OU researchers win major grant to probe how galaxies grow and evolve

A new Open University (OU) research project will use cutting edge space telescope data and advanced cosmological simulations to uncover how galaxies like our own Milky Way were built. The £435k award, funded by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), will support a three year investigation led by Dr Hugh Dickinson from the OU’s School of Physical Sciences.

The project, Probing clumpy star formation using Euclid observations and cosmic simulations, will explore a striking population of “clumpy galaxies” — systems peppered with bright knots of newly forming stars. These clumps can drive powerful winds and shockwaves that reshape their host galaxies, yet their true role in galaxy evolution remains one of astrophysics’ biggest open questions.

Dr Dickinson explains:

“Most galaxies go through at least one clumpy phase, but we’ve never had the data quality or the computational tools to study these structures in detail. With Euclid now in operation, that changes.”

A new era of data from the Euclid space telescope

Launched by the European Space Agency in 2023, Euclid is now delivering some of the highest resolution wide field images ever obtained from space. Over its mission, it will map 35% of the sky and capture images of more than a billion galaxies — at least 250 million of them in enough detail to study their internal structure.

This unprecedented dataset will allow the OU team to identify and analyse star forming clumps across cosmic time. To do this, they will use a deep learning model developed by OU PhD student Jürgen Popp, building on the success of the Galaxy Zoo: Clump Scout citizen science project.

Testing the physics of galaxy formation

The project will compare Euclid’s real world observations with galaxies generated by COLIBRE — one of the world’s most sophisticated cosmological simulations, led by project partners at Leiden University and Liverpool John Moores University.

By matching observed clumps with their simulated counterparts, the team will test whether current models of star formation and feedback accurately reproduce the Universe we see.

“If the simulations fail to produce the kinds of clumps Euclid reveals, that tells us something fundamental is missing from our theoretical picture,” says Dr Dickinson. “If they match, we gain a powerful new window into the physics shaping galaxies.”

A step-change in understanding our cosmic origins

With Euclid’s vast dataset and the latest advances in AI driven analysis, the team expects to deliver new insights into how galaxies assemble, how star formation is regulated, and how the Milky Way itself came to be.

“This is an extraordinary moment for astrophysics,” says Dr Dickinson. “Euclid and next generation simulations are giving us the tools to answer questions we’ve been asking for decades. We’re excited to see what the Universe reveals.”