Prof. Quinn Konopacky
Assistant Professor
Pronouns:
she/her
Department:
Dunlap
Research:
Konopacky’s research focused on the formation and evolution of stars and planetary systems.
Quinn Konopacky is a member of a team that discovered, in 2010, a gas giant planet in orbit around the star HR 8799. Using images obtained with the Keck II telescope, she and the group continue to characterize the planet and its three previously-discovered companions, as well as their orbits.
At the Dunlap Institute, using high-resolution imaging and spectroscopy to study the orbits and characteristics of exoplanets, Konopacky’s research focused on the formation and evolution of stars and planetary systems.
In December 2014, she left the Dunlap to become Assistant Professor, Department of Physics, at the Center for Astrophysics & Space Sciences, UC San Diego, where she will continue her work on high-angular-resolution studies of sub-stellar objects, like brown dwarfs and exoplanets. She will continue to specialize in directly-imaged exoplanets and is the astrometry team leader on the Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) instrument and campaign team.
