dics Nicola Gentile Fusillo

About Me

Education: I got my International Baccalaureate at the United World College of the Atlantic in Wales (UK) in 2007 before moving to the University of Warwick (UK) where I did an integrated Master degree in physics and got my PhD in Astronomy in 2016.

Research Interests: White dwarfs (those tiny old stars), evolved planetary systems (very old, pretty much just dust), large area surveys (stuff like Gaia...Gaia is great)

Publications: You can find the full list of my peer-reviewed publications here: ADS library

Other Interests: Films, Table top gaming and martial arts!

Research

White Dwarfs in the era of Gaia
Nearly all the stars in the Galaxy share the same final fate: one day they will become white dwarfs. Despite this somewhat negative connotation as dead stars, white dwarfs are actually extremely important objects of study with many key scientific applications. These ancient stars are, however, small and faint, and for decades their observation has been a challenging task. That's where the ESA mission Gaia and I come in.
Using data from Gaia, I am tryig to identify all the white dwarfs in our Galactic neighbourhood. I have already created the largest and most complete white dwarf catalogue to date and in just 3 years I discovered 10 times more white dwarfs that had been found in the previous 50!

White dwarfs, dust, discs and debris
When did planets first form? What are the planets around distant stars made of? How common or rare are planets like the Earth? What happens to planets once their host star reaches the end of ist life? What is the destiny of the Earth? Some rare white dwarfs still host the remnants of their planetary systems and hold the answers to these critical questions. My research focuses on identifying and characterizing these objects in order to build a better understanding of planets beyond our Solar System.

Community

Teaching:
Laboratory demonstrator for undergraduate students at the University of Warwick; 2011 - 2013
Master-level student co-supervisor at the University of Warwick; January - July, 2016
Master-level student co-supervisor for 6 weeks as part of the 2nd ESO summer research programme July-August 2020
Master-level student co-supervisor for 6 weeks as part of the 3rd ESO summer research programme July-August 2021
Lecturer for the undergraduate course ”Introduzione all’astrofisica” at the physics department of the University of Trieste October 2023-ongoing
Lecturer for the undergraduate course ”Fisica” at the department of medical sciences of the University of Trieste October 2023-ongoing

Outreach:
Regular organiser of outreach events at elementary and junior-high schools in Italy since 2016
ESO spokeperson at the EuroScience Open Forum (ESOF 2020) Trieste in September 2020 -- Watch it here (in italian)
Speaker at AstroZoom Public Introductory Astronomy Webinar Series in November 2020
Speaker at AstronomiAmo online seminar in May 2022 -- Watch it here (in italian)
Four lessons online lecture course for AstronomiAmo in February 2023

Talks

Invited:
• Seminar at Boston University astronomy group (USA) -- July, 2021
• Summer workshop on white dwarfs and related objects, University of Warwick (UK) -- July, 2021
• KITP online conference: White Dwarfs from Physics to Astrophysics -- March, 2021
-- Watch it here
• Seminar at OA Trieste (Italy) --June, 2020

Contributed:
• SDSS V Science collaboration meeting, New York (USA) -- August, 2023
• ESA Sci Science 15th Workshop, Akersloot (Netherlands) -- December, 2022
• White Dwarfs from Physics to Astrophysics, KITP, Isla Vista (USA) -- November, 2022
• 22nd European White Dwarf Workshop, Tubingen (Germany) -- August, 2022
• Congresso Nazionale Oggetti Compatti XI, Firenze (Italy) -- November, 2019
• IAU Symposium: White Dwarfs as Probes of Fundamental Physics and Tracers of Planetary, Stellar, and Galactic Evolution; Hilo (USA) -- October, 2019
• Royal Astronomical Society specialist meeting, London (UK) -- October, 2018 -- Watch it here
• ESO Workshop: A Revolution in Stellar Physics with Gaia and Large Surveys, Warsaw (Poland) -- September, 2018
• 21th European White Dwarf Workshop, Austin (USA) -- July, 2018
• EWASS 2018, Liverpool (UK) -- April, 2018
• Congresso Nazionale Oggetti Compatti X, Padova (Italy) -- December, 2017
• Gaia data workshop, Heidelberg (Germany) -- November, 2016
• 20th European White Dwarf Workshop, University of Warwick (UK) -- August, 2016
• 19th European White Dwarf Workshop, Montreal (Canada) -- August, 2014
• National Atronomy Meeting, St Andrews (UK) -- July, 2013
• 18th European White Dwarf Workshop, Krakow (Poland) -- August, 2012