Malaysian Astronomers Shining Bright

I never knew, or perhaps I was simply unaware, that Malaysia has a group of exceptional astronomers. Though small in number, their international achievements have earned high recognition—like brilliant stars in the vast universe, shining brightly in the boundless field of astronomical research!

Yuan-Sen Ting is one of these brilliant stars. He is a "Harvard-made" astrophysicist, currently conducting research at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton—widely regarded as "the academic sanctuary for the world's brightest minds"—fully devoted to exploring the history of the Milky Way using artificial intelligence.

You might think that someone capable of getting into Harvard must be a top student who loves learning? Not necessarily! During high school, Yuan-Sen's first choice was medicine, which would suggest he was a top student, but he doesn't consider himself particularly passionate about studying. Rather, he's simply more curious than most.

"Curiosity drives learning! During my senior year at Chong Hwa Independent High School in Kuala Lumpur, I dropped out for three months because my curiosity had faded, and with it, my enthusiasm for learning. It wasn't until I rediscovered the original purpose of learning that I regained my motivation."

Unfortunately, unable to secure a medical scholarship, he decided to first pursue basic science. During his university years, he simultaneously completed dual degrees at the National University of Singapore and École Polytechnique in Paris, earning both bachelor's and master's degrees. It was during this period that he discovered an inexplicable attraction to physics.

Astronomy Covers a Wide Range of Fields

From physics to astrophysics—this was his serendipitous "harvest," as he originally knew nothing about astronomy. During his undergraduate years, he explored several different fields and found that astronomy research projects came most naturally to him, so he decided to pursue it further.

Initially, he worried that astronomy was too specialized and might close off other career paths. But he later discovered that astronomy is actually an interdisciplinary science, covering physics, mathematics, computer science, artificial intelligence, statistics, chemistry, and more.

"Astronomy researchers excel at analyzing and synthesizing big data. In the astronomy community, cross-disciplinary research is quite common. Although I mainly focus on stars, I occasionally study black holes, cosmology, and galactic science because it's all so fascinating!"

We Are All Children of the Stars

When applying for his doctoral program, Yuan-Sen applied to only two American universities—Harvard and Princeton. At the time, he was doing research at the Australian National University. He was later accepted by Harvard and specialized in astrophysics.

"The most wonderful thing is that these two American universities each became where I pursued my Ph.D. and where I work as a postdoc, while the Australian National University will be where I teach."

So what exactly is "astrophysics"? It's a branch of physics that primarily studies the physics of the universe, including the physical properties of celestial bodies and their interactions.

Sounds complicated, right? Simply put, he mainly studies the history of the Milky Way. Isn't that even more complicated? Fortunately, he knows how to explain it in "Earth language."

He recounted an interesting story from 1994. That year, Los Angeles experienced a major earthquake that caused a citywide blackout. Because the city was no longer completely flooded by light pollution, it was the first time people truly observed the night sky above them. When they looked up, they saw something startling and frantically called the observatory, nervously asking: "There's a strange silvery light crossing the sky—is that what caused the blackout?"

The Dust of the Milky Way

The astronomer on the other end of the phone calmly replied: "No, that's the Milky Way, the galaxy we live in. It has always been there."

He pointed out that studying the Milky Way has always been a core project in astronomy. On one hand, researchers want to know the position of our solar system within the Milky Way (our Sun is just one of the 100 billion stars in the Milky Way), and they also want to understand better how the Milky Way was built.

"In fact, all elements on Earth (except for hydrogen, helium, and trace amounts of lithium) were once dust in the Milky Way. Every atom in our bodies was once burning and being created inside stars, then returned to the Milky Way. These scattered stellar 'remains' in the Milky Way partly became Earth, and partly became us. Without exaggeration, we are all children of the stars. On the other hand, we want to study where the stars came from and where they're going, and this is also to understand where humans came from and where we're going."

He excitedly mentioned that there have been quite a few new discoveries about the Milky Way recently! Mainly because there's more data, and many signals that weren't obvious before are gradually emerging.

Finding the Stars' Lost "Family Members"

For example, it was only two years ago that they discovered the Milky Way was actually "invaded" by an outside galaxy about 10 billion years ago. An external galaxy crashed head-on into the Milky Way, causing violent shockwaves, and this unexpected disaster delayed the Milky Way's "star-making" work by a full 2 billion years.

Then, about 5 billion years ago, the Milky Way was hit again by a smaller collision, which created ripples in stellar movements. These ripples are the "evidence" that led to discovering that smaller collision.

More discoveries include: the Milky Way produces about one star per year on average; the Sun is about 26,000 light-years from the galactic center; and at the center of the Milky Way sits a supermassive black hole 4 million times heavier than the Sun.

"Recently, my students and I have been researching how to find the lost 'siblings' of stars. Generally, stars are born in a 'big family'—thousands of stars form simultaneously but quickly scatter throughout the Milky Way. Through research, we can roughly determine which stars are lost 'family members' by their movement direction and chemical elements."

