPOCS). I. 1040 F, G, and K Dwarfs from Keck, Lick, and AAT Planet Search Programs". The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series. 159 (1): 141. Bibcode:2005ApJS..159..141V. doi:10.1086/430500.
  9. ↑ "N2K Consortium". Yale astronomy. Retrieved 5 March 2018.
  10. ↑ Fischer, Debra A.; Marcy, Geoffrey W.; Spronck, Julien F. P. (2014). "The Twenty-five Year Lick Planet Search". The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series. 210 (1): 5. arXiv: 1310.7315 . Bibcode:2014ApJS..210....5F. doi:10.1088/0067-0049/210/1/5.
  11. ↑ "The Extreme Precision Radial Velocities Workshop".
  12. ↑ Fischer, Debra A.; et al. (2016). "State of the Field: Extreme Precision Radial Velocities". Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. 128 (964). arXiv: 1602.07939 . Bibcode:2016PASP..128f6001F. doi:10.1088/1538-3873/128/964/066001.
  13. ↑ "AAS Names Debra Fischer as Kavli Foundation Plenary Lecturer". 20 February 2018.
  14. ↑ "Alpha Centauri Planet Search". The Planetary Society. Retrieved 2024-11-13.
  15. ↑ "Red, Blue, Infrared Frequency Comb Generation". 24 August 2015. pp. 27D2_5.
  16. ↑ "MRI: Development of Chiron: CTIO High Resolution Spectrometer". Research Commercialization and SBIR Center. San Francisco State University. Archived from the original on 2 March 2014. Retrieved 27 February 2014.
  17. ↑ Jurgenson, Colby; Fischer, Debra; McCracken, Tyler; Sawyer, David; Giguere, Matt; Szymkowiak, Andrew; Santoro, Fernando; Muller, Gary (2016). "Design and Construction of VUES: The Vilnius University Echelle Spectrograph". Journal of Astronomical Instrumentation. 5 (2): 1650003–1650239. arXiv: 1601.06024 . Bibcode:2016JAI.....550003J. doi:10.1142/S2251171716500033.
  18. ↑ Jurgenson, C.; Fischer, D.; McCracken, T.; Sawyer, D.; Szymkowiak, A.; Davis, A.; Muller, G.; Santoro, F. (2016). Evans, Christopher J.; Simard, Luc; Takami, Hideki (eds.). "EXPRES: a next generation RV spectrograph in the search for earth-like worlds". Ground-Based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy VI. 9908: 99086T. arXiv: 1606.04413 . Bibcode:2016SPIE.9908E..6TJ. doi:10.1117/12.2233002.
  19. ↑ Brewer, John M.; Fischer, Debra A.; Blackman, Ryan T.; Cabot, Samuel H. C.; Davis, Allen B.; Laughlin, Gregory; Leet, Christopher; Ong, J. M. Joel; Petersburg, Ryan R.; Szymkowiak, Andrew E.; Zhao, Lily L.; Henry, Gregory W.; Llama, Joe (2020). "EXPRES. I. HD 3651 as an Ideal RV Benchmark". The Astronomical Journal. 160 (2): 67. arXiv: 2006.02303 . Bibcode:2020AJ....160...67B. doi: 10.3847/1538-3881/ab99c9 .
  20. ↑ Cabot, Samuel H. C.; Roettenbacher, Rachael M.; Henry, Gregory W.; Zhao, Lily; Harmon, Robert O.; Fischer, Debra A.; Brewer, John M.; Llama, Joe; Petersburg, Ryan R.; Szymkowiak, Andrew E. (2021). "EXPRES. II. Searching for Planets around Active Stars: A Case Study of HD 101501". The Astronomical Journal. 161 (1): 26. arXiv: 2010.14717 . Bibcode:2021AJ....161...26C. doi: 10.3847/1538-3881/abc41e .
  21. ↑ Roettenbacher, Rachael M.; Cabot, Samuel H. C.; Fischer, Debra A.; Monnier, John D.; Henry, Gregory W.; Harmon, Robert O.; Korhonen, Heidi; Brewer, John M.; Llama, Joe; Petersburg, Ryan R.; Zhao, Lily L.; Kraus, Stefan; Le Bouquin, Jean-Baptiste; Anugu, Narsireddy; Davies, Claire L.; Gardner, Tyler; Lanthermann, Cyprien; Schaefer, Gail; Setterholm, Benjamin; Clark, Catherine A.; Jorstad, Svetlana G.; Kuehn, Kyler; Levine, Stephen (2022). "EXPRES. III. Revealing the Stellar Activity Radial Velocity Signature of ϵ Eridani with Photometry and Interferometry". The Astronomical Journal. 163 (1): 19. arXiv: 2110.10643 . Bibcode:2022AJ....163...19R. doi: 10.3847/1538-3881/ac3235 .
  22. ↑ Brewer, John M.; Zhao, Lily L.; Fischer, Debra A.; Roettenbacher, Rachael M.; Henry, Gregory W.; Llama, Joe; Szymkowiak, Andrew E.; Cabot, Samuel H. C.; Weiss, Sam A.; McCarthy, Chris (2023). "EXPRES. IV. Two Additional Planets Orbiting ρ Coronae Borealis Reveal Uncommon System Architecture". The Astronomical Journal. 166 (2): 46. arXiv: 2306.06888 . Bibcode:2023AJ....166...46B. doi: 10.3847/1538-3881/acdd6f .
  23. ↑ "Jessi Cisewski Kehe".
  24. ↑ "Eric Ford".
  25. ↑ "Lily Zhao, Ph.D."
  26. ↑ "Appointment of Division Director, Division of Astronomical Sciences - Debra Fischer".
  27. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "Debra Fischer Curriculum Vitae Jan 2012" (PDF).
  28. ↑ "Debra Ann Fischer". National Academy of Sciences.
  29. ↑ "Kepler Will Make Us All Planet Hunters". Popular Mechanics.
  30. ↑ "Debra Ann Fischer". 6 June 2024.
  31. ↑ San Francisco State University (2016-12-14). Debra Fischer - 2016 Hall of Fame Inductee . Retrieved 2024-11-17– via YouTube.
  32. ↑ "AAS Fellows". AAS. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
  33. ↑ "2021 Fellows". American Association for the Advancement of Science. Retrieved 2022-01-30.
  34. ↑ "2021 NAS Election". www.nasonline.org. Retrieved 23 May 2021.

- https://www.calstate.edu/impact-of-the-csu/alumni/made-in-the-csu/san-francisco/Pages/fischer.aspx#:~:text=In%20recognition%20of%20her%20pioneering,and%20the%20Cottrell%20Scholar%20program

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87yX6Ukd2OU&list=TLPQMTQxMTIwMjTwHj5ZsdJJ4w&index=4

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVsbqZZRjjQ

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