By Simon Jeffery, AOP Research Astronomer In 1930, Dorrit Hoffleit reported that star number #4749 in the Harvard List of variables had faded four times between 1897 and 1929, and identified it as an R Coronae Borealis (RCB) variable. RCB stars are luminous low-mass stars (red giants) with surfaces around Read more…
One of our Astronomers, Dr Gavin Ramsay, reflects on his memories of some of the amazing telescopes he has travelled to throughout his career! When the telescope was invented in early 17th century, they were generally used in the urban environment. Gradually they were housed in quite grand purpose-built buildings Read more…
Have you ever wondered about the impact that you may have as an amateur astronomer? How much can amateur and professional astronomers gain from each other? Can amateur astronomers impact research? Please listen below to a short audio piece by Lucie Affronti and Neasa Cumiskey; two Postgraduate Media students at Read more…
The 2019 Nobel prize for physics has been awarded to three scientists: James Peebles, Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz. This blog post will briefly outline why Mayor and Queloz were awarded their prize. In 1995 these Swiss astronomers announced the discovery of the first planet orbiting another ‘solar type’ star. Read more…
To kick off our new weekly series on the Technical Applications of Astronomy to Society, inspired by a recent publication of the IAU (The International Astronomical Union), our Director Michael Burton has written a brief summary of the history and purpose of the IAU, as well as outlining some of Read more…
While you may be familiar with black holes from sci-fi and many artists’ renditions of the phenomenon, our first actual view of the event horizon of the supermassive black hole which is at the centre of a neighbouring galaxy, Messier 87, was released 4 weeks ago to the day. What Read more…
Article by: Gavin Ramsay Unlike our Sun, around half of all stars have another stellar companion. The closest stars to the Sun are two bright southern stars, alpha Centauri A and B, which orbit each other every 80 years and Proxima Centauri which orbits A and B every few tens Read more…
Before addressing Black Hole sizes, we should first go back to see what astronomers mean when they use the term “Black Hole”. This may be easiest to understand when considering the end products of stars.
Some seven months ago, a NASA spacecraft called InSight was launched atop an Atlas 5 rocket and headed to Mars (Figure 1). If all goes well, the spacecraft will land on the Martian surface at around 8pm UK time this Monday 26th November and begin its science investigation. InSight is a fixed lander (see Figure 2 below), a much simpler affair than the Curiosity rover that arrived in 2012 and continues its trek across the floor of Gale crater to this day. Mobility, is however, not required for the specific aim of the mission.
NASA has announced the retirement of the Kepler spacecraft. After launch in March 2009, it began a continuous observation of a 115 square degree field of view (the diameter of the moon is 1/2 a degree) between the constellations Cygnus and Lyra.