RGZ Team Spotlight: Ivy Wong

Meet our fearless (co-)leader, Radio Galaxy Zoo Project Scientist Ivy Wong:

Ivy is an Australian astronomer (currently based at CSIRO) who is interested in the how/why galaxies start and stop forming stars.  She is currently obsessed with galaxies that have suddenly stopped forming stars (aka ‘post-starburst’ galaxies), blue spheroidal galaxies and galaxy interactions in general.  Having worked with the original Galaxy Zoo project, she became super excited with the prospect of helping to launch Radio Galaxy Zoo.  She is very keen to find out how the massive radio jets emitting from central supermassive black holes affect its host galaxy as well as neighbouring galaxies.

When not working for astronomy, she is slave to two feline overlords, Princess Pippa and Master Finian.  These two can pass for the internet celebrities: Grumpy Cat and Chemistry Cat  (although Finian does not approve of glasses and bowties).

In the week preceding the launch of Radio Galaxy Zoo, Ivy was the Duty Astronomer at the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA, CSIRO)—where some of the radio images for Radio Galaxy Zoo originated. Inset: Ivy with her other overlords.