Where do we come from? University of Victoria astrophysicist Ruobing Dong is revolutionizing the field of observational planet formation to find out.
Where do we come from? University of Victoria astrophysicist Ruobing Dong is revolutionizing the field of observational planet formation to find out. He delves into the birth of planets to potentially uncover the origin of Earth.
Dong studies how planets form by examining the protoplanetary disk, made of dust and gas, surrounding a newborn star. His team then uses cutting-edge computer models and photographs from the world's most powerful telescopes—ALMA, GEMINI and HUBBLE—to examine the signatures in the protoplanetary disk potentially produced by new planets.
Access to these new technologies and powerful instruments are what make Dong’s research possible. It’s a field that couldn’t have existed 10 years ago, and his team are among the few selected to direct the gaze of these multi-billion-dollar telescopes. He is already identifying research targets for NASA’s Webb Telescope, which launches in 2021.
For his outstanding research, Dong has earned a 2020 Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Research Fellowship, announced today. The fellowship, which comes with US$75,000, is given to early-career scientists and scholars of outstanding promise.
Continue reading at University of Victoria.
Image via University of Victoria.
