Lord Dover

Lord gained a BSc in Astrophysics and an MSc by Research in Astronomy at the University of Hertfordshire before starting a PhD at the University of Kent in 2019. Working under the supervision of Professor Stephen Lowry, his thesis title is “Observations of Solar System Small Bodies”.
While at the University of Hertfordshire, he worked at Bayfordbury Observatory teaching observational astronomy, organising outreach events and presenting in the UK’s largest mobile planetarium. He currently works as an astronomer at the Beacon Observatory and continues to be involved in various outreach and public engagement projects.

Lord's research interests are primarily focused on the Yarkovsky-O’Keefe-Radzievskii-Paddack (YORP) effect. The YORP effect alters the spin-state of asteroids via emission of thermal energy and scattering of solar radiation. By generating shape models from optical and radar observations, the spin-state of an asteroid can be determined and used to detect YORP induced changes.

As part of an ongoing YORP programme, he regularly observes near-Earth asteroids using a variety of optical telescopes in Chile and the Canary Islands.

Supervised by Dr Stephen Lowry