Juliette Becker
@jcbecker.bsky.social
Currently trying to understand planet formation as a professor of astronomy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
Interested in coming to UW-Madison and working with WiCOR on questions related to the origin of life? Apply for this new postdoctoral fellowship opportunity. Applications due November 15th!
WiCOR seeks a #postdoctoral fellow to participate in Center #research in any discipline related to our two main research questions:
1. How do habitable planets form? 🪐
2. How does life emerge on habitable planets? 🧬
Full information at: wicor.wisc.edu/postdoc/
Apply by Nov 15
🔭 🧪
#postdoc #hiring
1. How do habitable planets form? 🪐
2. How does life emerge on habitable planets? 🧬
Full information at: wicor.wisc.edu/postdoc/
Apply by Nov 15
🔭 🧪
#postdoc #hiring
October 30, 2025 at 11:56 AM
Interested in coming to UW-Madison and working with WiCOR on questions related to the origin of life? Apply for this new postdoctoral fellowship opportunity. Applications due November 15th!
Mean motion resonances (familiar from planetary systems) also govern how stellar-mass BHs migrate and merge in AGN disks. Marguerite Epstein-Martin (applying to postdocs THIS FALL) has a new paper “Mean Motion Resonances in AGN Disks” (arxiv.org/abs/2510.128...). #exoplanets
Mean Motion Resonances in AGN Disks
Mean motion resonances (MMRs) are a generic outcome of convergent migration for bodies embedded in accretion disks around a central mass. Long studied in planetary systems, the same phenomenon should ...
arxiv.org
October 18, 2025 at 1:33 AM
Mean motion resonances (familiar from planetary systems) also govern how stellar-mass BHs migrate and merge in AGN disks. Marguerite Epstein-Martin (applying to postdocs THIS FALL) has a new paper “Mean Motion Resonances in AGN Disks” (arxiv.org/abs/2510.128...). #exoplanets
Some hot Jupiters might not have traveled far.
New simulations by UW-Madison recent undergrad alum Devansh Mathur show that if enough solid material is funneled inward, both a hot Jupiter and its inner companions could form in situ. Accepted to PASP: arxiv.org/abs/2510.135... #exoplanets
New simulations by UW-Madison recent undergrad alum Devansh Mathur show that if enough solid material is funneled inward, both a hot Jupiter and its inner companions could form in situ. Accepted to PASP: arxiv.org/abs/2510.135... #exoplanets
Investigating the Formation of Planets Interior to in situ Hot Jupiters
The population of hot Jupiters with adjacent planetary companions is small but growing, and inner companions appear to be a nearly ubiquitous outcome within this subset of the exoplanet census. While ...
arxiv.org
October 17, 2025 at 3:46 PM
Some hot Jupiters might not have traveled far.
New simulations by UW-Madison recent undergrad alum Devansh Mathur show that if enough solid material is funneled inward, both a hot Jupiter and its inner companions could form in situ. Accepted to PASP: arxiv.org/abs/2510.135... #exoplanets
New simulations by UW-Madison recent undergrad alum Devansh Mathur show that if enough solid material is funneled inward, both a hot Jupiter and its inner companions could form in situ. Accepted to PASP: arxiv.org/abs/2510.135... #exoplanets
Published this week in ApJ by UW-Madison undergraduate Eva Stafne: General relativity might save life on planets orbiting white dwarfs. GR-driven orbital precession can suppress tidal heating that would otherwise trigger a runaway greenhouse. arxiv.org/abs/2509.26421 #exoplanets
General Relativity Can Prevent a Runaway Greenhouse on Potentially Habitable Planets Orbiting White Dwarfs
Planets orbiting in the habitable zones of white dwarfs have recently been proposed as promising targets for biosignature searches. However, since the white dwarf habitable zone resides at 0.01 - 0.1 ...
arxiv.org
October 9, 2025 at 12:02 PM
Published this week in ApJ by UW-Madison undergraduate Eva Stafne: General relativity might save life on planets orbiting white dwarfs. GR-driven orbital precession can suppress tidal heating that would otherwise trigger a runaway greenhouse. arxiv.org/abs/2509.26421 #exoplanets
When stars die, could life begin? White dwarfs could possibly host planets with oceans, making them worth considering in the search for life.
I wrote about the science (and surprises) of white dwarf planets at The Conversation. theconversation.com/earth-size-s...
I wrote about the science (and surprises) of white dwarf planets at The Conversation. theconversation.com/earth-size-s...
Earth-size stars and alien oceans – an astronomer explains the case for life around white dwarfs
Could tiny stars a fraction the size of our solar system’s Sun have habitable planets orbiting them? A new study says it’s possible.
theconversation.com
September 1, 2025 at 4:58 PM
When stars die, could life begin? White dwarfs could possibly host planets with oceans, making them worth considering in the search for life.