The Stars Are Our Laboratory

Most of the time, astrophysics research deals with the unknowable, and it's precisely this characteristic that constantly pushes Yuan-Sen out of his comfort zone—a continuous cycle of breaking down, rebuilding, breaking down again, and rebuilding again.

In most people's imagination, "research" must be conducted in a laboratory. However, astronomical research focuses on "observation" rather than experiments. "The vast cosmos is our laboratory!" he laughed.

As for personal research equipment, basically a computer is enough. However, in the 21st century, astronomical observation has become increasingly specialized, with professional operators often hired to collect telescope data.

"Sometimes we do operate the large telescopes ourselves to collect data, but most of the time we're in the office processing data, performing theoretical calculations, and cross-checking. Additionally, we frequently travel to astronomy institutes in various countries for exchanges, sharing and discussing our research work."

Promoting Malaysia's Astronomy Field

Regarding the development of astronomy in Malaysia, he believes that while progress has been slow, there has still been decent development. Currently, there are about 20-plus astronomy Ph.D.s working domestically. In recent years, Malaysia has participated in several important international astronomical research projects, and Malaysian astronomers have achieved remarkable results internationally.

"Although there are only about 15-20 Malaysian astronomy Ph.D.s working abroad, several have achieved notable success, including professors and deputy directors at the University of Tokyo and National Taiwan University. Additionally, three Malaysian astronomers have received astronomy's highest postdoctoral honor—the NASA Hubble Fellowship."

"I was chatting with my NASA colleague who manages that program, and he was also surprised that Malaysia doesn't have many astronomers, yet the output is impressive!"

Regarding promoting better development in Malaysia's astronomy field, he offered three suggestions: First, increase public enthusiasm for astronomy; second, incorporate astronomy knowledge into secondary school curricula and make it more accessible; third, enhance astronomy research opportunities in domestic universities and promote collaboration with international research.

Originally in March this year, he and several Malaysian astronomy colleagues planned to host the first astronomy conference in Malaysia, inviting astronomy luminaries from neighboring countries, the Ministry of Education, and local astronomy enthusiast groups to participate. But plans couldn't keep up with changes—the sudden COVID pandemic forced the event to be postponed.

Driving Everyday Technology

Perhaps you're wondering: what benefits can astronomers bring to a country?

Yuan-Sen explained that astronomers, like basic science researchers, quietly drive society's foundation from behind the scenes. The technology and algorithms used for everyday tasks aren't usually too complex, but the technology and algorithms required for basic science research like astronomy often don't exist yet.

To continue advancing research, astronomers are forced to develop new "cutting-edge technology," and these often become everyday technologies later. For example, the internet was invented by particle physicists to communicate efficiently with each other; the principle behind GPS that we all use and love today stemmed from calculations Einstein developed to explain the deviation in Mercury's orbit.

"My recent research on stellar movement has also driven the development of precision optical instruments. The precision required to observe stellar movement is roughly equivalent to being able to see a single strand of hair on someone's head in Penang from Kuala Lumpur. And this kind of optical technology for telescopes is also commonly used in medical instruments, benefiting many people."

Endless Research

"At the same time, it's not hard to notice that top universities and advanced nations have very well-developed astrophysics programs, because astronomy makes a country's people more respectful of nature and more fond of science, with wide-ranging influence."

Astronomy seems like endless research, and he believes that's exactly where its charm lies! Each mountain climbed reveals more unknown worlds, and each climbing process brings satisfaction and new opportunities—these are the stepping stones for the next "summit."

Regarding future goals, he has been particularly interested in the Milky Way in recent years because the technology and data for studying the Milky Way have reached high-quality development. Combined with the advantages of artificial intelligence, he says he might be able to make some small contributions in this area.

Astronomy Covers Various Fields

Since graduating from Harvard, Yuan-Sen has remained in the United States, having received postdoctoral fellowships from the NASA Hubble program, the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, Princeton University, and the Carnegie Institution for Science.

He has also considered returning to Malaysia in the future, as homesickness is still there. However, before that, he needs to think about what changes he can bring to Malaysia. Until he finds a better opportunity, he's focusing on his current work.

Some people think that career paths in astronomy are narrow, and that Malaysia's astronomy field doesn't seem to get much attention—does that mean one can only develop abroad?

Blue Skies Inside and Outside the Field

"Astronomy involves handling data, analysis, statistics, and programming skills—one must have a strong grasp of technology. So even without doing astronomy, career paths are quite broad. After I finished my Ph.D., a major American investment bank immediately offered me a job."

"What this century needs to learn is how to mine 'gold' from big data. My former classmates aren't all developing in the astronomy field—some are on Wall Street calculating stock predictions; some are in Hollywood calculating box office returns; some are in the fashion industry predicting next season's clothing trends. During the pandemic, many colleagues have also spent time analyzing epidemic data, and some astronomy experts have even published epidemic analyses in scientific journals. From this, it's clear that astronomers can also become big data scientists, creating blue skies both inside and outside the field!"