Professor of Astronomy, California Institute of Technology
I am a Professor of Astronomy at Caltech. The Kasliwal research group discovers and characterizes cosmic fireworks i.e. brilliant flashes of light that tell us about the lifecycle of stars and where elements are synthesized. Our primary discovery engines are two robotic, wide-field infrared and optical cameras at Palomar Observatory. We collaborate with astronomers worldwide to panchromatically characterize the discoveries across the electromagnetic spectrum. We enthusiastically pursue a multi-messenger quest to identify electromagnetic counterparts to gravitational wave events.
2021-Present, Professor of Astronomy, California Institute of Technology
2015-2021, Assistant Professor of Astronomy, California Institute of Technology
2011-2015, Hubble Fellow and Carnegie-Princeton Postdoctoral Fellow, Carnegie Institution for Science
2006-2011, Ph.D. Astrophysics, California Institute of Technology
2005-2006, M.S. Astrophysics, California Institute of Technology
2002-2004, B.S. Engineering Physics, Cornell University
GROWTH is a worldwide network of astronomers and telescopes committed to characterizing fast-evolving transients or fast-moving asteroids. GROWTH is a Caltech-led NSF PIRE project comprising 16 partner institutions, over 130 astronomers and 18 telescopes.
Read more at the GROWTH ADS library
SPIRITS is a six year large program on the warm Spitzer space telescope that repeatedly images 200 nearby galaxies to look for mid-infrared transients. To date, SPIRITS has found 131 transients and 2536 variables.
Read more at the SPIRITS ADS library
Palomar Gattini-IR is a newly commissioned 25 square degree infrared camera on a 30cm telescope. Every two nights, we robotically survey the accessible Northern sky every night to a J-band depth of 16 mag. Our goal is to systematically chart the dynamic infrared sky. This project is a pathfinder for the WINTER, DREAMS and Cryoscope projects.
Read more at the PGIR ADS library
ZTF is a 47 sq deg optical camera on the Samuel Oschin Palomar 48-inch telescope. Various surveys in gri-bands cover the accessible Northern Sky at least every two nights to a depth of 20.4 mag. Our goal is to undertake a complete census of optical transients in the local universe.
Read more at the ZTF ADS libraryI have the immense pleasure and privilege of mentoring a vibrant group of students and postdocs. I relish sharing the joy of discovery with my team.
Viraj Karambelkar, Thesis on white dwarf mergers, neutron star mergers and stellar mergers
Shreya Anand, Thesis on r-process nucleosynthesis in neutron star mergers and Type Ic BL supernovae
Kishalay De, Thesis on compact object mergers including white dwarf neutron star mergers, He-shell detonations on white dwarfs, ultra-stripped supernovae; Data Reduction Lead for Palomar Gattini-IR
Samaporn Tinyanont, Thesis on infrared polarization of core-collapse supernovae; Built WIRC+POL and co-advised by Dimitri Mawet ; now a Postdoc at University of California Santa Cruz
Jacob Jencson, Thesis on luminous infrared transients including enshrouded supernovae, massive star mergers, massive star eruptions; Project Scientist for SPIRITS; now a Postdoc at University of Arizona
Christoffer Fremling: Stripped Envelope Supernovae, Redshift Completeness Factor
Igor Andreoni: Electromagnetic Counterparts to Gravitational Waves
Matt Hankins: Infrared Stellar Variability; now faculty at Arkansas Tech
Scott Adams: Birth of stellar black holes; Roboticizing Palomar Gattini-IR; now at Aerospace Corp
Nadia Blagorodnova: Tidal Disruption Flares and Stellar Mergers, now a Veni Fellow in the Netherlands
Dave Cook: Census of the Local Universe, now a Staff Scientist at IPAC
Ryan Lau: Ultra Luminous X-ray sources and X-ray binaries, now an International Top Young Fellow in Japan
Ragnhild Lunnan: Superluminous Supernovae and Calcium-rich gap transients, now faculty at Stockholm University, Sweden
Milan Roberson, Andy Tzanidakis, Ashot Bagdasaryan, Chris Cannella
Gokul Srinivasaragavan, Thomas Waters, Conor Larison, Manasi Sharma, Tegan Loveridge, Viraj Karambelkar, Sharne Sun, Bethany Suter, Sammy Piascik, Stephanie Kwon, Lindsey Whitesides Kwok
626-395-1575
mansi [at] astro [dot] caltech [dot] edu
Cahill Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics 1216 E California Blvd. Pasadena CA 91125