By Prof Gerry Gilmore on August 9 at 18:15

Our Dynamic Milky Way

The Milky Way is a band of stars across the sky which has fascinated every people. In the last few years we have become able to measure where the stars are and how they move. We see the Milky Way Way to be a dynamic galaxy, changing, growing, twisting, evolving towards the cataclysmic merger which will change it for ever. The Gaia spacecraft allows us to tell this story.

Bio

Gerry Gilmore is from New Zealand. He grew up on a small farm, attended Canterbury University, Christchurch, where he obtained the first astronomy PhD in New Zealand. Following 5 years at the Royal Observatory Edinburgh he moved to the Institute of Astronomy Cambridge in 1984. Initially as holder of an SERC Advanced Research Fellowship, and subsequently the Royal Society Smithson Fellowship, he joined the faculty becoming Professor of Experimental Philosophy. Among many awards he became FRS in 2013. His academic work focusses on the Milky Way Galaxy, its content structure and evolution. He made significant discoveries, including that of the Milky Way Thick Disk, evidence of the early galaxy’s merger history, the Sagittarius dwarf, first evidence of ongoing galaxy merger growth, and the first precise determination of the dark matter density near the Sun. He has led many large research projects, including UK involvement in the ESA Gaia mission. Gerry’s full title is Professor Gerard Gilmore FInstP, Hon FRASNZ, ScD, MAE, Hon FRSNZ, FRS, Emeritus Professor of Experimental Philosophy, Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge University, UK and Honorary Fellow, Institute of Astrophysics, FORTH, Crete, Greece.