January 16, 2006

What Moves Milky Way Revealed

Two-dimensional projection of the cluster population within 800 million light-years of the Milky Way. The Milky Way's motion through space is due to a combination of the gravitational pull of the Great Attractor (small arrows) and the pull of the Shapley Supercluster, which produces a large-scale flow in which much of the Universe near our galaxy is streaming toward the more massive supercluster (large arrows). Credit: UH Manoa’s Institute for Astronomy.

A new survey by UH astronomers found that in a tug-of-war of cosmic proportions the Milky Way galaxy is being pulled toward the largest concentration of matter in the observable Universe. This finding was presented by graduate student Dale D. Kocevski and collaborators at the American Astronomical Society meeting. The research team includes Harald Ebeling and R. Brent Tully of the Institute for Astronomy and Chris R. Mullis, a UH alumnus at the University of Michigan.

Astronomers have long known that the Milky Way is moving toward the constellation Centaurus but the reason for the movement remained a topic of debate. It was suggested that the motion was due to the gravitational pull of a nearby large concentration of matter dubbed the Great Attractor.

However, the research team, using a new X-ray survey, determined that a massive association of galaxies over 500 million light-years away called the Shapley Supercluseter is winning the tug-of-war. The study shows that our galaxy's journey through space is not entirely due to the pull of nearby galaxies, but is affected by much farther regions of the Universe than previously thought.

Read the press release.

Star Formation Discovery Made

Sean Andrews	Jonathan Williams

Using sensitive radio cameras on telescopes at the Mauna Kea Observatories, Institute for Astronomy graduate student Sean Andrews and Assistant Astronomer Jonathan Williams examined the swirling disks of gas and dust that surround young stars in the Taurus region of the sky to determine how the dust changes as disks evolve. They found that the disks rapidly disappear and concluded that stars have only a few million years to get started on making planets, a far shorter time than conventional theories require. The new evidence was presented at the national meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Washington, DC.

“We expected that disks would not disappear so quickly at radio wavelengths, but this was not the case in general,” says Andrews, “The dust is either being dispersed, dumped onto the star, or growing into large clumps that are difficult to detect.” On a scale in which a typical star’s 10-billion-year lifetime is compressed to the average human lifespan, the disks would disappear within the first week.

Read more about it.

UH Submits Budget Request

UH administrators presented the operating budget and the system’s capital improvement budget requests at a joint hearing of the Senate Ways and Means and House Finance Committees on Jan. 12.

Read the press release for highlights of the university’s request.

UARC Informational Meeting Set

An informational meeting concerning the proposed University Affiliated Research Center will be held on Fri., Jan. 20 at 1 p.m. in the Campus Center Ballroom on the UH Manoa campus. The informational meeting represents the next step in the process outlined several months ago, at which all in the broader community will have a chance to share their perspective on this issue; no board decision will be taken at this informational meeting.

Read more about it.

Engineering Dean Finalists Visit Manoa

Finalists for dean’s position at Manoa College of Engineering will be holding public presenatations on campus. Each candidate will speak on the future of engineering in today’s society.

• Mun Young Choi, professor and department head, mechanical engineering and mechanics department and associate dean for research and graduate studies, College of Engineering, Drexel University. His presentation is on Mon., Jan. 23, 4:30 p.m., MSB 114.

• Peter E. Crouch, dean, Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering and vice provost for global engagement, Arizona State University. Crouch’s presentation is on Thurs., Jan. 26, 4:30 p.m., MSB 114.

• Stanley B. Grant, professor of environmental engineering, chemical and biochemical engineering and material sciences department, Henry Samueli School of Engineering, University of California, Irvine. Grant’s presentation is on Wed., Jan. 18, 4:30 p.m., HIG 110.

• Lalit Raj Verma, professor and department head, biological and agricultural engineering department, University of Arkansas. His presentation is on Mon., Jan. 30, 4:30 p.m., MSB 114.

For more information read the press release or go to the executive search Web site.

UH Newslinks

Find out about the latest UH stories in the media.

Mauna Kea Center opens Feb.23