Tommi Koskinen

PTYS/LPL Faculty

Kuiper 421

Administrative Support:

Tommi Koskinen

Ph.D., 2008, University College London

Years with LPL: 2009 to present

Exoplanets, Planetary Atmospheres, Planetary Formation and Evolution, Titan & Outer Solar System

Dr. Koskinen’s research focuses on the structure and evolution of planet and satellite atmospheres in the solar system and extrasolar planetary systems.  He is particularly interested in the physics and chemistry of the middle and upper atmosphere that he studies through both the analysis of observations and theoretical modeling.  His research covers a wide range of different objects and techniques in the spirit of comparative planetology, which is critical to our understanding of the evolution of planetary atmospheres and environments in general.  Dr. Koskinen served as a participating scientist on the Cassini mission and he is still actively involved in research on the atmospheres of Saturn and Titan.  In addition, he develops and maintains models of exoplanet atmospheres that are required to interpret current and planned observations as well as to simulate mass loss and address questions on long-term evolution.

Current Grants

  • The changing seasons of Saturn's upper atmosphere viewed in the ultraviolet, NASA Cassini Data Analysis Program, Principal Investigator
  • Saturn's upper atmosphere revealed by new Cassini/UVIS occultations, NASA Cassini Data Analysis Program, Principal Investigator
  • Atmospheric structure and escape on Pluto: NASA New Frontiers Data Analysis Program, Principal Investigator
  • A comprehensive investigation of Titan's middle and upper atmosphere, NASA Cassini Data Analysis Program, Co-Investigator
  • The middle atmospheres of exoplanets: NASA Exoplanet Research Program, Co-Investigator
  • The CUTE science mission and operations: A cubesat studying the most extreme exoplanets, NASA Astrophysics Research and Analysis, Co-Investigator

Current Spacecraft Involvement

Cassini Mission, Colorado Ultraviolet Transit Experiment

Former Spacecraft Involvement

Current Graduate Students

Student Collaborations/Advising

Former Students

  • Zarah Brown, 2023 (Ph.D. PTYS)

Current Postdocs

Former Postdocs

  • Chenliang Huang

Complete publications list available from: NASA ADS Author Search: Tommi Koskinen

Recent refereed publications (NASA ADS): Years 2019 through June 2024

Steinrueck, Maria E., Showman, Adam P., Lavvas, Panayotis, Koskinen, Tommi, Tan, Xianyu, Zhang, Xi 2024, Montly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. Correction to: 3D simulations of photochemical hazes in the atmosphere of hot Jupiter HD 189733b

Sreejith, A. G., France, Kevin, Fossati, Luca, Koskinen, Tommi T., Egan, Arika, Cauley, P. Wilson, Cubillos, Patricio. E., Ambily, S., Huang, Chenliang, Lavvas, Panayotis, Fleming, Brian T., Desert, Jean-Michel, Nell, Nicholas, Petit, Pascal, & Vidotto, Aline 2023, The Astrophysical Journal. CUTE Reveals Escaping Metals in the Upper Atmosphere of the Ultrahot Jupiter WASP-189b

Fossati, L., Biassoni, F., Cappello, G. M., Borsa, F., Shulyak, D., Bonomo, A. S., Gandolfi, D., Haardt, F., Koskinen, T., Lanza, A. F., Nascimbeni, V., Sicilia, D., Young, M., Aresu, G., Bignamini, A., Brogi, M., Carleo, I., Claudi, R., Cosentino, R., Guilluy, G., Knapic, C., Malavolta, L., Mancini, L., Nardiello, D., Pinamonti, M., Pino, L., Poretti, E., Rainer, M., Rigamonti, F., & Sozzetti, A. 2023, Astronomy and Astrophysics. The GAPS programme at TNG. XLV. HI Balmer lines transmission spectroscopy and NLTE atmospheric modelling of the ultra-hot Jupiter KELT-20b/MASCARA-2b

Huang, ChenliangKoskinen, Tommi, Lavvas, Panayotis, & Fossati, Luca 2023, The Astrophysical Journal. A Hydrodynamic Study of the Escape of Metal Species and Excited Hydrogen from the Atmosphere of the Hot Jupiter WASP-121b

Steinrueck, Maria E., Koskinen, Tommi, Lavvas, Panayotis, Parmentier, Vivien, Zieba, Sebastian, Tan, Xianyu, Zhang, Xi, & Kreidberg, Laura 2023, The Astrophysical Journal. Photochemical Hazes Dramatically Alter Temperature Structure and Atmospheric Circulation in 3D Simulations of Hot Jupiters

