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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AT 2017gbl: a dust obscured TDE candidate in a luminous infrared galaxy (2020)

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
E C Kool, T M Reynolds, S Mattila, E Kankare, M A Pérez-Torres, A Efstathiou, S Ryder, C Romero-Cañizales, W Lu, T Heikkilä, G E Anderson, M Berton, J Bright, G Cannizzaro, D Eappachen, M Fraser, M Gromadzki, P G Jonker, H Kuncarayakti, P Lundqvist, K Maeda, R M McDermid, A M Medling, S Moran, A Reguitti, M Shahbandeh, S Tsygankov, V U, T Wevers
(Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tai data-artikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä (A1))

The long-lived Type IIn SN 2015da: Infrared echoes and strong interaction within an extended massive shell (2020)

Astronomy and Astrophysics
L. Tartaglia, A. Pastorello, J. Sollerman, C. Fransson, S. Mattila, M. Fraser, F. Taddia, L. Tomasella, M. Turatto, A. Morales-Garoffolo, N. Elias-Rosa, P. Lundqvist, J. Harmanen, T. Reynolds, E. Cappellaro, C. Barbarino, A. Nyholm, E. Kool, E. Ofek, X. Gao, Z. Jin, H. Tan, D. J. Sand, F. Ciabattari, X. Wang, J. Zhang, F. Huang, W. Li, J. Mo, L. Rui, D. Xiang, T. Zhang, G. Hosseinzadeh, D. A. Howell, C. McCully, S. Valenti, S. Benetti, E. Callis, A. S. Carracedo, C. Fremling, T. Kangas, A. Rubin, A. Somero, G. Terreran
(Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tai data-artikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä (A1))

Progress on the UV-VIS arm of SOXS (2020)

SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, Proceedings of SPIE : the International Society for Optical Engineering
Adam Rubin, Sagi Ben-Ami, Ofir Hershko, Michael Rappaport, Avishay Gal-Yam, Rachel Bruch, Sergio Campana, Riccardo Claudi, Pietro Schipani, Matteo Aliverti, Andrea Baruffolo, Federico Biondi, Giulio Capasso, Rosario Cosentino, Francesco D'Alessio, Paolo D'Avanzo, Hanindyo Kuncarayakti, Marco Landoni, Matteo Munari, Giuliano Pignata, Salvatore Scuderi, Fabrizio Vitali, David Young, Jani Achrén, José Antonio Araiza-Duran, Iair Arcavi, Anna Brucalassi, Enrico Cappellaro, Mirko Colapietro, Massimo Della Valle, Marco De Pascale, Rosario Di Benedetto, Sergio D'Orsi, Thomas Flügel-Paul, Matteo Genoni, Marcos Hernandez, Jari Kotilainen, Gianluca Li Causi, Seppo Mattila, Kalyan Radhakrishnan, Davide Ricci, Marco Riva, Susann Sadlowski, Bernardo Salasnich, Stephen Smartt, Ricardo Zanmar Sanchez, Maximilian Stritzinger, Hector Ventura
(Vertaisarvioitu artikkeli konferenssijulkaisussa (A4))

LIGO/Virgo S200225q: No notable candidates in GOTO imaging (2020)

Ackley K, Mong Y-L, Galloway DK, Steeghs D, Dhillon V, O'Brien P, Ramsay G, Pollacco D, Thrane E, Poshyachinda S, Kotak R, Nuttall L, Pallé E, Ulaczyk K, Lyman J, Cutter R, Levan A, Marsh T, West R, Stanway E, Gompertz B, Wiersema K, Killestein T, Casey A, Brown M, Muller B, Dyer M, Mullaney J, Daw E, Littlefair S, Maund J, Makrygianni L, Burhanudin U, Starling R, Eyles R, Tooke S, Aukkaravittayapun S, Sawangwit U, Awiphan S, Mkrtichian D, Irawati P, Mattila S, Heikkilä T, Rol E; GOTO Collaboration
(Artikkeli ammatillisessa kokoomateoksessa (D2))

Manufacturing, integration, and mechanical verification of SOXS (2020)

SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, Proceedings of SPIE : the International Society for Optical Engineering
Matteo Aliverti, Luca Oggioni, Matteo Genoni, Giorgio Pariani, Ofir Hershko, Anna Brucalassi, Giuliano Pignata, Hanindyo Kuncarayakti, Ricardo Zanmar Sanchez, Matteo Munari, Sergio Campana, Pietro Schipani, Riccardo Claudi, Andrea Baruffolo, Sagi Ben-Ami, Federico Biondi, Giulio Capasso, Rosario Cosentino, Francesco D'Alessio, Paolo D'Avanzo, Marco Landoni, Adam Rubin, Salvatore Scuderi, Fabrizio Vitali, David Young, Jani Achrén, José Antonio Araiza-Duran, Iair Arcavi, Rachel Bruch, Enrico Cappellaro, Mirko Colapietro, Massimo Della Valle, Marco De Pascale, Rosario Di Benedetto, Sergio D'Orsi, Avishay Gal-Yam, Marcos Hernandez, Jari Kotilainen, Gianluca Li Causi, Seppo Mattila, Michael Rappaport, Kalyan Radhakrishnan, Edoardo Maria Alberto Redaelli, Davide Ricci, Marco Riva, Bernardo Salasnich, Stephen Smartt, Maximilian Stritzinger, Hector Ventura
(Vertaisarvioitu artikkeli konferenssijulkaisussa (A4))

Progress and tests on the instrument control electronics for SOXS (2020)

SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, Proceedings of SPIE : the International Society for Optical Engineering
Rappaport M., Ricci D., Riva M., Salasnich B., Kotilainen J., Li Causi G., Mattila S., Radhakrishnan K., Smartt S., Zanmar Sanchez R., Stritzinger M., Ventura H., Colapietro M., D'Orsi S., Capasso G., Marty L., Schipani P., Campana S., Claudi R., Savarese S., Coretti I., Ben-Ami S., Biondi F., Aliverti M., Baruffolo A., D'Avanzo P., Hershko O., Cosentino R., D'Alessio F., Munari M., Pignata G., Kuncarayakti H., Landoni M., Young D., Vitali F., Scuderi S., Rubin A., Brucalassi A., Arcavi I., Araiza-Duran J.A., Achrén J., De Pascale M., Della Valle M., Cappellaro E., Bruch R., Hernandez M., Genoni M., Gal-Yam A., Di Benedetto R.
(Vertaisarvioitu artikkeli konferenssijulkaisussa (A4))

Observational constraints on the optical and near-infrared emission from the neutron star-black hole binary merger candidate S190814bv (2020)

Astronomy and Astrophysics
Ackley K., Amati L., Barbieri C., Bauer F. E., Benetti S., Bernardini M. G., Bhirombhakdi K., Botticella M. T., Branchesi M., Brocato E., Bruun S. H., Bulla M., Campana S., Cappellaro E., Castro-Tirado A. J., Chambers K. C., Chaty S., Chen T. -W., Ciolfi R., Coleiro A. Copperwheat C. M., Covino S., Cutter R., D'Ammando F., D'Avanzo P., De Cesare G., D'Elia V., Della Valle M., Denneau L., De Pasquale M., Dhillon V. S., Dyer M. J., Elias-Rosa N., Evans P. A., Eyles-Ferris R. A. J., Fiore A., Fraser M., Fruchter A. S., Fynbo J. P. U., Galbany L., Gall C., Galloway D. K., Getman F. I., Ghirlanda G., Gillanders J. H., Gomboc A., Gompertz B. P., González-Fernández C., González-Gaitán S., Grado A., Greco G., Gromadzki M., Groot P. J., Gutiérrez C. P., Heikkilä T., Heintz K. E., Hjorth J., Hu Y. -D., Huber M. E., Inserra C., Izzo L., Japelj J., Jerkstrand A., Jin Z. P., Jonker P. G., Kankare E., Kann D. A., Kennedy M., Kim S., Klose S., Kool E. C., Kotak R., Kuncarayakti H., Lamb G. P., Leloudas G., Levan A. J., Longo F., Lowe T. B., Lyman J. D., Magnier E., Maguire K., Maiorano E., Mandel I., Mapelli M., Mattila S., McBrien O. R., Melandri A., Michałowski M. J., Milvang-Jensen B., Moran S., Nicastro L., Nicholl M., Nicuesa Guelbenzu A., Nuttal L., Oates S. R., O'Brien P. T., Onori F., Palazzi E., Patricelli B., Perego A., Torres M. A. P., Perley D. A., Pian E., Pignata G., Piranomonte S., Poshyachinda S., Possenti A., Pumo M. L., Quirola-Vásquez J., Ragosta F., Ramsay G., Rau A., Rest A., Reynolds T. M., Rosetti S. S., Rossi A., Rosswog S., Sabha N. B., Sagués Carracedo A., Salafia O. S., Salmon L., Salvaterra R., Savaglio S., Sbordone L., Schady P., Schipani P., Schultz A. S. B., Schweyer T., Smartt S. J., Smith K. W., Smith M., Sollerman J., Srivastav S., Stanway E. R., Starling R. L. C., Steeghs D., Stratta G., Stubbs C. W., Tanvir N. R., Testa V., Thrane E., Tonry J. L., Turatto M., Ulaczyk K., van der Horst A. J., Vergani S. D., Walton N. A., Watson D., Wiersema K., Wiik K., Wyrzykowski Ł., Yang S., Yi S. -X., Young D. R.
(Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tai data-artikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä (A1))

