Christiansen uses
Citizen Science and the
Zooniverse to help in her quest for exoplanets using the
Kepler Space Telescope K2 dataset.[7][8] She worked with Professor Ian Crossfield at
MIT to ensure that the K2 data was made public, and in January 2018 announced the discovery of 5 massive exoplanets orbiting the sun-like star K2-138.[9][10][11][12][13] The
exoplanets make up the longest chain of synchronised exoplanets ever discovered, orbiting in near-perfect resonance to their star.[14][15] In an interview with the BBC, Christiansen spoke about the importance of crowdsourcing research projects "people anywhere can log on and learn what real signals from exoplanets look like, and then look through actual data collected from the Kepler telescope to vote on whether or not to classify a given signal as a transit, or just noise".[16]
Alongside being the plenary speaker at academic conferences, Christiansen gives public talks about her research.[17][18] She has returned to her alma mater,
ANU, to discuss her research "Characterising the Kepler Survey Completeness".[19] In July 2018 Christiansen won the
NASA Exceptional Engineering Achievement Medal for her work on the Kepler planet sample.[20]
Public engagement
Christiansen appeared on the
Discovery Science program
NASA's Unexplained Files.[21] She recorded a panel discussion at Caltech, talking about the science behind
Syfy's
The Expanse.[22] In 2018 she will appear in Ali Alvarez's documentary Under The Same Stars, about American women astrophysicists. She also discusses exoplanets and the Kepler mission on popular science podcasts.[23][24]
Her writing has appeared on popular science websites, including the
New Scientist,[25]Smithsonian Magazine,[26] and BBC News.[27] In 2015 Christiansen joined 278 other scientists in a letter to the
New York Times to object to their article that minimized the trauma of people who accused Professor
Geoff Marcy of sexual advances.[28][29]
^Hidas, Marton; Webb, John; Ashley, Michael; Phillips, Andre; Christiansen, Jesse; Hamacher, Duane Willis; Curran, Stephen; Irwin, M.; Agrain, S. (2007).
"The University of New South Wales Extrasolar Planet Search". Transiting Extrapolar Planets Workshop: 45–50.
^Director, RSAA; webmaster@mso.anu.edu.au (13 August 2013).
"Colloquia Recordings". Research School of Astronomy & Astrophysics. Retrieved 16 January 2018.