By Julieta González

José Funes' field of research is extra-galactic astronomy, the observation of "nearby" galaxies, or rather those that are within 100 million light years of Earth.

Funes, an astronomer and Jesuit priest, has been associated with the Vatican Research Group since 2000. A native Argentinian, he was educated at Jesuit universities and obtained his doctorate degree in astronomy after he was ordained a priest.

While the concept and the distances may boggle the brain, Funes' research addresses one of the hot topics in present-day astrophysics: the formation and evolution of galaxies. "To understand how galaxies form," says Funes, "we need to understand the process of star formation within galaxies." At present, he's collaborating with Robert Kennicutt, professor of astronomy at the UA, in observing the star-formation process in galaxies that are no further than 30 million light years.

One of the telescopes used for this research project is the Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope (VATT). "This is a very appropriate telescope for this kind of long-term project," says Funes. "The speed of light is limited and we are receiving information about these galaxies as they were in the past. We receive information from those galaxies in the form of light produced mainly by stars and gas," explains Funes. "In this project, we are measuring the energy emitted by the gas of the forming star. This quantity (of energy) then allows us to determine how many stars are forming per year, per galaxy."

Funes goes on to say that since stars are formed in a cloud of gas, the center of the clouds is where very hot or very young stars are found. This heat warms the gas around those stars and the gas in turn begins to emit light.

By the time this project is complete, Funes and his collaborators will have observed about 400 galaxies within the 30-million-light-year range. "We've selected these galaxies because of their brightness and because of their distance," says Funes. "By studying these nearby galaxies we can compare them with more distant galaxies and learn about the evolution of those galaxies as well."

According to Funes, it wasn't that long ago that we learned that we live in a galaxy. This was confirmed in the early 1930s by astronomer Edwin Hubble who stated that the Milky Way was not the entire universe but just one of millions of galaxies in an expanding universe. Funes goes on to say that "if you consider our galaxy and for comparison, we consider the territory that makes up North America, our Earth would be on the scale of a basketball or smaller."

To further comprehend the extent of what is out there beyond our own galaxy Funes adds that there are many "satellite" galaxies that orbit around other galaxies, including our own. All of these discoveries help astronomers and the rest of humanity arrive at a better understanding of the history of the universe. "We want to trace the history of the universe," says Funes. "We want to understand the process of star formation because this is a key element to understanding our history from the Big Bang to the present."