Seppo Mattila profile picture
Seppo
Mattila
Professor, Tuorla Observatory

Contact

+358 29 450 4518
+358 50 412 5859
Vesilinnantie 5
20500
Turku

Links

ORCID

Biography

I received my PhD degree from Imperial College, Univ. of London in 2002. After this I held postdoctoral positions at Stockholm University, Helsinki University of Technology (now Aalto University) and Queen's University Belfast. I moved back to Finland in 2007 with an Academy of Finland Research Fellowship to work at Tuorla Observatory at University of Turku. Between 2012 and 2015 I worked at the Finnish Centre for Astronomy with ESO (FINCA) as a University Researcher. I was appointed as a Professor of Astronomy at the Department of Physics and Astronomy at University of Turku in 2015. After 2010 I have made extended research visits to Stockholm University (18 months) and to University of Cambridge, UK (10 months). I have been the Finnish delegate in the European Southern Observatory (ESO) Council since 2020 and in the International Scientific Committee (CCI) of the Roque de los Muchachos and Teide observatories since 2019. Since 2022 I have also served as the President of the CCI. I am currently also the President of the Finnish National Committee for Astronomy and a member of the Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT) Council and the board of FINCA, and a vice member of the board of the Univ. of Turku Faculty of Science. In 2022 I was invited as a member of the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters.

Teaching

I have taught several courses in astronomy, astrophysics and signal and image processing at the Univ. of Turku. In  particular, I initiated two new observational astronomy courses currently offered at national level for students from Turku, Helsinki, Oulu and the Aalto University. These courses offer hands-on experience on the use of the Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT) remotely from Univ. of Turku (Observational Techniques Using the Nordic Optical Telescope) and on the science exploitation of data from the European Southern Observatory (ESO; Data Processing Techniques for Astronomy with ESO Instrumentation). Currently I teach also the BSc course on observational astronomy and the MSc courses Spectroscopic Diagnostics in Astrophysics and Signal and Image Processing. In my teaching I always try to make use of examples from the latest research in order to offer a motivating learning experience for the students.

Research

​​​​​​My main research interests focus on observational work on extragalactic astrophysical transients, including supernovae, tidal disruption events, and kilonovae. For more details on my research and information on the research group please see https://sites.utu.fi/sne/. For a complete list of my refereed journal papers see ADS (in chronological order) or ADS (ordered by number of citations).

Selected recent papers:

Kool et al. (incl. Mattila) 2023, Nature: A radio-detected type Ia supernova with helium-rich circumstellar material

Pasham et al. (incl. Mattila) 2023, Nature Astronomy: The Birth of a Relativistic Jet Following the Disruption of a Star by a Cosmological Black Hole

Nagao, Mattila et al. 2023, A&A: Spectropolarimetry of Type II supernovae. I. Sample, observational data, and interstellar polarization

Reynolds, Mattila et al. 2022, A&A: Energetic nuclear transients in luminous and ultraluminous infrared galaxies

Perez-Torres, Mattila et al. 2021, The Astronomy and Astrophysics Review: Star formation and nuclear activity in luminous infrared galaxies: An infrared through radio review

Kool, Reynolds, Mattila et al. 2020, MNRAS: AT2017gbl: a dust obscured TDE candidate in a luminous infrared galaxy

Ackley et al. (incl. Mattila) 2020, A&A: Observational constraints on the optical and near-infrared emission from the neutron star-black hole binary merger S190814bv

Reynolds, Fraser, Mattila et al. 2020, MNRAS: SN 2016gsd: An unusually luminous and linear type II supernova with high velocities

Mattila et al. 2018, Science: A dust-enshrouded tidal disruption event with a resolved radio jet in a galaxy merger​

Smartt et al. (incl. Mattila) 2017, Nature: A kilonova as the electromagnetic counterpart to a gravitational-wave source​

Abbott et al. (imcl. Mattila) 2017, ApJ: Multi-messenger Observations of a Binary Neutron Star Merger

Kankare, Kotak, Mattila et al. 2017, Nature Astronomy: A population of highly energetic transient events in the centres of active galaxies

Kangas, Blagorodnova, Mattila et al. 2017, MNRAS: Gaia 16apd - a link between fast- and slowly-declining superluminous supernovae

Kangas, Portinari, Mattila et al. 2017, A&A: Core-collapse supernova progenitor constraints using the spatial distribution of massive stars in local galaxies

Publications

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Optical spectrum of the TDE AT2018hco (2018)

