Dr Anjali A.A. Piette MSci, PhD, FRAS

Dr Anjali A. A. Piette

School of Physics and Astronomy
Assistant Professor in Astronomy

Contact details

Telephone
+44(0) 121 414 4599
Email
a.a.a.piette@bham.ac.uk
View my research portal
Address
Physics West
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Anjali is an Assistant Professor in Astronomy. Her research aims to uncover the diversity of planetary physics among the exoplanet population. Thousands of exoplanets have been discovered in the past three decades, encompassing a staggering range of conditions - from lava worlds to temperate mini-Neptunes and hot, giant planets. Anjali uncovers new insights into these distant worlds by using their atmospheres as windows into their climates, compositions and formation mechanisms. She places empirical constraints on these planets using theoretical models and atmospheric observations from telescopes such as the James Webb Space Telescope.

Please seeAnjali’s personal webpage for more information.

Qualifications

  • PhD in Astronomy, University of Cambridge, 2021
  • MSci in Natural Sciences (Astrophysics), University of Cambridge, 2017
  • BA in Natural Sciences, University of Cambridge, 2016

Biography

Anjali pursued her undergraduate studies in Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge, ultimately specialising in Astrophysics. She continued her studies at the Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, obtaining her PhD in 2021. During her PhD, Anjali studied the atmospheres of exoplanets across the mass range, from isolated brown dwarfs to hot Jupiters, mini-Neptunes and rocky planets. Following this, she took up a Carnegie Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Carnegie Institution for Science, Earth and Planets Laboratory in Washington, DC, before moving to the University of Birmingham as an Assistant Professor in 2024.

Anjali continues to study exoplanets across the diverse parameter space they cover, including lava worlds and giant exoplanets orbiting the smallest stars. She uses a combination of forward and inverse modelling methods to study the complex interplay of processes in exoplanet atmospheres and interpret telescope observations, for example with the James Webb Space Telescope.

Teaching

  • Y1 Physics Tutorials
  • Y4 Project Supervision

Postgraduate supervision

PhD supervision in exoplanets and their atmospheres.

Research

  • Exoplanet atmospheres
  • Exoplanet atmosphere-interior interactions
  • Rocky exoplanets
  • Sub-Neptune exoplanets
  • Giant exoplanets
  • Radiative-convective atmospheric modelling
  • Atmospheric retrievals

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Nixon, MC, Piette, A, Kempton, EMR, Gao, P, Bean, JL, Steinrueck, ME, Mahajan, AS, Eastman, JD, Zhang, M & Rogers, LA 2024, 'New Insights into the Internal Structure of GJ 1214 b Informed by JWST', The Astrophysical Journal Letters, vol. 970, no. 2, L28. https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ad615b

Powell, D, Feinstein, AD, Lee, EKH, Zhang, M, Tsai, S-M, Taylor, J, Kirk, J, Bell, T, Barstow, JK, Gao, P, Bean, JL, Blecic, J, Chubb, KL, Crossfield, IJM, Jordan, S, Kitzmann, D, Moran, SE, Morello, G, Moses, JI, Welbanks, L, Yang, J, Zhang, X, Ahrer, E-M, Bello-Arufe, A, Brande, J, Casewell, SL, Crouzet, N, Cubillos, PE, Demory, B-O, Dyrek, A, Flagg, L, Hu, R, Inglis, J, Jones, KD, Kreidberg, L, López-Morales, M, Lagage, P-O, Meier Valdés, EA, Miguel, Y, Parmentier, V, Piette, AAA, Rackham, BV, Radica, M, Redfield, S, Stevenson, KB, Wakeford, HR, Aggarwal, K, Alam, MK, Batalha, NM, Batalha, NE, Benneke, B, Berta-Thompson, ZK, Brady, RP, Caceres, C, Carter, AL, Désert, J-M, Harrington, J, Iro, N, Line, MR, Lothringer, JD, MacDonald, RJ, Mancini, L, Molaverdikhani, K, Mukherjee, S, Nixon, MC, Oza, AV, Palle, E, Rustamkulov, Z, Sing, DK, Steinrueck, ME, Venot, O, Wheatley, PJ & Yurchenko, SN 2024, 'Sulfur dioxide in the mid-infrared transmission spectrum of WASP-39b', Nature, vol. 626, no. 8001, pp. 979-983. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07040-9

