Apr 05 2026 to Apr 05 2026 5:30 p.m.

Where

Bangalore International Centre

7 4th Main Rd, Stage 2, Domlur 560071

Event Description

Humans have always looked to the skies.

The stars have carried our maps, inspired our myths and provoked our most enduring question: are we alone in the universe? 

Each leap in technology extended our reach and sharpened our sight. The telescope. The spectrograph. Space-based observatories. And now, the James Webb Space Telescope, the most powerful eye we have ever pointed at the sky, capable of reading the chemical signatures of atmospheres on planets orbiting distant stars.

This session takes us to the frontier: Hycean worlds, temperate and ocean-covered, with hydrogen-rich atmospheres. A possibly habitable exoplanet, K2-18 b, was observed recently. The first detections of carbon-bearing molecules in its atmosphere, along with hints of a potential biomarker, usher in a new era of astrobiology.

The floor will open to audience questions after the talk.

Speaker

Nikku Madhusudhan
Professor, Astrophysics and Exoplanetary Science, Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge
Nikku Madhusudhan is a Professor of Astrophysics and Exoplanetary Science at the Institute of Astronomy at the University of Cambridge. He is credited with pioneering atmospheric retrieval methods for determining the atmospheric properties of exoplanets using spectroscopic observations with large telescopes, besides other important developments in the understanding of the atmospheres, interiors, formation conditions, and habitability of exoplanets. Most recently, his work led to the identification of a new class of habitable planets, called hycean worlds, and to the first detections of carbon-bearing molecules in a possible hycean world using the James Webb Space Telescope. He obtained his PhD at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT),  followed by postdoctoral positions at MIT, Princeton University, and Yale University, in the USA, before joining the faculty at the University of Cambridge in 2013.

He is a recipient of several awards and honours including the Young Scientist Medal in Astrophysics from the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics, the MERAC Prize in Theoretical Astrophysics from the European Astronomical Society and the Pilkington Prize for excellence in teaching at Cambridge.