Ana Carolina De Souza Feliciano
Assistant Scientist
Florida Space Institute
Partnership I
astro.carol@ucf.edu
Research Groups
Ana Carolina de Souza Feliciano is a post-doctoral fellow at the Florida Space Institute, under the supervision of Dr. Noemi Pinilla-Alonso. She is part of UCF’s Preeminent Postdoctoral Program. The main interest of Carol de Souza-Feliciano is to study the surface composition of trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs), minor bodies of the Solar System that lie beyond Neptune. In particular, she is interested in better understanding the diversity of the entire population using ground- and space-based facilities. Due to that, she is involved in DiSCo-TNOs: Discovering the composition of the trans-Neptunian objects, icy embryos for planet formation, a James Webb Space Telescope program that will observe almost 60 TNOs led by Dr. Noemí Pinilla-Alonso.
Carol’s interest in astronomy began when he was an undergraduate student of physics at the Universidade Federal Fluminense in Brazil. Due to that, she ingresses in a master’s degree and Ph.D. in Astronomy on the Observatório Nacional, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The focus of her dissertation was on the observational analysis of minor bodies of the Solar System, such as Jupiter Trojans asteroids (targets of NASA Lucy mission) and trans-Neptunian objects using ground- and space-based facilities.
| Authors | Title | Published Date | Journal |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lellouch, E.; Wong, I.; Lavvas, P.; and 8 coauthors | Pluto’s atmosphere gas and haze composition from JWST/MIRI spectroscopy | Apr 2025 | Astronomy and Astrophysics 696, A147 |
| Brunetto, R.; Hénault, E.; Cryan, S.; and 19 coauthors | Spectral Diversity of DiSCo’s TNOs Revealed by JWST: Early Sculpting and Late Irradiation | Mar 2025 | The Astrophysical Journal 982, L8 |
| Hénault, E.; Brunetto, R.; Pinilla-Alonso, N.; and 19 coauthors | Irradiation origin and stability of CO on trans-Neptunian objects: Laboratory constraints and observational evidence from JWST/DiSCo-TNOs | Feb 2025 | Astronomy and Astrophysics 694, A126 |
| de Souza Feliciano, Ana Carolina; Alvarez-Candal, Alvaro; Brunetto, Rosario; and 10 coauthors | Constraining the dynamical evolution of the outer solar system with trans-Neptunian binaries | Feb 2024 | JWST Proposal. Cycle 3 , 6064 |
| Holler, Bryan Jason; Benecchi, Susan D.; Brunetto, Rosario; and 10 coauthors | Constraining the origin and dynamical evolution of extreme trans-Neptunian objects through NIR spectroscopy | Feb 2024 | JWST Proposal. Cycle 3 , 4665 |
| Souza-Feliciano, A. C.; Holler, B. J.; Pinilla-Alonso, N.; and 16 coauthors | Spectroscopy of the binary TNO Mors-Somnus with the JWST and its relationship to the cold classical and plutino subpopulations observed in the DiSCo-TNO project | Jan 2024 | Astronomy and Astrophysics 681, L17 |
| Wong, Ian; Protopapa, Silvia; Brunetto, Rosario; and 8 coauthors | Time-sensitive observations of Chiron: a unique active Centaur beyond 15 AU | Nov 2023 | JWST Proposal. Cycle 2 , 4621 |
| Grundy, Will M.; Cook, Jason Campbell; Holler, Bryan Jason; and 5 coauthors | Small Cold Classical TNOs as Witnesses of Outer Nebular Chemistry | May 2023 | JWST Proposal. Cycle 2 , 3991 |
| Pinilla-Alonso, Noemi; Bannister, Michele; Brunetto, Rosario; and 11 coauthors | DiSCo-TNOs: Discovering the composition of the trans-Neptunian objects, icy embryos for planet formation | Mar 2021 | JWST Proposal. Cycle 1 , 2418 |