Rauer is one of the leading experts in modern exoplanet research in Germany. Her research has made considerable inroads in the discovery and characterization of extrasolar planets. To date, most of the exoplanets that have been discovered are very large. This is because significantly smaller, Earth-like exoplanets are much more difficult to discover. Rauer aims to eliminate or at least reduce this observation bias by finding much more smaller exoplanets.

An important aspect of this work is her involvement in the European Space Agency (ESA) mission PLATO (PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars). As principal investigator, Rauer manages the international consortium of research institutes involved in the mission and leads the team responsible for instrument calibration and operations. The aim of PLATO is to search for planets that offer conditions favorable to life. The mission is currently planned to start in 2027.

In addition to her work on space missions, Rauer is also involved in ground-based projects, including the Next Generation Transit Survey (NGTS). Her research is also making meaningful contributions to the field of asteroseismology, the study of oscillations in stars to measure their internal properties.

About Professor Heike Rauer

Rauer completed her degree in physics at Leibniz University Hannover in 1986. She then completed a doctorate at the University of Göttingen in 1991 with her dissertation on cometary plasma tails, which she wrote at the Max Planck Institute for Aeronomy (now the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research) in Katlenburg-Lindau. She worked at the Observatoire de Paris from 1995 to 1997 through a research fellowship awarded by the ESA before returning to Germany to conduct research at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Berlin.

During this time, she also completed her professorial teaching qualification (Habilitation) at the Technische Universität Berlin in 2004, where she taught at the Institute for Physics and Astronomy as a professor for planetary physics. She led the Department Extrasolar Planets and Atmospheres within the DLR’s Institute of Planetary Research from 2005 to 2017 before becoming its director in 2017. She moved to the Department of Earth Sciences at Freie Universität Berlin in the same year, where her work focuses on planetary geophysics. As of 2025, she also advises the DLR on ESA matters in a professional capacity.

About the PLATO Mission

PLATO (PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars) is an ESA space mission that will search for exoplanets orbiting stars similar to our Sun beginning in 2027. Its aim is to find planets similar to Earth, moving in the habitable zone – i.e., in a distance to its star in which moderate temperatures and hence liquid water could exist. Professor Rauer has been the principal investigator of the PLATO Mission Consortium since 2013.

About the Caroline Herschel Medal

The Caroline Herschel Medal was established in 2021 by the Royal Astronomical Society and the German Astronomical Society. It is awarded in honor of Caroline Herschel (1750–1848), a distinguished astronomer working in the late eighteenth and the first half of the nineteenth century, who made a number of groundbreaking discoveries, including several comets. The accolade celebrates the longstanding scientific cooperation between Germany and the United Kingdom and is awarded to researchers based either in the UK or Germany, with the country alternating every year. It represents both societies’ efforts to promote gender equity in astronomy and space research.

By receiving the medal, Heike Rauer joins the ranks of esteemed researchers such as Isobel Hook, Linda J. Tacconi, Gillian Wright, and Eva Grebel.