ZTF Faces

Priscila Pessi

Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Stockholm, Sweden

Where was your starting point and how did you discover astronomy?

I come from a small city in Argentina called Ranchos, which gets its name from the type of house constructions that were popular at the time the city was founded.

I have wanted to study the sky since as long as I can remember. At some point I discovered that people who study the sky are called astronomers and so I wanted to be that.

How did you discover ZTF?

I went to a technical high school were I studied chemistry, I then moved to the Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofísicas at Universidad Nacional de La Plata to study astronomy and eventually got my PhD degree there. During my undergraduate studies I learned about supernovae and decided I wanted to study them during my PhD. This is when I found out that ZTF is one of the most prolific transient discovery wide-field surveys. So now I am a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Stockholm, working with ZTF data.

What are you playing with in the ZTF playground?

Right now I am working on the characterization of a sample of hydrogen rich superluminous supernova and trying to find weirdos among the sample.

Where do you want to steer your rocket in the future?

Moving forward I would like to be more involved in observations. During my undergraduate studies and later as an student at ESO, I had the opportunity to visit different observatories and I very much enjoy the task. So, I will probably try to get a position at an observatory.

If you were not an astronomer, what would you be?

If I was not an astronomer I would probably be a chemist, or a baker, or a heavy machinery driver (probably a bulldozer driver)... Well, I am not sure, the possibilities are endless. In any case, if I wasn't a professional astronomer I would probably still be an amateur astronomer.

A book that shook your worldview?

It is difficult to chose, among my top ones are "The little prince" by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, "The Incredible and Sad Tale of Innocent Eréndira and Her Heartless Grandmother" by Gabriel García Márquez, and "Children of the days" by Eduardo Galeano.

If you’ve had a bad day at work, you will….

Go for a walk, get an ice-cream, watch a movie.