Moville Community College debs night<\/a><\/p>\nThe breakthrough research was led by PhD student Richelle van Capelleveen at Leiden University in the Netherlands, along with Dr Christian Ginski at University of Galway. Observations were made using the European Southern Observatory\u2019s Very Large Telescope in Chile\u2019s Atacama Desert – one of the most advanced facilities of its kind on Earth.<\/p>\n
Although McLachlan didn\u2019t travel to Chile, his contribution was key. He worked on \u2018deprojecting the disk\u2019 in which the planet was embedded – a complex mathematical process that transforms slanted telescope images into a clear, top-down view of the dusty rings encircling the young star.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlanets are born in these disks of dust and gas, but the disks aren\u2019t flat – they curve upwards as they extend away from the star,\u201d Dan explained. \u201cBecause we see them at an angle, you need to collapse and stretch the image mathematically to make sense of the structures.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what I worked on, alongside comparisons with models to see if one planet could explain the multiple rings we were observing.\u201d<\/p>\n
His analysis not only helped confirm WISPIT 2b\u2019s presence but will also aid future searches for young planets which are notoriously difficult to spot directly even with the most advanced technology.<\/p>\n
WISPIT 2b is located about 430 light-years away from Earth, which is to say it\u2019s very, very far away in terms of human travel…but it’s located in the same part of the Milky Way galaxy as us and could be described as being in our interstellar neighbourhood.<\/p>\n
Stargazing over Lough Foyle<\/p>\n
McLachlan, who is a former pupil at Scoil Naomh Fion\u00e1n in Whitecastle and Moville Community College, developed an early fascination with astronomy. Evenings spent stargazing with his father, followed by teenage viewings of the science-fiction epic \u20182001: A Space Odyssey\u2019, left him awestruck by the vastness of space.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was blown away by the film\u2019s vision of Jupiter and Saturn\u2019s moons,\u201d he recalled. \u201cIt planted a seed that\u2019s stayed with me ever since.\u201d<\/p>\n
That interest deepened during his undergraduate studies, when he undertook a final-year project modelling the Southern Ring Nebula, the glowing remains of a dying star. \u201cIt was the most exciting academic work I\u2019d ever done, and I knew then that I wanted to dedicate myself to astrophysics research.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now, after completing his master\u2019s degree in Galway, he is preparing to move to Prague to begin a PhD focusing on FS CMa stars – rare systems formed through stellar mergers.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn simple terms, it\u2019s about stars colliding and merging together,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a whole other frontier in understanding how stars live and die.\u201d<\/p>\n
Science and music<\/p>\n
Despite his growing reputation in astronomy circles, McLachlan\u2019s interests remain broad. A talented guitarist and traditional flute player, he spends much of his free time writing and recording music, often to the soundtrack of his favourite progressive rock bands Gentle Giant, Gong, and Henry Cow. He\u2019s also a keen birdwatcher, and jokes that he often alternates between looking through binoculars at the sky and at the hedgerows.<\/p>\n
His younger brother Garvan, 20, is studying politics, sociology and law, while their parents\u2019 careers in composition and music teaching have given Dan a deep appreciation for the arts alongside science. \u201cIt\u2019s a very creative household,\u201d he said. \u201cIn many ways, astronomy and music aren\u2019t so different – both involve looking for patterns, structure and beauty.\u201d<\/p>\n
A planet in the making<\/p>\n
WISPIT 2b has already captured the imagination of astronomers worldwide. Still glowing faintly from the heat of its formation, it was observed in both infrared and visible light, the latter confirming that it is actively accumulating gas to form its atmosphere.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis system will likely be a benchmark for years to come,\u201d said van Capelleveen, the discovery\u2019s lead author. Dr Ginski added that capturing such a clear image of a forming planet was \u201cextremely challenging\u201d but vital for understanding why exoplanetary systems often look so different from our own solar system.<\/p>\n
McLachlan, ever modest, insists the lion\u2019s share of credit goes to his supervisor and colleagues. \u201cRichelle and Christian deserve enormous recognition for leading this project,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m just grateful to have played a part.\u201d<\/p>\n
Staying grounded<\/p>\n
For all his enthusiasm for the cosmos, McLachlan is quick to point out that he has no desire to leave Earth himself.<\/p>\n
\u201cAbsolutely not!\u201d he laughed when asked about the prospect of travelling into space. \u201cFirst off, I\u2019m terrified of heights \u2013 flying by plane is already almost too much for me.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut more seriously, I think the billionaire dreams of colonising other planets are a bit of a cop-out from looking after the perfectly good one we already live on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Instead, he hopes to keep contributing from solid ground.<\/p>\n
His master\u2019s research on planet formation in so-called \u2018cometary globules\u2019 – dense, radiation-battered clouds of dust and gas – is being prepared for publication. \u201cIt\u2019s really a story about the troubled upbringing of bullied and put upon planets,\u201d he joked. \u201cYou could almost write it as a children\u2019s book.\u201d<\/p>\n
For now, he\u2019s savouring the experience of seeing his name attached to a major scientific breakthrough. \u201cIt still feels surreal,\u201d he admitted. \u201cI never thought I\u2019d be profiled in the paper for helping to discover a planet. It\u2019s the sort of thing you dream about as a kid, and now here we are.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Redcastle\u2019s Dan McLachlan, a postgraduate student at the University of Galway, sat down to pore over astronomical…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5100,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[1485,61,5969,60,5970,5968,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-5099","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-donegal","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-inishowen","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-moville","13":"tag-redcastle","14":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5099","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5099"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5099\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}