Latest stories and news

27 January 2010
Destination Phobos: humanity's next giant leap
Magazine issue 2745
I have the cover story on New Scientist this week.
“PHOBOS is a name you are going to hear a lot in the coming years. It may be little more than an asteroid - just two-billionths of the mass of our planet, with no atmosphere and hardly any gravity - yet the largest of Mars's two moons is poised to become our next outpost in space, our second home.
     Although our own moon is enticingly close, its gravity means that relatively large rockets are needed to get astronauts to and from the surface. The same goes for Mars, making it expensive to launch missions there too - perhaps even prohibitively expensive if President Obama's review of NASA's human space exploration policy is to be believed. Last October, a committee of independent experts chaired by industrialist Norman Augustine concluded that NASA faced a shortfall of around $3 billion a year if it still intends to send astronauts back to the moon – let alone Mars – by 2020. But that doesn't mean that humans have nowhere to go. ...”
Read the full story here:

18 January 2010
Tooling up ExoMars
I have a new article published over at ESA:
“ESA and NASA are inviting scientists from across the world to propose instruments for their joint Mars mission, the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter. Scheduled for launch in 2016, the spacecraft will focus on understanding the rarest constituents of the Martian atmosphere, including the mysterious methane that could signal life on Mars. ...”
     To read the full story, click here.

17 January 2010
365 Days of Astronomy: What is the Universe?
In preparation for the release of my forthcoming book: Big Questions: Universe, I will be contributing 12 podcasts to the excellent series of daily podcasts known as 365 Days of Astronomy. Started for last year’s International Year of Astronomy, the series was such a success that it has been continued into this year.
     My podcasts are adapted from a selection of chapters from my book Big Questions: Universe. So if you want a sneak preview of the book, to be published in the UK in July and in the US in the autumn/winter, head over to 365 Days of Astronomy and listen as I discuss What is the Universe?  A new podcast from the book will be posted every month, so watch this website for those.
     To listen to the podcast, click here.

13 January 2010
Celebrating the fifth anniversary of Huygens’ Titan touchdown
I have a new story published over at ESA:
“Five years ago today, ESA’s Huygens probe descended to the surface of Titan, Saturn’s largest moon. Today planetary scientists from around the world have gathered in Barcelona to discuss the legacy of Huygens and to consider future Titan exploration missions. ...”
     To read the full story, click here.

4 January 2010
Senior Editor for Space Science, European Space Agency
First of all, Happy New Year to all readers.  During the course of 2010, I shall be bringing you even more stories and content for this website, so do stay tuned. But let me begin the year with an announcement, which is that I have reached an agreement with the European Space Agency to become their Senior Editor for Space Science.  I have worked with ESA as a writer for almost a decade now, and it is an absolute pleasure that this opportunity to become part of the editorial staff presented itself.  Expect to see an increase in the number of ESA stories I post on this website!
     Readers of my other work need not worry.  It is fixed in my contract with ESA that I will have plenty of time to continue with all my other projects.  Already in the pipeline for the first few months of this year are feature articles for New Scientist, BBC Focus and BBC Sky at Night magazines.  Indeed, look out for the 30 January issue of New Scientist for my first cover story of 2010!
     In July in the UK, my next book will be published.  Big Questions: Universe, published by Quercus Books, will take a look at the 20 biggest questions in cosmology and present the answers for everyone to understand.  North America will have to wait until the autumn/winter time, where it will be published through Barnes and Noble.  I will update you as time progresses.
     Finally, I am very close to signing a contract with a publisher for an exciting astronomy book for Christmas 2010.  So stay tuned, it is going to be an exciting year.

16 December 2009
Inside the dark heart of the Eagle
I have a new story published over at ESA:
“Herschel has peered inside an unseen stellar nursery and revealed surprising amounts of activity. Some 700 newly forming stars are estimated to be crowded into filaments of dust stretching through the image. The image is the first new release of ‘OSHI’, ESA’s Online Showcase of Herschel Images. ...”
     To read the full story, click here.  To visit the online showcase of Herschel images, click here
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11 December 2009
Galaxy on Special Offer at Amazon.co.uk
There is a special Christmas promotion from Quercus Publishing and Amazon.co.uk to offer my book Galaxy at an amazing 70% discount.  You pay just £7.50 (and delivery is free) for a book that usually retails at £25.  Hurry though; this offer will only last until Christmas.  Place your order here

10 December 2009
NASA’s new infrared telescope on Radio 4
I was invited back to the BBC studios to talk to Quentin Cooper on Material World.  Our subject this time was NASA’s new infrared telescope, WISE.  WISE stands for Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer.  This mission will map the entire sky at infrared wavelengths over the course of the next nine months.  You can listen to a podcast of the episode here

9 December 2009
XMM-Newton celebrates decade of discovery
I have a new story posted over at ESA:
“ESA’s XMM-Newton X-ray observatory is celebrating its 10th anniversary. During its decade of operation, this remarkable space observatory has supplied new data for every aspect of astronomy. From our cosmic backyard to the further reaches of the Universe, XMM-Newton has changed the way we think of space. ...”

