I am 李亚光 (Li, Yaguang). 光 (guang) means light. Perhaps my journey with astronomy has been foretold by my name.

I currently work as a Beatrice Watson Parrent Fellow at University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. I obtained my PhD at the University of Sydney in 2023.

My research focus is asteroseismology, the study of oscillations in stars. When properly excited, a star we see in the night sky starts ringing, just like a musical instrument hitting some notes. I study these oscillations by measuring their variability with space telescopes such as NASA’s Kepler and TESS missions, as well as ground-based EPRV instruments such as SONG, Keck/KPF, and VLT/ESPRESSO. 

As a beautiful tool, these oscillations can help us accurately measure how luminous, massive, and old a star is. My primary focus is advancing our analytical methods, both in terms of modelling and observation, to refine the inference of stellar parameters and to improve our understanding of the physics governing stellar interiors. I am also interested in applying this information to date the history of the Milky Way and characterise exoplanetary systems.

Additionally, I have always been fascinated by the concept of using asteroseismology as a benchmarking tool to calibrate other age-dating techniques, such as those based on chemical abundances, rotation and magnetic activity.