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Christopher C Stark

Photo of CHRISTOPHER STARK

Christopher C Stark

  • 301.286.3328
  • NASA/GSFC
  • Mail Code: 667
  • Greenbelt , MD 20771
  • Employer: NASA

    • Brief Bio

    2013 - Present: NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center's Exoplanets and Stellar Astrophysics Lab
    2010 - 2013: Carnegie Postdoctoral Fellow at the Carnegie Department of Terrestrial Magnetism
    2006 - 2009: NASA Graduate Student Researchers Program Fellow

    Research Interests

    Debris Disks and Exoplanets

    Detecting debris disks, constraining disk composition and structure to determine the nature of unseen planets and planetesimals, planning for future exoplanet imaging missions.

    Current Projects

    ALMA Cycle 2: "Confirming the Recent Collisional Destruction of an Extra-Solar Pluto"

    PI: Christopher Stark

    HST Cycle 22 GO: "Decoding Debris System Substructures: Imprints of Planets/Planetesimals and Signatures of Extrinsic Influences on Material in Ring-Like Disks"

    PI: Glenn Schneider

    Spitzer Cycle 10: "SpiKeS: Spitzer Kepler Survey"

    PI: Michael Werner

    HST Cycle 21 Theory: "SMACK: A New Tool for Modeling Debris Disks"

    PI: Marc Kuchner

    Spitzer Cycle 9: "Small SpiKeS: Small Spitzer Kepler Survey"

    PI: Michael Werner

    2011 NASA Explorer Program: "EXCEDE: EXoplanetary Circumstellar Environments and Disk Explorer"

    PI: Glenn Schneider

    HST Cycle 19 GO: "Imaging Disk-Planet Interactions in the Beta Pictoris Disk"

    PI: Daniel Apai

    HST Cycle 18 GO: "Probing for Exoplanets Hiding in Dusty Debris Disks: Inner (<10 AU) Disk Imaging, Characterizing, and Exploration"

    PI: Glenn Schneider

    2010 Planetary Geology and Geophysics: "Dynamical Models of the Zodiacal Cloud with Grain-Grain Collisions"

    PI: Marc Kuchner

    Education

    2010: Ph.D., Physics, University of Maryland
             Thesis Title: "Decoding Images of Debris Disks"
             Advisor: Marc Kuchner
    2004: B.S., Physics, University of Northern Iowa

    Awards

    2013: NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellowship
    2010: Carnegie Postdoctoral Research Fellowship
    2009: NASA Astrophysics Science Division Peer Award
    2009: AAS DPS Hartman Travel Grant
    2006: NASA Graduate Student Researchers Program Fellowship
    2007: AAS DDA Student Stipend Award
    2004 & 2006: U. of Northern Iowa Alumni Merchant Scholarship
    2004: U. of Northern Iowa Purple & Old Gold Award for Meritorious Achievement in Physics
    2003: U. of Nebraska Materials Research Science & Engineering Center Fellowship
    2002: U. of Northern Iowa McKay Science, Math, and Technology Scholarship
    2001: U. of Northern Iowa Science Symposium Physics Scholarship
    1999: Eagle Scout Award

    Talks, Presentations and Posters

    Invited

    STScI Star & Planet Formation Seminar 8 / 2014
    JPL Astrophysics Colloquium 7 / 2014
    Sagan Exoplanet Summer Workshop Hands-On Session 7 / 2014
    "On the Shoulders of Giants: Planets Beyond the Reach of Kepler" AAS Meeting-in-a-Meeting 7 / 2014
    AURA Beyond JWST Committee Meeting 1 / 2014
    STScI Star & Planet Formation Seminar 11 / 2013
    NASA GSFC ATLAST Team Meeting 11 / 2013
    U. of Northern Iowa Physics Colloquium 4 / 2013
    NASA Exoplanet Exploration Program Analysis Group 6 / 2011
    NASA GSFC Signposts of Planets Workshop 4 / 2011
    NASA GSFC Computational Astrophysics Seminar 12 / 2010
    Lorentz Center Advanced School and Workshop on Computational Gravitational Dynamics 5 / 2010
    ISSI 2nd Exozodiacal Dust Disks and Darwin Meeting 4 / 2009
    ISSI Exozodiacal Dust Disks and Darwin Meeting 8 / 2007

