Fellows at ESO
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Astronomical News DOI: 10.18727/0722-6691/5182 Fellows at ESO Rosita Kokotanekova Rosita Kokotanekova My path in astronomy began before I can remember, and it has led to my becom- ing an ESO Fellow thanks to the support of a long list of teachers, mentors, and friends. However, in the first place, I owe my inspiration to be an astrophysicist to my parents, Joanna Kokotanekova and Dimitar Kokotanekov. They have devoted their lives to outreach and teaching extra- curricular astronomy classes to high- school students in Haskovo and Dimitro- vrad in Bulgaria. When my brother Georgi and I were little, our parents took us along to almost every observation they organised: astrophoto- graphy sessions, observations of partial After my second year at Jacobs Univer- and Akos Bogdan. This project was a and total solar and lunar eclipses, meteor sity — in 2011 — I joined the Laboratory continuation of my work with Elke showers, Venus and Mercury transits — of Astrophysics (LASTRO) at the École Roediger and would not have been pos- you name it. Later, I participated in the Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne sible without her generous efforts to Bulgarian National Astronomy Olympiad, (EPFL) in Switzerland where I worked with expand my skill set and to develop my as well as in two International Astronomy Frédéric Courbin, Cécile Faure and resumé. My work at CfA was extremely Olympiads in Crimea (2004) and China Georges Meylan on a six-week project to interesting and introduced me to X-ray (2005). I also completed my first small discover strong gravitational lenses in and radio observations of galaxy cluster research projects and had my first con- optical images from the Wide Field Cam- centres. In addition to the amazing sci- tact with ESO, both through the Catch a era 3 (WFC3) on the Hubble Space Tele- ence environment at CfA, that summer Star contest 1. scope (HST). I greatly enjoyed the friendly also brought me many wonderful experi- environment at LASTRO and the Obser- ences which I shared with old and new These experiences convinced me that vatory of Geneva, as well as living so friends in Boston. I would like to become an astrophysicist close to the Alps, so I decided to go back and in my bachelors degree I chose for another two-month project the year The next step of my career was deter- to study Earth and Space sciences at after. mined by a lucky coincidence. Straight Jacobs University Bremen, Germany. after the internship at CfA, I started look- This programme was a great choice Straight after completing the second ing for PhD positions. While I was fasci- because it allowed me to learn more internship, I joined the AstroMundus nated by extragalactic astronomy, and in about geosciences and environmental Masters Course in Astrophysics. This particular by X-ray observations of galaxy studies alongside astrophysics. Besides, program took me on a two-year journey clusters, I was not looking forward to the education at Jacobs University had through four different countries, at the yet another relocation. This motivated me a hands-on approach and prepared me University of Innsbruck, the University to keep my eyes open for other PhD very well for a research career. of Padua, Belgrade University and opportunities that would let me stay in Göttingen University. After three semes- Göttingen or at least in Germany. Then After only my first year at Jacobs, I con- ters of courses covering almost every suddenly, in November 2013, the press tacted Marcus Brüggen and Elke area of astronomy, I spent the final was filled with reports about the unex- Roediger to ask whether I could work semester of the programme researching pected complete disintegration of comet with them on a small research project X-ray weak quasars with Wolfram ISON. This got me very intrigued because over the summer. During this summer Kollatschny at Göttingen University and up to that point I had not had any courses project and my subsequent bachelors Luka Popović in Belgrade. This project in Solar System science and I naively thesis research, Elke taught me a great gave me my first experience of spectros- thought that small bodies were very well deal about galaxy clusters and hydro- copy and taught me how to work inde- studied, and that their behaviour could be dynamical simulations, but most impor- pendently — a skill that has come in predicted with great accuracy. tantly introduced me to the research handy during my PhD, and especially process — how to start with an idea and during the ESO fellowship. That same week, a friend sent me a link find the right collaborators, and how to to the home page of Pedro Lacerda who complete it and produce a high-quality I had reserved the AstroMundus summer was looking for PhD students to join his scientific publication. break in 2013 for a three-month intern- newly formed research group in Come- ship at the Harvard Smithsonian Center tary Science at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics working with Ralph Kraft for Solar System Research in Göttingen. The Messenger 178 – Quarter 4 | 2019 67 Astronomical News Kokotanekova R., Facchini S., Hartke J., Fellows at ESO After reading his webpage and meeting Stefano Facchini him in person, I was captivated by his way of thinking and his approach to doing research. He also managed to convince me that minor planets in the Solar System hide many unanswered questions. I joined Pedro’s research group in Octo- ber 2014 and chose to work on his large observing programme with ESO’s New Technology Telescope (NTT) at La Silla. The programme was awarded 40 nights with the ESO Faint Object Spectrograph and Camera 2 (EFOSC2) to study the rotational light curves and surface col- ours of up to 60 Trans-Neptunian Objects (TNOs). In only the third week of my PhD, I went for my first observing run at thesis. At ESO, I chose to take up sup- Stefano Facchini La Silla with my other PhD advisor Colin port astronomer duties on VLT/UT3 as Snodgrass. This was the first time I had my functional work and now, after four Since I was a kid, I have had a passion the chance to spend time with Colin, and shifts in Paranal, I have finally completed for science — in, I would say, two differ- I quickly became convinced that my PhD my extensive training as a support ent flavours. First of all, I have always was going to lead to many exciting pro- astronomer. My duties in Paranal are very been touched and fascinated by the jects and fun trips. Soon after that run, I challenging but extremely rewarding. On beauty of nature, by the constantly vary- enrolled as a PhD student at the Open the one hand, the trips to Chile are physi- ing shades of colour in the sea, by the University, UK and Simon Green joined cally exhausting, but on the other hand I powerful heights of the Alps during a the supervision team as a third advisor. have become part of the amazing Paranal hike in the summer, or by the fragility of While most people are lucky to find community, and I have already learned field flowers in my grandparents’ farm. I one good advisor, I was fortunate to work even more about the telescopes and strongly believe that my sense of awe in with three great mentors on my PhD. instruments than I had hoped. front of the beauty and apparent order of nature is one of the main driving forces Like most PhDs, mine did not go as As this is the first year of my first postdoc, that led me to become a scientist. Sec- planned. The data from the large pro- the past twelve months have been full ondly, I have always been interested in gramme turned out to be very challeng- of many new adventures in the world of and fascinated by mathematics, show- ing to analyse, and instead I focused research. Probably the most rewarding ing a strong propensity towards scientific on publishing our side projects on photo- one of them was mentoring a talented topics since my first years at school. metric observations of Jupiter-family and enthusiastic summer student — comet (JFC) nuclei. This led to many new Abbie Donaldson — during the first ESO My passion for the night sky grew later, ideas and accepted observing proposals Summer Research Programme (see during the first years of high school. I on nine different telescopes. The work on page 57). For the coming year, I have an have a clear memory of one evening that project did not always go smoothly ambitious plan, which among other being in the countryside close to Lake either, but in the end resulted in a coher- things includes: completing a few pro- Como in Italy with a friend of mine and ent PhD thesis, which I managed to write jects on TNOs and JFC nuclei; organising his father. His dad started pointing at mainly during an eight-week window while the second ESO Summer Research Pro- the sky and naming the constellations being stuck at home with a broken foot. gramme together with the other fellows; that were visible during that summer securing more observing time for the evening. What impressed me the most is Ever since my first trip to La Silla, I had ideas I developed over the past year; four that he had a familiarity with the beauty been hoping to follow in Colin’s footsteps trips to Paranal; many important confer- of the sky we were looking at; he could to become an ESO Fellow.