Cubillos, P. E., Fossati, L., Koskinen, T., Huang, C., Sreejith, A. G., France, K., Wilson Cauley, P., & Haswell, C. A. 2023, Astronomy and Astrophysics. The Hubble/STIS near-ultraviolet transmission spectrum of HD 189733 b

France, Kevin, Fleming, Brian, Egan, Arika, Desert, Jean-Michel, Fossati, Luca, Koskinen, Tommi T., Nell, Nicholas, Petit, Pascal, Vidotto, Aline A., Beasley, Matthew, DeCicco, Nicholas, Sreejith, Aickara Gopinathan, Suresh, Ambily, Baumert, Jared, Cauley, P. Wilson, D'Angelo, Carolina Villarreal, Hoadley, Keri, Kane, Robert, Kohnert, Richard, Lambert, Julian, & Ulrich, Stefan 2023, The Astronomical Journal. The Colorado Ultraviolet Transit Experiment Mission Overview

France, Kevin, Fleming, Brian, Egan, Arika, Desert, Jean-Michel, Fossati, Luca, Koskinen, Tommi T., Nell, Nicholas, Petit, Pascal, Vidotto, Aline A., Beasley, Matthew, DeCicco, Nicholas, Gopinathan Sreejith, Aickara, Suresh, Ambily, Baumert, Jared, Cauley, P. Wilson, Villarreal DAngelo, Carolina, Hoadley, Keri, Kane, Robert, Kohnert, Richard, Lambert, Julian, & Ulrich, Stefan 2023, arXiv e-prints. The Colorado Ultraviolet Transit Experiment (CUTE) Mission Overview

Moses, Julianne I., Brown, Zarah L., Koskinen, Tommi T., Fletcher, Leigh N., Serigano, Joseph, Guerlet, Sandrine, Moore, Luke, Waite, J. Hunter, Ben-Jaffel, Lotfi, Galand, Marina, Chadney, Joshua M., Hörst, Sarah M., Sinclair, James A., Vuitton, Veronique, & Müller-Wodarg, Ingo 2023, Icarus. Saturn's atmospheric response to the large influx of ring material inferred from Cassini INMS measurements

Bergsten, Galen J., Pascucci, Ilaria, Mulders, Gijs D., Fernandes, Rachel B., & Koskinen, Tommi T. 2022, The Astronomical Journal. The Demographics of Kepler's Earths and Super-Earths into the Habitable Zone

Serigano, J., Hörst, S. M., He, C., Gautier, T., Yelle, R. V., Koskinen, T. T., Trainer, M. G., & Radke, M. J. 2022, Journal of Geophysical Research (Planets). Compositional Measurements of Saturn's Upper Atmosphere and Rings From Cassini INMS: An Extended Analysis of Measurements From Cassini's Grand Finale Orbits

Borsa, F., Fossati, L., Koskinen, T., Young, M. E., Shulyak, D. 2022, Nature Astronomy High-resolution detection of neutral oxygen and non-LTE effects in the atmosphere of KELT-9b

Brown, Zarah L., Medvedev, Alexander S., Starichenko, Ekaterina D., Koskinen, Tommi T., & Müller-Wodarg, Ingo C. F. 2022, Geophysical Research Letters. Evidence for Gravity Waves in the Thermosphere of Saturn and Implications for Global Circulation

Fernandes, Rachel B., Mulders, Gijs D., Pascucci, Ilaria, Bergsten, Galen J., Koskinen, Tommi T., Hardegree-Ullman, Kevin K., Pearson, Kyle A., Giacalone, Steven, Zink, Jon, Ciardi, David R., & O'Brien, Patrick 2022, The Astronomical Journal. pterodactyls: A Tool to Uniformly Search and Vet for Young Transiting Planets in TESS Primary Mission Photometry

Koskinen, Tommi T., Lavvas, Panayotis, Huang, Chenliang, Bergsten, Galen, Fernandes, Rachel B., & Young, Mitchell E. 2022, The Astrophysical Journal. Mass Loss by Atmospheric Escape from Extremely Close-in Planets

France, Kevin, Fleming, Brian, Youngblood, Allison, Mason, James, Drake, Jeremy J., Amerstorfer, Ute V., Barstow, Martin, Bourrier, Vincent, Champey, Patrick, Fossati, Luca, Froning, Cynthia S., Green, James C., Grisé, Fabien, Gronoff, Guillaume, Hellickson, Timothy, Jin, Meng, Koskinen, Tommi T., Kowalski, Adam F., Kruczek, Nicholas, Linsky, Jeffrey L., Lipscy, Sarah J., McEntaffer, Randall L., McKenzie, David E., Miles, Drew M., Patton, Tom, Savage, Sabrina, Siegmund, Oswald, Spittler, Constance, Unruh, Bryce W., & Volz, Máire 2022, Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems. Extreme-ultraviolet Stellar Characterization for Atmospheric Physics and Evolution mission: motivation and overview

