“I work on galaxy formation and evolution.” Ms Omima Osman works with models of dust, trying to understand how dust influences galaxy evolution.
“A galaxy is full of stars, gas, and a very tiny fraction of assorted material we call dust. This very tiny fraction has a very significant influence on other components of the galaxy.”
The rate at which stars form is influenced by how much dust there is in the interstellar medium, and this influences how a galaxy evolves.
“Dust is quite hard to describe with just a few words. Dust is actually formed by stars, then dust influences star formation. So it’s a loop.”
Ms Osman uses chemohydrodynamical models, which include dark matter, gas and stars. Not all models include dust, which is why the models she uses are powerful as they trace the time evolution of dust.
“I enjoy knowing new things. I get quite bored when I don’t feel like I’m learning something new.”