City Meetup - Laboratory investigations of stardust and other extraterrestrial materials by Dr. Manavi Jadhav

We will have our next city meetup on Sun, 1 Nov, 2026, 3:30 pm→Sun, 1 Nov, 2026, 6:00 pm.

Dr. Manavi Jadhav will be delivering a talk titled Laboratory Investigations of Stardust and Other Extraterrestrial Materials.

We are splitting the venue charges among attendees and it comes to Rs. 250 per adult. It will be free for kids below 16 years of age.

The event will take place in Chepauk and the exact details will be shared with you once you make the payment.

Talk Description:

While much of astrophysics relies on telescopes and remote observations of distant celestial objects, cosmochemists study the universe with microscopes and physical samples in their laboratories. Extraterrestrial materials range widely in variety, size, and provenance – from microscopic dust grains forged in dying stars, to massive chunks of iron capable of altering planetary history, to pristine samples retrieved directly by spacecraft or humans visiting another planetary body.

This talk highlights stardust or presolar grains: the study of these grains combines sophisticated chemical, structural, and isotopic laboratory measurements, on micron-sub-micron stardust particles. We can directly probe stellar nucleosynthesis through isotopic data for these grains. These data reveal more precise information about their parent stars than do spectroscopic observations of circumstellar dust. The primary goal of such laboratory measurements is to provide clues on the stellar environments in which the grains formed and on their subsequent histories until they reach Earth.

We will also explore the broader suite of extraterrestrial materials that scientists use to reconstruct the birth and evolution of our solar system.

About the Speaker:

Dr. Manavi Jadhav is a laboratory astrophysicist, cosmochemist, and planetary scientist. She earned her PhD in Earth and Planetary Sciences from the Laboratory for Space Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis. She held postdoctoral and affiliate research positions at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa’s W. M. Keck Cosmochemistry Laboratory, the University of Chicago’s Department of Geophysical Sciences, and the Robert A. Pritzker Center for Meteoritics and Polar Studies at The Field Museum of Natural History. Following her 5-year tenure as an assistant professor of Physics at the University of Louisiana, she co-founded the International Health Research Institute in Malta, where she currently serves as the Director of the Centre for Space Sciences. She is also an active research & teaching member of the Centre for Space Sciences and Earth Habitability in Bhopal.

Beyond her primary research activities, Manavi is a dedicated advocate for Inclusivity, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility (IDEA). She actively integrates these principles into educational and research environments, notably serving as the IDEA representative for the Extraterrestrial Materials Analysis Group (ExMAG) in 2022, which advises NASA on matters concerning the extraterrestrial materials research community. Her current work includes creating programs that foster science literacy among tribal communities in northern Maharashtra. She is also actively involved in promoting mental health awareness for students and women, holding multiple certifications in this field.

An experienced field researcher, Manavi has participated in numerous scientific expeditions to remote locations on Earth. Her most notable expeditionary experience involves hunting for meteorites on NASA’s Antarctic Search for Meteorites. She was awarded the National Science Foundation’s Antarctic Service Medal for her work there. Additionally, she is a certified wilderness and dive medicine first responder. She is a strong advocate of promoting outdoor and wilderness skills amongst the youth in order to create future generations that can fight climate change & live a sustainable life on Earth.