Reports from the European Week of Astronomy and Space Science

Prof Richard Bower talks galaxies

2009-04-30T12:35:27Z

Professor Richard Bower of Durham University discusses galaxies and galaxy clusters whilst at the European Week of Astronomy and Space Science with Astronomy Now editor Keith Cooper.

An interview with British born astronaut Michael Foale

2009-04-28T08:15:39Z

Portal to the Universe opens its doors

2009-04-24T15:28:12Z

At a dedicated press conference held at the European Week of Astronomy and Space Science (EWASS) yesterday, the International Year of Astronomy's Portal to the Universe - a one-stop-internet-shop for astronomy news - opened its doors to the public.

The latest Cornerstone project of the IYA, Portal to the Universe has been long awaited by journalists, scientists, teachers and members of the public alike. As well as collating astronomy news from a variety of sources, including the European Space Agency, the Royal Astronomical Society and the world's major telescopes for example, feeds from blogs and podcasts are also posted on the site along with live or near-live images of the Sun, spacecraft positions and telescope observations.

"It is clear that even in such a well-defined field as astronomy, there is much more 'information confusion' than you might think," says Project Manager Lars Lindberg Christensen. "There is a real need in the community for this kind of site, where astronomy content is gathered in one place and is easily accessible. The International Year of Astronomy 2009 seeks to bring the Universe down to Earth, and this Portal is an excellent way of achieving this. This website will provide a single entry point to stars and galaxies".

Thanks to technology such as RSS feeds, the Portal will act as a semi-automatically updating central repository of astronomy information from sources across the world. Data will be indexed and archived, providing a legacy that will long outlive the International Year of Astronomy itself.

"This release is just the beginning," says Christensen. "The project will develop with, and around, the community's needs, and lots of new features are planned, including adding resources such as educational materials, addresses for all astronomy stakeholders such as amateur clubs, planetariums and observatories."

The Portal to the Universe team encourages everyone to participate and submit RSS feeds for relevant news, images, videos, podcasts and so on. Astronomy Now has signed up; get more information on how to join at http://www.portaltotheuniverse.org/

AN meets British born astronaut Michael Foale

2009-04-23T15:32:31Z

A fantastic end to a thoroughly enjoyable week at the EWASS conference was interviewing British born NASA astronaut Dr Michael Foale. He told us about his experiences on the space station and Hubble repair missions as well as Britain's participation in the human spaceflight programme. The full video interview will be online soon!

What is asteroseismology?

2009-04-23T13:38:17Z

Asteroseismology is the study of stellar interiors; a probe of the different modes of oscillations within their interiors that can be used to study the extent of a stellar core, convection, rotation, chemical composition and so on. It's a bit like how geologists use the propagation of seismic waves through the Earth to learn about the structure of our planet.

In her plenary session this morning Conny Aerts (Leuven, Belgium) said that in order to improve evolutionary models of stars, asteroseismology is crucial. She said that if current stellar evolution models were totally correct, then some new exoplanets found around red giant stars, for example, should not exist, and that there was therefore still a lot of new science to be done in this exciting area of research.

Bridget turns heads

2009-04-23T13:31:13Z

Attendees at the 2009 National Astronomy Meeting were met with an 'otherworldly sight' whilst eating their lunch. The ESA Exomars engineering model, dubbed 'Bridget', was spotted leaving the EADS-Astrium tent as it tried to escape over the hill. This image was fortuitously snapped by Astronomy Now's Assistant Editor before the six-wheeled rover could get away. In reality, the craft was being steered by employees of the Stevenage-based EADS-Astrium. Bridget certainly turned everyone's heads.

The radio telescope of the 21st century

2009-04-23T12:49:15Z

Joe Lazio of the Naval Research Laboratory began his plenary talk this morning with a statement that in the 20th century we discovered our place in the Universe, but in the 21st century we are beginning to understand the Universe we inhibit. This is in part due to the fantastic array of space- and ground-based telescopes reaching deeper and deeper into our Universe, but, "the Universe is patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper."

The Square Kilometer Array (SKA) is set to continue this theme, looking back to the Universe's transition from a largely neutral environment to a largely ionised one. Supported by other ambitious telescopes that are in various stages of development and construction such as ALMA and JWST, these telescopes will peek at the first stars and galaxies. The SKA will also use radio waves as a tool for detecting elusive gravitational waves, and will be used in the field of astrobiology to search for extrasolar planets and to study their chemistry.

