Jonathan Gagné

PhD in physics (astrophysics), University of Montreal

Jonathan Gagné is an astrophysics researcher at the Rio Tinto Alcan Planetarium. His research focuses on young stars, exoplanets and brown dwarfs, the latter of which are objects midway between stars and gas planets. He particularly studies collections of young stars that follow shared paths around our galaxy to determine the age of stars, an extremely difficult and crucial measurement to better understand the physical properties of stars, brown dwarfs and exoplanets, and how they change over time. He often uses mathematics, statistics, large datasets and machine learning tools, which he combines with kinematic measurements of stars, such as those obtained by the Gaia mission. He also leads telescope observation missions that aim to measure the kinematics and physical properties of stars using spectrometers, in visible light or near infrared.

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