Personal information

Geert Jan Talens

Research field: Exoplanets

Description of the research project:
Geert Jan did his Ph.D. research in Leiden working on MASCARA, a survey aimed at finding transiting exoplanets around the brightest stars (4 < V < 8.4).

His primary task was the development of the calibration and detection algorithms, and he coordinated the follow-up observations needed to confirm the detected signals. His work has so far resulted in the detection of two new planets that each orbit a bright, massive star. The brightness of their host stars makes these exoplanets excellent targets for atmospheric characterization work. Geert Jan was also involved in bRing, a project to monitor the 2017/2018 Hill sphere transit of beta Pictoris b. At UdeM he will work on improving and developing algorithms used for the analysis of exoplanet atmopsheric spectra obtained from space-based facilities as part of the James Webb NIRISS team.