Astronomy professor publishes paper in British journal
Article By: Staff
When Dr. Amanda Moffett looks into the starry sky at night, she knows galaxies are primarily either elliptical or spiral. However, a recently discovered galaxy category captured her interest.
Moffett, assistant professor of physics and astronomy at ǧÃŬAV, collaborated with two large, international galaxy survey teams, Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA) and Sydney-AAO Multi-object Integral spectrograph (SAMI), on a research project.
Her was recently published in the October issue of , a British astronomy journal.
"We were trying to understand a recently discovered population of galaxies we call 'little blue spheroids,' which are unusual because they form stars like spiral galaxies but are structured more like elliptical galaxies," Moffett said.
Elliptical galaxies are featureless round galaxies that are not forming stars, earning them the description "red and dead." Spiral galaxies actively form stars and feature striking spiral disk structure, like our home galaxy the Milky Way.
"We don't have the most complete answer," she said. "But we ultimately found that these galaxies are likely formed from mergers or cosmic gas accretion and could be the ancestors of dwarf elliptical galaxies."
Record 48 students earn travel grants
ǧÃŬAV's Center for Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities awarded a fall-semester-record 48 travel grants to support students presenting their research at conferences.
Grads prepare for their next steps
ǧÃŬAV will award almost 1,000 degrees and certificates this fall, and more than 600 graduates are scheduled to take part in the Dec. 7 commencement ceremonies.
24 are Distinguished Military Graduates
Twenty-four cadets have been named Distinguished Military Graduates for the 2024-25 academic year, including five who are in the top 70 out of more than 5,000 in the national ROTC class.
Blue Ridge students earn scholarships
ǧÃŬAV honored 28 of its Blue Ridge Campus students with almost $15,000 of scholarships and celebrated the philanthropy that made those scholarships possible at the Tomato Sandwich Supper on Nov. 7.