Kottayam: A Kerala-born young scientist at the University of Cologne in Germany was part of the team that discovered a rare cloud of gas linking the spiral arms of the Milky Way — the galaxy that includes the Solar System. She can take credit for naming the gas cloud as Gangotri Wave.
Dr V S Veena, a Humboldt post-doctoral fellow, is a native of Vadavathur, near the Kottayam town of Kerala.
"The other researchers suggested to give an Indian name to the wave. As Milky Way is also known as Akasha Ganga, I thought of giving a name connected to Ganga and hence recommended Gangotri," she said. Coincidentally, Veena's house is also named Gangotri (after the glacier from which holy River Ganges originates.)
A team of researchers from Germany, France and the UK was behind the discovery of the Gangotri Wave.
Gangotri Wave is an elongated thin filament of gas cloud at the centre of the Milky Way galaxy. It extends outward, connecting the two arms of the Milky Way, and is 6,000 to 13,000 light-years away. (One light-year equals 5,878,625,370,000 miles or 9.5 trillion km).
The research findings were published in 'The Astrophysical Journal Letters'. The unique finding is being actively discussed in the scientific world.
Veena, who studied at the Mount Carmel High School in Kottayam town completed BSc Physics from the CMS College in Kottayam. She then pursued her post-graduation at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, and went on to secure PhD from the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology, Thiruvananthapuram, in 2018.
She has received the K D Abhyankar Award of the Astronomical Society of India.
Veena is the daughter of V S Shajimon, former Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, and N Kairali, former Deputy Director of the Kerala agricultural department.
