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
Read more




Our Space Our Future

Posted on 11 January 2022 by Rebecca Williams

Our Space Our Future is a Horizon2020 European funded Project that aims to foster the interest of young students in space-related topics. Who are we? The project consortium consists of 5 countries and 8 partners who all work closely together. Cardiff University is the Coordinator of the project. Wendy Sadler, Senior Lecturer at School of
Read more


Artist's impression on 'Oumuamua

Pythagorean Astronomy: Mysterious visitors bearing gifts

Posted on 29 December 2021 by Chris North

The first interstellar object to be discovered was ‘Oumuamua, detected in 2017. Joined by Comet 2I/Borisov a couple of years later, astronomers are eagerly awaiting further discoveries of such objects, which were ejected from other solar systems. We explore what the link is between these interstellar objects and the history of star formation around the
Read more



Pythagorean Astronomy: The Cosmic Webb

Posted on 6 December 2021 by Chris North

The world of astronomy is eagerly awaiting the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope later in December. The telescope is not without controversy, but is set to revolutionise observations of the cosmos. Prof Pete Hargrave was responsible for building a calibration source for MIRI, the Mid-Infrared Imager, while Dr Tim Davis will be observing
Read more



Multiwavelength views of Pa30

Pythagorean Astronomy: Supernova Detective Story

Posted on 3 October 2021 by Chris North

Way back in 1181 AD, astronomers in China and Japan recorded a “guest star” – something that we’d now call a supernova. Over 800 years later, astronomers made a connection between this ancient observation and more recent studies of a very unusual object that goes by the name of “Parker’s Star”. Prof Quentin Parker, from
Read more