Biography
I am an astrophysicist hunting for new exoplanets. Since 2018, I am a Torres Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where I work closely with the team of the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). Whenever I am not searching for new worlds, I enjoy travelling, the outdoors (scuba diving, rock climbing and hiking), and exploring our own Earth.
My PhD was obtained at the University of Cambridge, UK, where I worked in Professor Didier Queloz's group at the Exoplanet Research Centre. My research was focused on how we can distinguish between real exoplanets and stuff that looks like exoplanets, but is not ("false positives"). I worked with the Next Generation Transit Survey, a ground-based array of telescopes on the hunt for Neptune-sized exoplanets.
Research
Habitability & Origin of life
Transiting Exoplanets
Eclipsing Binaries
Bayesian Statistics
Machine Learning
Big Data
Publications
- Günther, M.N. et al., 2018, Unmasking the hidden NGTS-3Ab: a hot Jupiter in an unresolved binary system , MNRAS, 478 (4): 4720–4737
- Günther, M.N. et al., 2017b, Centroid vetting of transiting planet candidates from the Next Generation Transit Survey, MNRAS, 472 (1): 295-307
- Günther, M.N. et al., 2017a, A New Yield Simulator for Transiting Planets and False Positives: Application to the Next Generation Transit Survey, MNRAS, 465 (3): 3379-3389
- Günther, M.N. et al., 2016, Quantifying and predicting Drosophila larvae crawling phenotypes, Nature Scientific Reports, 6: 27972
- Huang, C.X., Burt, J., Vanderburg, A., Günther, M.N., et al. 2018, TESS Discovery of a Transiting Super-Earth in the Pi Mensae System, AASL, submitted
- West, R., et al. incl. Günther, M.N., 2018, NGTS-4b: A sub-Neptune Transiting in the Desert , MNRAS, submitted
- Raynard, L., et al. incl. Günther, M.N., 2018, NGTS-2b: An inflated hot-Jupiter transiting a bright F-dwarf, MNRAS, in press
- Casewell, S., et al. incl. Günther, M.N., 2018, A low-mass eclipsing binary within the fully convective zone from the Next Generation Transit Survey, MNRAS, 481 (2): 1897–1907
- Armstrong, D.J., Günther, M.N., et al., 2018, Automatic vetting of planet candidates from ground-based surveys: machine learning with NGTS, MNRAS, 478 (3): 4225–4237
- Jackman, J. et al. incl. Günther, M.N., 2018, Ground-based detection of G star superflares with NGTS, MNRAS, 477 (4): 4655–4664
- Bayliss, D. et al. incl. Günther, M.N., 2017, NGTS-1b: a hot Jupiter transiting an M-dwarf, MNRAS, 475 (4): 4467-4475
- Wheatley, P. et al. incl. Günther, M.N., 2017, The Next Generation Transit Survey (NGTS), MNRAS, 475 (4): 4476-4493
- Demory, B.-O. et al. incl. Günther, M.N., 2015, Hubble Space Telescope search for the transit of the Earth-mass exoplanet Alpha Centauri B b, MNRAS, 450 (2): 2043-2051