Dr. Joe Harrington's Astronomy Work

Note: This utilitarian page will be replaced at some point. Find general and contact information for me on my faculty page.

Find more about the fast-growing UCF Planetary Sciences Group, which is currently seeking members at every level.

Jobs!

I am seeking self-motivated undergraduates, graduate students in exoplanet observation and comet-atmosphere collision modeling, and a postdoc interested in comet-atmosphere collision modeling. Contact me if interested.

About me

I'm an observational astronomer interested in extrasolar planets, solar system giant planets, computational techniques, and challenging observations. I am a professor in the UCF Planetary Sciences Group in the Department of Physics at the University of Central Florida. See my CV for a summary of my career.

Upcoming Colloquia

Invited review: Photometry and Spectroscopy of Exoplanetary Atmospheres at New Technologies for Probing the Diversity of Brown Dwarfs and Exoplanets 19-24 July 2009, Shanghai, China.

Teaching

In Fall 2011, I am teaching AST 4762/5765 (Advanced) Astronomical Data Analysis.

In Spring 2010 I taught AST 5165 Planetary Atmospheres; see below.

In Fall 2009, I taught AST 4762/5765 (Advanced) Astronomical Data Analysis; see below.

In Fall 2008, I taught AST 4762/5765 (Advanced) Astronomical Data Analysis. The first is an intro to astronomical data analysis for majors. The second is a graduate class that assumes some experience with computer programming and data analysis. It covers all of the undergraduate class (to ensure a solid foundation) and adds a series of readings and exercises on advanced topics. The graduate class satisfies a restricted elective in the Physics PhD and proposed Planetary Sciences track in the Physics PhD.

In Spring 2008, I taught AST 5165 Planetary Atmospheres. This graduate course is a core requirement of the Planetary Sciences track in the Physics PhD program. This was the first time this course was taught at UCF.

In Fall 2007, I taught AST 4932/5937 (Advanced) Astronomical Data Analysis. These were the temporary numbers for AST 4762/5765. This was the first time these courses were taught at UCF.

In Spring 2007, I taught AST 2002H. This course is an intro to astronomy in the UCF Honors College, and it satisfies part of the General Education requirement.

In Fall 2006, I taught a section of AST 2002, whose web site is available only to enrolled students. This course is an intro to astronomy and satisfies part of the General Education requirement.

I taught Astro 234 in the spring semesters of 2003 and 2004 at Cornell. This is an intro to astronomical data analysis for majors.

I also taught Astro 105/107 in the Cornell University Summer Session from 2000-2003. This course is an intro to astronomy for Cornell undergraduates and high school students.

Research Papers

The best way to access my work is on the Astrophysics Data System. Just click on the "E" next to the title that interests you. A few papers by others named "J. Harrington" will also appear.

The following is an incomplete collection of some of my research papers in PDF and/or PostScript formats. The PostScript versions are large, so they also have versions compressed with GNU Zip (.gz extension).

  • Harrington, J., B. M. Hansen, S. H. Luszcz, S. Seager, D. Deming, K. Menou, J. Cho, and L. J. Richardson 2006. The Phase-Dependent Infrared Brightness of the Extrasolar Planet Upsilon Andromedae b. Science 27 October 2006.
  • Harrington, J., I. de Pater, S. Brecht, D. Deming, V. Meadows, K. Zahnle, and P. Nicholson 2004. Lessons from Shoemaker-Levy 9 about Jupiter and Planetary Impacts. In Jupiter - The Planet, Satellites and Magnetosphere. F. Bagenal, T. E. Dowling, W. McKinnon, eds., pp. 159-184. Cambridge University Press.
  • Harrington, J., D. Deming, C. Goukenleuque, K. Matthews, L. J. Richardson, D. Steyert, G. Wiedemann, D. Zeehandelaar 2003. Infrared Transit Spectroscopy of HD 209458b, in Scientific Frontiers in Research on Extrasolar Planets, D. Deming and S. Seager, eds. ASP Conf. Ser. 294, 471-474. [compressed]
  • Harrington, J., and D. Deming 2001. Models of the SL9 impacts I: Ballistic Monte-Carlo Plume. The Astrophysical Journal 561, 455-467. [astro-ph (low-res) e-print][Publisher's erratum.]
  • Deming, D., and J. Harrington 2001. Models of the SL9 impacts II: Radiative-hydrodynamic Modeling of the Plume Splashback. The Astrophysical Journal 561, 468-480. NOTE: Several equations were typeset incorrectly; see the erratum. [astro-ph (low-res) e-print][Publisher's erratum.]
  • Harrington, J., T. E. Dowling, and R. L. Baron 1996. Jupiter's Tropospheric Thermal Emission I: Observations and Techniques. Icarus 124, 22-31. [compressed]
  • Harrington, J., T. E. Dowling, and R. L. Baron 1996. Jupiter's Tropospheric Thermal Emission II: Power Spectrum Analysis and Wave Search. Icarus 124, 32-44. [compressed]
  • Harrington, J. 1995. Planetary Infrared Observations: the Occultation of 28 Sagittarii by Saturn and the Dynamics of Jupiter's Atmosphere. Ph.D. thesis in PlanetaryScience, MIT. [compressed]
  • Harrington, J, R. P. LeBeau, K. A. Backes, and T. E. Dowling 1994. Dynamic response of Jupiter's atmosphere to the impact of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9. Nature 368, 525- 527. [compressed]
  • Harrington, J., M. L. Cooke, W. J. Forrest, J. L. Pipher, E. W. Dunham, and J. L. Elliot 1993. IRTF Observations of the Occultation of 28 Sgr by Saturn. Icarus 103, 235-252. [compressed]

