Canadian Astronomer Profile: Dr. Jayanne English

Jayanne English

Assistant Professor, University of Manitoba

Education Background:

"I currently enjoy the teaching and research activities associated with being an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg. Like many families in Toronto, Canada, mine traveled on weekends up to cottage country, where we had a mesmerizing view of the sky. Perhaps this is why I cannot remember a time when I was not fascinated by astronomy.

"Before my graduation from the Ontario College of Art (1984), I had already begun the B.Sc. program in astronomy at the University of Toronto, where, as befitting an artist, I am remembered as colourful. My Ph.D. adventure was under the starry skies "down under" at Mount Stromlo & Siding Spring Observatories in Australia. After my Ph.D. was granted in 1994 from the Australian National University, I
enjoyed the Canadian snows and two enriching post-doctoral fellowships at Queen's University.

"Then I had an unusual post-doctoral fellowship at the Space Telescope Science Institute (1998-2000) in Baltimore. In addition to doing research, I coordinated the Hubble Heritage project and authored the Hubble Heritage website. I also contributed to the creation of Hubble Heritage color pictures of astronomical objects, sometimes taking on the role of main imagemaker (e.g. for the Crab Nebula and for the image of a Hickson Compact Group 87."

Research Interests:

"My research interests include studying how the gas flows in pairs (or groups) of galaxies that are interacting, sometimes even colliding, with each other. Since stars form out of gas, I like to ask whether large balls of stars (called globular clusters) could possibly form out of this flowing gas. Also I have discovered a galaxy-sized gas cloud in a group of peculiar, interacting galaxies. It appears to have no stars! Could it be a cloud from the beginning of time that is just waiting
for something to happen which will turn it into a galaxy? I'm exploring this question now.

"I'm also interested in how gas is exchanged between a galaxy's spiral disk and its halo. In particular I have been obsessed with radio telescope data from the Canadian Galactic Plane Survey showing a mushroom-shaped cloud bursting out of the plane of our own Milky Way Galaxy. This cloud is so high that it would take light 1000 years to travel from the base to the top of the cap. Can this sort of feature help explain why our Galaxy has a halo of exceedingly hot gas?"

Professional Accomplishments:

"Committed to public outreach, I was the astronomy columnist on CBC Radio's 'Quirks and Quarks' program (2000-2002). However my forté is creating colour outreach images from astronomy data. Examples of recent images include the Stephan's Quintet and Seyfert's Sextet groups of galaxies (Hubble Space Telescope) and a vista, within our own Milky Way Galaxy, of the Cygnus Region ( Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory). Radio telescope images, like the Cygnus Region, expose the invisible universe and the Cygnus Region image was the first photographic looking radio image.

"My favourite professional papers include:"

'The Galactic Worm GW 123.4-1.5: A Mushroom-shaped H I Cloud'
English, J., Taylor, A. R., Mashchenko, S. Y., Irwin, J. A., Basu, S., and Johnstone, D.; The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 533, pp. L25-L28.

'NGC 3256: Kinematic Anatomy of a Merger'
English, J., Norris, R. P., Freeman, K. C. and Booth, R. S.; The Astronomical Journal, Volume 125, pp. 1134-1149.

Why study/work in Canada?

"I came back to Canada to work because doing astronomy in Canada is extraordinarily fun! Rather than being competitive, Canadian astronomers are reknown for their collaboration. They work together, helping each other out and encouraging each other to explore new ideas. And their research is very successful because of it. Also Canadian projects are on the frontier of astronomical research and often Canadian astronomers use more than one kind of telescope. For example I've used the Hubble Space Telescope, which mostly detects light that your eye sees, and the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory (in Penticton), which detects the invisible. Canadians collaborate on international projects, not just with Americans, but with the French, Australians, Dutch, British, Fins, Swedes, Chinese and on and on. So Canadian astronomy is remarkably diverse and particularly energetic and exciting."

Interested in becoming an Astronomer?

"And so you should be interested in going into astronomy! Before going into astronomy I did many jobs such as sales clerking, bookkeeping, and I was even the manager of an art gallery and of a photography shop. What I discovered when I returned to university was that doing astronomy is anything but boring! Astronomical knowledge is growing so fast that it is probably the best era to date
to be doing research. Also there are lots of benefits associated with this job and these start at the graduate school level. (Yes you do get paid to go to graduate school! It is like being an intern or apprentice.) There's lots of frequent free travel to conferences or to use telescopes so it's a great way to see the world. You have an enormous amount of freedom in organizing your time and eventually in
designing your own research projects. Astronomy allows you to be exceedingly creative. And you will have great colleagues, who will also become your very good friends.

"Worried about money? Don't. It might start off slow to come in, but in the end you'll be secure. See Jaymie Matthews' page for more thoughts on this."

Jayanne English is one of the many professors taking part in the CASCA-Westar Lectureship Series which brings Canadian astronomers to communities like yours!

Related Links:

• Astronomy as a career
• Other Canadian Astronomer Profiles
• Notable Canadian Astronomers

   

  compiled by the CASCA education Webteam, (2008)