Dr Alexander Scholz
Director of the University Observatory and Reader
- Phone
- +44 (0)1334 46 1668
- as110@st-andrews.ac.uk
Teaching
My teaching is focused on observational and introductory astrophysics. I am module coordinator and lecturer in first year astrophysics. I also coordinate the observational components of the MSc program in astrophysics. I provide observing training at our local telescopes for postgraduate and undergraduate students. In addition, I teach introductory astronomy for non-science students.
Research areas
I am an observational astronomer working on problems in star and planet formation. Since 2006 I am leading the project SONYC, which conducts unbiased extremely deep imaging and spectroscopy surveys of nearby star forming regions, with the goal to find all young brown dwarfs and free-floating planetary mass objects. This project will continue in the next years with new facilities like James Webb Space Telescope and with Gaia. I analyse accretion and disks of young sources, with the goal to constrain formation scenarios for stars, brown dwarfs and planets. Using time-domain observations, I study rotation, surface properties, and the dynamical environments of young stellar and substellar objects. I am working with 8-m telescopes like the ESO/VLT and Subaru, with space telescopes like Spitzer and Kepler, with submm facilities like ALMA and SMA, with the robotic 1-m telescoes of the Las Cumbres Observatory, and with our local James Gregory Telescope, the largest telescope in Scotland.
PhD supervision
- Daniel Capela
Selected publications
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Open access
Damian, B., Jose, J., Scholz, A., Rom谩n Z煤帽iga, C., Shridharan, B., Su谩rez, G., Downes, J. J., Das, S. R., Kartha, S. S. & Gupta, S., 1 Aug 2026, In: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 550, 3, 15 p., stag1255.
Research output: Contribution to journal 鈥� Article 鈥� peer-review
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Open access
do Brito do Vale, A. R. G., Mu啪i膰, K., Bouy, H., Almendros-Abad, V., Bayo, A., Capela, D., Scholz, A., Bik, A., Su谩rez, G., Cieza, L., Pe帽a Ram铆rez, K., Bertin, E. & Sch枚del, R., 17 Feb 2026, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Astronomy & Astrophysics. 706, p. A149
Research output: Contribution to journal 鈥� Article 鈥� peer-review
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Open access
Pavlidou, T., Scholz, A. & Muzic, K., 1 Mar 2026, In: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 546, 3, 12 p., stag160.
Research output: Contribution to journal 鈥� Article 鈥� peer-review
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Open access
Capela, D., Scholz, A., Mu啪ic, K., Bouy, H., Damian, B., Almendros-Abad, V. & Bayo, A., 1 Nov 2026, In: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 552, 4, 17 p., stag1857.
Research output: Contribution to journal 鈥� Article 鈥� peer-review
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Open access
Flagg, L., Scholz, A., Almendros-Abad, V., Jayawardhana, R., Damian, B., Mu啪i膰, K., Natta, A., Pinilla, P. & Testi, L., 20 Jun 2025, In: Astrophysical Journal. 986, 2, 6 p., 200.
Research output: Contribution to journal 鈥� Article 鈥� peer-review
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Open access
Almendros-Abad, V., Scholz, A., Damian, B., Jayawardhana, R., Bayo, A., Flagg, L., Mu啪i膰, K., Natta, A., Pinilla, P. & Testi, L., 10 Oct 2025, In: Astrophysical Journal Letters. 992, 1, 7 p., L2.
Research output: Contribution to journal 鈥� Article 鈥� peer-review
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Open access
Seo, H. H. & Scholz, A., 1 Mar 2025, In: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 537, 3, p. 2579-2585 7 p.
Research output: Contribution to journal 鈥� Article 鈥� peer-review
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Open access
Lightfoot, J. & Scholz, A., 1 Jun 2025, In: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 540, 1, p. 52-59 8 p.
Research output: Contribution to journal 鈥� Article 鈥� peer-review
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Open access
Damian, B., Scholz, A., Jayawardhana, R., Almendros-Abad, V., Flagg, L., Mu啪i膰, K., Natta, A., Pinilla, P. & Testi, L., 1 Aug 2025, In: Astronomical Journal. 170, 2, 11 p., 127.
Research output: Contribution to journal 鈥� Article 鈥� peer-review
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Open access
Pe帽a, C. C., Lee, J.-E., Herczeg, G., Johnstone, D., 脕brah谩m, P., Antoniucci, S., Audard, M., Ashraf, M., Baek, G., Garatti, A. C. O., Carvalho, A., Cieza, L., de Miera, F.C.-S., Eisl枚ffel, J., Froebrich, D., Giannini, T., Green, J., Ghosh, A., Guo, Z. & Hillenbrand, L. & 22 others, , 29 Sept 2025, In: Journal of the Korean Astronomical Society. 58, 2, p. 209-230 22 p.
Research output: Contribution to journal 鈥� Article 鈥� peer-review