Akshara Viswanathan

Hello visitor!

I am Akshara Viswanathan. I come from the beautiful costal city of Chennai, India, and found my way into astronomy through a bachelor in engineering in India, a masters in astrophysics in the UK, and a PhD in the Netherlands. Currently, I live and do research in Paris, France (my 7th country of astronomy research). These days I study some of the Milky Way’s oldest stars and the streams left behind as smaller galaxies joined it. I want to use them to learn more about the very first stars that formed in the Universe and the nature of the mysterious dark matter. I like turning huge space-based and ground-based telescope catalogues and new observation I make from telescopes around the world into stories about how our Galaxy formed.

Recent Updates

Nov 2026 — My new paper is out on arXiv! This work uncovers the very metal-poor stellar counterpart to the HI gas Stream emanating from the Clouds: a nearly 100°-long stellar stream tracing the ancient outskirts of the LMC–SMC. paper link.
Sep 2026 — Awarded an IAC Early Career Visitor Fellowship for a 1–2 month research visit to Tenerife. IAC programme.
July 2026 — Co-organised the Toronto conference Near Field Cosmology in the Era of Big Data for around 100 astronomers, supported by a CITA Scientific Meetings grant. Conference website.
April 2026 — Received an NWO Rubicon Fellowship for The Milky Way as a laboratory for first stars and dark matter; I start at LIRA in October. Award announcement · Project page.
May 2025 — Awarded the IAU Gruber Foundation Fellowship. IAU press release · UVic news · CITA news.
Feb 2025 — Joined UVic’s Astronomy Research Centre as a CITA National Fellow. CITA announcement.
Dec 2024 — Defended my PhD thesis, Mapping the ancient Milky Way through metal-poor stars. Astronomie.nl · RUG.

Short CV

Postdoc — NWO Rubicon Fellow & IAU TGF Fellow

Oct 2026–Present, LIRA, Observatoire de Paris. The Milky Way as a laboratory for first stars and dark matter.

Postdoctoral colleagues at the University of Victoria

Postdoc — CITA National Fellow & IAU TGF Fellow

Feb 2025–Sep 2026, Astronomy Research Centre, University of Victoria. Decoding the Galactic Ancestry. NFC group

PhD Astronomy

Oct 2020 - Dec 2024, University of Groningen (one thesis chapter at Flatiron Institute, New York). Mapping the ancient Milky Way through metal-poor stars (mentored by the most amazing human, Else Starkenburg). Galactica group

MSc Astrophysics

2019 - 2020, University of Glasgow. Gravitational lens models and binary black holes.

BE Engineering

2015 - 2019, Anna University. Tri-band wearable antenna for off-body communication.

Mitacs Fellow and IAS fellow

Summer 2018, University of Victoria. Merger fractions in local AGN hosts (mentored by the incredible super woman, Sara Ellison). Summer 2017, Institute for Plasma Research. Whistler waves in laboratory plasma.

PhD Thesis

Mapping the ancient Milky Way through metal-poor stars

My PhD thesis (supervised by the amazing Else Starkenburg, and Amina Helmi) uncovers the Milky Way’s history through its oldest stars: mapping the inner and outer halo, tracing stellar streams and merger remnants, and charting the proto-Galaxy’s gradual transition into an ordered, rotating disc.

The thesis cover is a Marauder’s Map of the Milky Way, with its evolutionary stages arranged in time around an artistic Galaxy. My thesis defense day was one of the most emotional and beautiful days of my life! I wore an Indian saree with all my research projects painted on it together with a Milky Way, stellar streams, and my favourite Gaia satellite!

In my thesis, I also drew a water-colour based Galactic archaeology comic as a "Summary for non-experts", for my 3.5-year old nephew to understand my thesis. I had a lot of fun with it! Hopefully, I continue drawing more science comics.

Please credit the wallpaper and comics if you reuse it.

Comic page introducing Galactic Archaeology to non-experts

Comic page about the Milky Way's mergers and evolution

Research Papers Gallery

Very metal-poor red giants in the outer Milky Way halo

A stream offset from the Stream

The stellar counterpart to the HI gas stream emanating from the LMC-SMC

Journey to the Galactic Outskirts

Mapping the distant Milky Way halo with metal-poor red giants out to more than 100 kpc.

Kinematic evolution and spin-up of the Milky Way disc

A Slow Spin to Win

Tracing the gradual spin-up of the ancient Milky Way from the proto-Galaxy to the high-alpha disc.

Very metal-poor stars and the C-19 stellar stream

The Very Metal-Poor Galaxy

Spectroscopic follow-up of VMP stars across the Milky Way, including new members of the C-19 stream.

Gaia RVS very metal-poor star catalogue figure

Gaia's Brightest Very Metal-Poor Stars

A metallicity catalogue of bright VMP stars from Gaia RVS spectra.

Reduced Proper Motion Halo

A Gaia DR3 halo catalogue reaching beyond reliable parallax distances.

Stellar Streams

Complex stream morphologies in GD-1, Jhelum, Phlegethon, and Sagittarius.

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Teaching & Supervision

I’ve supervised six (5w, 1m) completing BSc theses and three (2m, 1w) PhD thesis chapters

I gave a guest lecture in UVic’s graduate-level Galactic Archaeology course. At Groningen, I taught undergraduate Cosmology and Physics of Galaxies.

Other lead author papers

AGN, galaxy mergers, exoplanets...

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Physics and Engineering

Gravitational waves, whistler waves, wearable antennas, and early engineering research.

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Observing proposals and Co-authored Work

More publications and observing grants in Galactic Archaeology and nearby-universe astrophysics.

Collaborations & Software

Survey collaborations, spectroscopic tools, and software for Galactic archaeology.

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Media, EDI, and Outreach

Akshara speaking at the launch of Astronomy on Tap Victoria

Recorded Talks & Interviews

Research seminars, public astronomy talks, and conversations about my path into science.

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Participants at the Indigenous Star Gathering at UVic

EDI & Community Outreach

Inclusive astronomy events, mentoring, and community outreach in Chennai, Groningen, Victoria.

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Conference Gallery

Photos from conferences and astronomy events.

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Outside Work

I love astronomy so much that I also found love within our field. My wonderful partner, Ewoud Wempe, is on a similar quest to understand how our Galaxy and neighbouring galaxies formed and evolved, but from a simulations perspective. Outside work, we enjoy crazy hikes and rock climbing together; I also enjoy pole-dancing, running, cycling, snorkeling, looking after my plants, and making delicious Indian food.

Blog

Under construction

Why is dark skin a joke?

A personal journey on colourism, jokes, and belonging in India.

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Contact

If you have any questions or want to collaborate, you can reach me at akshara.viswanathan@abcobs.examplepm.fr | astroakshara97@abcg.examplemail.com or the offices at Les Communs, building 2 (office 161, orange corridor!), the beautiful Observatoire de Paris - Meudon campus