Dr Joanna Sakowska

Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (Spain)

Hi! I am an Astrophysics researcher and scientific communicator, originally from Warsaw in Poland. I specialise in galactic archaeology; instead of shovels and brushes, I use large telescopes to trace how galaxies have grown to their present day state. You can find a complete list of my publications here (NASA ADS).

News:

(2026) I am excited to announce our discovery of Andromeda XXXVI! Please find the article here and the press release issued by the IAA-CSIC.
(2025) I have started a postdoctoral position at the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalucía (IAA-CSIC), working on the European Space Agency’s ARRAKIHS mission.

Interests

Extragalactic stellar streams
Dwarf galaxies
Low surface brightness science
The Magellanic Clouds

Education

PhD in Astrophysics, 2020 - 24

University of Surrey
MPhys Physics with Astronomy, 2016 - 20

University of Surrey

Research

Extragalactic stellar streams and dark matter

Galaxies do not grow by themselves- they ’eat’ satellite galaxies and star clusters to grow, leaving behind long trails of stars called stellar streams. Hence, stellar streams preserve the archaeological record of merger events long after the original satellite has been completely disrupted.

Star Formation History of the Magellanic Cloud galaxies

Visible with the naked eye, the Magellanic Cloud galaxies are our closest pair of interacting dwarf galaxies. Thus, they constitute a unique opportunity to study galactic evolution in precious detail.

Ultra-faint dwarf galaxies

Ultra-faint dwarf galaxies (UFDGs) are the smallest galaxies in our Universe. Full of dark matter, many have undergone little to no evolution since their formation in the early Universe, providing precious constraints on early galaxy formation.