PhD in Astrophysical Sciences - Planetary Astrophysics in Princeton United States | Princeton University

For ages, humans have pondered if distant stars host planets and whether life might exist on them. In recent years, we've gained the ability to explore these enduring mysteries. Exoplanet research—the investigation of planets orbiting other stars—stands as one of astrophysics' newest and fastest-expanding fields. Princeton fosters a dynamic exoplanet research community, bringing together theorists, observers, and instrument developers for both terrestrial and space-based telescopes. Beyond the listed faculty, approximately 7 graduate students and 8 postdoctoral researchers currently conduct planetary astrophysics studies at Peyton Hall and the Institute for Advanced Study. Gaspar Bakos's team designs groundbreaking instruments to detect exoplanets and investigate bright, variable cosmic phenomena. They operate the active HATNet and HATSouth projects, which utilize a global array of specialized small telescopes to identify transiting planets. Their discoveries include nearly 100 planets, featuring some of the most unusual and thoroughly examined exoplanets. Their latest project, HATPI, aims to continuously monitor one-quarter of the night sky (covering a solid angle of pi radians).