We aim to better understand the space environments and properties of planetary bodies in our solar system. For that matter we combine analytical models, numerical simulations and observations from spacecraft and telescopes.

Key Research Areas:

• Solar System Bodies and their Plasma Environments
• Exo-Oceans: Searching and Characterising Extraterrestrial Subsurface Oceans (within ERC-Advanced Grant EXO-OCEANS)
• Turbulence in Space Plasmas
• Searching UV aurora and characterizing the space environment of Brown Dwarfs and Exoplanets
• Planetary Atmospheres

Key Methods:

• Numerical Simulations
• Analytical Theory
• Telescope Observations
• Spacecraft Observations
• Time Series Analysis

Selected Publications:

• Brown dwarfs as ideal candidates for detecting UV aurora outside the Solar System: Hubble Space Telescope observations of 2MASS J1237+6526, Nov. 2021, doi: 10.1051/0004-6361/202040230

• A sublimated water atmosphere on Ganymede detected from Hubble Space Telescope observations, Jul. 2021, doi: 10.1038/s41550-021-01426-9

• Birkeland currents in Jupiter’s magnetosphere observed by the polar-orbiting Juno spacecraft, Jul. 2019, doi: 10.1038/s41550-019-0819-7

• Juno observations of spot structures and a split tail in Io-induced aurorae on Jupiter, Aug. 2018, doi: 10.1126/science.aat1450

• The search for a subsurface ocean in Ganymede with Hubble Space Telescope observations of its auroral ovals, Feb. 2015, doi:10.1002/2014JA020778

• Transient Water Vapor at Europa’s South Pole, Jan. 2014, doi: 10.1126/science.1247051

In the News:

• EOS 5/22/2019: Editor’s Higlights
• EOS 02/01/2019: Editors’ Highlights
• SPIEGEL ONLINE, 12.03.2015: Jupitermond Ganymed: Ozean unter dem Eis
• SPIEGEL ONLINE, 12.12.2013: Ozean unter dem Eis: Jupitermond Europa schießt Wasserfontänen ins All