IAS Public Talk – Kuiper Belts around other stars

For our April talk, the Society is delighted to welcome Dr Tim Pearce, who will present “Kuiper Belts Around Other Stars” at 7:30pm on Monday 27th April. This talk explores what Kuiper Belt-like structures around other stars look like, how they evolve, and what they reveal about hidden exoplanets. It will take place at our usual venue in Beech Hill, UCD, Eircode D04 P7W1.

The talk will also be available via Webinar. Please join by clicking this NEW link a few minutes before the start time.

Talk Description

Our Solar System contains more than just planets. It also hosts vast populations of smaller bodies like asteroids and comets. These concentrate in structures such as the Asteroid Belt and Kuiper Belt. We can now observe similar Kuiper Belt-like structures around other stars too. They display a remarkable range of shapes and features. Astronomers believe unseen exoplanets cause many of these features.

Tim will give a broad overview of these distant Kuiper Belts. He will cover what they look like, how they evolve, and what they teach us about exoplanets and planetary systems. Tim assumes no prior knowledge and aims to make the topic enjoyable for everyone.

About the Speaker

Tim Pearce is a Stephen Hawking Fellow at the University of Warwick, UK. This summer, he will join Trinity College Dublin as an Assistant Professor. His research centres on ‘debris discs’ — populations of asteroids, comets and dust orbiting other stars. These resemble our own Asteroid Belt and Kuiper Belt.

He focuses on how these structures interact with exoplanets. Their shapes and features can reveal hidden planets that we cannot yet directly observe. His work is primarily theoretical, but he also plays an active role in observations. He uses some of the most powerful instruments in modern astronomy, including the James Webb Space Telescope, ALMA, and the VLTI.

Tim’s path to astrophysics was anything but conventional. After completing a Master’s at Durham and a PhD at Cambridge, he left academia. He served as an officer in the Royal Navy, specialising in engineering aboard nuclear submarines. He then became Lead Mathematical Developer at a leading traffic-modelling company. He returned to research in late 2019 as a postdoctoral researcher in Jena, Germany. He joined Warwick in November 2023 as a Prize Fellow and received a prestigious Stephen Hawking Fellowship in May 2024.

Links

Webinar: https://ucd-ie.zoom.us/j/68968292191?pwd=Sx4cYTtXOkjtFjkBO1knZs5B7lD6Gh.1

This Event: https://irishastrosoc.ie/event/kuiper-belts-around-other-stars/

Previous IAS talks: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLF-D1wyYOy3HINp0THSBOAdpoqcTKfE1Y