exovista · intern research Articles Original research and science writing by Exovista interns — covering astrophysics, physics, astrobiology, aerospace engineering, and the philosophy of science.
all physics astrophysics philosophy of science astrobiology aerospace engineering solar physics optics planetary science cosmology quantum physics
physics
Zeroth Law of Thermodynamics — An Epsilon View Sneghan Sasiraj · The University of Sydney
Imagine you read a law that says "every human has two eyes". That is exactly what it felt like when first coming across the zeroth law of thermodynamics — obvious on the surface, yet profound underneath.
astrophysics
Weighing the Cosmos: Kepler's Third Law and Stellar Mass Determination Parv Kothari · Middleton High School
For centuries, calculating the mass of distant celestial bodies seemed an impossible task — we cannot place a star on a scale. Orbital mechanics reveals otherwise.
physics
Space, Time, and Gravity: Exploring the Foundations of Reality Mohammad Iyaad Dilnawaz Mukadam · Independent Researcher
Space, time, and gravity form the framework within which every physical phenomenon in the universe unfolds — yet their true nature remains one of science's deepest mysteries.
astrophysics
Fast Radio Bursts: The Cosmic Signals We Still Can't Explain Shatakshita Shekhar · Independent Researcher
Some of the most powerful events in the universe last less time than a blink — a strong radio pulse from billions of light-years away, brighter than entire galaxies, then gone.
astrophysics
Black Holes: Where Physics and Astronomy Meet Saharsh Chalumalla · Independent Researcher
Black holes are natural laboratories where the most extreme predictions of general relativity are tested — and where physics and astronomy converge.
philosophy of science
Does Physics Discover Reality or Construct Models of It? Anshika Singh · Independent Researcher
Physics at its core aims to find the underlying nature of the universe. But is it discovering reality or just building useful models of it? A look at the long debate between scientific realists and anti-realists.
astrobiology
Are We Alone in the Universe? Aniket Dinda · The Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (IACS)
Life on Earth exists because of a remarkable combination of circumstances. But as astronomers discover thousands of exoplanets — many Earth-like — the question of whether we are alone becomes ever more compelling.
aerospace engineering
Energy Hybrid Propellant Composition For Upper Stage Propulsion Arudeep Pandey · Independent Researcher (with Vinayak Malhotra, guide)
A study proposing carbon as an energetic additive to Earth-storable hypergolic propellants — bridging the performance gap between cryogenic and storable rocket systems.
astrophysics
The Physics Behind Gravitational Waves: How We Listen to Colliding Black Holes SaiNayanika Vakkalanka · Independent Researcher
Astronomy has for centuries relied on light to understand the universe. But some of its most violent events produce no light at all — and gravitational waves gave us entirely new ears for the cosmos.
philosophy of science
Is Space Exploration a Necessity or an Indulgence? Anshika Singh · Independent Researcher
Our existence in this universe is both rare and mysterious. Curiosity may not have started the Space Age, but it remains the force that will carry humanity into its future.
solar physics
Decoding the Sun Before It Erupts: The Solar Flares Arudeep Pandey · Independent Researcher
A solar flare is a sudden, powerful explosion of energy on the Sun's surface. When twisted magnetic fields snap and reconnect, they release stored energy as intense heat, accelerated particles, and electromagnetic radiation.
optics
Research on Scattering of Light on Earth Aryan Maurya · Independent Researcher
Why is the sky blue? Why does it turn red at sunset? Starting from a personal observation of dawn on an open terrace, this article dives into Rayleigh scattering — the process that paints the sky every colour of the spectrum.
planetary science
Rogue Planets: Can a Planet Survive Without a Star? Shatakshita Shekhar · Independent Researcher
We have always been taught that planets orbit stars. But rogue planets — free-floating worlds that wander through interstellar space bound to no star — challenge everything we assumed about planetary systems.
physics
The Four Fundamental Forces: The Invisible Interactions That Shape the Universe Mohammad Iyaad Dilnawaz Mukadam · Independent Researcher
Every interaction ever measured — from a particle detector buried under a mountain in Japan to the plasma at the centre of a dying star — reduces to just four basic mechanisms. That number should feel a little uncomfortable.
cosmology
Universe is Tearing Itself Apart: Why the Hubble Tension is Cosmology's Greatest Crisis Advait Gupta · Independent Researcher
Two completely independent methods of measuring the expansion rate of the universe keep arriving at different answers — and after JWST confirmed both, physicists can no longer blame measurement error.
quantum physics
Why Can't We Copy a Quantum State? The No-Cloning Theorem Sanjay Karthik J L · Independent Researcher
Every digital technology relies on the ability to duplicate information accurately. But quantum physics stands as a fundamental exception — and this limitation is precisely what makes quantum cryptography secure.
cosmology
The Hubble Tension: A Crack in the Standard Model of Cosmology Parv Kothari · Middleton High School
Two mature, independent methods of measuring the present expansion rate of the universe disagree at more than 5σ. A decade of scrutiny, culminating in JWST reobservation of the local distance ladder, has failed to identify a systematic error large enough to explain the gap.
cosmology
Will the Universe Ever End? Poojya Pannerkumar · Independent Researcher
Every story has an ending. Modern cosmology paints several possible fates for the universe — from the Big Freeze to Vacuum Decay — each depending on mysteries of physics that remain unsolved.
cosmology
The Invisible Architecture of the Universe: How Dark Matter Shapes the Cosmos Vincent Arbory · Independent Researcher
Dark matter is known not by what it looks like, but by what it does. Astronomers have strong evidence that an unseen source of gravity surrounds galaxies and galaxy clusters — yet no one knows what it actually is.
astrophysics
Kessler Syndrome: Could Space Debris Make Earth Orbit Unusable? Shatakshita Shekhar · Independent Researcher
There are thousands of artificial satellites orbiting our planet, along with used-up satellites, rocket stages, and debris moving at incredibly high velocities. What happens when space gets too crowded?
quantum physics
Rewriting the Universe: The History of the Quantum Anshika Singh · Independent Researcher
According to classical physics, if you knew all the variables you could predict the outcome with absolute certainty. But quantum physics disrupted that notion entirely.
21 articles · Exovista Intern Research Program · 2026