Pythagorean Astronomy: Stellar Explosions and Interstellar Visitors

Posted on 28 November 2019 by Chris North

This month saw the announcement of two follow-up discoveries of two explosive events. Firstly observations of one of the highest energy gamma ray burst ever seen, detected back in January, have identified where it originated. Meanwhile, colleagues in Cardiff University have been searching for signs of a remnant neutron star at the heart of Supernova
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Pythagorean Astronomy: interstellar comets, black holes and gravitational waves

Posted on 31 October 2019 by Chris North

October 2019 saw the first all-female spacewalk, and the discover of 20 new moons of Saturn. There were also more observations of interstellar comet Borisov, and evidence for the Milky Way’s black hole having sent out a violent flare several million years ago. Chris North and Edward Gomez discuss these latest stories. October also saw
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Pythagorean Astronomy: Habitable zones, Lunar landers and Interstellar interlopers

Posted on 26 September 2019 by Chris North

The space news cycle was dominated for a while this month with the discovery of water vapour in the atmosphere of planet K2-18b. The planet is in the habitable zone of its star, but is somewhat larger than the Earth – what does that mean for its habitability? Meanwhile, radio astronomers have discovered the most
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Schools Event – Kip Thorne: My Romance with the Warped Side of the Universe

Posted on 23 September 2019 by Chris North

This is a free event dedicated for schools, which includes a public lecture by Professor Kip Thorne. The event is aimed at Key Stages 4 and 5. For tickets to the the free public talk only, please click here. Please note that schools should book as one group, rather than individually. The event includes: 1600
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Pythagroean Astronomy: Lunar Gateways, Belching Black Holes and Warped Galaxies

Posted on 4 September 2019 by Chris North

The summer might be “silly season” in the press, but not so in astronomy. With peroxide on moons and belching black holes there’s lots of sensible research going on for us to discuss. A number of recent rocket engine tests lead us to consider what the near future of space travel might look like, with
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Pythagorean Astronomy: Robotic explorers

Posted on 1 August 2019 by Chris North

July 1969 was the month that the first people walked on the Moon. 12 people walked on the surface of our celestial neighbour between 1969 and 1972. Since then, humanity has been confined to low-Earth orbit. There is talk of sending people back to the Moon, on timescales that vary depending on who you talk
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Ogden Trust School Physicist of the Year 2019

Posted on 12 July 2019 by Chris North

The School of Physics and Astronomy hosted the Ogden Trust School Physicist of the Year event on Tuesday 2nd July to celebrate young regional physicists. The School Physicist of the Year programme recognises outstanding efforts and achievements of secondary school students in physics. Seven physics students from local schools were awarded prizes at the ceremony.
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Pythagorean Astronomy: sluggish Sun, and surprising spirals

Posted on 6 July 2019 by Chris North

Mars is covered in craters, but most of them are very old. But new ones do appear from time-to-time, created when objects hit the surface of the red planet. That’s just what happened at some point a couple of years ago, producing one of Mars’ youngest craters. Higher up in Mars’ atmosphere, scientists are also
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Pythagorean Astronomy Bonus: Herschel 10 years on

Posted on 30 May 2019 by Chris North

14th May 2009 marked the the launch of the Herschel Space Observatory. Herschel was a cornerstone mission for ESA, the European Space Agency, with the goal of unveiling the hidden Universe. In this special bonus edition of Pythagorean Astronomy, marking 10 years since Herschel’s launch, we’ll find out how it did this, and what astronomers
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Pythagorean Astronomy: Biomarkers, near-misses and anniversaries

Posted on 30 May 2019 by Chris North

A roundup of the month’s news from around the Solar System – and beyond. You don’t think of mars rovers having drawers, but that’s exactly what has just been installed on the Rosalind Franklin Rover, part of ESA’s ExoMars mission. This is no ordinary drawer, of course, but the “Analytical Laboratory Drawer”, designed to test
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