Bengalurean to head NASA’s $20 million space telescope mission

Ramya Anche | Photo Credit: TH

A Bengaluru-born astronomer will be heading the $20 million NASA space telescope mission PUFFINS (Polarimetry in the Ultraviolet to Find Features in INterStellar dust).

Dr. Ramya Anche, an assistant research professor at Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, has been selected as the Principal Investigator of the PUFFINS mission. PUFFINS is a SmallSat selected under NASA’s highly competitive Astrophysics Pioneers programme.

It is targeted for a 2030 launch and during the mission a 10-inch telescope will observe ultraviolet light from about 70 distant stars to decode a 50-year-old mystery regarding how cosmic dust builds new stars and planets.

Studying grains of dust

“PUFFINS will study the smallest grains of dust between the stars: particles roughly the size of a common cold virus. These grains are invisible to most telescopes, yet they play a critical role in how starlight travels through the galaxy, and ultimately in our understanding of how new stars and planets form,” Dr. Anche told The Hindu.