Papers
3
Total Citations
127
H-Index
3
About
R. Alonso is a leading figure in the search for terrestrial exoplanets, specializing in the detection of temperate, Earth-sized worlds orbiting the smallest and coolest stars in our galaxy. His primary research focuses on ultracool dwarfs—late M-dwarfs and brown dwarfs—which offer a unique opportunity to characterize the atmospheres of potentially habitable planets. Alonso is the driving force behind the SPECULOOS project, a network of robotic 1-meter telescopes designed to conduct a targeted transit survey of the ~1,200 brightest ultracool dwarfs in the infrared. His foundational 2018 paper introducing the SPECULOOS concept has garnered 76 citations, establishing the project as a cornerstone of the field. He further expanded the survey’s reach with the 2022 paper on the SPECULOOS Northern Observatory (32 citations), which extends the search to the northern skies. By focusing on these elusive, low-mass targets, Alonso’s work directly enables the atmospheric characterization of temperate terrestrial planets with next-generation observatories like the James Webb Space Telescope, making him a pivotal figure in the quest to find and study habitable worlds beyond our solar system.
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