Jesuit Jesuit scientist-priest Richard Souza, who is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Michigan, United States, has recently made headlines as a senior author of A study on the lost brother's Milky Way galaxy.This fraternal galaxy was "devoured" by Andromeda, the largest galaxy closest to ours, about 2 billion years ago. 39, study, directed by Richard, should change our understanding of the evolution of a galaxy.Richard speaks about his trip to Karsten Miranda
s one of many students of St. Britto, Mapusa and St Xavier High School, Mapusa, the young Richard D & Souza did not know that one day he would teach the world about the pathways of our galaxy – the Milky Way.
A published study in the journal Nature Astronomy, of which he was the main author, enlightened the discovery that the brother Long lost of the Milky Way has been shredded and devoured by our nearest galactic neighbor – the Andromeda galaxy, about 2 billion years ago. The mbadive galaxy, though mostly jagged, left behind a rich trail of evidence, an almost invisible halo of stars larger than the Andromeda galaxy itself, and a separate compact galaxy, M32.
This disturbed galaxy was the third largest member of the local group of galaxies, after the galaxies of the Milky Way and Andromeda.
Using computer models, Richard D & Souza and Eric Bell, of the University of Michigan in the United States, were able to piece together this evidence, revealing this long-lost brother of the Milky Way.
"It was a moment" eureka ", we realized that we could use this information from Andromeda's outer stellar halo to infer the properties of the larger of these jagged galaxies," Richard says.
"I would like to think that this is a step towards progress." The data already existed, but we could not explain it and it seemed a mystery.We provided a new model, which could explain these data as well as a way to apply this same technique to other galaxies.This allows us, for the first time, to unravel the past history of a galaxy, in particularly in terms of the largest galaxy that it has disrupted during its lifetime! The next logical step is to get more data and apply it to other galaxies, "says Richard, while talking to Herald about this success and what it means for the future.
And this achievement has not only attracted international headlines, but it has also attracted the attention of Goans, who has praised his success.
"I was very busy last week, and I had to hardly the time to respond to personal messages. But I would like to thank everyone for their support and love over the years. I remember them with tenderness, "he says, reacting to the answer he's received.
Asked about his fond memories, he said that he particularly liked teaching theology and scripture during those days (when he was in Goa).
"For me, it was not only about informing people about the most recent discoveries of theology, but also about being creative in communicating these ideas and concepts. an understandable way for people, "says Richard. .
He was referring to the program of the Pedro Arrupe Institute in Raia, which he had started with his fellow Jesuit Father Shannon Pereira.
"Our goal was to educate lay Catholics in Goa in matters of faith, theology, and writing.We realized that the knowledge of faith for the average Catholic in Goa was quite limited. We were taught catechism as children, then our religious education remained virtually stagnant after the age of 13 or 14. We have never been taught to theologize the current problems we face in Goa Yet today, the people of Goa are professionally very well educated.There is a great desire among the faithful to find out more about their faith and to play a more active role in the management of Goa. The Church in Goa. We wanted to help such people, "says Richard.
When asked when he often visits Goa, he informs us that he comes regularly, once a year , to visit his parents who settled in Mapusa. Richard's father, Joseph D 'Souza, is from Pilerne, while his mother, Mary, is from Siolim, but grew up in Pune.
Richard spent his early years in Kuwait. After the Gulf War in 1990, his family returned to Goa. He studied at St Britto from Grades 8 to 10 and continued to St Xavier, Mapusa. He then joined the Jesuits and went to his novitiate at Belgaum for two years. After a year of social studies in Pune, he went to Mumbai St Xavier to do his bachelor's degree in physics. After that, he completed his MSc in Physics at the University of Heidelberg, Germany. He returned to India, continued his studies in philosophy and theology, and was ordained a priest. Later, he returned to Germany to pursue his Ph.D. in astronomy at the Max Planck Institute of Astrophysics in Garching, Munich. As soon as he was finished, he joined the team of the Vatican Observatory.
His latest achievement made the Vatican Observatory proud.
"I like to do research, and fortunately, it is also the work that has been entrusted to me by my Jesuit superiors." I am pleased that my current research has benefited from the research I have done. a wide media coverage.After all, this is what the Vatican Observatory was created.As Pope Leo XIII, refounding the Vatican Observatory in 1891, wanted that "everyone can see clearly that the church and its pastors do not oppose true and solid science … but that they embrace it, encourage it, and promote it ". years, the Vatican Observatory had tried to do it.My research and publicity we receive will go a long way in demonstrating that the Church is not opposed to good and true science, but that she is actively supporting her, "says Richard.
Richard Explaining Success
Andromeda And The Giant Galaxies Milky Way are relatively close, and are the largest members of the "local group" of galaxies. Astronomers have long studied the local group, including its smaller members, and thought that they knew their neighborhood quite well. We now realize that there was another galaxy there (which we call M32p) which was almost half of the Milky Way and which was destroyed by Andromeda. This comes as a complete surprise! This makes M32p the third largest member of the local group. The next smallest member, the Triangulum galaxy, is at least 8 times smaller than the Milky Way. Indeed, M32p was a long lost brother.
My research focuses on the growth of galaxies through mergers. During its lifetime, a galaxy like Andromeda, our nearest big neighbor, would have fused with hundreds of smaller galaxies, due to the gravitational pulling forces. These small galaxies are destroyed in the process due to the tidal forces of gravity leaving behind a trail of stellar debris (like crumbs) around the main galaxy called stellar halo.
By studying the stellar halo of a galaxy, I developed a technique to infer the size of the largest galaxy that was destroyed in the process.
Observations from the last decade have shown that Andromeda has the largest stellar halo for any galaxy of its size. We realized that to build such a large stellar halo, Andromeda must have merged with a large galaxy (a quarter of its size) not so long ago.
It was traditionally thought that such fusions would destroy galaxy elliptical spheroidal galaxies. We now know that the disk of the Andromeda galaxy has survived this particularly important fusion, although we do not know exactly why. So, this discovery upsets a major paradigm in our understanding of the evolution of galaxies. One thing we can remove is that the discs of galaxies are more resilient than previously thought. We hope this discovery motivates further studies to understand under what special circumstances the galaxy disks survive such interactions.
