A/Professor Jeremy Bailey

Associate Director

Contact Details: Phone: + 61 2 9860 6288 Fax: + 61 2 9850 8248 Email: jbailey@els.mq.edu.au

I joined the ACA in January 2005 as an Associate Professor in Astrobiology.

My research has involved the development and use of innovative astronomical
instruments and observing techniques. Most of my current research projects
involve the study of planets in our own solar system, and the search for
planets around other stars. We study Mars and Venus using IR spectroscopic
imaging techniques from which we can obtain information on the surface
properties and atmospheres of the planets. To help interpret this data
we use advanced atmospheric radiative transfer models. As well as modelling
the atmospheres of Mars and Venus, we also have to use our models on the
Earth's atmosphere to fully understand what we see from telescopes on the
surface of the Earth. I supervise two ACA students (Sarah Chamberlain and
Andrew Simpson) involved in this work.

I have also recently been involved in the development of an instrument called
PLANETPOL, which has the aim of achieving direct detections of extrasolar
planets. PLANETPOL measures the polarization of starlight to an accuracy of
one part in a million. It was developed in collaboration with the group
at the University of Hertfordshire in the UK. I am also a member of the
Anglo-Australian Planet Search team. This project uses the Anglo-Australian
Telescope to detect planets by the Doppler method and has so far found 20
planets.

More details can be found on my AAO home page (www.aao.gov.au/local/www/jab)
and the AAO/ACA planetary astronomy page (www.aao.gov.au/local/www/jab/planets).

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Last Updated May 9 2006