Galactica - Rosalind Skelton
Dr Ros Skelton: Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) Astronomer South African Astronomical Observatory; University of Cape Town Assistant Lecturer in the Department of Astronomy.
Her Research: I study the formation and evolution of galaxies, to better understand how the Universe as we see it today came to be.
I am particularly interested in galaxy mergers and how the region surrounding a galaxy, the galaxy’s environment, affects them over time. There are two main types of galaxies we see today: spiral shaped galaxies where new stars are forming constantly, and others that are round and stars are no longer forming within them.
We’d like to understand why galaxies come in these two flavours, how they change from one type to the other and what causes star formation to slow down or even stop completely in some galaxies.
Galaxies are strongly affected by what’s going on around them. Their environment and interactions with other galaxies seem to play a big role in determining their properties. We are looking at these different environments and looking back to different epochs in the Universe’s history to understand the processes that change galaxy structure and how these affect the formation of stars.
Her Heroes: My astronomy heroes are Beatrice Tinsley, who was one of the pioneers of theoretical extragalactic astronomy in the 1970s, and my PhD supervisor Eric Bell.
Beatrice Tinsley was an expert on how galaxies change as the stars in them age, and her work had huge impact on the field, although her career was cut short by cancer when she was only 40. She became the first female astronomy professor at Yale University a few years before she died.
Eric Bell is an incredibly creative and inspiring scientist, and also a very warm and generous person, who’s guidance led me through my PhD.
Top Tip: Take on challenges and open yourself up to new experiences. Broaden your horizons and encourage your curiosity, and the curiosity of those around you, to try to understand the workings behind what we see.
What do you need to succeed? Critical and logical thinking, an enjoyment of solving mysteries, determination and balance in life.
Superpowers:
Looking back in time! Some of the light we study from distant galaxies has taken billions of years to reach us, so we see the galaxy as it was when the Universe was still young!
SALT gives us super-eyes to see out into the very distant universe and detect the faintest sources of light coming from distant objects.
I use SALT to do galaxy spectroscopy - to break the light from distant galaxies up into it’s different colours. It’s amazing what we can learn from the spectrum of a galaxy - how long the starlight from the galaxy has taken to reach us, how old a galaxy's stars are, how many stars there are (often tens of billions), what the chemical elements in the galaxy are and how much dark matter there is. No one can see the dark matter, but we can see its effects and infer how much there is based on how fast the stars in a galaxy are moving.
Strengths as a scientist: Mentoring students, writing proposals for telescope time, collaborating on projects, solving problems and seeing things from different perspectives.
In isiZulu
UDkt Rosalind Skelton: Uyi-Astronomer ye-South African Astronomical Observatory basebeza kwi-Southern African Large Telescope (SALT); University of Cape Town Assistant Lecturer in the Department of Astronomy.
Ucwaningo lwakhe: Ucwaninga ukwakheka nokuguquka kwama-galaxies ukuze azi ukuthi konke lokhu esikubona emkhathini kwafika kanjani.
Into agxile kuyona kakhuli ama-galaxy mergers nokuthi indawo ezungeze i-galaxy inamthelela muni kuleyo galaxy ngokuhamba kwesikhathi. Kunezinhlobo ezimbili zama-galaxy ezikhona namhlanje. kukhona ama-spiral shaped galaxies, okungama-galaxies anezinkanyezi ezakheka njalo. Bese kuba khona ama-galaxy ayindingiliza okulapho izinkanyezi ezingasakheki khona.
Esifuna ukukwazi ukuthi kungani lama-galaxies eqhamuka eyizinhlobo ezahlukene, ukuthi zishintsha kanjani ekubeni yinhlobo eyodwa bese iba enye, nokuthi yini edala lolushontsho kuze kufike ekethenini amanye ama-galaxies angasakwazi ukwakha izinkayezi.
Izinto ezizungeze ama-galaxies zinomthelela omkhulu kuma-galaxies uqobo lwawo. Izindawo zazo nendlela ezakheke ngayo kanye nemithelela enazo kwamanye ama-galaxy kudlala indima enkulu ekuthenini leyo-galaxy ethize idlala yiphi indima.
Amaqhawe akhe: Amaqhawe akhe kwi-astronomy u-Beatrice Tinsley, owayeyingxenye ye-theoretical extragalactic astronomy eminyakeni yezi-1970s, ne-PhD supervisor yakhe u-Eric Bell.
U-Beatrice Tinsley wayenguchwepheshe ekuthenini ama-galaxies ashintsha kanjani ngenkathi isinkanyezi ezikuwona ziguga. Umsebenzi wakhe waba nomthelela omkhule enkundleni yobusosayensi, kodwa ngebhadi impilo yakhe yathathwa ngumdlavuza eneminyaka engama-30
Ithiphu ka-Galactica: Zitheste amandla akho ngokuthatha imisebenzi enzima ukuze ufunde izinto ezintsha nokuthi ukwazi ukuzifundisa ukumelana nezinto ezinzima uma isikhathi sifika.
Ama-superpowers akhe: ukwazi ukubuyela emuva eminyakeni engamabhiliyoni adlule, ingxenye yomsebenzi wakhe ukutadisha i-light kanti futhi enye yale-light ithatha isikhathi eside ukuthi ifike kuthina ngakho okunye esikubonayo okwakudala lapho i-galaxy isayintsha.
I-SALT isinikeza amandla okubona kube kwamanye ama-galaxies akude ukuze sazi ukuthi yinhloboni yama-galaxies akhona emkhathini nokuthi i-light yawo ithathe isikhathi esingakanani ukuthi isifice.
U-Galactica usebenzisa i-SALT ukwenza i-galaxy spectroscopy, ukuhlukanisa i-light yakwamanye ama-galaxies ukuthi ibe yimibala eyahlukene. Ngokwenza lokhu ukwazi ukuthola ukuthi i-galaxy indala kangakanani nomuthi inezinkanyezi ezingaki.
Amandla akhe njengososayensi: Ukwazi ukufundisa abafundi, ukwazi ukusebenzisana nabantu kuma-project futhi ukwazi ukuxazulula izinkinga nokubuka izinto ngeleinye iso.