Liberal Arts and Sciences
Ballard Lab
Led by Sarah Ballard · Astronomy
What we study
The Ballard Lab studies exoplanets, focusing on statistical analyses of planetary systems around small stars. They use telescopes and observatories like MINERVA-Australis to gather data on exoplanet systems.
What working here is like
- Computational
- Coding helps
- Project
- 1
- Papers
- 5
Current projects
MINERVA-Australis project
An observatory in Australia gathering radial velocity and photometric data on exoplanet systems.
Summaries are written by AI in plain language from public symposium abstracts and may be imperfect.
Recent papers, explained
- The Orbital Eccentricity–Radius Relation for Planets Orbiting M Dwarfs
2026 · The Astronomical Journal
Tests whether small planets around M dwarf stars show the same link between orbit shape and planet size seen around Sun-like stars.
- The Orbital Eccentricities of Planets in the Kinematic Thin and Thick Galactic Disks
2026 · The Astronomical Journal
Compares orbital eccentricities of planets in thin and thick Galactic disks.
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- Planets in the Radius Gap Lack the Peas-in-a-pod Size Correlation
2026 · The Astronomical Journal
Checks if planets in the radius gap show the 'peas-in-a-pod' size correlation.
- An Increase in the Galactic Planet-host Fraction Fails to Reproduce the Galactic Height Trend in Planet Occurrence
2026 · The Astronomical Journal
Tests if a changing planet-host fraction explains the trend in planet occurrence with Galactic height.
- paired: A Statistical Framework for Detecting Stellar Binarity with Gaia RVs. I. Sensitivity to Unresolved Binaries
2025 · The Astrophysical Journal
Tests whether Gaia can detect hidden star pairs by analyzing their data.
Plain-language summaries are AI-written and reviewed by us; check the paper for details.
How to reach out
Sarah Ballard hasn't set up this page yet. Their UF Scholars profile lists their publications.