Announcing the next Pune Knowledge on Tap Event: on Thursday, 8th January, with Rashi Jain and Yogesh Wadadekar, on "Discovery of the Alaknanda Galaxy" *Abstract*: Rashi and Yogesh's recent discovery of the Alaknanda Galaxy has the potential to shake up science's understanding of how early galaxies were formed after the Big Bang. Join us to understand how Alaknanda was discovered and what makes it special *About the Speakers*: *_Rashi Jain_* is a senior research scholar at the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics – Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Pune. She completed her B.Tech in metallurgical engineering from IIT BHU in 2020. In January 2021, she joined NCRA as an Integrated PhD student, where she completed her physics coursework in her first year. She is working on galaxy formation and evolution as part of her PhD thesis under the supervision of Prof. Yogesh Wadadekar. Her research interests involve the study of high-redshift galaxies to understand the origin of different galaxy morphologies that we see in the nearby universe. For this purpose, she uses multi-wavelength data from several advanced space-based telescopes to derive accurate properties of galaxies. She has also worked on galaxy clusters by imaging galaxy clusters using radio data from the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT). She is actively involved in public outreach activities (e.g., organising amateur stargazing sessions for general public) at NCRA. *_Yogesh Wadadekar_*, is an astronomer and Professor at the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics (NCRA) of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Pune. Professor Wadadekar completed his B.Tech from IIT Mumbai (1994), followed by M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Physics from IUCAA, Pune. His doctoral thesis earned him the prestigious Best PhD Thesis Award from the Indian Physics Association in 2000. His international experience includes six years of postdoctoral research in France and the USA, including serving as a Astronomical Software Scientist for the Sloan Digital Sky Survey at Princeton University. He joined the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics as a faculty member in 2007. Professor Wadadekar's research encompasses galaxy evolution, large-area sky surveys, and active galactic nuclei, with particular expertise in machine learning applications to astrophysics. He has co- authored over 100 publications that have been cited more than 9000 times. His research group has achieved significant breakthroughs in multiwavelength studies of galaxy evolution using telescopes from space and from the ground. He leads the development of India's software contributions to the Square Kilometer Array observatory (SKAO), including plans for India's SKA regional centre, an Exascale data processing centre to be built in India. His work in AI focuses on deep learning techniques for galaxy property prediction and developing computational frameworks for handling massive telescope data volumes. His vision extends beyond traditional research, to graduate level teaching and public outreach. His teaching portfolio includes a very popular online course on Astronomical data analysis using Python. *_Other details_* *​Timing:* - ​6:30pm: Registration, Mingling, Ordering - ​7:00pm: Topic Warmup and Quiz - 7:15pm: Main Talk - ​8:30pm: Main event ends, but feel free to stick around afterwards to mingle, interact with the speaker or us, and have dinner. *​Parking:* There is parking in the basement (level -2) of the building—but be careful, big cars might not be able to navigate the turn. It is self-parking, you can park anywhere, but please do it mindfully, and don't park in such a way as to eat up multiple spots. You can also find parking on the street, either on the main ITI road or the bylanes. *​Payment:* ₹300 per person will be collected at the entrance, which can be applied towards your bill. (No, you don't have to drink beer or any other alcohol!) *​No Age Restriction:* There is no age restriction. You can bring children along. Register here: luma.com/8g3x2nw4?utm_source…