NISER News, Research Highlights and Outreach

  • Research conducted as Principal Investigator was featured in one of India's leading national newspapers, The Telegraph, with the headline “Indian scientists discover planet-forming regions near young star GG Tau A” in December 2024.

  • Research conducted as Principal Investigator was featured in The New Indian Express with the headline “NISER scientists zero in on exoplanet formation” in 2024.

  • Research conducted as Principal Investigator was featured in The Times of India with the headline “India makes breakthrough discovery in solar system with three suns” in December 2024.

  • Research conducted as Principal Investigator was featured in The Economic Times with the headline “Unbelievable! India discovers solar system with three Suns: Here's all you need to know” in December 2024.

  • Research conducted as Principal Investigator was featured in India Today with the headline “Indian team makes stunning discovery in a solar system with three suns” in December 2024.

  • Research conducted as Principal Investigator was featured in NDTV World with the headline “Scientists From India, A Telescope In Chile, And An Astronomical Discovery” in December 2024.

  • Research conducted as Principal Investigator was featured in India TV with the headline “Indian scientists make cosmic breakthrough, discover a rare triple-star system” in December 2024.

  • Dr. Liton Majumdar of SEPS is one of the co-authors of the recent A&A article, which reports that the key ingredients for potentially habitable worlds are present in early-stage protostars, where planets have not yet formed. See the NASA press release and the ESA press release.

    JWST ice results around IRAS 2A Note: An international team of scientists (including Liton Majumdar) using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope has identified a wealth of complex, carbon-containing (organic) molecules surrounding two protostars. The spectrum of IRAS 2A includes the fingerprints of acetaldehyde, ethanol, methylformate, and likely acetic acid in the solid phase. These and other molecules represent key ingredients for making potentially habitable worlds.

  • Dr. Liton Majumdar of SEPS was awarded the first Visiting Researcher Fellowship at the Leverhulme Centre for Life in the Universe (LCLU), University of Cambridge, UK, in December 2023.

  • Research highlighted in Nature India on 12 July 2022: “Atmospheric chemistry of a Jupiter-like exoplanet revealed” .

  • Dr. Liton Majumdar of SEPS was awarded the Mathematical Research Impact Centric Support (MATRICS) grant by the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), DST, Govt. of India in 2022.

  • Dr. Liton Majumdar of SEPS was awarded the Start-up Research Grant (SRG) by SERB, DST, Govt. of India in 2021.

  • Dr. Liton Majumdar of SEPS was selected as a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society (FRAS) in 2020.

  • Dr. Liton Majumdar of SEPS was selected as a Visiting Associate of the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), Pune, India in 2020.

  • Looking to hire Ph.D. students through the NISER Ph.D. Program: 2024–25 (Summer Session). Interested candidates can apply to the School of Earth and Planetary Sciences here if they are interested in understanding the physical and chemical origins and evolution of exoplanetary systems using numerical simulations, machine learning techniques, and multi-wavelength observations.

  • Looking to hire highly motivated and bright postdoctoral candidates interested in interdisciplinary areas of Astrophysics and Planetary Sciences such as astrochemistry/molecular astrophysics, star and planet formation, exoplanet detection and atmospheric characterization, and exoplanet interiors. Please contact liton@niser.ac.in with your CV and a brief research statement.

    PhDs with Physics/Astronomy & Astrophysics/Planetary & Space Science or a relevant background are encouraged to apply. Candidates with strong scientific programming skills (e.g. Python) for building modeling tools and experience with astronomical data analysis are highly desirable.

    Candidates interested in applying for National Post Doctoral Fellowship (N-PDF) or CSIR Research Associateship can send their CV and a brief research statement by email to liton@niser.ac.in.

  • Dr. Liton Majumdar of SEPS is one of the co-authors of an A&A article that reports the first discovery of a circumbinary planetary system using ALMA. See the CNRS press release .

    Circumbinary planetary system around GG Tau A Note: Discovery of a circumbinary planetary system. Spirals induced by the three putative planets, GG Tau Ac (black), GG Tau Ad (cyan), and GG Tau Ae (blue). The white ellipses indicate the approximate inner and outer edge of the dust ring (Phuong et al. 2020).

  • Dr. Liton Majumdar of SEPS was awarded the prestigious Ramanujan Fellowship by SERB, DST, Govt. of India after joining NISER, Bhubaneswar as faculty.

  • Dr. Liton Majumdar of SEPS was selected as a Life Member of the Astronomical Society of India (ASI).