Research

My research is largely focused within the field of observational astronomy and development of software tools for data reduction and analysis, with a specialism in observations of small solar system bodies (comets and asteroids). A full list of my publications can be found here. You can view my ORCiD profile here.

I focus specifically in the following areas:

  • Modelling of the thermal environment of asteroids to constrain their physical properties.
  • Characterisation of spin & surface properties of asteroids from optical observations.
  • Limitations of phase curve observations from various ground-based studies.
  • Optimisation of telescope systems & operations.
  • Development & implementation of new capabilities for robotic observatories.
  • Development of automated tools for the analysis of moving object observations.

PhD Research

There were two key components driving my PhD research project. There was an investigation into the capabilities of small-aperture robotic telescopes for studying asteroids, and how we may optimise the scientific output of such observatories in this field. The other component was the study of phase curve variability between different apparitions of an asteroid, and an investigation into the physical properties of the observed objects. These two components were combined into one project through the use of the OpenScience Observatories.

My PhD thesis is available open access here.

Select Publications

Peer Reviewed Papers
  • Jackson, S. L., Rozitis, B., Dover, L. R., Green, S. F., Kolb, U. C., Andrews, A. E., & Lowry, S. C. (2022). The Effect of Aspect Changes on Near-Earth Asteroid Phase Curves. MNRAS, 513(2), 3076-3089. CLICK HERE TO ACCESS.
  • Jackson, S. L., Kolb, U. C., & Green, S. F. (2021). Asteroid Photometry with PIRATE: Optimizations and Techniques for Small-Aperture Telescopes. PASP, 133, 075003. CLICK HERE TO ACCESS.
  • Dover, L., Lowry, S. C., Rożek A., Rozitis, B., Jackson, S. L., Zegmott, T., Krugly, Yu. N., Belskaya, I. N., Fitzsimmons, A., Green, S. F., Snodgrass, C., Weissman, P. R., Brozović, M., Benner, L. A. M., Busch, M. W., Ayvazian, V. R., Chiorny, V., Inasaridze, R. Ya., Krugov, M., Mykhailova, S., Reva, I., Hibbert, J. (2023). Physical modelling of near-Earth asteroid (23187) 2000 PN9 with ground-based optical and radar observations. MNRAS, 525(3), 4581-4595. CLICK HERE TO ACCESS
  • Chabot, N. L. + 128 co-authors incl. Jackson, S. L. (2024). Achievement of the Planetary Defense Investigations of the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) Mission. PSJ, 5, 49. CLICK HERE TO ACCESS
  • Rozitis, B., Green, S. F., Jackson, S. L., Snodgrass, C., Opitom, C., Müller, T. G., Kolb, U. C., Chesley, S. R., Daly, R. T., Thomas, C. A., and Rivkin, A. S. (2024). Pre-Impact Thermophysical Properties and the Yarkovsky Effect of NASA DART Target (65803) Didymos. MNRAS, in press.
Conference Presentations and Abstracts
  • Jackson, S. L., Kolb, U. C., Green, S. F., Rozitis, B., and Robinson, J. (2023). Asteroid Photometry with the OpenScience Observatories. Asteroids, Comets, and Meteors conference, Flagstaff, Arizona, USA.
  • Jackson, S. L., Snodgrass, C., Opitom, C., Donaldson, A., Ferellec, L., Robinson, J., Juma, C., Okoth, V., Shisia, R., Huka, W., Rożek, A., Leishman, M., Leakey, A., Baki, P., Obonyo, W., Vaughan, R., Wells, M., Murabana, S., and Owen, C. (2023). Observing the DART impact from Kenya. Asteroids, Comets, and Meteors conference, Flagstaff, Arizona, USA.
  • Jackson, S. L., Rozitis, B., Dover, L. R., Green, S. F., Kolb, U. C., Andrews, A. E., and Lowry, S. C. (2023). The Dependence of Near-Earth Asteroid Phase Curves on Aspect Geometry. Asteroids, Comets, and Meteors conference, Flagstaff, Arizona, USA.
  • Fitzsimmons, A. Berthier, J., Denneau, L., Jackson, S., Lister, T., Raducan, S., Rivkin, A. S., Sickafoose, A., Thomas, C., and the DART Investigation Team (2023). Multi-Observatory Imaging of a Vapor Plume Originating from the DART Impact with Dimorphos. Asteroids, Comets, and Meteors conference, Flagstaff, Arizona, USA.
  • Rozitis, B., Green, S. F., Jackson, S. L., Snodgrass, C., Opitom, C., Müller, T. G., Kolb, U. C., Chesley, S. R., Daly, R. T., Thomas, C. A., and Rivkin, A. S. (2023). Pre-Impact Photometric and Mid-Infrared Observations of NASA DART Target (65803) Didymos. Asteroids, Comets, and Meteors conference, Flagstaff, Arizona, USA.
  • Snodgrass, C., Opitom, C., Rożek, A., Jackson, S. L., Murphy, B., Pravec, P., Robinson, J., Donaldson, A., Ferellec, L., Gardener, D., Huka, W., Juma, C., Obonyo, W., Okoth, V., Shisia, R., Leakey, A., Baki, P., Vaughan, R., Wells, M., Murabana, S., Owen, C., Kušnirák, P., Hornoch, K., de Leon, J., Migliorini, A., Bagnulo, S., Gray, Z., Granvik, M., Cellino, A., Green, S. F., Rozitis, B., Müller, T., and the MiNDSTEp and NEOROCKS teams. Observations of the DART Impact from Kenya and Chile. Planetary Defense Conference 2023, Vienna, Austria.
  • Jackson, S. L., Rozitis, B., Green, S. F., Kolb, U. C., Andrews, A. E, Dover, L., and Lowry, S. C. (2022). Using Hapke Modelling to Probe Near-Earth Asteroid Phase Curves, DPS 2022, Bulletin of the AAS, 54(8). CLICK HERE TO ACCESS ABSTRACT.
  • Jackson, S. L., Rozitis, B., Dover, L. R., Green, S. F., Kolb, U. C., Andrews, A. E., and Lowry, S. C. (2022). Consequences of Aspect Dependency within Asteroid Phase Curves. National Astronomy Meeting 2022, Warwick, UK.
  • Jackson, S. L., Rozitis, B., Green, S. F., Kolb, U. C., Andrews, A. E, Dover, L., and Lowry, S. C. (2021). Phase Curve Variability of near-Earth Asteroids, EPSC 2021, EPSC2021-255. CLICK HERE TO ACCESS ABSTRACT.
Other Publications
  • Jackson, S. L. (2020). Revealing the surface of an asteroid using robotic telescopes. OpenLearn, The Open University. CLICK HERE TO ACCESS.

Master's Research

Near-Earth asteroid (1917) Cuyo has been previously observed to have a rotation period of 2.689787 ± 0.000001h (Rożek et al., 2013), close to its rotational fission limit (the point at which material may begin to leave the surface, Pravec et al., 2002). Recent analysis by Lowry et al. (2018) determined that material may be leaving the surface of the asteroid. If material were to be leaving the surface of Cuyo, a decrease in the rotation rate would be observed due to conservation of angular momentum. This project therefore aimed to analyse the rotation properties of Cuyo from data taken at Palmer Divide Observatory in 2014 and 2017, and to analyse the accuracy of previously extracted lightcurves by Warner (2014, 2015, 2017).
Jackson, S. L. (2019). Asteroid (1917) Cuyo: The Formation of a Binary Asteroid System? (Master's dissertation). University of Kent.