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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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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Pythagorean Astronomy: Engine Failures to Event Horizons

Posted on 30 April 2019 by Chris North

A roundup of the month’s news from around the Solar System – and beyond. Starting with the Moon, where the first attempt by a privately funded organisation to land on the Moon has ended in a crash-landing. Despite the sad end, the Beresheet mission was otherwise a success, and a promising start for privately funded
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Pythagorean Astronomy: Hopping spacecraft and Rosalind the Rover

Posted on 3 March 2019 by Chris North

Chris North and Edward Gomez discuss the latest events from around the Solar System. Hayabusa 2 has successfully hopped down onto the surface of Ryugu, meanwhile an Israeli lander has been launched to the Moon, where it will also hop about. Further afield, there are new clues to the origin of Neptune’s odd little moon
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Pythagorean Astronomy: 2018 – a year in space

Posted on 30 December 2018 by Chris North

Chris North, Mat Allen and Sarah Roberts discuss the highlights of 2018, and look forward to 2019. From missions to the inner Solar System, landers on Mars, and rovers on asteroids, lots has happened. In 2019, we’re looking forward to New Horizon’s flyby of Ultima Thule out in the Kuiper Belt, more results from the
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Pythagorean Astronomy: Kepler’s Legacy

Posted on 29 November 2018 by Chris North

Chris North, Sarah Roberts and Matt Smitth discuss the landing of NASA’s Insight probe, which is set to investigate the interior of Mars and search for Mars-quakes. Closer to home, we’re celebrating 20 years of the International Space Station this month. In astrophysics research, Cardiff researchers, including Matt, were involved in a study of exploding
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Pythagorean Astronomy: Gravity and Light

Posted on 25 October 2017 by Chris North

On 16th October a huge team of astronomers announced to the world that they had detected, for the first time, gravitational waves and light from the same event. That event was the collision of two neutron stars in a galaxy around 130 million light year away. The signal was first detected by the LIGO and
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