I wrote about the science (and surprises) of white dwarf planets at The Conversation. theconversation.com/earth-size-s...
I wrote about the science (and surprises) of white dwarf planets at The Conversation. theconversation.com/earth-size-s...
Two weeks until abstracts (and requests for travel support) are due for this fall's GLEAM! gleam.astro.wisc.edu/overview/ I hope to see you here!
August 22, 2025 at 5:38 PM
Two weeks until abstracts (and requests for travel support) are due for this fall's GLEAM! gleam.astro.wisc.edu/overview/ I hope to see you here!
We’re so happy to host GLEAM 2025 at UW–Madison this Fall, Nov 6–7! gleam.astro.wisc.edu Join us for two days of exoplanets & community with a view of the shores of Lake Mendota. No registration fee. Travel support available. Abstracts & Travel Support Requests due Sept 5th. #exoplanets
July 24, 2025 at 2:52 PM
We’re so happy to host GLEAM 2025 at UW–Madison this Fall, Nov 6–7! gleam.astro.wisc.edu Join us for two days of exoplanets & community with a view of the shores of Lake Mendota. No registration fee. Travel support available. Abstracts & Travel Support Requests due Sept 5th. #exoplanets
Definition question: Everyone in the field seems to use P~10 days as the boundary between "Hot" and "Warm" Jupiters in the literature. Does anyone know where this boundary actually came from (did a single person come up with it, and if so who / what paper)?
July 6, 2025 at 6:15 PM
Definition question: Everyone in the field seems to use P~10 days as the boundary between "Hot" and "Warm" Jupiters in the literature. Does anyone know where this boundary actually came from (did a single person come up with it, and if so who / what paper)?
Reposted by Juliette Becker
#AAS246 Chambliss Student Award Winners
The AAS is pleased to announce the Chambliss Astronomy Achievement Student Award winners from the 246th AAS meeting in Anchorage, Alaska, in June 2025. Congratulations, all! aas.org/posts/news/2... 🔭
The AAS is pleased to announce the Chambliss Astronomy Achievement Student Award winners from the 246th AAS meeting in Anchorage, Alaska, in June 2025. Congratulations, all! aas.org/posts/news/2... 🔭
June 18, 2025 at 2:58 PM
#AAS246 Chambliss Student Award Winners
The AAS is pleased to announce the Chambliss Astronomy Achievement Student Award winners from the 246th AAS meeting in Anchorage, Alaska, in June 2025. Congratulations, all! aas.org/posts/news/2... 🔭
The AAS is pleased to announce the Chambliss Astronomy Achievement Student Award winners from the 246th AAS meeting in Anchorage, Alaska, in June 2025. Congratulations, all! aas.org/posts/news/2... 🔭
Reposted by Juliette Becker
AOS Prof. Hannah Zanowski studies polar oceanography, and she's now bringing that expertise to WiCOR, where she focuses on planetary oceanography by modeling early Earth and exoplanet conditions to understand what ultimately makes a planet habitable after it forms.
ls.wisc.edu/news/from-ea...
ls.wisc.edu/news/from-ea...
From Earth to Exoplanets: Studying Oceans Across the Universe
ls.wisc.edu
June 18, 2025 at 4:28 PM
AOS Prof. Hannah Zanowski studies polar oceanography, and she's now bringing that expertise to WiCOR, where she focuses on planetary oceanography by modeling early Earth and exoplanet conditions to understand what ultimately makes a planet habitable after it forms.
ls.wisc.edu/news/from-ea...
ls.wisc.edu/news/from-ea...
Congratulations, Irene, on this excellent (and very complete) paper!!
🚨 Paper day!!! 🚨
Excited to announce that this project I’ve been working on these last few years has been published!
Read more at : arxiv.org/abs/2506.13004
More info in the 🧵
Excited to announce that this project I’ve been working on these last few years has been published!
Read more at : arxiv.org/abs/2506.13004
More info in the 🧵
New Field OB and OBe Binaries of the SMC Wing: Observational Properties and Population Modeling
We present a radial velocity (RV) survey of the field OB and OBe stars of the SMC Wing. We use multi-epoch observations of 55 targets obtained with the Magellan IMACS and M2FS multi-object spectrograp...
arxiv.org
June 18, 2025 at 1:01 AM
Congratulations, Irene, on this excellent (and very complete) paper!!
Reposted by Juliette Becker
'Baby' stars are typically surrounded by disks loaded with gas, but it isn't long before that mass starts to drift away. #UWMadison astronomers say that might mean gas giants like Jupiter need to form earlier than rocky planets like ours. news.wisc.edu/measuring-ga...
