Bengaluru astronomer to lead Nasa mission studying interstellar dust
Ramya Manjunath Anche will lead the PUFFINS mission using a telescope to observe tiny grains between stars by 2030.
Ramya Manjunath Anche, an astronomer and assistant research professor at the University of Arizona, has been appointed principal investigator for the Polarimetry in the Ultraviolet to Find Features in INterStellar dust (PUFFINS) mission. According to The Indian Express, the mission received $20 million in funding from Nasa in October.
The mission, part of the Astrophysics Pioneers programme, aims to study tiny dust grains between stars that are roughly the size of a common cold virus. Anche said these grains are invisible to most telescopes but play a role in how starlight travels and how new stars and planets form.
The project involves about 40 scientists, engineers, graduate students, and postdoctoral researchers. Anche said the team will design and build the telescope over the next four years, with a planned launch in 2030.
The mission will use UV spectropolarimetry, a technique Anche said has not been attempted from space in 30 years. She noted that the telescope will be the first instrument she helped design to be built and launched into space.
Originally from Devanahalli, Anche studied at Oxford English School and MES Vidyasagar Prof. MPL Sastry PU College. She later earned a BE in electrical and electronics engineering from Sir M Visvesvaraya Institute of Technology.
Anche joined the Indian Institute of Astrophysics in 2012 for an integrated MTech-PhD and later completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics in Pune before moving to the University of Arizona in 2021.