    Other

    National Capital Area Disks Meeting 5 7 / 2014
    ATLAST Team Meeting 4 / 2014
     STScI Habitable Worlds Across Time & Space 4 / 2014
     
    NASA GSFC Exoplanet Club 2 / 2014
    223rd AAS Meeting 1 / 2014
     International Astronomical Union Symposium 299 6 / 2013
     
    221st AAS Meeting 1 / 2013
    National Capital Area Disks Meeting 7 / 2012
    NASA GSFC Extrasolar Planets Seminar 9 / 2011
     Gordon Research Conference 7 / 2011
     
    Carnegie DTM Seminar 6 / 2011
    218th AAS Meeting 5 / 2011
    Carnegie DTM Astronomy Group Meeting 10 / 2010
    215th AAS Meeting 1 / 2010
    Harvard-Smithsonian CfA Solar, Stellar, & Planetary Sciences Seminar 11 / 2009
    U. of Maryland Planetary Astronomy Lunch Series 10 / 2009
    41st AAS DPS Meeting 10 / 2009
    Princeton University Wunch Talk 9 / 2009
    National Capital Area Disks Meeting 1 / 2009
    STScI Star & Planet Formation Seminar 1 / 2009
    213th AAS Meeting 1 / 2009
    NASA GSRP Fellowship Symposium 9 / 2008
    Exoplanet Forum 5 / 2008
    National Capital Area Disks Meeting 12 / 2007
    The Spirit of Lyot Meeting 6 / 2007
    38th AAS DDA Meeting 5 / 2007
    U. of Maryland Unjournal Club 4 / 2007
    NASA GSFC Exoplanet Club 3 / 2007
    Nearby Resolved Debris Disks Workshop 10 / 2005

    Selected Publications

    Refereed

    Schneider, G., C. A. Grady, D. C. Hines, et al. C. C. Stark, J. H. Debes, J. Carson, M. J. Kuchner, M. D. Perrin, A. J. Weinberger, J. P. Wisniewski, M. D. Silverstone, H. Jang-Condell, T. Henning, B. E. Woodgate, E. Serabyn, A. Moro-Martin, M. Tamura, P. M. Hinz, and T. J. Rodigas. 2014. "Probing for Exoplanets Hiding in Dusty Debris Disks: Disk Imaging, Characterization, and Exploration with HST/STIS Multi-Roll Coronagraphy." ArXiv e-prints, arXiv:1406.7303:

    Stark, C. C., G. Schneider, A. J. Weinberger, et al. J. H. Debes, C. A. Grady, H. Jang-Condell, and M. J. Kuchner. 2014. "Revealing Asymmetries in the HD 181327 Debris Disk: A Recent Massive Collision or Interstellar Medium Warping." The Astrophysical Journal, 789: 58 [10.1088/0004-637X/789/1/58]

    Jackson, B., C. C. Stark, E. R. Adams, J. Chambers, and D. Deming. 2013. "A Survey for Very Short-period Planets in the Kepler Data." The Astrophysical Journal, 779: 165 [10.1088/0004-637X/779/2/165]

    Stark, C. C., A. P. Boss, A. J. Weinberger, et al. B. K. Jackson, M. Endl, W. D. Cochran, M. Johnson, C. Caldwell, E. Agol, E. B. Ford, J. R. Hall, K. A. Ibrahim, and J. Li. 2013. "A Search for Exozodiacal Clouds with Kepler." The Astrophysical Journal, 764: 195 [10.1088/0004-637X/764/2/195]

    Defrere, D., C. Stark, K. Cahoy, and I. Beerer. 2012. "Direct imaging of exoEarths embedded in clumpy debris disks." Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE) Conference Series, 8442: [10.1117/12.926324]

    Mennesson, B., R. Millan-Gabet, M. M. Colavita, et al. E. Serabyn, P. Hinz, M. Kuchner, W. Liu, R. Barry, C. Stark, S. Ragland, J. Woillez, W. Traub, O. Absil, D. Defrere, J. C. Augereau, and J. Lebreton. 2012. "Keck Interferometer Nuller science highlights." Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE) Conference Series, 8445: [10.1117/12.926548]

