Meet the Fellows Research Removing the optical noise that blurs our view of distant planets, their stories, and our own. Host University University of Hawai‘i Year Awarded 2025 Website Professional Page Nour Skaf, Ph.D. Ph.D., Astronomy and Astrophysics, Observatoire de Paris – PSL, France Research Removing the optical noise that blurs our view of distant planets, their stories, and our own. Host University University of Hawai‘i Year Awarded 2025 Website Professional Page “Further developing the instrumentation for giant planet imaging is core to my current science goal because giant planets are critical to understanding the structure of planetary systems. For example, Jupiter has been an architect of our own solar system. Without Jupiter, there wouldn’t be life on Earth.” Nour Skaf, Ph.D. Growing up in the South of France, Nour Skaf, Ph.D., stargazed for the first time as part of a secondary school trip to the nearby Observatoire de Haute-Provence. It was there, where 51 Pegasi b was discovered, that she first imagined exploring distant worlds. As the child of a war refugee and raised in a religious household, her path to science wasn’t conventional. Yet this single experience at an observatory opened a door to the universe. Since then, high-caliber telescopes have continued to expand the roster of planets detected in direct imaging orbiting stars, but optical aberrations within these instruments (properties of optical systems that cause the image created to not be a faithful reproduction of the object being observed), as well as turbulence from Earth’s atmosphere, cause “speckle noise” that mimics the presence of exoplanets and limits the quality of observations. Through her Ph.D. project, Dr. Skaf helped develop an algorithm called DrWHO that continually tracks and corrects for these disturbances to improve the yield of valid, directly imaged exoplanets. As a 51 Pegasi b Fellow, she will fine-tune this algorithm by partitioning the images it corrects into zones, where giant planets can be identified and characterized with greater efficiency. She will also develop a mapping technique to predict speckle patterns so that telescopes may calibrate to remove them in real time while imaging exoplanets. By optimizing adaptive optics systems in these ways, Dr. Skaf contributes to unleashing the full potential of next-generation telescopes and their smaller, Earth-sized targets, enabling clearer, more confident views of planetary formation, composition, diversity, and potential to support life. Subaru and Keck Telescopes observing exoplanets and the galactic center from Maunakea. Credit: Dr. Nour Skaf Pushing past noise that undercuts our understanding has been central to Dr. Skaf’s career—and life. Invited to bring astronomy education to populations impacted by conflict and poverty, she believes that human healing and connection can be found in our shared cosmic origin story. Dr. Skaf earned her Ph.D. in astronomy and astrophysics from the Observatoire de Paris – PSL, France, in Spring 2023.