Coulombe, L-P, Benneke, B, Challener, R, Piette, AAA, Wiser, LS, Mansfield, M, MacDonald, RJ, Beltz, H, Feinstein, AD, Radica, M, Savel, AB, Dos Santos, LA, Bean, JL, Parmentier, V, Wong, I, Rauscher, E, Komacek, TD, Kempton, EM-R, Tan, X, Hammond, M, Lewis, NT, Line, MR, Lee, EKH, Shivkumar, H, Crossfield, IJM, Nixon, MC, Rackham, BV, Wakeford, HR, Welbanks, L, Zhang, X, Batalha, NM, Berta-Thompson, ZK, Changeat, Q, Désert, J-M, Espinoza, N, Goyal, JM, Harrington, J, Knutson, HA, Kreidberg, L, López-Morales, M, Shporer, A, Sing, DK, Stevenson, KB, Aggarwal, K, Ahrer, E-M, Alam, MK, Bell, TJ, Blecic, J, Caceres, C, Carter, AL, Casewell, SL, Crouzet, N, Cubillos, PE, Decin, L, Fortney, JJ, Gibson, NP, Heng, K, Henning, T, Iro, N, Kendrew, S, Lagage, P-O, Leconte, J, Lendl, M, Lothringer, JD, Mancini, L, Mikal-Evans, T, Molaverdikhani, K, Nikolov, NK, Ohno, K, Palle, E, Piaulet, C, Redfield, S, Roy, P-A, Tsai, S-M, Venot, O & Wheatley, PJ 2023, 'A broadband thermal emission spectrum of the ultra-hot Jupiter WASP-18b', Nature, vol. 620, no. 7973, pp. 292–298. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06230-1

Kempton, EM-R, Zhang, M, Bean, JL, Steinrueck, ME, Piette, AAA, Parmentier, V, Malsky, I, Roman, MT, Rauscher, E, Gao, P, Bell, TJ, Xue, Q, Taylor, J, Savel, AB, Arnold, KE, Nixon, MC, Stevenson, KB, Mansfield, M, Kendrew, S, Zieba, S, Ducrot, E, Dyrek, A, Lagage, P-O, Stassun, KG, Henry, GW, Barman, T, Lupu, R, Malik, M, Kataria, T, Ih, J, Fu, G, Welbanks, L & McGill, P 2023, 'A reflective, metal-rich atmosphere for GJ 1214b from its JWST phase curve', Nature, vol. 620, pp. 67–71. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06159-5

JWST Transiting Exoplanet Community Early Release Science Team 2023, 'Identification of carbon dioxide in an exoplanet atmosphere', Nature, vol. 614, pp. 649–652. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05269-w

Piette, AAA, Gao, P, Brugman, K, Shahar, A, Lichtenberg, T, Miozzi, F & Driscoll, P 2023, 'Rocky Planet or Water World? Observability of Low-density Lava World Atmospheres', The Astrophysical Journal, vol. 954, no. 1, 29. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/acdef2

Kanodia, S, Mahadevan, S, Libby-Roberts, J, Stefansson, G, Cañas, CI, Piette, AAA, Boss, A, Teske, J, Chambers, J, Zeimann, G, Monson, A, Robertson, P, Ninan, JP, Lin, ASJ, Bender, CF, Cochran, WD, Diddams, SA, Gupta, AF, Halverson, S, Hawley, S, Kobulnicky, HA, Metcalf, AJ, Parker, BA, Powers, L, Ramsey, LW, Roy, A, Schwab, C, Swaby, TN, Terrien, RC & Wisniewski, J 2023, 'TOI-5205b: A Short-period Jovian Planet Transiting a Mid-M Dwarf', The Astronomical Journal, vol. 165, no. 3, 120. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-3881/acabce

