The rise & fall of the giant planet occurrence rate

Giant planets like Jupiter play a key role in shaping the architecture of planetary systems. However, they make up only a tiny fraction of the 5,000+ exoplanets known today.

Giant planets are found most frequently around stars 1.7 times as massive as the Sun, and the occurrence rate drops to zero around stars 2.5 times as massive as our Sun.

This talk will explore how giant planets form, why they are special, and the rise and fall of the giant planet occurrence rate.

Dr Heather Fenwick Johnston is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Exeter where she works on all things to do with planet formation and evolution – everything from asteroid belts and meteorites to building giant planets like Jupiter. She completed her undergraduate degree in Physics at the University of Dundee in 2020 and her first research project was studying spots in young stars. She then moved to the University of Leeds to do her PhD in planet formation around different kinds of stars and got her doctorate in 2024, before moving to the south west where she now works.