Michael Endl

Senior Research Scientist / Lecturer
McDonald Observatory
The University of Texas at Austin
2515 Speedway, Stop C1402
Austin, Texas 78712-1206
e-mail: mike[at]astro.as.utexas.edu
Phone: 512-471-8312
Research: Detection and Characterization of Extrasolar Planets

Current activities:
- Observations to confirm and validate exoplanet candidates from K2 & KEPLER
- Characterization of the stellar population in the original Kepler field
- A Search For Earth-mass Planets In The Alpha Centauri System
- M-dwarf planet survey at the Hobby-Eberly Telescope and VLT
- Long-term planet search at the Harlan J. Smith 2.7 m Telescope and the Tull spectrograph
- Transmission spectroscopy of transiting exoplanets
Teaching:
AST 301: "Introduction to Astronomy" (scheduled for Spring 2017)
AST 309: "Search for Extraterrestrial Life" (Spring 2016); (Summer 2014) ; (Summer 2013) ; (Summer 2012) ; (Summer 2011)
AST 364: "Solar System Astronomy": (Fall 2013)
Research Results:
August 2016: I was involved in the discovery of Proxima b :
A terrestrial planet candidate in a temperate orbit around Proxima Centauri (Anglada-Escude et al.) Nature, 2016
Here is the McDonald Observatory Press Release

July 2015: we helped with the Discovery and Validation of Kepler-452b: A 1.6-Re Super Earth Exoplanet in the Habitable Zone of a G2 Star (Jenkins et al.)
Here is the McDonald Observatory Press Release for Kepler-452b

Sep. 2014: Kepler-424 b: A "Lonely" Hot Jupiter That Found A Companion
July 2014: Stellar activity masquerading as planets in the habitable zone of the M dwarf Gliese 581 (Paul Robertson et al.)
March 2014: The Mt John University Observatory Search For Earth-mass Planets In The Habitable Zone Of Alpha Centauri

August 2012: our McDonald Observatory data (from HET & 2.7 m Harlan J. Smith Telescope) helped to characterize Kepler-47:
Paper in Science (Orosz et al.) and our Press Release
August 2012: Revisiting rho 1 Cancri e: A New Mass Determination Of The Transiting super-Earth
Kepler-15b: A Hot Jupiter Enriched In Heavy Elements And The First Kepler Mission Planet Confirmed With The Hobby-Eberly Telescope. (July 2011)
Our Keck/HIRES program contributed to the discoveries of CoRoT-11b, 12b, 14b and 15b.(June 2010)
The spin-orbit angle of the transiting hot jupiter CoRoT-1b (with F.Pont)
Toward detection of terrestrial planets in the habitable zone of our closest neighbor: Proxima Centauri
An m sin i = 24 Earth Mass Planetary Companion To The Nearby M Dwarf GJ 176.(Update! 09/2008)
A Planetary System Around HD 155358: The Lowest Metallicity Planet Host Star
Exploring The Frequency Of Close-In Jovian Planets Around M Dwarfs
Determination Of The Orbit Of The Planetary Companion To The Metal Rich Star HD 45350
A giant planet around the massive giant star HD 13189
Detection of a Neptune-mass planet in the rho 1 Cancri system
The Planet Orbiting HD 37605: The First HET Planet
HD 137510: An Oasis In The Brown Dwarf Desert
A Planetary Companion to the Binary Star Gamma Cephei

Private Interests:
Mike and Babsie's personal homepage
(with many photos from our trips around the world...)

Mountain Climbing

(includes images and journals of my climbing trips in the Andes, Rockies, Alps and Himalaya)