Within the Directorate for Science at its Headquarters in Garching, near Munich, Germany, ESO is inviting university students to apply to our ESO Summer Research Programme. The ESO Summer Research Programme is an opportunity for university students from science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields who have not yet started a PhD programme and have completed at least two years of their degree.

Within the scope of this programme, there are seven exciting individual projects topics to choose from. Please visit https://eso.org/sci/meetings/2026/SummerResearch2026.html to review all seven project topics, as you can only apply to one.

Applications for the ESO Summer Research Programme will be considered from students taking any astronomy, physical science, computer science or mathematical degree subjects. However, it is expected that students have some knowledge of physics, programming, data analysis techniques and, preferably, astronomy.

Students will be selected for the programme based on their academic achievements, research potential and likelihood to significantly benefit from the experience. Particular attention will be given to the motivation of the students to join the programme and specific motivation for Project C:

Project C: Aligned, askew, or wildly tilted? Measuring an exoplanet’s orbit

Supervisors: Bibiana Prinoth, Jens Kammerer, Sydney Vach, Juliana Ehrhardt

When a planet passes in front of its star, it consecutively covers different parts of the stellar surface. Because stars rotate, each portion of the stellar disc has a slightly different velocity. This creates a temporary distortion in the star's spectrum during transit - known as the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect - and acts as a powerful tracer of how a planet's orbit is oriented relative to the star's spin, offering key insights into how planetary systems form and how their orbits evolve over time.

This project will use high-resolution spectroscopic observations to detect and model the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect for a transiting exoplanet. The analysis involves converting time-series spectra into radial-velocity measurements, identifying the characteristic anomaly during transit, and fitting physical models that describe the star's rotation and the planet's path across the stellar disc. By comparing results across different wavelength regimes, the project will explore how observational setup influences the precision of spin-orbit measurements and may help guide future observing strategies.