Tokyo Space Events

"The Secret Life of Helium: From Stars to Escaping Worlds"

Helium leaves a unique fingerprint in the spectra of distant worlds. By observing this signal, astronomers can watch planetary atmospheres escaping into space and learn how extreme environments shape the evolution of exoplanets.
In this talk, Dr. Vigneshwaran Krishnamurthy (McGill University / Astrobiology Center) will guide us through this powerful method and what it is teaching us about planets beyond our solar system.

Speaker info:
Vigneshwaran Krishnamurthy is a postdoctoral researcher at the Trottier Space Institute at McGill University, where he studies the atmospheres of distant exoplanets using telescopes on the ground and in space. He completed his PhD in 2021 at Tokyo Institute of Technology (東工大) and later worked for a year at the Astrobiology Center in Japan. He spends much of his time looking for helium escaping from alien worlds and occasionally convincing people that planets can, in fact, lose their atmospheres. When he’s bored, he enjoys photographing Japanese trains and playing chess.