About Me

Hi! My name is Johan Olofsson, an astronomer working on debris disks and planet formation. I am currently based in Garching, Germany, working at ESO. Between 2017 and 2022 I was the Max Planck Tandem Group Leader at the “Instituto de Fisicia y Astronomia” at the University of Valparaiso, Chile.

Contact: johan.olofsson@eso.org

Research Interest

My main research interests are related to debris disks, young (more massive) analogs to the Kuiper belt of the solar system. I am “by training” an observer and during my career I have been using a large variety of observing techniques (direct imaging, interferometry, spectroscopy, photometry) to study those faint disks. Recently, I also started to delve a bit more in the world of numerical simulations to follow the dynamics of the dust particles that we observe. Being able to deal with noise-free (provided you have enough time) images can sometimes be a delight but I have to admit it doesn’t beat getting new observations. I am also very interested in planet formation, because it is, in the end, intimately with the formation planetesimals and planetary embryos.