Claudio Melo
RESEARCH ~ PUBLICATIONS ~ DOCUMENTS
Inspired by the work of Stephen Covey, great masters such as Mas Oyama and Gichin Funakoshi and the Zen popular literature, I have tried to exercise two main ideas in my doings: i) a servant leadership where my actions are emphatic and kind in nature and aimed to empower and give voice to those around me unleashing their potential to the mutual benefit of the Organization and the people working on it; and ii) strive to demonstrate initiative in all things and never fear action.
As ESO Representative in Chile, I am thrilled to use the wonders of the Universe and the educational potential of Astronomy to inspire the youth across the world and specially in Chile. I truly believe in the virtuous circle that science creates in society and in the collaborative roots upon which ESO stands. Along with the ESO staff in Chile, we take care of nurturing the already very good relations with the Government Officials, the vibrant scientific community in Chile - our Host State - and in the ESO fifteen member states.
RESEARCH
SEarch and characterization of Extrasolar planets in the near-infrared
Giving the considerable lower stellar noise and the wealth of molecular information, the future of the search and characterization of extrasolar planets requires precise high-resolution measurements acquired in the NIR likely with simultaneous optical spectroscopic observations. In the recent years, along with collaborators of the Institute of Astronomy (Porto), I have been involved in pioneering the extraction of RV in H - and K-band .
The next [big] step
After almost 20 years of an extraordinary development, the field of extrasolar planets is heading to revolutionize mankind by answering one of the most enduring questions we have ever asked: are we alone in the universe? To answer to that question we need to find habitable planets and be able to study their atmospheres. An armada of space missions is scheduled to fly during the next decade starting with the lunch of the JWST (2018) together with TESS (NASA, 2017/2018), CHEOPS (ESA 2018), and later PLATO (ESA, 2024). Ground based precise spectroscopic measurements collected from the ground are essential to characterize those planets.
I am an ad-hoc senior member (and former co-PI) of the Science Team of the Near InfraRed Planet Searcher (NIRPS) that will be mounted on the 3.6-m acquiring simultaneous observations with HARPS with a precision better than 1m/s. Together NIRPS+HARPS will make a unique powerful high-resolution precise spectrograph covering from 0.4 to 1.8 microns. NIRPS+HARPS will open up the path to look for habitable planets around M-type stars by following up the candidates found by the upcoming space missions. It will validate earth-like planets found around G and K-type stars whose signal is at the same order of magnitude than the stellar noise. Thanks to its high-resolution (100,000) and wide wavelength range, NIRPS+HARPS will be very competitive in the detection of reflected light and transmission spectroscopy studies.
In 2016, to avoid conflicts of interest, Melo left the co-PIship of the project and he is now a senior ad-hoc member of the Science Team. The NIRPS consortium is composed by Switzerland, Canada, Brazil, Portugal and Spain. The co-PIs are Francois Bouchy (Switzerland) and Rene Doyon (Canada). The project has passed FDR and has its first light scheduled for the second half of 2019.
highlighted Recent publications
- Search for associations containing young stars (SACY). VII. New stellar and substellar candidate members in the young associations, Elliott P., Bayo A., Melo C. H. F., Torres C. A. O., Sterzik M. F., Quast G. R., Montes D., Brahm R., A&A 2016, A13
- Search for associations containing young stars (SACY). VI. Is multiplicity universal? Stellar multiplicity in the range 3-1000 au from adaptive-optics observations, Elliott P., Huélamo N., Bouy H., Bayo A., Melo C. H. F., Torres C. A. O., Sterzik M. F., Quast G. R., Chauvin G., Barrado D., A&A 2015, A88
- Search for associations containing young stars (SACY). V. Is multiplicity universal? Tight multiple systems, Elliott P., Bayo A., Melo C. H. F., Torres C. A. O., Sterzik M., Quast G. R., A&A 2014, A26
- Search for giant planets in M67. III. Excess of hot Jupiters in dense open clusters, Brucalassi A., et al., A&A 2016, L1
- An extreme planetary system around HD 219828. One long-period super Jupiter to a hot-Neptune host star, Santos N. C., et al., A&A 2016, A13
- Four new planets around giant stars and the mass-metallicity correlation of planet-hosting stars, Jones M. I., et al., A&A 2016, A38
- Radial velocity information content of M dwarf spectra in the near-infrared, Figueira P., Adibekyan V. Z., Oshagh M., Neal J. J., Rojas-Ayala B., Lovis C., Melo C., Pepe F., Santos N. C., Tsantaki M., A&A 2016, A101
- Evidence for a spectroscopic direct detection of reflected light from 51 Pegasi b, Martins J. H. C., et al., A&A 2015, A134
USEFUL DOCUMENTS
- Wanna find your job? Find yourself first, Sep 2014
- Wanna find your job? Find yourself first, June 2016
- Should We Invest Time into Time Management?, May 2016
PRESENTING YOUR RESULTS
- How to prepare good presentations, Feb 2016
Proposal Preparation WS
EDUCATION
EMPLOYMENT
About me
