The Review 2015

29 Help for a Stricken Land The Spectacular Vision of Colliding Galaxies Seeding the Future – Internationalisation The Nepal earthquake in April 2015 was a devastating event for the country and heart-wrenching for its nationals at HKU. But i n i ts wake, di f ferent student groups at HKU have been i nsp i red to j o i n forces for a long- term project aimed at helping a community to recover. The HKU S t uden t s ’ Un i on , Postgraduate Students Associat ion and Nepalese students met shortly after the earthquake at a gathering organised by the Centre of Development and Resources for Students (CEDARS). They decided to raise funds and jointly identify a meaningful way to contribute to the country’s rebuilding. Arya Awale (above right), an MPhil student in the Department of Psychology, is a member of the group. “As a Nepalese away from home, the news of the earthquake left me feeling pained and powerless. I wanted desperately to help the situation back home but was unsure how. CEDARS’ effort to bring HKU’s Nepalese students together allowed us to gain support from each other and brainstorm ideas,” she said. An HKU collaboration with UK, Australian and South African scientists, carried out in Australia with outer space as the target, has yielded a rare and exciting result: the sighting of two galaxies colliding in the murk behind the Milky Way that are lit up like a Catherine’s wheel firework. Professor Quentin Parker (pictured) of the Department of Physics and Professor Albert Zijsltra at the University of Manchester were searching for remnants of dying stars in the Milky Way using the UK Schmidt Telescope in Australia, when they made their surprise discovery. It consisted of a cosmic ring in the constellation of Ara (the Altar) that signalled a galaxy collision they called Kathryn’s Wheel after both Professor Zijlstra’s wife and the well-known firework which the system resembles. The newly-discovered ring galaxy is 30 million light years away from Earth – seven times closer than any previously found galaxy ring. The shock waves from the collision triggered a reaction that led to the simultaneous formation of new stars. “Not only is this system visually stunning, but it’s close enough to be an ideal target for detailed study,” Professor Parker said. “The ring is also quite low in mass – a few thousand million suns or less than one per cent of the Milky Way, so our discovery shows that collision rings can form around much smaller galaxies than we thought.” They organised a donation drive and set up boxes around campus, raising enough to make a donation to Oxfam for emergency relief, plus about $40,000 for longer-term work. “All too often after a disaster strikes, a lot of money gets poured into immediate relief work. However, recovery takes years. Therefore, we wanted to think in the long term,” she said. With support from Dr Albert Ko, the Director of the Gallant Ho Experiential Learning Centre who has extensive field experience in under-developed and disaster-stricken countries, they have identified a Nepal-based NGO to partner with and are building a multi-purpose community centre at one of the affected villages. The work will be carried out in early 2016. “We are also thinking about potentially using the community centre for future projects involving HKU students, such as teaching programmes,” Arya said. The Review 2015