Nikole Lewis

About

Nikole Lewis is an Associate Professor of Astronomy at Cornell University, based in the Space Sciences Building. Her research focuses on probing exoplanet atmospheres through a combination of observational and theoretical techniques. She works with both space- and ground-based campaigns to measure spectra and photometry of exoplanet atmospheres, and develops one-, two-, and three-dimensional models to guide and interpret these observations. Her interests also include laboratory work that provides constraints on key atmospheric processes such as cloud and haze formation, as well as the development of instrumentation for facilities aimed at characterizing exoplanets and their environments.

Research topics

• Physics
• Astrobiology
• Astronomy
• Computer Science
• Meteorology
• Astrophysics
• Artificial Intelligence
• Chemistry
• Botany
• Organic chemistry

Selected publications

• The James Webb Space Telescope Mission

  Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific · 2023 · 439 citations

  Abstract Twenty-six years ago a small committee report, building on earlier studies, expounded a compelling and poetic vision for the future of astronomy, calling for an infrared-optimized space telescope with an aperture of at least 4 m. With the support of their governments in the US, Europe, and Canada, 20,000 people realized that vision as the 6.5 m James Webb Space Telescope. A generation of astronomers will celebrate their accomplishments for the life of the mission, potentially as long as…

  DOI

• Identification of carbon dioxide in an exoplanet atmosphere

  Nature · 2022 · 184 citations

  , but little methane. Furthermore, we also tentatively detect a small absorption feature near 4.0 micrometres that is not reproduced by these models.

  DOI

• Early Release Science of the exoplanet WASP-39b with JWST NIRCam

  Nature · 2023 · 180 citations

  ).

  DOI

• The First Habitable-zone Earth-sized Planet from TESS. I. Validation of the TOI-700 System

  The Astronomical Journal · 2020 · 92 citations

  We present the discovery and validation of a three-planet system orbiting the nearby (31.1 pc) M2 dwarf star TOI-700 (TIC 150428135). TOI-700 lies in the TESS continuous viewing zone in the Southern Ecliptic Hemisphere; observations spanning 11 sectors reveal three planets with radii ranging from 1 R ⊕ to 2.6 R ⊕ and orbital periods ranging from 9.98 to 37.43 days. Ground-based follow-up combined with diagnostic vetting and validation tests enables us to rule out common astrophysical false-posit…

  DOI

• ACCESS and LRG-BEASTS: A Precise New Optical Transmission Spectrum of the Ultrahot Jupiter WASP-103b

  The Astronomical Journal · 2021 · 73 citations

  Abstract We present a new ground-based optical transmission spectrum of the ultrahot Jupiter WASP-103b ( <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:msub> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>T</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>eq</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:msub> <mml:mo>=</mml:mo> <mml:mn>2484</mml:mn> </mml:math> K). Our transmission spectrum is the result of combining five new transits from the ACCESS survey and two new transits from the LRG-BEASTS survey with a reana…

  DOI

Frequent coauthors

• Jonathan J. Fortney

  University of California, Santa Cruz

  157 shared

• Mark S. Marley

  University of Arizona

  131 shared

• Hannah R. Wakeford

  100 shared

• Kevin B. Stevenson

  Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory

  85 shared

• Adam P. Showman

  81 shared

• Tiffany Kataria

  Jet Propulsion Laboratory

  77 shared

• Drake Deming

  77 shared

• Heather A. Knutson

  California Institute of Technology

  74 shared

Education

• Ph.D., Planetary Sciences

  University of Arizona

  2012

• Master of Arts, Astronomy

  Boston University

  2004

• Bachelors, Physics and Mechanical Engineering

  Worcester Polytechnic Institute

  2002

Awards & honors

• Zonta Amelia Earhart Fellowship

Similar researchers at Cornell University

• Shami Chatterjeeh-90
• Anna Y.Q. Hoh-64
• Nicholas Battagliah-63