ZTF Faces
This section features PhD students, postdocs and young faculty who are part of the global ZTF collaboration.
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.
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