Dr Martin Dyer
School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences
Research Software Engineer
martin.dyer@sheffield.ac.uk
E13b, Hicks Building
Full contact details
Dr Martin Dyer
School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences
E13b
Hicks Building
Hounsfield Road
Sheffield
S3 7RH
School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences
E13b
Hicks Building
Hounsfield Road
Sheffield
S3 7RH
- Profile
-
I am a research software engineer based in the School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences at the University of Sheffield. I’m a member of the Astrophysics Research Cluster in MPS, as well as the Research Software Engineering team based in the School of Computer Science.
I completed my PhD in astronomy at the University of Sheffield in 2020, supervised by Prof Vik Dhillon. During my PhD I developed the hardware control and scheduling software for the Gravitational-wave Optical Transient Observer (GOTO) prototype telescope on La Palma in the Canary Islands.
After completing my PhD I continued working as a postdoc in the astronomy group, continuing my work on GOTO as part of a research project funded by the Leverhulme Trust. I also developed the design for the SAMNet solar-monitoring telescope with colleagues in the Solar Physics and Space Plasma Research Centre. In 2024 I transitioned to a permanent role as a research software engineer and a member of the university RSE team.
I’m the head of the Technical Working Group for the GOTO collaboration (https://goto-observatory.org), which as of 2023 operates four fully-robotic telescopes based at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory on La Palma and Siding Spring Observatory in New South Wales, Australia. I’m also a member of the HiPERCAM team (http://www.vikdhillon.staff.shef.ac.uk/hipercam), which operates the HiPERCAM, ULTRACAM and ULTRASPEC high-speed astronomical cameras in the Canary Islands, Chile and Thailand.As a member of the Research Software Engineering team at Sheffield, I’ve also worked on other research projects as a software developer, as well as running training sessions for staff and research students as part of the FAIR2 programme.
- Research interests
-
Astronomical instrumentation
Hardware control and scheduling
Transient astronomy
Gravitational waves
- Publications
-
Journal articles
- Long-term eclipse time variations in white dwarf binaries. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 547(2). View this article in WRRO
- Archival gravitational-wave optical transient observer photometry and zwicky transient facility localization of galactic novae: quiescent constraints and improved coordinates. Universe, 12(2). View this article in WRRO
- SN 2024cld: unveiling the complex mass-loss histories of evolved supergiant progenitors to core collapse supernovae. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. View this article in WRRO
- Discovery and analysis of afterglows from poorly localised GRBs with the Gravitational-wave Optical Transient Observer (GOTO) All-sky Survey. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 544(2), 1541-1587. View this article in WRRO
- SN 2024bfu, SN 2025qe, and the early light curves of type Iax supernovae. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 543(4), 3731-3753. View this article in WRRO
- Limits on the ejecta mass during the search for kilonovae associated with neutron star-black hole mergers: A case study of S230518h, GW230529, S230627c and the low-significance candidate S240422ed. Physical Review D, 112(8). View this article in WRRO
- Constraints on an optical counterpart for the long-period radio transient GPM J1839-10. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters, 544(1), L76-L82. View this article in WRRO
- GRB 241105A: A test case for GRB classification and rapid r-process nucleosynthesis channels. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 544(1), 548-571. View this article in WRRO
- A sibling of AR Scorpii: SDSS J230641.47+244055.8 and the observational blueprint of white dwarf pulsars. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 543(3), 2116-2129. View this article in WRRO
- A gravitational-wave-detectable candidate type Ia supernova progenitor. The Astrophysical Journal, 987(2). View this article in WRRO
- GOTO065054+593624: An 8.5 mag amplitude dwarf nova identified in real time via Kilonova Seekers. Astronomy & Astrophysics, 699. View this article in WRRO
- The double tidal disruption event AT 2022dbl implies that at least some “standard” optical tidal disruption events are partial disruptions. The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 987(1). View this article in WRRO
- Analysis of optical spectroscopy and photometry of the type I X-ray bursting system UW CrB. The Open Journal of Astrophysics, 8. View this article in WRRO
- High-precision light curves of geostationary objects: The PHANTOM ECHOES 2 RPO campaign. Advances in Space Research, 76(2), 764-783. View this article in WRRO
- A targeted search for binary white dwarf pulsars using Gaia and WISE. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 540(1). View this article in WRRO
- Two almost planetary mass survivors of common envelope evolution. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 537(2), 2112-2126. View this article in WRRO