    • Software Implementing Original Analysis Methods

    This server hosts my collection of free software, which includes both recently-written stuff by a group of students under my direction (removal of flat field fringes, optimal spectral extraction, mask-based nonlinear pixel interpolator, synthetic spectrum image generator), and some timeless packages I wrote, including several new image processing techniques from my work on Jovian Planetary Waves. They assemble image mosaics for you without your intervention, and locate planetary limbs in images. The site also has my automagic backup software, which schedules nightly backups on your network, prompts someone to change the tape via email, and lets you know if anything went wrong with last night's backup. It uses standard Unix commands to write tapes, so anyone can read them.

  • Rojo, P. M., and J. Harrington 2005. A Method to Remove Fringes From Images Using Wavelets. The Astrophysical Journal. 649, 553-560.

    • Direct Detection and Characterization of Extrasolar Planets

    We know of over 300 planets orbiting stars other than the sun. Studying them will teach us about how planets are formed and about how planets behave under different conditions from those in our own solar system. I am observing several planets from the ground and with the Spitzer Space Telescope.

    Here is an incomplete selection of papers; see the ADS search above for the full selection.

  • Harrington, J., B. M. Hansen, S. H. Luszcz, S. Seager, D. Deming, K. Menou, J. Cho, and L. J. Richardson 2006. The Phase-Dependent Infrared Brightness of the Extrasolar Planet Upsilon Andromedae b. Science 27 October 2006.
  • Richardson, L. J., S. Seager, D. Deming, J. Harrington, R. K. Barry, J. Rajagopal, and W. C. Danchi 2006. Infrared Light Curves and the Detectability of Close-In Extrasolar Giant Planets. Direct Imaging of Exoplanets: Science & Techniques, Proceedings of IAU Colloquium No. 200, C. Aime and F. Vakili, eds. 185-188.
  • Deming, D., J. Harrington, S. Seager, and L. J. Richardson 2006. Strong Infrared Emission from the Extrasolar Planet HD 189733b The Astrophysical Journal, 644, 560-564.
  • Richardson, L.J., S. Seager, J. Harrington, and D. Deming 2006. A Spitzer Infrared Radius for the Transiting Extrasolar Planet HD 209458b. The Astrophysical Journal, 649, 1043-1047.
  • Deming, D., S. Seager, L. J. Richardson, and J. Harrington 2005. Infrared radiation from an extrasolar planet. Nature, 434, 740-743.
  • Deming, D., T. M. Brown, D. Charbonneau, J. Harrington, L. J. Richardson 2005. A New Search for Carbon Monoxide Absorption in the Transmission Spectrum of the Extrasolar Planet HD 209458b. The Astrophysical Journal, 622, 1149-1159.
  • Deming, D., D. Charbonneau, and J. Harrington 2004. Spectroscopy of Molecular Hydrogen Emission From KH 15D. The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 601, L87-L90.
  • Rojo, P., J. Harrington, D. Zeehandelaar, J. Dermody, D. Deming, D. Steyert, L. J. Richardson, and G. Wiedemann 2004. Transit Spectroscopy of the Extrasolar Planet HD 209458b: The Search for Water, in The Search for Other Worlds, S. S. Holt and D. Deming, eds. AIP Conf. Ser. 713, 189-192.
  • Harrington, J., D. Deming, C. Goukenleuque, K. Matthews, L. J. Richardson, D. Steyert, G. Wiedemann, D. Zeehandelaar 2003. Infrared Transit Spectroscopy of HD 209458b, in Scientific Frontiers in Research on Extrasolar Planets, D. Deming and S. Seager, eds. ASP Conf. Ser. 294, 471-474.
  • Richardson, L.J., D. Deming, G. Wiedemann, C. Goukenleuque, D. Steyert, J. Harrington 2003. Infrared observations during the secondary eclipse of HD 209458b. I. 3.6 micron occultation spectroscopy using the Very Large Telescope. The Astrophysical Journal 584, 1053-1062.

