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Dr. Theresa Rank-Lueftinger

Hi there,
I’m Theresa, Astrophysicist working at the European Space Agency as the project scientist for the Ariel space mission.

As a child I was fascinated by stars and the night sky, often lying in the grass in my home village in Austria, admiring those bright spots in the sky and wondering if there was life near them.The decision to study Astrophysics was an easy one and led me to the University of Vienna, where I did my PhD, investigating the magnetic fields of hot stars and how these influence the stellar structure on the surface and inside. My research focus in the coming years shifted from hot to cool, sun-like stars. By investigating spots on the stellar surface and magnetic fields using the Zeeman Doppler Imaging technique I study how stellar activity, triggered by the magnetic field, shapes Exoplanets and their atmospheres.

My research and observing activities as a Postdoc (around the world) and later on as staff Astronomer at the University of Vienna in the ensuing years brought me to beautiful and often remote places I would probably never have visited if it had not been for my work in astrophysics.
In June 2020 I joined ESA and now have the big pleasure to combine in research what fascinates me the most: Space missions and Space flight with research on Exoplanets and their host stars being the ESA Ariel Project Scientist.

Ariel is the M4 (4th medium-sized) mission in the ESA Cosmic Vision longterm plan, for which I do have the big pleasure to be the ESA Ariel Project Scientist. Ariel was selected in March 2018 and has now completed phase B1 (the definition study phase). The final study phase milestone was Mission Adoption achieved on 12 November 2020. After the succesful adoption the actual mission implementation started off in the beinning of 2021, with a planned launch by an Ariane 62 launcher in 2029 for a nominal 4 year mission, with a possible extension to 6 years.The objective of Ariel is to perform a chemical sensus of a large (of order 1000) well selected diverse sample of primarily warm and hot exoplanets orbiting relatively nearby host stars with a range of spectral types from A to M. The key science questions Ariel will address are:• What are the physical processes shaping planetary atmospheres?
• What are exoplanets made of?
• How do planets and planetary systems form and evolve?

The target selection will be made before launch based on ESA science team and community inputs, and can be updated throughout the mission. The mission will deliver a homogeneous catalogue of planetary spectra, yielding refined molecular abundances, chemical gradients and atmospheric structure; diurnal and seasonal variations; presence of clouds and measurement of albedo.
ESA and Consortium information on the Ariel mission:
Ariel – Cosmos ESA
Ariel – Science ESA
Ariel – Consortium Homepage
Ariel – Blueprint to Reality ESA

Overview

Being the ESA Project Scientist, I do have the big pleasure being able to investigate the atmospheres of Exoplanets together with the Ariel Mission Consortium in the framework of a uniques ESA Space Mission: Ariel will perform the first huge chemical sensus of a large (of order 1000) well selected diverse sample of primarily warm and hot exoplanets orbiting relatively nearby host stars with a range of spectral types from A to M. We will try answer key science questions like:
• What are the physical processes shaping planetary atmospheres?
• What are exoplanets made of?
• How do planets and planetary systems form and evolve?

Stellar activity acting on planetary atmospheres (Artist rendering of HD52265 and its orbiting Jupiter-like planet. Image cortesy of MPI for Solar System Research/Mark A. Garlick)

Zeeman Doppler image of the magnetic field of the young Sun pi¹UMa

Exoplanets

The discovery and characterisation of worlds in other stellar systems is arguably one of the most exciting topics in current astrophysics and space science. My research interests in this context center around the analyis of cool, sun-like stars, investigating their magnetic fields and spotty structures on their surface and to study how the activity of host stars (triggered by the magnetic field) shapes surrounding Exoplanets and their atmospheres.

Main Research Areas

Stellar astrophysics and studies of stellar-exoplanetary system relations (habitability), magnetic fields of stars, stellar winds, structure of stellar atmospheres and stellar surfaces and their investigation with techniques such as Doppler imaging, Zeeman Doppler imaging and photometric imaging (based on data from space telescopes like CoRoT, Kepler, and TESS): stellar surface tomography.
Applying observational techniques like high resolution spectroscopy and spectropolarimetry in optical and infrared wavelengths and analysis based on photometric space data.
Studying the influence of stellar magnetic fields, activity and winds on the composition and evolution of exoplanetary atmosphers and star planetary system relations.

Stellar activity acting on planetary atmospheres (Artist rendering of HD52265 and its orbiting Jupiter-like planet. Image cortesy of MPI for Solar System Research/Mark A. Garlick)

Education

As a passionate scientist I am fully aware of the importance of making our research accessible and available to the general public. I highly enjoy activities in this respect and am regularly present in News: Newspapers, Radio, TV, and regularly publish press releases. I also enjoy giving public talks, including events in kindergardens, schools, planetaria and museums. These talks focus especially on the subjects of Exoplanets, Habitability, and the Search for Life.

Public Work

I am also a founding Member and Organizer of the successful Public Lecture Series at the Department of Astrophysics, University of Vienna: “Nachts auf der Sternwarte” – since March 2013: 70 events, more than 4000 visitors; Regular participation in the “Long Nights of Science” and “Astronomy Days” events.In the meantime, at ESA, I am, with big pleasure, heavily involved in the PR efforts for the Ariel Mission!

• About me
• Ariel
• Science
• Outreach