Cosmologist wins fellowship to explore fate of our Galaxy
Posted on 24. Aug, 2010 by admin in Cosmology, Technology
University of Portsmouth cosmologist has won a prestigious fellowship to further her work on spiral galaxies, which could hold the answer to the fate of our own Galaxy.
Dr Karen Masters from the University’s Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation (ICG) won a Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship, which will help fund a two-year project on red spiral galaxies. Karen will use data from Galaxy Zoo, an online astronomy project which invites members of the public to assist in classifying over 60 million galaxies.
The Leverhulme Trust makes awards for the support of research and education. Early Career Fellowships aim to provide career development opportunities for those who are at a relatively early stage of their academic career but with a proven record of research.
Karen said: “I am over the moon to win this fellowship as it secures me two more years at ICG working on something I am hugely passionate about. It’s great to gain recognition from Leverhulme for all my previously published papers and very exciting to spend the next two years working on something so fascinating.
“Some of the red galaxies in crowded regions of galaxy clusters are actually spiral galaxies, bucking the trend for red galaxies to be elliptical in shape. Thanks to Galaxy Zoo we now have an enormous number of visually classified red spiral galaxies, which are intriguing.
“These red spirals may be a ‘missing link’ between normal blue star-forming spirals and red, dead ellipticals. They are rare objects which will provide insight into processes causing the end of star formation in all spirals and will inform us about the fate of our own Galaxy, which is a typical spiral.”
Professor David Wands, from the ICG, said: “Karen is hoping to uncover many clues about how galaxies formed, and the processes which change them throughout the history of the universe. Further work is needed on red spiral galaxies and I am delighted that Karen is carrying out this significant research at Portsmouth.”
