James O’Donoghue

Dr James O’Donoghue is a planetary astronomer at the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and prior to this he worked at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. His research involves the astronomy of Giant Planets Jupiter, Saturn and exoplanets. His recent astronomical discoveries have made global news: Saturn’s rings aren’t going to last forever — they are falling into the upper atmosphere, and Jupiter’s aurora heats the entire planet. James has a passion for educating people about the wonders of space: he creates space science-themed animations which are used in schools, planetariums, universities and museums globally. These videos have over 200 million views across Twitter, Youtube and other platforms, gaining him nearly 200,000 followers on the Twitter account “@physicsJ”.

During his visit, James will be hosting after-dinner stargazing sessions, along with talks about astronomy throughout the day.