My Research

Overview As I am currently working on my PhD research under the supervision of Assoc. Prof. Neale Gibson at TCD, I am focused on studying exoplanet atmospheres. Even though they are far away, we are able to get a lot of exciting information about these far worlds. There are various observational methods used (e.g. radial velocity measurements, transit photometry, and even direct imaging). We specialize in spectroscopy, which offers various approaches based on the observational equipment and its resolution. In general, spectroscopy means we break down the stellar light into a spectrum so we can study flux intensity for specific wavelengths.

High-resolution spectroscopy uses very precise spectrographs located on ground-based observatories (such as ESPRESSO or CRIRES+ spectrographs on ESO VLT or HARPS spectrograph on La Silla observatory). The resolution of these facilities is often higher than 50,000 giving us very detailed spectra. It allows us to study individual spectral lines, their shapes and Doppler shifts, and to detect a large variety of molecular species. This leads to the study of dynamical processes in exoplanet atmospheres, e.g. winds and jet streams.

Low-resolution spectroscopy is mostly based on space telescope observation, like the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). The spectral resolution is lower, often under 1,000. The huge advantage of space surveys is the absence of negative influence of the Earth’s atmosphere on the data, for example, contamination with telluric lines. Low-resolution spectra provide us with broad spectral coverage, allowing us to study the spectral continuum and detect the most dominant species. The low-res data are used for the study of the temperature/pressure profile of the exoplanet atmospheres and their climates.

My research is focused on combining high- and low-resolution spectroscopy. Each method provides us with slightly different outcomes, but both are based on similar analysis. This gives us the possibility to simultaneously retrieve parameters from both types of data, in principle allowing us to probe exoplanets in more detail. The aim of my PhD project is to create a framework to simultaneously analyze JWST and ground-based high-resolution spectroscopy, with the overall aim of providing better constraints on atmospheric parameters.

Recently, I have presented my current research at the Exoplanet group meeting at ICE-CSIC institute in Barcelona, Spain. You can check the slides from my talk, as I presented some work with the data. Also, I have participated in the European Astronomical Society Annual Meeting in Cork, Ireland, in the summer of 2025. You can see my poster from the conference as well.

Previous work During my bachelors and masters studies at Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic I was a member of the Exoplanet group at the Astronomical Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences. We focused on follow up observations of Kepler and Tess exoplanet candidates via radial velocity measurements. In addition to data reduction and analysis, I was observing with the 2-meter Perek Telescope at Ondrejov observatory of the CAS (over 100 observation nights).

Affiliation My postgraduate research is supervised by Assoc. Prof. Neale Gibson at School of Physics, Trinity College Dublin and it is funded by the IRC Government of Ireland Scholarship. You can check our Exoplanet Atmospheres group’s web page.