Physics and Astronomy

Photo of Prof Sasha Hinkley

Prof Sasha Hinkley

Associate Professor

 S.Hinkley@exeter.ac.uk

 (Streatham) 5522

 01392 725522

Visit personal website

Overview

Overview: As an Associate Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Exeter, I use leading ground- and space-based observatories with the goal of obtaining direct images and spectroscopy of extrasolar planetary systems.  Specifically, during my PhD training, and while a NASA Sagan and an NSF Postdoctoral Fellow at the California Institute of Technology, I was responsible for designing, building, and commissioning an infrared imaging spectrometer for Palomar Observatory dedicated for this task.  Since my arrival at Exeter, I have become an active user of ESO facilities, while continuing to mine through my large high-contrast survey for planets I carried out at the W.M.~Keck Observatory while at Caltech.  Since late 2015, I have been leading, organising, and managing a team of 120 international astronomers to be among the first users of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), and I am the Principal Investigator for our approved 54-hour Early Release Science program. You can find out more at my personal webpage at: http://empslocal.ex.ac.uk/people/staff/sh573/.    

Students: 

  1. My first PhD student Elisabeth Matthews, now a postdoc at MIT, led our survey for planets around young stars with evidence for multiple belts of circumstellar debris using SPHERE at the VLT.  Elisabeth's work uncovered a spectacular image of a nearly edge-on disk around the star HD 129590 (see paper below). 
  2. My next PhD student Aarynn Carter, now a postdoc at UC Santa Cruz, made some of the first predictions about the sensitivity to Saturn and Neptune-analogues at wide orbital separations. 
 

Some Selected Publications: 

  1. Hinkley et al. 2021. "Discovery of an Edge-on Debris Disk around BD+45 598: A Newly Identified Member of the Beta Pictoris Moving Group" https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2021ApJ...912..115H/abstract
  2. Hinkley et al. 2015. "Discovery of Seven Companions to Intermediate-Mass Stars with Extreme Mass Ratios in the Scorpius-Centaurus Association" https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2015ApJ...806L...9H/abstract
  3. Hinkley et al. 2015. "Early Results from VLT SPHERE: Long-slit Spectroscopy of 2MASS0122-2439B, a Young Companion Near the Deuterium Burning Limit." https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2015ApJ...805L..10H/abstract
  4. Matthews et al. 2017. "The First Scattered-light Image of the Debris Disk around the Sco-Cen Target HD129590." https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2017ApJ...843L..12M/abstract
  5. Hinkley et al., 2011. "A New High Contrast Imaging Program at Palomar Observatory." https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2011PASP..123...74H/abstract

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Publications

Copyright Notice: Any articles made available for download are for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and the copyright holder.

| 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2011 | 2010 |

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

  • Kluska J, Kraus S, Davies CL, Harries T, Willson M, Monnier JD, Aarnio A, Baron F, Millan-Gabet R, Brummelaar TT. (2018) A multi-instrument and multi-wavelength high angular resolution study of MWC614: quantum heated particles inside the disk cavity, The Astrophysical Journal, 2018, Volume 855, Number 1. [PDF]
  • Parry I, Queloz D, Kennedy G, Madhusudhan N, Triaud A, Walton N, Vasudevan R, Zulawski P, Heng K, Benz W. (2018) SUPERSHARP - Segmented Unfolding Primary for Exoplanet Research via Spectroscopic High Angular Resolution Photography. [PDF]

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2011

2010

  • leconte J, Soummer R, Hinkley S, Oppenheimer BR, Sivaramakrishnan A, Brenner D, Kuhn J, Lloyd JP, Perrin MD, Makidon R. (2010) The Lyot Project Direct Imaging Survey of Substellar Companions: Statistical Analysis and Information from Nondetections, The Astrophysical Journal, volume 716, no. 2. [PDF]
  • Leconte J, Soummer R, Hinkley S, Oppenheimer BR, Sivaramakrishnan A, Brenner D, Kuhn J, Lloyd JP, Perrin MD, Makidon R. (2010) THE LYOT PROJECT DIRECT IMAGING SURVEY OF SUBSTELLAR COMPANIONS: STATISTICAL ANALYSIS AND INFORMATION FROM NONDETECTIONS, ASTROPHYS J, volume 716, no. 2, pages 1551-1565, DOI:10.1088/0004-637X/716/2/1551.

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Further information

Personal Homepage

Overview:

Please see my personal webpage that I manage at: http://empslocal.ex.ac.uk/people/staff/sh573/.  As a brief overview, I'm an experimental astrophysicist interested in high contrast imaging and spectroscopy of exoplanetary systems.  Specifically, for my PhD at Columbia University, and while a Sagan and an NSF Fellow at the California Institute of Technology, I led the development of an infrared imaging spectrometer for Palomar Observatory dedicated for this task.  Since my arrival at Exeter, I have become an active user of ESO facilities, while continuing to mine through my large direct imaging survey for planets I carried out at the W. M. Keck Observatory while at Caltech.  In addition to a 23-hour Cycle 1 program, I am also the Principal Investigator for an approved 54-hour Early Release Science Program with the James Webb Space Telescope, working with Andy Skemer (UCSC) and Beth Biller (Edinburgh) as well as numerous other astronomers across the world. 

Students & Postdocs: 

  1. Shrishmoy Ray (currently a thrid-year PhD student) is working on the Aperture Masking Interferometry mode (one of the primary high contrast modes) for JWST which will be sensitivity to Jovian-mass planets on solar system scales. 
  2. Cecilia Lazzoni is a new postdoc in my group, who has several years of expertise with imaging and spectroscopy of planetary mass companions and circumstellar disks.  
  3. My next PhD student Aarynn Carter (now a Postdoc at UCSC) has carried out the most up-to-date simulations of the sensitivity of JWST to directly imaged planets  
  4. My first PhD student Elisabeth Matthews, now a postdoc at MIT and Geneva, led our survey for planets around young stars with evidence for multiple belts of circumstellar debris using SPHERE at the VLT.  Elisabeth's work uncovered a spectacular image of a nearly edge-on disk around the star HD 129590 (see paper below). 
  5.  

Some Selected Publications: 

  1. Hinkley et al. 2021. "Discovery of an Edge-on Debris Disk around BD+45 598: A Newly Identified Member of the Beta Pictoris Moving Group" https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2021ApJ...912..115H/abstract
  2. Hinkley et al. 2015. "Discovery of Seven Companions to Intermediate-Mass Stars with Extreme Mass Ratios in the Scorpius-Centaurus Association" https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2015ApJ...806L...9H/abstract
  3. Hinkley et al. 2015. "Early Results from VLT SPHERE: Long-slit Spectroscopy of 2MASS0122-2439B, a Young Companion Near the Deuterium Burning Limit." https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2015ApJ...805L..10H/abstract
  4. Matthews et al. 2017. "The First Scattered-light Image of the Debris Disk around the Sco-Cen Target HD129590." https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2017ApJ...843L..12M/abstract
  5. Hinkley et al., 2011. "A New High Contrast Imaging Program at Palomar Observatory." https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2011PASP..123...74H/abstract

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