Dr. Julia Victoria Seidel
ESO Research Fellow
@ESO
Bio
Since 2021, I am an independent Research Fellow at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) based at Paranal Observatory in Chile. I dedicate half of my work to ESO, maintaining world-class science as a support astronomer at the world's largest telescope. In that role, I study Earth's climate and its impact on future astronomical observations. In my main research, I push observational and retrieval techniques alike towards the true observability of an Earth-like exoplanet, especially focussing on the observations of exoplanet atmospheric dynamics. For this work I have won the 2024 MERAC Prize.
Publications
Earth's Atmosphere from ESO sites
As part of my ESO duties, I study archival atmospheric data collected across all ESO sites to study the impact of climate change and the El Niño Southern Oscillation. We confirm anthropogenic climate change across all sites correlating with altitude and provide insights into the predictive capabilities of climate indices for astronomical observing conditions.
@NOAO
Atmospheric Dynamics
Using ESPRESSO's 4UT mode to simulate a 16m class telescope, I detangled the signature of a localized jet stream in the atmosphere of an ultra-hot Jupiter, providing the first observation of localized dynamics in an exoplanet. This work is the basis for a successful follow-up observational programme in 4UT mode.
@ESO
Atmospheric Composition
In a variety of works, I have explored the constituents of exoplanet atmospheres, providing the first detection of sodium in an ultra-hot Jupiter (Seidel et al. 2019) and in a hot Neptune (Seidel et al. 2022) using narrow-band spectroscopy. In cross-correlation, even molecules can be found: the expertise of my PhD student Bibiana Prinoth (Nature Astronomy article)
