Publications

A selection of my work is below. For more — including co-authored papers, conference abstracts, and presentations — see my ORCID record or NASA ADS.

Recent work (2026)

M. J. Person et al., “Analysis of the 2017 Triton occultation from SOFIA and ground-based observatories.” (in preparation)
A. Colclasure et al. (incl. M. J. Person), “Three chords of trans-Neptunian object (28978) Ixion from May 2021 occultations.” (in preparation)
A. A. Sickafoose et al. (incl. M. J. Person), “Changes in Pluto's atmosphere based on stellar occultation data from 2017–2023.” (accepted; awaiting publication)

M. J. Person et al., “Haze in Pluto's atmosphere: results from SOFIA and ground-based observations of the 2015 June 29 Pluto occultation,” Icarus 356 (2021).
M. J. Person et al., “The 2011 June 23 stellar occultation by Pluto: airborne and ground observations,” Astronomical Journal 146 (2013).
M. J. Person et al., “Waves in Pluto's upper atmosphere,” Astronomical Journal 136, 1510–1518 (2008).
M. J. Person, J. L. Elliot et al., “Charon's radius and density from the combined data sets of the 2005 July 11 occultation,” Astronomical Journal 132, 1575–1580 (2006).
M. J. Person, S. J. Bus, L. H. Wasserman, & J. L. Elliot, “Chiron stellar occultation candidates: 1996–2000,” Astronomical Journal 112, 1683–1689 (1996). — my first published first-author paper.

K. Schindler, E. Dunham, & M. J. Person, “Sternbedeckungen mit HIPO, FLITECAM, and FPI+” [Stellar occultations with HIPO, FLITECAM, and FPI+], SOFIA Mission infrarotes Universum, Universität Stuttgart (2025).
M. E. Summers, L. A. Young, G. R. Gladstone, & M. J. Person, “Composition and structure of Pluto's atmosphere,” in The Pluto System After New Horizons, Univ. of Arizona Press (2021).

L. A. Young & M. J. Person, “Calculating occultation light curves using wavelets: exponential atmospheres and the constraints of static stability,” Planetary Science Journal 6 (2025).
W. R. Saunders, M. J. Person, P. Withers et al., “The upper atmosphere of Uranus from stellar occultations. I. Methods and validation,” Planetary Science Journal 4 (2023).
J. L. Elliot, M. J. Person, & S. Qu, “Analysis of stellar occultation data. II. Inversion, with application to Pluto and Triton,” Astronomical Journal 126, 1041–1079 (2003).

Ph.D., Planetary Sciences, MIT (2006) — The use of stellar occultations to study the figures and atmospheres of small bodies in the outer solar system.
S.M., Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, MIT (2001) — The non-sphericity of Triton's atmosphere as evidenced by stellar occultations.
S.B., Physics, MIT (1994) — Reflectance spectra of the Galilean satellites of Jupiter.