JRF position at NISER in Max Planck Partner Group project on asteroid Ceres surface spectro-photometry using NASA Dawn mission data:

Interview- 17th January, 2021

Eligibility: as advertised https://www.niser.ac.in/notices/2022/recruitments/Advt_JRF_R%26D198_EPS2...

Nature of work: Processing of NASA Dawn mission's VIR hyperspectral data (in visible to near-infrared wavelength, 0.4 - 5 micron). It involves multiple steps- 1. radiometric calibration and artifact correction (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28040950/), 2. thermal emissivity and temperature estimation using Planck black body and Bayesian statistical approach (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S001910351200320X), 3. photometric analysis using radiative transfer approach of Hapke (radiative transfer equation of granular media considering the effects of mineralogy, surface roughness, grain sizes, compaction, and multiple scattering factors, etc; Ciarneillo et al. 2017, https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/pdf/2017/02/aa29490-16.pdf; https://arxiv.org/abs/1608.04643 ); 4. Analysis of spectral absorption features and their chemical composition (e.g., De Sanctis et al. 2015 https://www.nature.com/articles/nature16172; 5. Spectral unmixing based on radiative transfer approach (https://arxiv.org/abs/2011.00157).

Science problem: The goal of this project is to answer the open scientific question of the formation and origin of Asteroid Ceres- either formed at the present location in the asteroid belt or outer solar system and migrated by studying its physical properties and chemical composition.

Collaboration: Opportunity to work closely with MPS/Germany, and a few others in the US and Canada.

Ph.D. opportunity: The student has to appear for NISER Ph.D. entrance in the Summer term, 2022, if interested for Ph.D.

Stipend/Benefits/opportunity: The project is funded for 5 years (up to 2025, but 5 years of research/Ph.D. support starting 2022 is available); Stipend of the same amount to NISER/Ph.D. students, and contingency as required from the project; 2-3 visits with funding from the project, to Max Planck Germany/US/Canada and to attend the largest planetary science meeting - Lunar and Planetary Science Conference at Houston/USA (LPSC); Publication of the results and the science outcomes in leading planetary science journals).

About the research works/project: https://www.niser.ac.in/users/thangjam; https://www.niser.ac.in/notices/2022/recruitments/Advt_JRF_R%26D198_EPS2...
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Thanks,
Guneshwar Thangjam