Chadney, J. M., Koskinen, T. T., Hu, X., Galand, M., Lavvas, P., Unruh, Y. C., Serigano, J., Hörst, S. M., & Yelle, R. V. 2022, Icarus. Energy deposition in Saturn's equatorial upper atmosphere

Rodriguez, Sébastien, Vinatier, Sandrine, Cordier, Daniel, Tobie, Gabriel, Achterberg, Richard K., Anderson, Carrie M., Badman, Sarah V., Barnes, Jason W., Barth, Erika L., Bézard, Bruno, Carrasco, Nathalie, Charnay, Benjamin, Clark, Roger N., Coll, Patrice, Cornet, Thomas, Coustenis, Athena, Couturier-Tamburelli, Isabelle, Dobrijevic, Michel, Flasar, F. Michael, de Kok, Remco, Freissinet, Caroline, Galand, Marina, Gautier, Thomas, Geppert, Wolf D., Griffith, Caitlin A., Gudipati, Murthy S., Hadid, Lina Z., Hayes, Alexander G., Hendrix, Amanda R., Jaumann, Ralf, Jennings, Donald E., Jolly, Antoine, Kalousova, Klara, Koskinen, Tommi T., Lavvas, Panayotis, Lebonnois, Sébastien, Lebreton, Jean-Pierre, Le Gall, Alice, Lellouch, Emmanuel, Le Mouélic, Stéphane, Lopes, Rosaly M. C., Lora, Juan M., Lorenz, Ralph D., Lucas, Antoine, MacKenzie, Shannon, Malaska, Michael J., Mandt, Kathleen, Mastrogiuseppe, Marco, Newman, Claire E., Nixon, Conor A., Radebaugh, Jani, Rafkin, Scot C., Rannou, Pascal, Sciamma-O'Brien, Ella M., Soderblom, Jason M., Solomonidou, Anezina, Sotin, Christophe, Stephan, Katrin, Strobel, Darrell, Szopa, Cyril, Teanby, Nicholas A., Turtle, Elizabeth P., Vuitton, Véronique, & West, Robert A. 2022, Experimental Astronomy. Science goals and new mission concepts for future exploration of Titan's atmosphere, geology and habitability: titan POlar scout/orbitEr and in situ lake lander and DrONe explorer (POSEIDON)

Borsa, Francesco, Fossati, Luca, Koskinen, Tommi, Young, Mitchell E., & Shulyak, Denis 2021, Nature Astronomy. High-resolution detection of neutral oxygen and non-LTE effects in the atmosphere of KELT-9b

Fossati, L., Young, M. E., Shulyak, D., Koskinen, T., Huang, C., Cubillos, P. E., France, K., & Sreejith, A. G. 2021, Astronomy and Astrophysics. Non-local thermodynamic equilibrium effects determine the upper atmospheric temperature structure of the ultra-hot Jupiter KELT-9b

Yelle, Roger V., Koskinen, T. T., & Palmer, M. Y. 2021, Icarus. Titan occultations of Orion's belt observed with Cassini/UVIS

Koskinen, T. T., Strobel, D. F., & Brown, Z. 2021, Icarus. An empirical model of the Saturn thermosphere

Tribbett, Patrick D., Robinson, Tyler D., & Koskinen, Tommi T. 2021, The Planetary Science Journal. Titan in Transit: Ultraviolet Stellar Occultation Observations Reveal a Complex Atmospheric Structure

Steinrueck, M. E., Showman, A. P., Lavvas, P., Koskinen, T., Tan, X., Zhang, X. 2021, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 3D simulations of photochemical hazes in the atmosphere of hot Jupiter HD 189733b

Koskinen, T. T., Sandel, B. R., Yelle, R. V., Holsclaw, G. M., & Quemerais, E. 2020, Icarus. Corrigendum to "Saturn in Lyman α: A comparison of Cassini and Voyager observations" [Icarus 339 (2020) 113594]

France, Kevin, Duvvuri, Girish, Egan, Hilary, Koskinen, Tommi, Wilson, David J., Youngblood, Allison, Froning, Cynthia S., Brown, Alexander, Alvarado-Gómez, Julián D., Berta-Thompson, Zachory K., Drake, Jeremy J., Garraffo, Cecilia, Kaltenegger, Lisa, Kowalski, Adam F., Linsky, Jeffrey L., Loyd, R. O. Parke, Mauas, Pablo J. D., Miguel, Yamila, Pineda, J. Sebastian, Rugheimer, Sarah, Schneider, P. Christian, Tian, Feng, & Vieytes, Mariela 2020, The Astronomical Journal. The High-energy Radiation Environment around a 10 Gyr M Dwarf: Habitable at Last?

