Mariangel Albornoz

Mariangel Albornoz

Biography

As a first-generation college student in the United States, Mariangel knew she had to stepup for her family. Born in Venezuela, she developed a deep love of the Universe. She is currently studying astrophysics at the University of Florida, especially interested in exoplanets and habitable worlds. Mariangel’s journey began as a young girl who found her uncle’s astronomy book.Captivated by its images, she taught herself to read, sparking a lifelong passion for astronomy.Beyond her scientific pursuits, Mariangel is determined to expand student access to education. She participated in the National College Access Network’s Advocacy Days, traveling to Washington,D.C, to speak with senators and representatives about preserving federal programs that support students nationwide. Her passion for exoplanets arises from the mysteries of the cosmos:What is our place in this universe? Are there others like us? She hopes to become a research scientist and work for a national lab such as NASA or CERN, and eventually work in academia to inspire the next generation of scientists. Ultimately, Mariangel aims to utilize her experiences to advocate for research and education at the federal level, and help create a world where anyone curious enough can thrive in science.

Abstract

Zombie Hunting: Searching for Planets Orbiting Dead Stars

Only so much can be learned about planetary processes (including life) from our own Solar System, explaining the undeniable appeal of exoplanetary sciences. Amongst the wide range of new perspectives gained on such processes over the last decades, the most exotic (and thus informative) are undoubtedly related to those gleaned from the only system found around a white dwarf, i.e., the remnant core of a dead star. The origin of such a “zombie” planet is still debated considering that our theories are just now blooming: did it migrate from far away when it interacted with the star’s outer envelope during the red-giant phase (first-generation planet) or did it form from that envelope (second-generation planet)? Fortunately, such Zombie planets are expected to be particularly amenable for atmospheric studies as they are large compared to their Earth-sized stars. To help investigate the origin of these planets and ultimately answer the question of their possible habitability, we set on a quest to find more of them. To that end, we turn to TESS’ all-sky capabilities and mine the data associated with 100,000+ potential white dwarfs. We then used SPECULOOS’ enhanced spatial and flux precisions to confirm the nature of the candidate planets.