Katie Vandorou will live in the US for three years as part of her astrophysics studies and said she is excited about the expansion into her work.

"I study exoplanets with a technique called gravitational microlensing, which is a way to detect these planets," she said. "Exoplanets are planets that orbit another star rather than the sun.

"What's really cool about this method is that it's more sensitive to smaller planets similar to Earth, Neptune or Uranus that have a really wide orbit.

"Most of the planets they have found so far are usually big planets, like Jupiter and they orbit really close to their host star, so it's important to find these other types of planets because they help us to determine how planets form and what kinds of planets live around different types of stars."

READ MORE: Dallow loses appeal, jailed for 'scandalising' court

Ms Vandorou's interest in space and science began during her childhood with her love of science fiction. She was born and grew up in Greece before moving to the UK for her undergraduate studies and then moving to Tasmania five years ago.

Ms Vandorou completed her honours at the University of Tasmania in the study of black holes. When looking at PhD projects on offer she was drawn towards research on exoplanets.

"The UTAS physics department is small but very friendly and there are a lot of opportunities," she said.

"I was able to teach and tutor, which is great. I am keen to see what a much bigger institution will be like in terms of research work.

"Also, the amount of exposure I'll get to other areas of research and being able to collaborate with people from lots of different backgrounds is super exciting."

Ms Vandorou said the vastness of space is something she was drawn towards learning more about.

"I've always been really interested in sci-fi so I really like this idea of studying unknown planets and far off worlds, I thought that was really cool," she said.

READ MORE: Home quarantine trial for returning Tasmanians

"I really liked science in school and I liked being outdoors and learning about the environment around me.

"When I was in high school math's was my strongest subject. I really liked physics and biology and I was torn between them.

"In the end, I thought I'm going to go into astrophysics. I thought it sounded cool and sounded like a challenge.

"And it has a lot of math's, and I haven't looked back since then."

She will move to the US for a three-year contract with NASA based in Maryland at the Goddard Space Flight Centre.

"I'm moving there in October and I'll be working on similar stuff to what I'm working on now but I'll also have opportunities to use the Keck telescopes in Hawaii, which are 10m telescopes. We re-observe exoplanets that we have already to get really really accurate data," she said.

It's a dream come true being able to work for NASA, but for Ms Vandorou she says she is also quite nervous about working for such a renowned agency.

"I'm really excited. I can't believe that I'm actually going to NASA. But also it is quite a bit daunting going to work with a world-renowned institution, so I really want to do a good job and use my time there to the fullest," she said.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:

Follow us on Google News: The Examiner