- SN 2023tsz: a helium-interaction-driven supernova in a very low-mass galaxy. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 536(4), 3588-3600. View this article in WRRO
- Leveraging movement representation from contrastive learning for ssteroid detection. Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 136(12). View this article in WRRO
- Expanding the ultracompacts: gravitational-wave-driven mass transfer in the shortest-period binaries with accretion disks. The Astrophysical Journal, 977(2). View this article in WRRO
- Kilonova Seekers: the GOTO project for real-time citizen science in time-domain astrophysics. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 533(2), 2113-2132. View this article in WRRO
- A survey for radio emission from white dwarfs in the VLA Sky Survey. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 531(1), 1805-1822. View this article in WRRO
- GRB 230911A: The first discovery of a Fermi GRB optical counterpart with the gravitational-wave optical transient observer (GOTO). Research Notes of the AAS, 8(1). View this article in WRRO
- TIC 378898110: A bright, short-period AM CVn binary in TESS. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 527(2), 3445-3458. View this article in WRRO
- Heavy element production in a compact object merger observed by JWST. Nature, 626(8000), 737-741. View this article in WRRO
- An eclipsing 47 minute double white dwarf binary at 400 pc. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 525(2), 1814-1823. View this article in WRRO
- A rotating white dwarf shows different compositions on its opposite faces. Nature, 620(7972), 61-66. View this article in WRRO
- A 5.3-min-period pulsing white dwarf in a binary detected from radio to X-rays. Nature Astronomy, 7(8), 931-942. View this article in WRRO
- GRB 201015A and the nature of low-luminosity soft gamma-ray bursts. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 523(4), 4923-4937. View this article in WRRO
- Photometric follow-up of 43 new eclipsing white dwarf plus main-sequence binaries from the ZTF survey. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 521(2), 1880-1896. View this article in WRRO
- Self-supervised clustering on image-subtracted data with deep-embedded self-organizing map. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 518(1), 752-762. View this article in WRRO
- Two decades of optical timing of the shortest-period binary star system HM Cancri. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 518(4), 5123-5139. View this article in WRRO
- Long-term photometric monitoring and spectroscopy of the white dwarf pulsar AR Scorpii. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 516(4), 5052-5066. View this article in WRRO
- Multi-colour optical light curves of the companion star to the millisecond pulsar PSR J2051−0827. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 516(2), 2792-2800. View this article in WRRO
- Impact of noise transients on low latency gravitational-wave event localization. Physical Review D, 105(10).
- Characterising eclipsing white dwarf M dwarf binaries from multi-band eclipse photometry. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 513(2), 3050-3064. View this article in WRRO
- The Solar Activity Monitor Network - SAMNet. Journal of Space Weather and Space Climate, 12. View this article in WRRO
- The gravitational-wave optical transient observer (GOTO): prototype performance and prospects for transient science. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 511(2). View this article in WRRO
- The return of the spin period in DW Cnc and evidence of new high state outbursts. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 510(1), 1002-1009. View this article in WRRO
- System parameters of three short-period cataclysmic variable stars. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 509(4), 5086-5101. View this article in WRRO
- Optical detection of the rapidly spinning white dwarf in V1460 Her. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 507(4), 6132-6139. View this article in WRRO
- Searching for Fermi GRB optical counterparts with the prototype gravitational-wave optical transient observer (GOTO). Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 507(4), 5463-5476. View this article in WRRO
- HiPERCAM : a quintuple-beam, high-speed optical imager on the 10.4-m Gran Telescopio Canarias. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 507(1), 350-366. View this article in WRRO
- Light curve classification with recurrent neural networks for GOTO: dealing with imbalanced data. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 505(3), 4345-4361. View this article in WRRO
- Evidence that short-period AM CVn systems are diverse in outburst behaviour. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 502(4), 4953-4962.
- Processing GOTO data with the Rubin Observatory LSST Science Pipelines I: Production of coadded frames. Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia, 38. View this article in WRRO
- Observational constraints on the optical and near-infrared emission from the neutron star–black hole binary merger candidate S190814bv. Astronomy & Astrophysics, 643.
