Welcome

I am a NASA Sagan Postdoctoral Fellow studying the atmospheres of exoplanets

About me

I am a NASA Sagan Postdoctoral Fellow at The School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University. I am interested in studying the atmospheres of exoplanets to investigate what they are made of using transmission spectroscopy and retrieval techniques.

On this website you can learn more about some of the projects I am involved in, learn how to get in touch, and get to know me better.

Projects

Generalized Retrieval Frameworks

Building next-generation retrieval frameworks for the characterization of H-rich and H-poor atmospheres, Aurora (Welbanks & Madhusudhan 2021). Expanding our frameworks and their model flexibility for explaining higher fidelity observations.

Mass-Metallicity trend in transiting exoplanets

We performed the most extensive study of atmospheric chemical compositions of exoplanets to date and looked for trends in the composition of exoplanets (Welbanks et al. 2019).

Degeneracies in retrievals of exoplanets

We investigated which degeneracies affect retrievals of transmission spectra of exoplanets. Understanding these degeneracies is fundamental to obtain accurate estimations of atmospheric properties (Welbanks & Madhusudhan 2019).

Characterization of exoplanets

I have participated in the analysis of several data sets obtained using ground and space based telescopes. Amongst them are the first detection of lithium in the atmosphere of WASP-127b and the first indication of aluminium oxide in WASP-33b.

Get In Touch

Email: luis.welbanks -at- asu.edu

Banner image credit Amanda Smith