Michele Bannister
Photo of Bannister in Hawai'i
Bannister in front of the Gemini North telescope on Hawai'i
Born1986 (age 37–38)
Alma mater
Scientific career
Institutions
ThesisBright trans-Neptunian objects in the southern sky (2014)
Doctoral advisorPaul J. Francis, Brian Schmidt, Michael Brown
Websitewww.astro.uvic.ca/~micheleb/

Michele Bannister (born 1986) is a New Zealand planetary astronomer and science communicator at the University of Canterbury, who has participated in surveying the outermost Solar System for trans-Neptunian objects.[1]

Early life and education

Bannister is from Waitara, New Zealand.[2] She attended Waitara High School, where she won the Korean War Essay Competition.[3] She studied astronomy and geology at the University of Canterbury, graduating in 2007 with first class honours.[2] She spent nine weeks working in the McMurdo Dry Valleys.[2] Before starting her PhD she completed a summer school in Castel Gandolfo.[4] She earned her PhD in 2014, working on trans Neptunian objects at the Australian National University.[5] She searched for new dwarf planets at the Uppsala Southern Schmidt Telescope.[6] The telescope survived the Warrumbungles fire which destroyed twelve properties in Coonabarabran.[7] Whilst at Australian National University she played in the Flying Disc team.[8]

Research and career

In 2014 she was co-investigator on the COLours for the Outer Solar System Origins Survey (OSSOS).[9] She was appointed a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Victoria and the National Research Council (Canada) in 2013.[2][10] Whilst at the University of Victoria she discovered a trans-Neptunian object (RR245) with the Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope.[11][12][13][14][15][16][17] RR245 is near the Kuiper belt.[18] She played for a local Ultimate team,[19] and published poetry.[20]

In August 2016 she joined Queen's University Belfast.[21][22] She is on the Science Team of the Maunakea Spectroscopic Explorer.[23] She was involved with the observation of ʻOumuamua, an interstellar object from another solar system that passed through our own in 2017.[24] She studied the brightness of ʻOumuamua and presented the colour composite image.[25][26][27] 10463 Bannister was named after her in 2017.[28][29][1] In 2020 she returned to her alma mater, the University of Canterbury as a lecturer in astrophysics.[30]

Public engagement

Bannister is a popular science communicator, and has spoken at the Royal Society, The Planetary Society, SETI Institute, Irish Astronomical Society and European Astrofest.[31][32][33] In 2013 she was a curator on the RealScientists channel.[34] She reported on the images coming in from Pluto during the spacecraft flyby on Radio New Zealand and Nature in 2015.[35][36]

She discussed astronomy on Canadian radio station CFAX between 2015 and 2016.[37] She appeared on the BBC Sky at Night in 2017 and 2018.[38][39] She has written for The Conversation and The Planetary Society magazine, as well as contributing to Scientific American, Newsweek, National Geographic New Scientist, Slate and The Guardian.[40][41][42][43][44][45]

Awards and honors

Asteroid 10463 Bannister, discovered by Eleanor Helin and Schelte Bus at the Siding Spring Observatory in 1979, was named in her honor.[1] The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 13 April 2017 (M.P.C. 103975).[46]

Works

  • Godfrey, Myfanwy J., Michele T. Bannister, D. Nobes, and Ronald S. Sletten. "3D time-lapse imaging of polygonal patterned ground in the McMurdo dry valleys of Antarctica." (2008).
  • Fitzsimmons, Alan, Colin Snodgrass, Ben Rozitis, Bin Yang, Méabh Hyland, Tom Seccull, Michele T. Bannister, Wesley C. Fraser, Robert Jedicke, and Pedro Lacerda. "Spectroscopy and thermal modelling of the first interstellar object 1I/2017 U1 ʻOumuamua." Nature Astronomy 2, no. 2 (2018): 133.
  • Bannister, Michele T., Megan E. Schwamb, Wesley C. Fraser, Michael Marsset, Alan Fitzsimmons, Susan D. Benecchi, Pedro Lacerda et al. "Col-OSSOS: colors of the interstellar planetesimal 1I/Oumuamua." arXiv preprint arXiv:1711.06214 (2017).