    • Shoemaker-Levy 9 Impact

    In July 1994, pieces of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 hit Jupiter. They threw up huge plumes that flew out of the atmosphere and crashed back down on it, just like a cannonball dive into a swimming pool. Using Tim Dowling's EPIC model, I studied the observability of the impacts and predicted the expanding ring feature later seen by the Hubble Space Telescope.

    I then wrote written a ballistic model of the evolution of a plume to answer some basic questions and to initialize an atmosphere model that my collaborator Drake Deming wrote. We reproduced all of the unexplained features of the images and lightcurves taken by observers without introducing new features. The atmosphere model was a vertical 2D slice.

    Deming, Don Korycansky, Kevin Zahnle, Jim Friedson, and I are now attacking the problem in 3D, with an eye toward doing the spectra. I have built a 36-node Beowulf cluster supercomputer. Don is currently running his impact code (based on his published Venus and Titan model), and Drake is configuring a code to do the splash onto the atmosphere. A postdoc (identified, but not yet hired) will marry the models so that the output of the impactor model feeds the much larger atmosphere model. Advected tracer particles will drive chemical (Zahnle) and grain (Friedson) models, with whose output we eventually hope to derive spectra. Meanwhile, there is lots to learn from adjusting the model parameters until the models match the observations. For example, we can adjust viscosity to determine the total viscosity of Jupiter's atmosphere, based on the speed of propagating waves.

    Here is an incomplete selection of papers; see the ADS search above for the full selection.

  • Korycansky, D. G., J. Harrington, D. Deming, M. E. Kulick 2005. Shoemaker-Levy 9 Impact Modeling: 1. High-Resolution, 3D Bolides. The Astrophysical Journal 646, 642-652.
  • Harrington, J., I. de Pater, S. Brecht, D. Deming, V. Meadows, K. Zahnle, and P. Nicholson 2004. Lessons from Shoemaker-Levy 9 about Jupiter and Planetary Impacts. In Jupiter - The Planet, Satellites and Magnetosphere. F. Bagenal, T. E. Dowling, W. McKinnon, eds., pp. 159-184. Cambridge University Press.
  • Harrington, J., and D. Deming 2001. Models of the SL9 impacts I: Ballistic Monte-Carlo Plume. The Astrophysical Journal 561, 455-467. [astro-ph (low-res) e-print][Publisher's erratum.]
  • Deming, D., and J. Harrington 2001. Models of the SL9 impacts II: Radiative-hydrodynamic Modeling of the Plume Splashback. The Astrophysical Journal 561, 468-480. NOTE: Several equations were typeset incorrectly; see the erratum. [astro-ph (low-res) e-print][Publisher's erratum.]
  • Harrington, J, R. P. LeBeau, K. A. Backes, and T. E. Dowling 1994. Dynamic response of Jupiter's atmosphere to the impact of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9. Nature 368, 525- 527. [compressed]

    • Jovian Planetary Waves

    Jovian planetary waves are waves in the atmosphere of Jupiter that are big enough that they girdle the entire planet. I have studied them as variations in cloud opacity, and I have observed Jupiter in the thermal infrared as well. The infrared data are currently being analyzed.

  • Harrington, J., T. E. Dowling, and R. L. Baron 1996. Jupiter's Tropospheric Thermal Emission I: Observations and Techniques. Icarus 124, 22-31. [compressed]
  • Harrington, J., T. E. Dowling, and R. L. Baron 1996. Jupiter's Tropospheric Thermal Emission II: Power Spectrum Analysis and Wave Search. Icarus 124, 32-44. [compressed]

    • Saturn Occultations

    I observed the 3 July 1989 and 14 November 1998 Saturn occultations. An occultation is the passage of one object in front of another. When Saturn and its rings occult a star, you can measure how the starlight changes and you can get very accurate numbers for a great many quantities, like properties of the atmosphere and the amount of stuff in the rings.

