Hongxin Zhang (张红欣)

CAS-CONICYT China-Chile Fellow
Research interests: 
Star formation in galaxies, dwarf galaxies, globular cluster systems, ultracompact dwarfs
Research Highlights: 

My main research interests focuses on the evolution of low mass galaxies and stellar systems across a wide range of gas content and local environment. Low mass stellar systems, such as dwarf galaxies and star clusters, are most the numerous gravitationally collapsed systems, and their nature teaches us about the processes of star and galaxy evolution. I have studied the star formation histories and interstellar medium of nearby gas-rich dwarf irregular galaxies, as well as the kinematics and possible origins of ultracompact dwarf galaxies (UCDs) and globular clusters in the Virgo Cluster.

Main Involvements: 

I am a CAS-CONICYT Postdoctoral Fellow in the PKU Department of Astronomy, and based at the KIAA. My fellowship is sponsored by the Chinese Academy of Sciences South America Center for Astronomy (CASSACA) and the China-Chile Joint Center for Astronomy (CCJCA). I am currently collaborating with Eric Peng at PKU, as well as with Thomas Puzia and Andrés Jordán at Pontificia Universidad Católica, studying ultracompact dwarf galaxies and globular clusters in the nearby Virgo Cluster of galaxies. We are using data from the Next Generation Virgo Cluster Survey (NGVS), a Large Program to image the entire Virgo Cluster with the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT), as well as followup observations from the Anglo-Australian Telescope, the MMT, and other observatories.