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Denise Stephens
Assistant Professor
Contact Information
Office N486 ESC
Telephone (801) 422-2167
Email Send a message
Schedule
Office Hours MWF 10-11 am
TTH 2:15-3 pm
Research Meetings Thurs 11 am in N-485 ESC
Teaching Assignments
Physics 227 1:00p - 2:15p TTh C460 ESC
Research
Research Group Astronomy
Specialty Brown Dwarfs, Kuiper Belt Objects
Background
Dr. Stephen's received her bachelors degree from BYU and her masters and PhD from New Mexico State University and then went on to work at the Space Telescope Science Institute and Johns Hopkins University before coming to BYU. She specializes in the study of brown dwarf atmospheres. Brown dwarfs are very cool objects that form like a star, but do not have enough mass to fuse hydrogen into helium as stars do. Thus, they are very similar to planets and have various molecules and cloud features in the upper atmosphere. Her research focuses on understanding the fundamental physics governing the atmospheres of these objects so that the models we create for these objects can be taken to the even cooler temperatures of the extrasolar planets.
 
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