    Debes, J. H., K. J. Walsh, and C. Stark. 2012. "The Link between Planetary Systems, Dusty White Dwarfs, and Metal-polluted White Dwarfs." The Astrophysical Journal, 747: 148 [10.1088/0004-637X/747/2/148]

    Reidemeister, M., A. V. Krivov, C. C. Stark, et al. J.-C. Augereau, T. Lohne, and S. Muller. 2011. "The cold origin of the warm dust around ε Eridani." Astronomy and Astrophysics, 527: A57 [10.1051/0004-6361/201015328]

    Millan-Gabet, R., E. Serabyn, B. Mennesson, et al. W. A. Traub, R. K. Barry, W. C. Danchi, M. Kuchner, C. C. Stark, S. Ragland, M. Hrynevych, J. Woillez, K. Stapelfeldt, G. Bryden, M. M. Colavita, and A. J. Booth. 2011. "Exozodiacal Dust Levels for Nearby Main-sequence Stars: A Survey with the Keck Interferometer Nuller." The Astrophysical Journal, 734: 67 [10.1088/0004-637X/734/1/67]

    Stark, C. C. 2011. "The Transit Light Curve of an Exozodiacal Dust Cloud."

    Defrere, D., O. Absil, R. den Hartog, C. Hanot, and C. Stark. 2010. "Nulling interferometry: impact of exozodiacal clouds on the performance of future life-finding space missions." Astronomy and Astrophysics, 509: A9 [10.1051/0004-6361/200912973]

    Defrere, D., O. Absil, R. den Hartog, C. Hanot, and C. Stark. 2010. "Influence of Exozodiacal Dust Clouds on Mid-IR Earth-like Planet Detection." Pathways Towards Habitable Planets, 430: 422.

    Kuchner, M. J., and C. C. Stark. 2010. "Collisional Grooming Models of the Kuiper Belt Dust Cloud." The Astronomical Journal, 140: 1007 [Full Text (Link)] [10.1088/0004-6256/140/4/1007]

    Stark, C. C., M. J. Kuchner, W. A. Traub, et al. J. D. Monnier, E. Serabyn, M. Colavita, C. Koresko, B. Mennesson, and L. D. Keller. 2009. "51 Ophiuchus: A Possible Beta Pictoris Analog Measured with the Keck Interferometer Nuller." The Astrophysical Journal, 703: 1188 [Full Text (Link)] [10.1088/0004-637X/703/2/1188]

    Stark, C. C., and M. J. Kuchner. 2009. "A New Algorithm for Self-consistent Three-dimensional Modeling of Collisions in Dusty Debris Disks." The Astrophysical Journal, 707: 543 [Full Text (Link)] [10.1088/0004-637X/707/1/543]

    Stark, C. C., and M. J. Kuchner. 2008. "The Detectability of Exo-Earths and Super-Earths Via Resonant Signatures in Exozodiacal Clouds." The Astrophysical Journal, 686: 637 [Full Text (Link)] [10.1086/591442]

    Brief Bio

    2013 - Present: NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center's Exoplanets and Stellar Astrophysics Lab
    2010 - 2013: Carnegie Postdoctoral Fellow at the Carnegie Department of Terrestrial Magnetism
    2006 - 2009: NASA Graduate Student Researchers Program Fellow

    Selected Publications

    Refereed

    Schneider, G., C. A. Grady, D. C. Hines, et al. C. C. Stark, J. H. Debes, J. Carson, M. J. Kuchner, M. D. Perrin, A. J. Weinberger, J. P. Wisniewski, M. D. Silverstone, H. Jang-Condell, T. Henning, B. E. Woodgate, E. Serabyn, A. Moro-Martin, M. Tamura, P. M. Hinz, and T. J. Rodigas. 2014. "Probing for Exoplanets Hiding in Dusty Debris Disks: Disk Imaging, Characterization, and Exploration with HST/STIS Multi-Roll Coronagraphy." ArXiv e-prints arXiv:1406.7303

    Stark, C. C., G. Schneider, A. J. Weinberger, et al. J. H. Debes, C. A. Grady, H. Jang-Condell, and M. J. Kuchner. 2014. "Revealing Asymmetries in the HD 181327 Debris Disk: A Recent Massive Collision or Interstellar Medium Warping." The Astrophysical Journal 789 58 [10.1088/0004-637X/789/1/58]