T. M. Reynolds, I. Arcavi, M. B. Stone, P. Nurmi, S. Mattila, M. Hanski, M. Taskula, K. Räsänen, R. Meller, V. Vepsäläinen
(Artikkeli ammatillisessa kokoomateoksessa (D2))

The 30 Year Search for the Compact Object in SN 1987A (2018)

Astrophysical Journal
Alp D, Larsson J, Fransson C, Indebetouw R, Jerkstrand A, Ahola A, Burrows D, Challis P, Cigan P, Cikota A, Kirshner RP, van Loon JT, Mattila S, Ng CY, Park S, Spyromilio J, Woosley S, Baes M, Bouchet P, Chevalier R, Frank KA, Gaensler BM, Gomez H, Janka HT, Leibundgut B, Lundqvist P, Marcaide J, Matsuura M, Sollerman J, Sonneborn G, Staveley-Smith L, Zanardo G, Gabler M, Taddia F, Wheeler JC, Taddia F, Wheeler JC
(Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tai data-artikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä (A1))

SN 2017dio: A Type-Ic Supernova Exploding in a Hydrogen-rich Circumstellar Medium (2018)

Astrophysical Journal Letters
Hanindyo Kuncarayakti, Keiichi Maeda, Christopher J. Ashall, Simon J. Prentice, Seppo Mattila, Erkki Kankare, Claes Fransson, Peter Lundqvist, Andrea Pastorello, Giorgos Leloudas, Joseph P. Anderson, Stefano Benetti, Melina C. Bersten, Enrico Cappellaro, R´egis Cartier, Larry Denneau, Massimo Della Valle, Nancy Elias-Rosa, Gast´on Folatelli, Morgan Fraser, Llu´ıs Galbany, Christa Gall, Avishay Gal-Yam, Claudia P. Guti´errez, Aleksandra Hamanowicz, Ari Heinze, Cosimo Inserra, Tuomas Kangas, Paolo Mazzali, Andrea Melandri, Giuliano Pignata, Armin Rest, Thomas Reynolds, Rupak Roy, Stephen J. Smartt, Ken W. Smith, Jesper Sollerman, Auni Somero, Brian Stalder, Maximilian Stritzinger, Francesco Taddia, Lina Tomasella, John Tonry, Henry Weiland, David R. Young
(Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tai data-artikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä (A1))

ePESSTO spectroscopic classification of optical transients #12096 (2018)

Moran S., Reynolds T., Harmanen J., Kuncarayakti H., Wiik K., Kankare E., Mattila S., Cartier R., Dennefeld M., Taubenberger S., Benetti S., Della Valle M., Inserra C., Maguire K., Smartt S. J., Yaron O., Young D. R., Manulis I.
(Artikkeli ammatillisessa kokoomateoksessa (D2))

The acquisition camera system for SOXS at NTT (2018)

SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, Proceedings of SPIE : the International Society for Optical Engineering
A. Brucalassi, J. A. Araiza-Durán, G. Pignata, S. Campana, R. Claudi, P. Schipani, M. Aliverti, A. Baruffolo, S. Ben-Ami, F. Biondi, G. Capasso, R. Cosentino, F. D'Alessio, P. D'Avanzo, D. Gardiol, O. Hershko, H. Kuncarayakti, M. Munari, D. Ricci, M. Riva, A. Rubin, R. Zanmar Sanchez, S. Scuderi, F. Vitali, J. Achrén, I. Arcavi, A. Bianco, E. Cappellaro, M. Colapietro, M. Della Valle, O. Diner, S. D'Orsi, D. Fantinel, J. Fynbo, A. Gal-Yam, M. Genoni, M. Hirvonen, J. Kotilainen, T. Kumar, M. Landoni, J. Lehti, G. Li Causi, D. Loreggia, L. Marafatto, S. Mattila, G. Pariani, M. Rappaport, B. Salasnich, S. Smartt, M. Turatto
(Vertaisarvioitu artikkeli konferenssijulkaisussa (A4))

Discovery of supernova candidate AT 2018cux in NGC 3256 by ePESSTO (2018)

E. Kankare, S. Taubenberger, C. Vogl, A. Floers, D. Malesani, A. Rubin, C. Inserra, K. Maguire, S. J. Smartt, O. Yaron, D. R. Young, E. Kool, R. Kotak, J. Kotilainen, H. Kuncarayakti, S. Mattila, M. Perez-Torres, Z. Randriamanakoto, T. Reynolds, C. Romero-Canizales, S. Ryder, P. Väisänen
(Artikkeli ammatillisessa kokoomateoksessa (D2))

SOXS: A wide band spectrograph to follow up transients (2018)

SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, Proceedings of SPIE : the International Society for Optical Engineering
Ricci D., Riva M., Salasnich B., Zanmar Sanchez R., Mattila S., Pariani G., Pignata G., Rappaport M., Smartt S., Turatto M., Campana S., Schipani P., Käufl H., Claudi R., Aliverti M., Accardo M., Ben Ami S., Baruffolo A., Brucalassi A., Biondi F., D'Alessio F., D'Avanzo P., Capasso G., Cosentino R., Kuncarayacti H., Munari M., Hershko O., Gardiol D., Vitali F., Achrén J., Rubin A., Scuderi S., Bianco A., Cappellaro E., Araiza-Duran J., Arcavi I., D'Orsi S., Diner O., Della Valle M., Colapietro M., Genoni M., Gal-Yam A., Fynbo J., Fantinel D., Landoni M., Kumar T., Kotilainen J., Hirvonen M., Marafatto L., Loreggia D., Li Causi G., Lehti J.
(Vertaisarvioitu artikkeli konferenssijulkaisussa (A4))

SOXS control electronics design (2018)

SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, Proceedings of SPIE : the International Society for Optical Engineering
G. Capasso, M. Colapietro, S. D'Orsi, P. Schipani, M. Aliverti, H. Kuncarayakti, S. Scuderi, I. Coretti, S. Campana, R. Claudi, A. Baruffolo, S. Ben-Ami, F. Biondi, A. Brucalassi, R. Cosentino, F. D'Alessio, P. D'Avanzo, O. Hershko, M. Munari, A. Rubin, F. Vitali, J. Achrén, J. Antonio Araiza-Duran, I. Arcavi, A. Bianco, E. Cappellaro, M. Della Valle, O. Diner, D. Fantinel, J. Fynbo, A. Gal-Yam, M. Genoni, M. Hirvonen, J. Kotilainen, T. Kumar, M. Landoni, J. Lehti, G. Li Causi, L. Marafatto, S. Mattila, G. Pariani, G. Pignata, M. Rappaport, D. Ricci, M. Riva, B. Salasnich, R. Zanmar Sanchez, S. Smartt, M. Turatto
(Vertaisarvioitu artikkeli konferenssijulkaisussa (A4))

Supernovae 2016bdu and 2005gl, and their link with SN 2009ip-like transients: another piece of the puzzle (2018)

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Pastorello A., Kochanek C. S., Fraser M., Dong Subo, Elias-Rosa N., Filippenko A. V., Benetti S., Cappellaro E., Tomasella L., Drake A. J., Harmanen J., Reynolds T., Shappee B. J., Smartt S. J., Chambers K. C., Huber M. E., Smith K., Stanek K. Z., Christensen E. J., Denneau L., Djorgovski S. G., Flewelling H., Gall C., Gal-Yam A., Geier S., Heinze A., Holoien T. W.-S., Isern J., Kangas T., Kankare E., Koff R. A., Llapasset J.-M., Lowe T. B., Lundqvist P., Magnier E. A., Mattila S., Morales-Garoffolo A., Mutel R., Nicolas J., Ochner P., Ofek E. O., Prosperi E., Rest A., Sano Y., Stalder B., Stritzinger M. D., Taddia F., Terreran G., Tonry J. L., Wainscoat R. J., Waters C., Weiland H., Willman M., Young D. R., Zheng W.
(Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tai data-artikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä (A1))

The Early Detection and Follow-up of the Highly Obscured Type II Supernova 2016ija/DLT16am (2018)

Astrophysical Journal
L. Tartaglia, D. J. Sand, S. Valenti, S. Wyatt, J. P. Anderson, I. Arcavi, C. Ashall, M. T. Botticella, R. Cartier, T.-W. Chen, A. Cikota, D. Coulter, M. Della Valle, R. J. Foley, A. Gal-Yam, L. Galbany, C. Gall, J. B. Haislip, J. Harmanen, G. Hosseinzadeh, D. A. Howell, E. Y. Hsiao, C. Inserra, S. W. Jha, E. Kankare, C. D. Kilpatrick, V. V. Kouprianov, H. Kuncarayakti, T. J. Maccarone, K. Maguire, S. Mattila, P. A. Mazzali, C. McCully, A. Melandri, N. Morrell, M. M. Phillips, G. Pignata, A. L. Piro, S. Prentice, D. E. Reichart, C. Rojas-Bravo, S. J. Smartt, K. W. Smith, J. Sollerman, M. D. Stritzinger, M. Sullivan, F. Taddia, D. R. Young
(Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tai data-artikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä (A1))
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