- Searching for electromagnetic counterparts to gravitational-wave merger events with the prototype Gravitational-wave Optical Transient Observer (GOTO-4). Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 497(1), 726-738. View this article in WRRO
- A pulsating white dwarf in an eclipsing binary. Nature Astronomy, 4(7), 690-696. View this article in WRRO
- The evolutionary status of Cataclysmic Variables: Eclipse modelling of 15 systems. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 486(4), 5535-5551. View this article in WRRO
- Rotational variation of the linear polarisation of the asteroid (3200) Phaethon as evidence for inhomogeneity in its surface properties. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters, 480(1), L131-L135. View this article in WRRO
- PTF1 J082340.04+081936.5: A hot subdwarf B star with a low-mass white dwarf companion in an 87-minute orbit. Astrophysical Journal, 835(2). View this article in WRRO
- Photometric masses for long period CVs: the case study of CSS131106. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
- ZTF J021804.16+071152.93: a dead cataclysmic variable and potential solution to the missing period bouncer cataclysmic variables. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
Conference proceedings
- The Gravitational-wave Optical Transient Observer (GOTO). Ground-based and Airborne Telescopes X, Vol. 13094. Yokohama, Japan, 16 June 2024 - 16 June 2024. View this article in WRRO
- GERry: a code to optimise the hunt for the electromagnetic counter-parts to gravitational wave events. Observatory Operations: Strategies, Processes, and Systems X, Vol. 13098 (pp 46-46). Yokohama, Japan, 16 June 2024 - 16 June 2024. View this article in WRRO
- Representing Source Movement in Sequences of Telescopic Images Based on Contrastive Learning for Asteroid Detection. 2023 27th International Computer Science and Engineering Conference (ICSEC) (pp 9-14), 14 September 2023 - 15 September 2023.
- The Gravitational-wave Optical Transient Observer (GOTO). Ground-based and Airborne Telescopes IX, Vol. 12182 (pp 121821y). Montréal, Québec, Canada, 17 July 2022 - 17 July 2022. View this article in WRRO
- Developing the GOTO telescope control system. Proceedings of SPIE : Software and Cyberinfrastructure for Astronomy VI, Vol. 11452. Online conference, 14 December 2020 - 14 December 2020. View this article in WRRO
- The Gravitational-wave Optical Transient Observer (GOTO). Ground-based and Airborne Telescopes VIII, Vol. 11445. Online, 14 December 2020 - 18 December 2020.
- A telescope control and scheduling system for the Gravitational-wave Optical Transient Observer (GOTO). Proceedings SPIE 10704, Observatory Operations: Strategies, Processes, and Systems VII, Vol. 10704. Austin, Texas, United States, 10 June 2018 - 10 June 2018. View this article in WRRO
Theses
- A telescope control and scheduling system for the Gravitational-wave Optical Transient Observer.
Preprints
- ZTF J021804.16+071152.93: a dead cataclysmic variable and potential solution to the missing period bouncers, arXiv.
- GOTO identification and broadband modelling of the counterpart to the SVOM GRB 250818B, arXiv.
- Long-term eclipse time variations in white dwarf binaries, arXiv.
- SN 2024cld: unveiling the complex mass-loss histories of evolved supergiant progenitors to core collapse supernovae, arXiv.
- Discovery and Analysis of Afterglows from Poorly Localised GRBs with the Gravitational-wave Optical Transient Observer (GOTO) All-sky Survey, arXiv.
- SN 2024bfu, SN 2025qe, and the early light curves of type Iax supernovae, arXiv.
- Constraints on an optical counterpart for the long-period radio transient GPM J1839-10, arXiv.
- GRB 241105A: A test case for GRB classification and rapid r-process nucleosynthesis channels, arXiv.
- A Sibling of AR Scorpii: SDSS J230641.47$+$244055.8 and the Observational Blueprint of White Dwarf Pulsars, arXiv.
- Analysis of optical spectroscopy and photometry of the type I X-ray bursting system UW CrB, arXiv.
- High-precision light curves of geostationary objects: The PHANTOM ECHOES 2 RPO campaign, arXiv.
- GOTO065054+593624: a 8.5 mag amplitude dwarf nova identified in real time via Kilonova Seekers, arXiv.
- A targeted search for binary white dwarf pulsars using Gaia and WISE, arXiv.
