Main Focus
I am an astrophysicist with an expertise in exoplanet detection, planet formation, and planetary habitability. As a Team Leader of ESA's upcoming PLATO mission I coordinate the generation of the PLATO input sub-catalogs and the development of the Data Analysis Support Tools of the mission. In my research time, I led a search for extrasolar planets in the large data set from NASA's Kepler mission, in which we found dozens of new planets.
Curriculum Vitae
Education and Employment
2023-today Team Lead and Scientist for the PLATO space mission of ESA, MPS
2016-2023 Scientist for the PLATO space mission of ESA, MPS
2020 July Habilitation in astrophysics (promotion to lecture and supervise at German Universities), U Göttingen
2015-2016 DAAD scholar, Institute for Astrophysics Göttingen, U Göttingen
2013-2015 Postdoc fellow, Canadian Astrobiology Training Program, Origins Institute, McMaster U, Canada
2010-2013 Postdoc, Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam
2007-2010 PhD, DFG Graduiertenkolleg "Extrasolar Planets and Their Host Stars", Hamburger Sternwarte
Selected Awards
Selected Publications
[9]
(Astronomy & Astrophysics,
2022, Vol. 665, A11, 19 pp.)
R. Heller, J.-V. Harre, R. Samadi – Transit least-squares survey IV. Earth-like transiting planets expected from the PLATO mission [ADS]
[8]
(Astronomy & Astrophysics,
2020, Vol. 638, A10, 14 pp.)
R. Heller, M. Hippke, J. Freudenthal, K. Rodenbeck, N. M. Batalha, S. Bryson
— Transit least-squares survey.
III. A 1.9 Earth radius transit candidate in the habitable zone of Kepler-160 and a nontransiting
planet characterized by transit-timing variations
[ADS]
[7]
(Nature Astronomy,
2020, Vol. 4, Issue 4, pp. 294-295)
R. Heller
— Habitability is a continuous property of nature
[ADS]
| [Nature Astronomy free online PDF]
[6]
(Astronomy & Astrophysics,
2019, Vol. 623, A39, 13 pp.)
M. Hippke, R. Heller
— Optimized transit detection algorithm to search for periodic transits of small planets
[ADS]
[5]
(Astronomy
& Astrophysics,
2019, Vol. 628, A42, 14 pp.)
R. Heller
— Formation of hot Jupiters through disk migration and evolving stellar tides
ADS]
[4]
(Astronomy & Astrophysics,
2019, Vol. 627, A66, 10 pp.)
R. Heller, M. Hippke, K. Rodenbeck
— Transit least-squares survey. II.
Discovery and validation of 17 new sub- to super-Earth-sized planets in multi-planet systems from K2
[ADS]
[3]
(Astrobiology,
2014, Vol. 14, Issue 1, pp. 50-66)
R. Heller, J. Armstrong
— Superhabitable Worlds
[ADS]
[2]
(Astrobiology,
2013, Vol. 13, Issue 1, pp. 18-46,
Astrobiology cover story)
R. Heller, R. Barnes
— Exomoon habitability constrained by illumination and tidal heating
[ADS]
[1]
(Astronomy & Astrophysics,
2011, Vol. 528, A27, 16 pp.)
R. Heller, J. Leconte, R. Barnes
— Tidal obliquity evolution of potentially habitable planets
[ADS]