The National Science Centre in Poland awarded prof. Ewa Lokas from NCAC almost 3 million zloty for the project “Dynamics and morphology of interacting galaxies” within the Maestro 5 competition for experienced researchers. The funding will allow to involve a number of PhD students and postdocs in an extended research program including the simulations of galaxy evolution and their comparison with observations. Interactions between galaxies are among the key processes shaping the large-scale structure of the Universe. The research carried out by the group with provide insights into the history of the immediate neighbourhood of the Milky Way, as well as shed new light on such still mysterious phenomena as the formation of bars and spiral arms in galaxies.
In previous NCN Maestro calls two other researchers from NCAC were awarded the grants: prof. Jarosław Dyks from NCAC Torun and prof. Włodzimierz Kluźniak from NCAC Warsaw.
Picture: Galaxy NGC 6050 (left; colliding with IC 1179); NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration, and K. Noll (STScI)