Welcome to my first-order attempt at making a website for myself. My name is Eric Nielsen, and I'm a second-year astronomy graduate student at Steward Observatory, at the University of Arizona. My research interests include detection of extra-solar planets by radial velocity surveys, direct detection of exoplanets, and correlations of lithium abundance in host stars with the evolution of the planetary system.
I'm a big fan of observational astronomy, so I do my best to weasel my way into projects with a lot of telescope time. There I am at Lick Observatory, hanging out with the place's namesake, James Lick: 19th century land baron, piano manufacturer, certifiably insane, and reluctantly, a supporter of astronomy.
I'm currently working with Laird Close, (pictured above, second from the right, while working in Germany) looking for planets by using adaptive optics and a nifty technique called Simultaneous Differential Imaging (SDI) around nearby, young stars.
Check out my nifty IRAF skills, the second blurb on that page.
Read more about making this image.
Learn about the SDI technique we use to search for planets
PRESENTATIONS FOR PASADENA/PPV
The bi-weekly anime night I host
The Berkeley search for extra-solar planets
My username is enielsen and then as.arizona.edu is my hostname. Combine them to get username@hostname, and then shake a fist at the spammers who make me go to these lengths.
I was born near San Jose, California and spent the first 18 action-packed years of my life there, attending Saint Andrews Episcopalian School followed by Archbishop Mitty High School. I spent four years (1999-2003) at the University of California, Berkeley, getting a BA with a double-major in astrophysics and physics. From 2001-2003 I was employed by the California and Carnegie planet search as a research assistant, re-reducing archived data and collecting new data for the project at Lick Observatory. I also worked closely with Debra Fischer on a related research project (stay tuned). From August 2003 to the present, as a grad student at Steward Observatory, I've been working with Laird Close and Beth Biller, another grad student, on trying to detect extrasolar planets through detect imaging.