    Jackson, B., C. C. Stark, E. R. Adams, J. Chambers, and D. Deming. 2013. "A Survey for Very Short-period Planets in the Kepler Data." The Astrophysical Journal 779 165 [10.1088/0004-637X/779/2/165]

    Stark, C. C., A. P. Boss, A. J. Weinberger, et al. B. K. Jackson, M. Endl, W. D. Cochran, M. Johnson, C. Caldwell, E. Agol, E. B. Ford, J. R. Hall, K. A. Ibrahim, and J. Li. 2013. "A Search for Exozodiacal Clouds with Kepler." The Astrophysical Journal 764 195 [10.1088/0004-637X/764/2/195]

    Defrere, D., C. Stark, K. Cahoy, and I. Beerer. 2012. "Direct imaging of exoEarths embedded in clumpy debris disks." Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE) Conference Series 8442 [10.1117/12.926324]

    Mennesson, B., R. Millan-Gabet, M. M. Colavita, et al. E. Serabyn, P. Hinz, M. Kuchner, W. Liu, R. Barry, C. Stark, S. Ragland, J. Woillez, W. Traub, O. Absil, D. Defrere, J. C. Augereau, and J. Lebreton. 2012. "Keck Interferometer Nuller science highlights." Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE) Conference Series 8445 [10.1117/12.926548]

    Debes, J. H., K. J. Walsh, and C. Stark. 2012. "The Link between Planetary Systems, Dusty White Dwarfs, and Metal-polluted White Dwarfs." The Astrophysical Journal 747 148 [10.1088/0004-637X/747/2/148]

    Reidemeister, M., A. V. Krivov, C. C. Stark, et al. J.-C. Augereau, T. Lohne, and S. Muller. 2011. "The cold origin of the warm dust around ε Eridani." Astronomy and Astrophysics 527 A57 [10.1051/0004-6361/201015328]

    Millan-Gabet, R., E. Serabyn, B. Mennesson, et al. W. A. Traub, R. K. Barry, W. C. Danchi, M. Kuchner, C. C. Stark, S. Ragland, M. Hrynevych, J. Woillez, K. Stapelfeldt, G. Bryden, M. M. Colavita, and A. J. Booth. 2011. "Exozodiacal Dust Levels for Nearby Main-sequence Stars: A Survey with the Keck Interferometer Nuller." The Astrophysical Journal 734 67 [10.1088/0004-637X/734/1/67]

    Stark, C. C. 2011. "The Transit Light Curve of an Exozodiacal Dust Cloud."

    Defrere, D., O. Absil, R. den Hartog, C. Hanot, and C. Stark. 2010. "Nulling interferometry: impact of exozodiacal clouds on the performance of future life-finding space missions." Astronomy and Astrophysics 509 A9 [10.1051/0004-6361/200912973]

    Defrere, D., O. Absil, R. den Hartog, C. Hanot, and C. Stark. 2010. "Influence of Exozodiacal Dust Clouds on Mid-IR Earth-like Planet Detection." Pathways Towards Habitable Planets 430 422

    Kuchner, M. J., and C. C. Stark. 2010. "Collisional Grooming Models of the Kuiper Belt Dust Cloud." The Astronomical Journal 140 1007 [Full Text (Link)] [10.1088/0004-6256/140/4/1007]

    Stark, C. C., M. J. Kuchner, W. A. Traub, et al. J. D. Monnier, E. Serabyn, M. Colavita, C. Koresko, B. Mennesson, and L. D. Keller. 2009. "51 Ophiuchus: A Possible Beta Pictoris Analog Measured with the Keck Interferometer Nuller." The Astrophysical Journal 703 1188 [Full Text (Link)] [10.1088/0004-637X/703/2/1188]

    Stark, C. C., and M. J. Kuchner. 2009. "A New Algorithm for Self-consistent Three-dimensional Modeling of Collisions in Dusty Debris Disks." The Astrophysical Journal 707 543 [Full Text (Link)] [10.1088/0004-637X/707/1/543]

    Stark, C. C., and M. J. Kuchner. 2008. "The Detectability of Exo-Earths and Super-Earths Via Resonant Signatures in Exozodiacal Clouds." The Astrophysical Journal 686 637 [Full Text (Link)] [10.1086/591442]

                                                                                                                                                                                            
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    • Last Updated: 03/24/2023