References

  1. 1 2 3 "10463 Bannister (1979 MB9)". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 16 October 2019.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Introducing Michele Bannister". astrotweeps. 25 April 2016. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  3. ↑ "PM announces winners of Korean War essay comp | Scoop News". www.scoop.co.nz. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  4. ↑ "Royal Society of New Zealand, Canterbury Branch". canterbury.rsnzbranch.org.nz. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  5. ↑ Bannister, Michele T.; Kavelaars, J. J.; Petit, Jean-Marc; Gladman, Brett J.; Gwyn, Stephen D. J.; Ying-Tung Chen; Volk, Kathryn; Alexandersen, Mike; Benecchi, Susan D. (2016). "The Outer Solar System Origins Survey. I. Design and First-quarter Discoveries". The Astronomical Journal. 152 (3): 70. arXiv:1511.02895. Bibcode:2016AJ....152...70B. doi:10.3847/0004-6256/152/3/70. hdl:10150/621497. ISSN 1538-3881. S2CID 54548905.
  6. ↑ "PhD Theses | Gemini Observatory: Exploring The Universe, Sharing Its Wonders". www.gemini.edu. Retrieved 8 November 2022.
  7. ↑ "Oz astronomical observatory survives firestorm • The Register". www.theregister.co.uk. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  8. ↑ "ANU Hat - Australian Flying Disc Association". Australian Flying Disc Association. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  9. ↑ "OSSOS/MOP". GitHub. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  10. ↑ "People - Herzberg Astrophysics". Herzberg Astrophysics. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  11. ↑ "Former Taranaki astronomer helps find new planet". Stuff. 14 July 2016. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  12. ↑ "New Dwarf Planet Discovered At The Edge Of The Solar System". IFLScience. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  13. ↑ "New Dwarf Planet". cfht.hawaii.edu. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  14. ↑ Griffiths, James. "New dwarf planet discovered beyond Pluto". CNN. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  15. ↑ "Dwarf planet spotted at solar system's outer fringe". Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  16. ↑ "Astronomers discover dwarf planet beyond Neptune". ABC News. 12 July 2016. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  17. ↑ Chang, Kenneth (13 July 2016). "Astronomers Discover New Likely Dwarf Planet, the Latest of Many". The New York Times. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  18. ↑ "New dwarf planet discovered in Kuiper Belt | BBC Sky at Night Magazine". www.skyatnightmagazine.com. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  19. ↑ "Summer Hat League - Victoria Ultimate Players Society". Victoria Ultimate Players Society. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  20. ↑ "Michele Bannister". Strange Horizons. 31 October 2012. Retrieved 7 August 2018. Michele Bannister has an uncommon fondness for distant worlds both small and icy. She lives in Australia, where she is working towards her doctorate in astronomy. Her poetry has appeared in Strange Horizons, Ideomancer, Stone Telling and other venues, in the Here, We Cross anthology (Stone Bird Press, 2012), and is forthcoming in Inkscrawl and Goblin Fruit.
  21. ↑ "Dr. Michele Bannister - Queen's University Belfast Research Portal - Research Directory & Institutional Repository for QUB". pure.qub.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 4 August 2018. Retrieved 3 August 2018.
  22. ↑ "QUB Astrophysics Research Centre - Solar system studies". star.pst.qub.ac.uk. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  23. ↑ "MSE Science Team Membership". mse.cfht.hawaii.edu. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  24. ↑ "'Weird' interstellar asteroid yields no alien signals, resembles worlds beyond Neptune | CBC News". CBC. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  25. ↑ "Interstellar Asteroid Oumuamua Has Grayish-Red Organic-Rich Surface Layer, Astronomers Say | Astronomy | Sci-News.com". Breaking Science News | Sci-News.com. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
  26. ↑ Scott, Sarah (12 February 2018). "Queen's boffin discovers violent past of first alien visitor". belfastlive. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  27. ↑ "TV crew in Belfast to get to the bottom of out-of-this-world mystery". Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  28. ↑ "First arrival from afar: the interstellar planetesimal 'Oumuamua". European AstroFest 2018. Archived from the original on 4 August 2018. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  29. ↑ "Asteroids named after Queen's astronomers". 26 January 2016. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  30. ↑ "Michele Bannister". The University of Canterbury.
  31. ↑ "European AstroFest 2018". European AstroFest 2018. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  32. ↑ Dan Foreman-Mackey (23 March 2016), PyAstro day 3, retrieved 4 August 2018
  33. ↑ SETI Institute (18 March 2016), Exploring the outer Solar System: now in vivid colour - Michele Bannister (SETI Talks), retrieved 4 August 2018
  34. ↑ "2013-03-17: Michele Bannister, Planetary Astronomer (@AstroKiwi) | RealScientists". realscientists.wordpress.com. 24 March 2013. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  35. ↑ "Pluto mission". Radio New Zealand. 17 July 2015. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  36. ↑ "First look at Pluto: Live coverage of the historic fly-by". Nature. 10 July 2015. doi:10.1038/nature.2015.17905. ISSN 1476-4687. S2CID 211729621.
  37. ↑ July 5 6am, retrieved 4 August 2018
  38. ↑ "QUB Astrophysics Research Centre - News and press releases". star.pst.qub.ac.uk. Retrieved 6 August 2018.
  39. ↑ "TV crew in Belfast to get to the bottom of out-of-this-world mystery". Retrieved 6 August 2018.
  40. ↑ "Michele Bannister". The Conversation. 29 March 2017. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  41. ↑ "Michele Bannister – Astronomy Now". astronomynow.com. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  42. ↑ Davis, Nicola (12 August 2017). "Perseid meteor shower: everything you need to know to see it". the Guardian. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  43. ↑ "Beyond Pluto: New Horizons probe aims for another unseen world". New Scientist. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  44. ↑ Francis, Matthew R. (20 November 2014). "What's Next for Space Exploration?". Slate. ISSN 1091-2339. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  45. ↑ Billings, Lee. "Looking for Planet Nine, Astronomers Gaze into the Abyss". Scientific American. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  46. ↑ "MPC/MPO/MPS Archive". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 16 October 2019.
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