SN 2016gsd: an unusually luminous and linear Type II supernova with high velocities (2020)

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Reynolds TM, Fraser M, Mattila S, Ergon M, Lundqvist P, Dessart L, Dong SB, Elias-Rosa N, Galbany L, Gutierrez CP, Kangas T, Kankare E, Kotak R, Kuncarayakti H, Pastorello A, Rodriguez O, Smartt SJ, Stritzinger M, Tomasella L, Chen P, Harmanen J, Hozzeinzadeh G, Howell DA, Inserra C, Nicholl M, Nielsen M, Smith K, Somero A, Tronsgaard R, Young DR
(Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tai data-artikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä (A1))

Design and development of the SOXS calibration unit (2020)

SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, Proceedings of SPIE : the International Society for Optical Engineering
Hanindyo Kuncarayakti, Jani Achrén, Sergio Campana, Riccardo Claudi, Pietro Schipani, Matteo Aliverti, Andrea Baruffolo, Sagi Ben-Ami, Federico Biondi, Giulio Capasso, Rosario Cosentino, Francesco D'Alessio, Paolo D'Avanzo, Ofir Hershko, Marco Landoni, Matteo Munari, Giuliano Pignata, Adam Rubin, Salvatore Scuderi, Fabrizio Vitali, David Young, José Antonio Araiza-Duran, Iair Arcavi, Anna Brucalassi, Rachel Bruch, Enrico Cappellaro, Mirko Colapietro, Massimo Della Valle, Marco De Pascale, Rosario Di Benedetto, Sergio D'Orsi, Avishay Gal-Yam, Matteo Genoni, Marcos Hernandez, Jari Kotilainen, Gianluca Li Causi, Seppo Mattila, Kalyan Radhakrishnan, Michael Rappaport, Davide Ricci, Marco Riva, Bernardo Salasnich, Stephen Smartt, Ricardo Zanmar Sanchez, Maximilian Stritzinger, Hector Ventura
(Vertaisarvioitu artikkeli konferenssijulkaisussa (A4))

LIGO/Virgo S200213t: No notable candidates in GOTO imaging (2020)

Cutter R, Ackley K, Gompertz BP, Lyman J, Ramsay G, Ulaczyk K, Galloway DK, Stanway E, Killestein T, Wiersema K, Kennedy M, Steeghs D, Dyer M, Dhillon V, O'Brien P, Pollacco D, Thrane E, Poshyachinda S, Mattila S, Nuttall L, Palle E, Levan A, Marsh T, West R, Mong Y-, Casey A, Brown M, Muller B, Mullaney J, Daw E, Littlefair S, Maund J, Makrygianni L, Starling R, Eyles R, Tooke S, Aukkaravittayapun S, Sawangwit U, Awiphan S, Mkrtichian D, Irawati P, Kotak R, Heikkila T, Rol E; Goto Collaboration
(Artikkeli ammatillisessa kokoomateoksessa (D2))
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