  • Harrington, J., and R. G. French 2008. The 1998 November 14 Occultation of GSC 0622-00345 by Saturn's Atmosphere. Submitted to The Astrophysical Journal. (We are working on revisions, including a new co-author, Katia Matcheva. The accepted version will also appear on astro-ph.)
  • Harrington, J., M. L. Cooke, W. J. Forrest, J. L. Pipher, E. W. Dunham, and J. L. Elliot 1993. IRTF Observations of the Occultation of 28 Sgr by Saturn. Icarus 103, 235-252. [compressed]

    • E/PO: Southern Cayuga Central Schools Observatory and Planetarium

    From 2002-2006, I was an advisor to the Southern Cayuga Central Schools (SCCS) in Aurora, NY. SCCS had an unused planetarium, which they recently restored to working order. We added an observatory with 14'' and 10'' telescopes this year, largely with volunteer labor from local amateur astronomers. I assisted in planning the program, which includes an astronomy club, star parties every 2 months, and use of the facilities in classes at all levels. Shop students built benches and storage units for it and technology students enabled the CCD to project images onto the planetarium dome in real time.

    We received a NASA Education and Public Outreach (E/PO) grant to extend the program to all the schools within an hour's drive. We sponsored teacher workshops, had professional astronomers speak at the star parties, and bussed in students from other schools for astronomy classes. Amateurs from the region run the ongoing star parties and are encouraged to use the facilities for meetings and observing.

    It is a rare public school that has an observatory, and the community has enthusiastically supported the effort. Typical star party attendance is over 100, even on rainy nights. By reaching out to other schools in the region, we are delivering an intense, hands-on experience with science and the sky to many hundreds of kids and their parents each year.

    Interactive Data Analysis Environments

    The Open Source Software (OSS) movement has produced an amazing array of high-quality software, all available for free and with source code. To identify a good OSS data analysis system for astronomy, Paul Barrett and I sponsored a session at the 1996 Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems conference, where the community discussed its needs before an expert panel representing languages available at the time:

    Harrington, J., and P. E. Barrett 1997. Interactive Data Analysis Environments BoF Session. Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems VI, A.S.P. Conference Series, Vol. 125, Gareth Hunt and H. E. Payne, eds., pp. 69-72.

    We concluded then that the Python language and its numerical extension (now called NumPy) provided an outstanding base language, one that was far better than any of the other available options, both OSS and commercial.

    We needed a modern, object-oriented, interactive language that follows what has worked well in computer science. The language and the people supporting it must have a firm commitment to the reusability of legacy code in modern environments. NumPy satisfies these criteria. We also needed application software, packages of numerical and graphics routines that we can call from the language. These also now exist, in quantity. Some of these have been collected in a package called SciPy.

    All this now exists and is in wide use. The packages work on all operating systems and are easy to install. Mailing lists access a very helpful user community. What remains is reference and tutorial documentation for NumPy and SciPy. Much piecemeal documentation is available on their web site. In May 2008, I started the SciPy documentation project, whose goal is to rally the community to write the remaining docs. As of Fall 2008, about 60% of the useful NumPy functions have first-draft reference pages, and 25% is ready for or has passed community peer review. These pages will be released in NumPy 1.2 at the end of August. Our goals include having drafts of all interesting pages by the winter release and a complete, reviewed reference manual by the Spring release. We will then move on to SciPy's reference manual and tutorial user manuals for both packages. The project is based on a wiki where over 25 community members edit and review pages. The printable PDF manual available from that site is over 300 pages long. If you are interested in participating, please visit the documentation wiki and follow instructions there.

    An (Old) Icarus BiBTeX Format

    Brian Wolven and I have produced a BiBTeX file that formats old Icarus-style references in LaTeX documents. Do not use this format for new Icarus articles. Elsevier has changed the reference format! However, if you liked the old style, this is good for things like proposals and CVs. It works with the standard natbib.sty package, so you can create main-text and parenthetical references and produce a bibliography. Only the references you use get put in the bibliography, which is automatically ordered and formatted correctly. It also works with the bibentry.sty package so you can manually create bibliography entries for, say, your CV. Multiple references by the same author and possibly the same year get combined appropriately (e.g., Harrington et al. 1996a,b). There is also a set of examples that use the format. For quick (or non-Unix) downloads, here are the examples unpacked.

    Conference Information Technology and Office Services

    I ran the email and press rooms at the 1999 Asteroids, Comets, Meteors conference at Cornell University. If you do this, you, too, may get a rock named after you! Here's an explanation of how to do it well, including estimates for the number of machines needed, costs, and lists of things to do and to avoid. There are also several related files.
    Last revised: 2009 July 4 - J. Harrington