Known as the 'international radio telescope for the 21st century', the SKA will have two sites: one in Australia and one in Africa, with antennas grouped into stations to provide one million square metres of aperture. It will begin its early science phase in 2017, and be fully operational at a range of frequencies by 2023.

Meet the Mini Brainiacs

2009-04-23T12:33:49Z

A group of Gifted and Talented Pupils led by Mrs Tina Sherwood of the Meden School and Technology College in Nottinghamshire captivated fellow astronomers at the European Week of Astronomy and Space Science. Astronomy Now's Emily Baldwin caught up with them after their presentation.

What does the quiet Sun mean for us?

2009-04-23T09:48:35Z

Professor Mike Lockwood of the University of Southampton and the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory speaks to Astronomy Now editor Keith Cooper about what the quiet Sun means for those of us on Earth.

Mini brainiacs captivate conference audience

2009-04-22T17:01:52Z

The keen 11 and 12 year old students - Chloe Johnson, Joshua Cantrell, Laura Simpson and Niall Evans - gave mini presentations on the subject of archeoastronomy, the study of how people in the past have understood the night sky. The audience learnt how to find the pole star, as well as how the stars in Orion's belt line up perfectly with the three pyramids at Gisa. We also heard about stone circles like Stonehenge and how the stones are used as compass points and to mark from which direction the Sun rises and sets.

From scientists to journalists, after stopping for a video interview with Astronomy Now and Starlight, and to pose for photos with the Mars Rover prototype Bridget, the students joined members of the media in the EWASS press room to write up the day's events for the Newsround blog.

The team of young scientists will be repeating their presentation in a longer allocated slot at 8pm on Tuesday 28 April at The Open Dome at the Clifton Campus of Nottingham Trent University.

Galaxies in a spin

2009-04-22T15:04:51Z

Why does our Galaxy, the Milky Way, spin? Our Sun orbits the galactic centre at a velocity of 225 kilometres per second.

Conventional wisdom suggests that fast-rotating galaxies form when two galaxies of roughly equal size collide in a huge cosmic collision, which can often form ring galaxies where the core is separated from disc, or an elliptical galaxy. Thorsten Naab of the University of Munich reckons otherwise in the talk he's given at EWASS. He says that minor mergers - small galaxies colliding with larger galaxies - are more than capable instead of introducing sufficient angular momentum to speed up the rotation. Okay, big deal you might think. But consider this: the earliest galaxies ever seen, several thousand light years across, are rotating and nobody has ever been able to figure out how such young galaxies can form spinning discs. These galaxies were assembled from smaller galaxies merging with one another, and if Naab is correct, this is how they got their spin too. We can imagine the scenario wherein our Milky Way came together by swallowing up smaller galaxies and began to spin, a spin that continue to this day, 13 billion years later.

Magnetic waves slowing down sunspots

2009-04-22T11:52:12Z

It's ironic given the gloriously sunny weather we've been blessed with this week, but the notable (some may say troubling) lack in solar activity recently has been a hot topic here at the European Week of Astronomy and Space Science. In a talk during a session called 'The Unusual (?) Solar Cycle', S Zharkov and VV Zharkova from the University of Bradford presented a talk on how unknown magnetic waves, out of phase with each other, may be capable of suppressing sunspots. When the waves intersect there occurs a maximum of solar activity, but the next intersection will occur close the equator, which may explain why there has been a lack of sunspots recently at higher altitudes. The effect driving these two fields is currently unknown. Image courtesy SOHO (NASA/ESA).

Solar wind weakest since start of space age

2009-04-22T09:34:42Z

In this morning's plenary session Daniel Mueller from ESA told us that the solar wind was the weakest it has been since the start of the space age. Compared to the previous solar minimum, solar wind pressure is down 20 percent and the magnetic field is 35 percent weaker. Possible consequences of this "quiet" Sun are that the boundary of the heliosphere will move in, meaning that the Voyager spacecraft will reach interstellar space sooner than originally expected, but also that we may be subjected to a greater influx of cosmic rays. More on the Sun later!

AN talks to planet-hunter extraordinaire Michel Mayor

2009-04-21T16:38:06Z

Astronomy Now's Website Editor Emily Baldwin spoke to planet-hunter extraordinaire Michel Mayor on his discovery of the lightest exoplanet to date, and the future of exoplanet research.

ESO Director General talks to AN about the Extremely Large Telescope

2009-04-21T16:09:10Z

The Director General of the European Southern Observatory, Professor Tim de Zeeuw, speaks to Astronomy Now's Keith Cooper about the Extremely Large Telescope and other aspects of his organisation's work.