Aman Chokshi
Astronomer, Coder, Photographer
About Me
I am a final year PhD Researcher at @unimelb, @astro3d & @csiro where my research interests span low-frequency radio astronomy, observational cosmology and instrumentation. In particular, I'm interested in improving our understanding of one of the most mysterious periods in our Universe’s history - the Epoch of Reionization which spans the birth of the first stars and galaxies, and whose influence reverberates across time to inform the current Universe, and everything around us.
My passion for the night sky has been intertwined with my research, and has led me to working with telescopes in some of the most remote and spectacular areas of the world - from the high Himalayas, to remote Australia and to spending a year at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. I'm also very interested in astrophotography, especially when my work can take me to some of the most pristine night skies, and my photography has been published by NASA, NSF and the ESA.
Research
The cosmological Epoch of Reionization signal is dominated by foregrounds 100,000 times brighter. The obstacles hindering the first positive detection cannot be understated and require unprecedented precision at all levels – from the understanding of our instruments and foregrounds to the astrophysical inferences drawn from observations. During my PhD I have primarily worked with understanding the instrumental charachteristics of the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) and simulating the future Square Kilometre Array (SKA), towards improving our prospects of detecting and understanding the Epoch of Reionization.
