Computational Astrophysics · TIFR Mumbai

Imaging the interior of the Sun, stars, and planets

The group uses high-cadence seismic data and machine learning to probe stellar and planetary interiors — making the invisible universe measurable.

1.0000.988transit min.phase (days)

Published in

Nature Astronomy

Collaborations

4 continents

Funding

Premji Invest

Based at

TIFR Mumbai

About the group

Making the invisible universe measurable

Telescopes generate astrophysical data far faster than human eyes can parse. The Lightcurve group trains neural networks and statistical models on this flood — helioseismology, asteroseismology, transit photometry, geophysics — to image the invisible interiors of stars, planets, and our own Sun.

Read about us
01Helioseismology

The Sun

Using acoustic oscillations to image flows, magnetic fields, and convection in the solar interior.

02Asteroseismology

Stars

Measuring stellar structure and rotation from photometric variability in Kepler and TESS data.

03Transit analysis

Exoplanets

Extracting planetary radii, orbital parameters, and atmospheric signals from transit light curves.

04Geophysics

Earth

Applying seismic inversion techniques developed for stars to image Earth's deep interior.

Recent publications

All publications →

Evidence for global-scale magnetically modified Rossby waves in the Sun

Hanasoge & Hanson

Nature Astronomy2026

Discovery of thermal Rossby waves and evidence for weak large-scale convection in the solar interior

Hanasoge

ApJ Letters2026

Machine learning for radial velocity analysis. I. Vision transformers as a robust alternative for detecting planetary candidates

Gavankar, Mittal, Ninan & Hanasoge

AJ2026