- Limits on the Ejecta Mass During the Search for Kilonovae Associated with Neutron Star-Black Hole Mergers: A case study of S230518h, GW230529, S230627c and the Low-Significance Candidate S240422ed, arXiv.
- Two almost planetary mass survivors of common envelope evolution, arXiv.
- GERry: A Code to Optimise the Hunt for the Electromagnetic Counter-parts to Gravitational Wave Events, arXiv.
- $textit{Kilonova Seekers}$: the GOTO project for real-time citizen science in time-domain astrophysics, arXiv.
- The Gravitational-wave Optical Transient Observer (GOTO), arXiv.
- A Survey for Radio Emission from White Dwarfs in the VLA Sky Survey, arXiv.
- A rotating white dwarf shows different compositions on its opposite faces, arXiv.
- An Eclipsing 47 minute Double White Dwarf Binary at 400 pc, arXiv.
- JWST detection of heavy neutron capture elements in a compact object merger, Springer Science and Business Media LLC.
- JWST detection of heavy neutron capture elements in a compact object merger, arXiv.
- GRB 201015A and the nature of low-luminosity soft gamma-ray bursts, arXiv.
- Photometric follow-up of 43 new eclipsing white dwarf plus main-sequence binaries from the ZTF survey.
- Self-Supervised Clustering on Image-Subtracted Data with Deep-Embedded Self-Organizing Map, arXiv.
- A rotating white dwarf with two faces, Springer Science and Business Media LLC.
- The Gravitational-wave Optical Transient Observer (GOTO), arXiv.
- Impact of noise transients on low latency gravitational-wave event localisation, arXiv.
- Characterising eclipsing white dwarf M dwarf binaries from multi-band eclipse photometry, arXiv.
- Found: a rapidly spinning white dwarf in LAMOST J024048.51+195226.9, arXiv.
- The return of the spin period in DW Cnc and evidence of new high state outbursts, arXiv.
- System parameters of three short period cataclysmic variable stars, arXiv.
- The Gravitational-wave Optical Transient Observer (GOTO): prototype performance and prospects for transient science, arXiv.
- Optical detection of the rapidly spinning white dwarf in V1460 Her, arXiv.
- Searching For Fermi GRB Optical Counterparts With The Prototype Gravitational-Wave Optical Transient Observer (GOTO), arXiv.
- HiPERCAM: a quintuple-beam, high-speed optical imager on the 10.4-m Gran Telescopio Canarias, arXiv.
- Light curve classification with recurrent neural networks for GOTO: dealing with imbalanced data, arXiv.
- Processing GOTO data with the Rubin Observatory LSST Science Pipelines II: Forced Photometry and light curves, arXiv.
- Transient-optimised real-bogus classification with Bayesian Convolutional Neural Networks -- sifting the GOTO candidate stream, arXiv.
- Evidence that short period AM CVn systems are diverse in outburst behaviour, arXiv.
- Developing the GOTO telescope control system, arXiv.
- The Gravitational-wave Optical Transient Observer (GOTO), arXiv.
- Processing GOTO data with the Rubin Observatory LSST Science Pipelines I : Production of coadded frames, arXiv.
- Machine Learning for Transient Recognition in Difference Imaging With Minimum Sampling Effort, arXiv.
- Searching for Electromagnetic Counterparts to Gravitational-wave Merger Events with the Prototype Gravitational-wave Optical Transient Observer (GOTO-4), arXiv.
- Observational constraints on the optical and near-infrared emission from the neutron star-black hole binary merger S190814bv, arXiv.
- Spectroscopic and Photometric Periods of Six Ultracompact Accreting Binaries, arXiv.
- A pulsating white dwarf in an eclipsing binary, arXiv.
- The evolutionary status of Cataclysmic Variables: Eclipse modelling of 15 systems, arXiv.
- Rotational variation of the linear polarisation of the asteroid (3200) Phaethon as evidence for inhomogeneity in its surface properties, arXiv.
- PTF1 J082340.04+081936.5: A hot subdwarf B star with a low mass white dwarf companion in an 87 minute orbit, arXiv.
- Long-term eclipse time variations in white dwarf binaries. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 547(2). View this article in WRRO
- Research group
-
Astrophysics Research Cluster (https://sheffield.ac.uk/mps/research/physics/astrophysics)
Research Software Engineering (https://rse.sheffield.ac.uk)