Astronomy

An illustration of space debris in orbit around Earth

Pythagorean Astronomy: Space Environmentalism

Posted on 30 May 2022 by Chris North

In the 65 years since Sputnik 1 was launched in 1957, the number of artificial satellites in orbit has been increasing. In the last two years, the number of satellites has doubled, largely thanks to the huge “constellations” launched by companies such as SpaceX. The number of satellites has a detrimental impact on astronomical observations,
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Artist’s impression showing a two-star system where micronovae may occur.

Pythagorean Astronomy: Routine Spaceflight?

Posted on 7 May 2022 by Chris North

It’s not often that a new astronomical phenomenon is named, but this month we have a new one. The name might not be that original, but there have been the first observations of something known as a “micronova”. Lasting just a few hours, a micronova is much fainter than a typical “nova”, making them much
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Join our 2022 AS Summer Programme

Posted on 5 May 2022 by Chemaine Barrett

We are thrilled to announce that in June we will once again be hosting our face to face, popular 3-day non-residential workshop for AS level students.  The workshop is aimed at students who are considering pursuing a physics degree. This free event will take place on Monday 13 – Wednesday 15 June 2022, from 10:00-16:30 at
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Rosalind Franklin rover on the surface of Mars

Pythagorean Astronomy: Shadow of war

Posted on 30 March 2022 by Chris North

With the invasion of Ukraine casting a shadow over the world, Chris North and Edward Gomez (returning from a long hiatus!) look at the impact of the war on astronomy and space science, mindful that these pale in importance when compared with the death and destruction taking place on the ground. From the international collaboration
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Venus as seen by Akatsuki

Pythagorean Astronomy: Venus resurfaces

Posted on 1 March 2022 by Chris North

Back in September 2020, the new broke that an unexpected gas, phosphine had been discovered in the atmosphere of Venus. While plans for making further measurements are progressing, the theoreticians have been hard at work modelling the atmosphere, and trying to explain how life could possibly exist in such a harsh environment Dr William Bains,
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Enrichment activities for the topic of space – 9th March 2022

Posted on 1 March 2022 by Chris North

Organised by Techniquest and Cardiff University, this secondary STEM half day online workshop will cover many aspects of KS3 science, with resources based on topics including material science (spacesuits), astronomy and space science (ESERO-UK, JWST) and studies of the solar system (astrobiology; using robotic telescopes; classroom and online simulations). It will include an overview of
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Universally Different – 8th March 2022

Posted on 1 March 2022 by Chris North

Space is for everyone, a whole universe of wonders and possibilities. However, for many pupils the way these topics are taught can make these subjects seem out of their reach and daunting. Teaching these out of this world concepts can be difficult, even for seasoned educators. Experiments and demonstrations are usually abstract representations of what
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Artist's impression of a magnetar

Pythagorean Astronomy: Radio Repeater

Posted on 7 February 2022 by Chris North

When a mysterious signal was found by an undergraduate student, Dr Natasha Hurley-Walker was perplexed. It was hiding in archival data from the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA), a large network of radio antennas in Western Australia. Based at the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research, Natasha started to loop deeper. Repeating every 18 minutes, and
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