Measuring gases around young stars, astronomers unlock major clues to planet formation
UW–Madison astronomers and international collaborators have produced the most accurate measurement of the gases swirling around young stars and their changing mass over time. The discovery offers clue
news.wisc.edu
June 17, 2025 at 2:37 PM
'Baby' stars are typically surrounded by disks loaded with gas, but it isn't long before that mass starts to drift away. #UWMadison astronomers say that might mean gas giants like Jupiter need to form earlier than rocky planets like ours. news.wisc.edu/measuring-ga...
Hycean planets (ocean worlds with H-rich atmospheres) are thought to be promising spots for life, particularly around M-dwarfs, with the habitable zone being much wider than it is for terrestrial planets. But there's a twist...
June 17, 2025 at 12:40 PM
Hycean planets (ocean worlds with H-rich atmospheres) are thought to be promising spots for life, particularly around M-dwarfs, with the habitable zone being much wider than it is for terrestrial planets. But there's a twist...
Check out this 12-paper series out today from the AGE-PRO collaboration. Congrats to everyone (including Coco Zhang from UW Madison) on the huge amount of work that went into this interesting result!! It might take me a while to read all 12 papers though! public.nrao.edu/news/alma-pl...
ALMA Reveals Lives of Planet-Forming Disks - National Radio Astronomy Observatory
An international team of astronomers has unveiled groundbreaking findings about the disks of gas and dust surrounding nearby young...
public.nrao.edu
June 13, 2025 at 1:23 PM
Check out this 12-paper series out today from the AGE-PRO collaboration. Congrats to everyone (including Coco Zhang from UW Madison) on the huge amount of work that went into this interesting result!! It might take me a while to read all 12 papers though! public.nrao.edu/news/alma-pl...
Reposted by Juliette Becker
Ready to roll at #AAS246! I’ll be giving a talk on Tuesday afternoon in the AGN session and two of my students will be presenting in other AGN sessions as well!
June 9, 2025 at 6:37 PM
Ready to roll at #AAS246! I’ll be giving a talk on Tuesday afternoon in the AGN session and two of my students will be presenting in other AGN sessions as well!
Check out our new paper in PASP!
A recent open-access @paspjournal.bsky.social article assesses the impact of episodic FU Orionis outbursts on the evolution and migration of planetary systems, providing an avenue for the observed prevalence of low-mass, iron-rich ultra short-period planets. iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1....
May 27, 2025 at 1:42 PM
Check out our new paper in PASP!
Reposted by Juliette Becker
A recent open-access @paspjournal.bsky.social article assesses the impact of episodic FU Orionis outbursts on the evolution and migration of planetary systems, providing an avenue for the observed prevalence of low-mass, iron-rich ultra short-period planets. iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1....
May 22, 2025 at 1:05 PM
A recent open-access @paspjournal.bsky.social article assesses the impact of episodic FU Orionis outbursts on the evolution and migration of planetary systems, providing an avenue for the observed prevalence of low-mass, iron-rich ultra short-period planets. iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1....
Why do some Hot Jupiters have nearby companions while others appear alone?
Our new paper led by Thomas MacLean (senior UG off to Stanford) explores how stellar spin-down and system architectures affect the visibility of inner & outer companions.
Read more: arxiv.org/abs/2505.11637
Our new paper led by Thomas MacLean (senior UG off to Stanford) explores how stellar spin-down and system architectures affect the visibility of inner & outer companions.
Read more: arxiv.org/abs/2505.11637
Three-Dimensional Orbital Architectures and Detectability of Adjacent Companions to Hot Jupiters
The orbital properties of the (as-yet) small population of hot Jupiters with nearby planetary companions provide valuable constraints on the past migration processes of these systems. In this work, we...
arxiv.org
May 27, 2025 at 1:40 PM
Why do some Hot Jupiters have nearby companions while others appear alone?
Our new paper led by Thomas MacLean (senior UG off to Stanford) explores how stellar spin-down and system architectures affect the visibility of inner & outer companions.
Read more: arxiv.org/abs/2505.11637
Our new paper led by Thomas MacLean (senior UG off to Stanford) explores how stellar spin-down and system architectures affect the visibility of inner & outer companions.
Read more: arxiv.org/abs/2505.11637
Reposted by Juliette Becker
Jim Lattis and I will be on Madison's local NPR affiliate tomorrow afternoon from noon - 1pm, as a part of the Larry Meiller Show.
We'll talk about exoplanets, the search for life, and the new WiCOR center at UW.
Locals can listen on FM 88.7, or online www.wpr.org/shows/larry-...
We'll talk about exoplanets, the search for life, and the new WiCOR center at UW.
Locals can listen on FM 88.7, or online www.wpr.org/shows/larry-...
The Larry Meiller Show
Join us every weekday from 11:00 to 1:00 when we discuss the environment, consumer issues, nature, books, gardening, home improvement and so much more. Our expert guests share their knowledge and take...
www.wpr.org
May 13, 2025 at 6:46 PM
Jim Lattis and I will be on Madison's local NPR affiliate tomorrow afternoon from noon - 1pm, as a part of the Larry Meiller Show.
