Jonathan Fortney

Associate Professor, Astronomy & Astrophysics

Broadly, I try to understand giant planets as a class of astronomical objects.  This involves studying the atmosphere, interior, and thermal evolution of planets at ages young and old, within the solar system and around other stars, and at distances near and far from their parent stars.  Much of the interesting current data is on the very close-in "hot Jupiter" exoplanets, which comes from the Spitzer Space Telescope.  I work on models of the atmospheres and interior structure of these planets. Current ground-based and space-based surveys will continue to find vast numbers of planets, at larger orbital distances and at smaller planetary masses.

Academic Bio
BS, Iowa State University, 1999
PhD, University of Arizona, 2004
National Research Council Fellow and Spitzer Fellow at NASA Ames Research Center, 2004-2007

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