Sarah Ballard
| Sarah Ashley Ballard | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1984 (Age 33: 2017) |
| Fields | Exoplanetary astrophysics |
| Education | B.A. Astrophysics, UC Berkeley Ph.D. Astronomy and Astrophysics, Harvard (2012) |
| Thesis | In Pursuit of New Worlds: Searches for and Studies of Transiting Exoplanets from Three Space-Based Observatories (2012) |
| Doctoral advisor | David Charbonneau |
| Known for | Discovery of Kepler-19c (first exoplanet by transit-timing variation) |
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Sarah Ballard (born 1984) is an American exoplanetary astronomer currently at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as a Torres Fellow and L’Oreal Fellow. Ballard has been a NASA Carl Sagan Fellow.
She was part of a collaborative team that was the first to successfully use the transit-timing variation method. This resulted in her team’s confirmation of this theoretical search procedure and the discovery of the Kepler-19 planetary system with that technique. Ballard took part in the discovery of four exoplanets (early numbered) in the Kepler spacecraft mission prior to its finding of significant quantities of planets around other stars.
Ballard has also spoken about her experience as a victim of sexual harassment, about imposter syndrome, and about the controversy over the proposed Thirty Meter Telescope at the Mauna Kea Observatories.
As an undergraduate, she started out as a gender studies major at the University of California, Berkeley. She completed a bachelor's degree from Berkeley in astrophysics in 2007, with highest distinction, with a minor in physics. She did her graduate studies at Harvard University, completing a doctorate in astronomy and astrophysics in 2012 under the supervision of David Charbonneau.
She took part in the discovery of four exoplanets before she turned 30 years old, including Kepler-19c, the first exoplanet found using the transit-timing variation method on data from the Kepler mission.
Size class = Planet radius distribution (radius of Earth).
• Earths = 1.0 to 1.3 Earth radii.
• Super-Earths = 1.3 to 2.0 Earth radii.
• Small Neptunes = 2.0 to 4.0 Earth radii.
• Large Neptunes = 4.0 to 6.0 Earth radii.
• Giant Planets = 6.0 to 22.6 Earth radii.
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