About the Codex
An open science archive measuring the elemental chemistry of exoplanetary systems — built in Montana by a spectroscopist who spent fifteen years building lasers before coming back to the stars.
The project
The Exoplanet Codex is an open science stellar abundance archive. We measure the elemental chemistry of exoplanet host stars using high-resolution spectroscopy and publish the full results — data, code, and methodology — under open licenses. No paywalls. No closed pipelines.
The goal is to build a systematic record of what nearby exoplanetary systems are made of, starting with the star. A star’s [Fe/H], [Mg/Fe], [Si/Fe], C/O ratio, and Mg/Si ratio place constraints on the internal structure, mineralogy, and volatile budget of the planets that formed from the same disk.
The founder
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“I measured three exoplanet host stars in 2010 as an undergraduate thesis. The question — can you read the chemistry of a star and know what its planets are made of? — never went away. I spent fifteen years building laser systems and consulting on AI. In 2026, I came back to it.”
Ryan holds a B.S. in Astrophysics from the University of Montana (2010), where his senior thesis measured elemental abundances for three exoplanet host stars — 55 Cancri A, HD 89307, and Gliese 581 — using ELODIE spectra at R~42,000.
After graduating he spent fifteen years as a laser engineer and Salesforce AI consultant, working on precision optical systems and enterprise AI strategy. The same instinct for metrology-grade measurement that made him a good engineer kept pulling him back to the unsettled questions from 2010.
Based in Missoula, Montana. The Exoplanet Codex is independent, unfunded, and entirely open — built to answer a question that never went away.
Open science commitment
Every analysis in the Codex is fully reproducible. All spectra are from public archives (ESO/HARPS). All pipeline code is open on GitHub. All results will be posted to arXiv and submitted to RNAAS. The line lists, model atmospheres, and solar reference data are all cited and version-controlled.