We'll talk about exoplanets, the search for life, and the new WiCOR center at UW.
Locals can listen on FM 88.7, or online www.wpr.org/shows/larry-...
We'll talk about exoplanets, the search for life, and the new WiCOR center at UW.
Locals can listen on FM 88.7, or online www.wpr.org/shows/larry-...
Can FU Orionis outbursts scorch planets into becoming iron-rich and ultra-short-period? We model how extreme heat & turbulence during these events can strip planetary mantles — reshaping planetary composition & sizes forever. arxiv.org/abs/2504.16772
Thermal Evolution and Mass Loss on Short-Period, Low-Mass Planets During FU Orionis Outbursts
Ultra-short-period (USP) planets represent a unique class of exoplanets characterized by their tight orbits and relatively low masses, with some also exhibiting unusually high iron fractions. Previous...
arxiv.org
May 13, 2025 at 3:11 PM
Can FU Orionis outbursts scorch planets into becoming iron-rich and ultra-short-period? We model how extreme heat & turbulence during these events can strip planetary mantles — reshaping planetary composition & sizes forever. arxiv.org/abs/2504.16772
I would like to highlight that this work was led by UW-Madison Astronomy post-bac student Alyssa Jankowski, and also featured contributions by Zijun He, a high school student at Madison West High School. Congratulations to both of them on their accomplishments!
In a recent open-access article published in @paspjournal.bsky.social the ambiguous age and tidal history for the ultra-hot Jupiter TOI-1937Ab is assessed through a suite of tidal evolution simulations and analysis of the system's transit timing variations. iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1...
April 15, 2025 at 1:36 PM
I would like to highlight that this work was led by UW-Madison Astronomy post-bac student Alyssa Jankowski, and also featured contributions by Zijun He, a high school student at Madison West High School. Congratulations to both of them on their accomplishments!
Check out Alyssa Jankowski’s first first-author paper (just accepted to PASP) on TOI-1937 Ab—a massive ultra-hot Jupiter that could be inspiraling due to tidal forces! arxiv.org/abs/2503.158...
For those hiring - Alyssa is applying to grad schools and post-bac positions now. #exoplanets
For those hiring - Alyssa is applying to grad schools and post-bac positions now. #exoplanets
The Ambiguous Age and Tidal History for the Ultra-Hot Jupiter TOI-1937Ab
Ultra-short-period (USP) planets are a rare but dynamically significant subset of the exoplanet sample, and understanding their dynamical histories and migration processes is necessary to build a comp...
arxiv.org
March 23, 2025 at 3:59 PM
Check out Alyssa Jankowski’s first first-author paper (just accepted to PASP) on TOI-1937 Ab—a massive ultra-hot Jupiter that could be inspiraling due to tidal forces! arxiv.org/abs/2503.158...
For those hiring - Alyssa is applying to grad schools and post-bac positions now. #exoplanets
For those hiring - Alyssa is applying to grad schools and post-bac positions now. #exoplanets
Reposted by Juliette Becker
Join WiCOR on March 3 & 4 for seminars from Dr. Jon Arenberg:
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope
March 3 @ 12 pm, 6515 Sterling Hall
The Importance of Communication
March 4 @ 10 am, 4421 Sterling Hall
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope
March 3 @ 12 pm, 6515 Sterling Hall
The Importance of Communication
March 4 @ 10 am, 4421 Sterling Hall
February 20, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Join WiCOR on March 3 & 4 for seminars from Dr. Jon Arenberg:
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope
March 3 @ 12 pm, 6515 Sterling Hall
The Importance of Communication
March 4 @ 10 am, 4421 Sterling Hall
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope
March 3 @ 12 pm, 6515 Sterling Hall
The Importance of Communication
March 4 @ 10 am, 4421 Sterling Hall
I am super excited to be a part of WiCOR at the University of Wisconsin - Madison. Stay tuned for interdisciplinary results on the origin of life (and planets!)!
Hello from the Wisconsin Center for Origins Research!
👋🧪🔭
WiCOR’s Mission is to advance our understanding of the #OriginsOfLife in the #Universe through interdisciplinary #research and #education.
Follow us to stay updated on all things WiCOR!
linktr.ee/wicenterforo...
👋🧪🔭
WiCOR’s Mission is to advance our understanding of the #OriginsOfLife in the #Universe through interdisciplinary #research and #education.
Follow us to stay updated on all things WiCOR!
linktr.ee/wicenterforo...
February 20, 2025 at 1:42 PM
I am super excited to be a part of WiCOR at the University of Wisconsin - Madison. Stay tuned for interdisciplinary results on the origin of life (and planets!)!