Aaron Bello-Arufe

Aaron Bello-Arufe is a JPL Postdoctoral Fellow at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where he investigates the atmospheres of planets around other stars. Aaron uses data from telescopes like JWST to study the atmospheric composition of small exoplanets in different environments. He aims to understand what factors drive atmospheric evolution and retention, and, ultimately, the conditions necessary to form Earth-like habitable exoplanets.

Aaron is originally from Noia, a charming coastal town in northwestern Spain. Prior to arriving at JPL, Aaron received his BSc in Physics from the University of Santiago de Compostela and Umeå University. He then received his MSc in Earth and Space Physics and Engineering and PhD in Astrophysics from the Technical University of Denmark. During this time, he was also a visiting student researcher at Caltech.

As part of his PhD studies, Aaron investigated the atmospheric composition, dynamics and escape of extremely irradiated Jupiter-sized planets using high-resolution spectroscopy, and he demonstrated the capabilities of modest-sized telescopes like the Nordic Optical Telescope to probe exoplanet atmospheres. Aaron’s work led to the first analysis of the remarkably rich transmission spectrum of HAT-P-70b, as well as the characterization of the atmosphere of HAT-P-67b, the lowest-density gas giant currently known.