Fossati, L., Shulyak, D., Sreejith, A. G., Koskinen, T., Young, M. E., Cubillos, P. E., Lara, L. M., France, K., Rengel, M., Cauley, P. W., Turner, J. D., Wyttenbach, A., & Yan, F. 2020, Astronomy and Astrophysics. A data-driven approach to constraining the atmospheric temperature structure of the ultra-hot Jupiter KELT-9b

Young, M. E., Fossati, L., Koskinen, T. T., Salz, M., Cubillos, P. E., & France, K. 2020, Astronomy and Astrophysics. Non-local thermodynamic equilibrium transmission spectrum modelling of HD 209458b

Serigano, J., Hörst, S. M., He, C., Gautier, T., Yelle, R. V., Koskinen, T. T., & Trainer, M. G. 2020, Journal of Geophysical Research (Planets). Compositional Measurements of Saturn's Upper Atmosphere and Rings from Cassini INMS

Vriesema, J. W., Koskinen, T. T., & Yelle, R. V. 2020, Icarus. Electrodynamics in Saturn's thermosphere at low and middle latitudes

Brown, Z., Koskinen, T., Müller-Wodarg, I., West, R., Jouchoux, A., & Esposito, L. 2020, Nature Astronomy. A pole-to-pole pressure-temperature map of Saturn's thermosphere from Cassini Grand Finale data

Koskinen, T. T., Sandel, B. R., Yelle, R. V., Holsclaw, G. M., & Quemerais, E. 2020, Icarus. Saturn in Lyman α: A comparison of Cassini and Voyager observations

Cubillos, Patricio E., Fossati, Luca, Koskinen, Tommi, Young, Mitchell E., Salz, Michael, France, Kevin, Sreejith, A. G., & Haswell, Carole A. 2020, The Astronomical Journal. Near-ultraviolet Transmission Spectroscopy of HD 209458b: Evidence of Ionized Iron Beyond the Planetary Roche Lobe

Turner, Jake D., de Mooij, Ernst J. W., Jayawardhana, Ray, Young, Mitchell E., Fossati, Luca, Koskinen, Tommi, Lothringer, Joshua D., Karjalainen, Raine, & Karjalainen, Marie 2020, The Astrophysical Journal. Detection of Ionized Calcium in the Atmosphere of the Ultra-hot Jupiter KELT-9b

Pryor, W. R., Esposito, L. W., Jouchoux, A., West, R. A., Grodent, D., Gérard, J. -C., Radioti, A., Lamy, L., & Koskinen, T. 2019, Journal of Geophysical Research (Planets). Cassini UVIS Detection of Saturn's North Polar Hexagon in the Grand Finale Orbits

Lavvas, Panayotis, Koskinen, Tommi, Steinrueck, Maria E., García Muñoz, Antonio, & Showman, Adam P. 2019, The Astrophysical Journal. Photochemical Hazes in Sub-Neptunian Atmospheres with a Focus on GJ 1214b

Müller-Wodarg, I. C. F., Koskinen, T. T., Moore, L., Serigano, J., Yelle, R. V., Hörst, S., Waite, J. H., & Mendillo, M. 2019, Geophysical Research Letters. Atmospheric Waves and Their Possible Effect on the Thermal Structure of Saturn's Thermosphere

Sreejith, Aickara Gopinathan, Fossati, Luca, Fleming, Brian T., France, Kevin, Koskinen, Tommi, Egan, Arika, Rüdisser, Hannah T., & Steller, Manfred 2019, Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems. Colorado Ultraviolet Transit Experiment data simulator

Pearson, Kyle A., Griffith, Caitlin A., Zellem, Robert T., Koskinen, Tommi T., & Roudier, Gael M. 2019, The Astronomical Journal. Ground-based Spectroscopy of the Exoplanet XO-2b Using a Systematic Wavelength Calibration

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Semester Course Day/Time Location Resources
Fall 2023 PTYS/ASTR 212-1 Tuesday, Thursday 12:30-1:45p.m. Kuiper 308 Syllabus
D2L
Fall 2024 PTYS/ATMO 544-001 Tuesday, Thursday 11:00a.m.-12:15p.m. Kuiper 312 Syllabus
D2L
Fall 2025 PTYS/ASTR 212-001 Tuesday, Thursday 11:00a.m.-12:15p.m. Kuiper 308 D2L

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