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Gaia People

Alessandro Sozzetti is a Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) Fellow at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (Cambridge, Masshachusetts). His broad interest is the science of planetary systems from an observational viewpoint. His expertise covers primarily the fields of spectroscopic and astrometric searches for extrasolar planets. He recently confirmed the existence of the transiting giant planet TrES-1 (only the second ever to be found orbiting a bright star) by means of precise radial-velocity measurements (see astro-ph paper).

Alessandro is currently a core member of the Planetary Systems Working Group (PSWG), as well as Associate Member of the Double and Multiple Stars Working Group (DMSWG) and Simulations Working Group (SWG). He has contributed significantly to the effort to quantify the ability of Gaia to detect extrasolar planets around solar-type stars in the solar neighbourhood, and to measure their orbital properties and masses (results published in several scientific papers). Most recently he has delivered software modules for astrometric planet detection and orbit reconstruction to the GDAAS data analysis prototype study. He is also actively participating in the extensive Double-Blind Tests campaign conducted by the PSWG to provide a meaningful assessment of Gaia's extrasolar planet-finding capabilities under realistic analysis procedures.