I work on protoplanetary discs and exoplanets. Also various instrumentation projects primarily driven by the science we do.

All Publications: SAO/NASA ADS

Astronomy and Astrophysics
I study sudden accretion outbursts in young low mass stars in star forming regions. These objects are stars like our own sun in its childhood when the gas and dust from collapsing cloud was still falling to the center via accretion disc. The episodic sudden increase of accretion are believed to be triggered by some instabilities in disc. I also study evaporating atmospheres of the exo-planets. The atmospheric escape due to evaporation is one of the strong candidates to explain missing planets in the Radius Valley. In exoplanet field I also work on developing new algorithms to improve the precision of current state-of-art precision radial velocity measurement instruments.

Instrumentation
On the instrumentation side, I work on Optical and Infrared Astronomy Instrumentation for achieving our science goals. Some of the instruments I have worked on are

  • NEID: On the 3.5-m WIYN Telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory, Arizona, USA.
  • The Habitable-Zone Planet Finder (HPF): On the 10-m Hobby-Eberly Telescope, McDonald Observatory, Texas, USA.
  • TIRSPEC (TIFR Near-Infrared Spectrometer and Imager): Now mounted on 2-meter Himalayan Chandra Telescope, IAO, Hanle, Ladakh.
  • TIRCAM-2 Near Infrared Camera for 1-3.6 micron : Now used on 2-meter IUCAA Girawalli Observatory, Telescope.
  • Far Infrared Balloon Flight Observation from TIFR, Balloon Facility, Hyderabad.

Selected Publications:

  • Evidence for He I 10830 A absorption during the transit of a warm Neptune around the M-dwarf GJ 3470 with the Habitable-zone Planet Finder , ApJ, 894, 02, (2020), J.P. Ninan, et al., ADS
  • Impact of crosshatch patterns in H2RGs on high precision radial velocity measurements: Exploration of measurement and mitigation paths with HPF, JATIS, 5(4), 041511, (2019). , J.P. Ninan, et al., ADS
  • Episodic High-velocity Outflows from V899 Mon: A Constraint On The Outflow Mechanisms, ApJ, 825, 1, 65, 7 pp. (2016), J.P. Ninan, D. K. Ojha & N. S. Philip ADS
  • V899 Mon: An Outbursting Protostar With Peculiar Light Curve And Its Transition Phases, ApJ, 815, 4, (2015), J.P. Ninan, D. K. Ojha et al. ADS
  • TIRSPEC : TIFR Near Infrared Spectrometer and Imager, Journal of Astronomical Instrumentation, (accepted), (2014), J.P. Ninan, D. K. Ojha et al. ADS
  • Reappearance of McNeil's Nebula (V1647 Orionis) and its Outburst Environment, ApJ, 778, 2, 116, 14 pp. (2013), J.P. Ninan, D. K. Ojha et al. ADS

Outburst sources in young low mass stars (Ph.D. Thesis)