Gao, P, Piette, AAA, Steinrueck, ME, Nixon, MC, Zhang, M, Kempton, EM-R, Bean, JL, Rauscher, E, Parmentier, V, Batalha, NE, Savel, AB, Arnold, KE, Roman, MT, Malsky, I & Taylor, J 2023, 'The Hazy and Metal-rich Atmosphere of GJ 1214 b Constrained by Near- and Mid-infrared Transmission Spectroscopy', The Astrophysical Journal, vol. 951, no. 2, 96. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/acd16f

Blažek, M, Kabáth, P, Piette, AAA, Madhusudhan, N, Skarka, M, Šubjak, J, Anderson, DR, Boffin, HMJ, Cáceres, CC, Gibson, NP, Hoyer, S, Ivanov, VD & Rojo, PM 2022, 'Constraints on TESS albedos for five hot Jupiters', Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, vol. 513, no. 3, pp. 3444–3457. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stac992

Piette, AAA, Madhusudhan, N & Mandell, AM 2022, 'HyDRo: atmospheric retrieval of rocky exoplanets in thermal emission', Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, vol. 511, no. 2, pp. 2565–2584. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stab3612

Madhusudhan, N, Piette, AAA & Constantinou, S 2021, 'Habitability and Biosignatures of Hycean Worlds', The Astrophysical Journal, vol. 918, no. 1, 1. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/abfd9c

Piette, AAA, Madhusudhan, N, McKemmish, LK, Gandhi, S, Masseron, T & Welbanks, L 2020, 'Assessing spectra and thermal inversions due to TiO in hot Jupiter atmospheres', Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, vol. 496, no. 3. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/staa1592

Piette, AAA & Madhusudhan, N 2020, 'Considerations for atmospheric retrieval of high-precision brown dwarf spectra', Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, vol. 497, no. 4. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/staa2289

Letter

Madhusudhan, N, Sarkar, S, Constantinou, S, Holmberg, M, Piette, AAA & Moses, JI 2023, 'Carbon-bearing Molecules in a Possible Hycean Atmosphere', The Astrophysical Journal Letters, vol. 956, no. 1, L13. https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/acf577

Preprint

Bell, TJ, Crouzet, N, Cubillos, PE, Kreidberg, L, Piette, AAA, Roman, MT, Barstow, JK, Blecic, J, Carone, L, Coulombe, L-P, Ducrot, E, Hammond, M, Mendonça, JM, Moses, JI, Parmentier, V, Stevenson, KB, Teinturier, L, Zhang, M, Batalha, NM, Bean, JL, Benneke, B, Charnay, B, Chubb, KL, Demory, B-O, Gao, P, Lee, EKH, López-Morales, M, Morello, G, Rauscher, E, Sing, DK, Tan, X, Venot, O, Wakeford, HR, Aggarwal, K, Ahrer, E-M, Alam, MK, Baeyens, R, Barrado, D, Caceres, C, Carter, AL, Casewell, SL, Challener, RC, Crossfield, IJM, Decin, L, Désert, J-M, Dobbs-Dixon, I, Dyrek, A, Espinoza, N, Feinstein, AD, Gibson, NP, Harrington, J, Helling, C, Hu, R, Iro, N, Kempton, EM-R, Kendrew, S, Komacek, TD, Krick, J, Lagage, P-O, Leconte, J, Lendl, M, Lewis, NT, Lothringer, JD, Malsky, I, Mancini, L, Mansfield, M, Mayne, NJ, Mikal-Evans, T, Molaverdikhani, K, Nikolov, NK, Nixon, MC, Palle, E, Roche, DJMPDDL, Piaulet, C, Powell, D, Rackham, BV, Schneider, AD, Steinrueck, ME, Taylor, J, Welbanks, L, Yurchenko, SN, Zhang, X & Zieba, S 2024 'Nightside clouds and disequilibrium chemistry on the hot Jupiter WASP-43b' arXiv. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2401.13027

View all publications in research portal

Expertise


  • Exoplanets and their atmospheres

Languages and other information

Fluent in English and French.

Media experience


  • BBC/PBS Documentary – “Nova Universe Revealed: Alien Worlds”
  • PBS Documentary – “Great American Eclipse”
  • YouTube Series – “The Making of a Physicist”