Read the full story for free here

03 December 2009
Why we shouldn't release all we know about the cosmos
New Scientist 2737
I have a story in New Scientist this week about a controversial problem that is unique to cosmology.  
“COSMOLOGISTS are doing the happy dance. The European Space Agency's Planck mission is busy surveying the cosmic microwave background, aka the "echo" of the big bang, and in 2013 will release a feast of data that promises to deliver profound new insights into the origin of the universe.
Surely a victory for science? Only, it seems, if cosmologists can resist the temptation to gorge themselves on all those goodies. ...”
You can read the full article for free here.

1 December 2009
Oxford Literary Festival
I’m delighted to announce that I’ll be appearing at the Oxford Literary Festival next year.  I shall be appearing on the climate change panel discussing the peculiar activity of our Sun lately and what this means to our efforts in understanding the role the Sun plays in climate change.  I do not have a confirmed date yet but, as soon as I do, I will post an update.  Keep watching the ‘talks page’.

28 November 2009
Recreating the Carrington Solar Storm
I’ve just spent an incredible 18-hour day filming sequences for a documentary that will air on National Geographic television in 2010.  The programme will be called Storm Worlds and I will be in the episode that talks about solar storms.  The producers called me because they had read The Sun Kings and wanted to recreate the incredible solar storm and subsequent aurora of 1859 in an engaging and informative way.
     I was flown to Toronto where Yap Films are based and taken to a restored 19th century railway station and telegraph office for the filming.  I’m promised that computer graphics will bring alive the electrical mayhem of the solar storm.  It was certainly a fun day – if exhausting.  A little bit of trivia is that the filming took the same length of time as the Carrington flare took to cross space from the Sun and hit the Earth.
     A big ‘thank you’ to everyone at Yap, the director Kenny Scott and the crew for keeping the day fun.  Also a big ‘thank you’ to Tom Luton and Leslie Harvey from the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada who supplied the beautiful brass telescope for me to use.

23rd November 2009
Solar Influence on Climate Change
I visited The Guardian’s media studio to record an interview with Alok Jha about the solar influence on climate change.  We also talked about the status of the search for dark matter.  You can listen to the podcast here.  And don’t forget to join in to the #askdrstu Twitter chat on 24th November and every Tuesday until Christmas.  See 18th November 2009 posting for more details.

18th November 2009
Orion's dark secret: Violence shaped the night sky
New Scientist 2735
I have a feature in this week’s New Scientist:
“WHERE will astronomers stop in their love affair with the enigmatic substance called dark matter? First we were told it was essential to allow a galaxy to spin without falling apart. Then it was the glue that held clusters of galaxies together. Later it was said to have catalysed the formation of the galaxies in the first place. Now, surely, they have gone too far. If the latest theories pan out, dark matter has also given us some of the world's most enduring astrological myths.
     In this rational age, we have come to recognise constellations as chance alignments of groups of stars. No longer do we think of Orion as a mighty hunter, brought down by the sting of a fateful encounter with the scorpion Scorpius. Yet it seems that an unseen hand may after all have been responsible for placing these stars in the sky.
     Hints are emerging that around 30 million years ago, a giant clump of dark matter struck our part of the Milky Way, creating a rippling disc of star formation that eventually produced Orion's belt, the bright ruby jewel of Antares in Scorpius, and many more of the sky's most notable stars. If the scenario is correct, it could guide us in the search for a solution to one of the abiding mysteries of physics: what exactly is dark matter made of?”
     Read the full article for free here.

Twitter chats
I will be conducting a series of weekly Twitter chats starting next week and running until Christmas.  Each week the chat will be based around a different popular astronomy topic.  The first will be related to The Sun Kings and will be “What level of influence does the Sun have on climate change.
     Last night I was in Belgium, moderating a European debate about this important question (click here for information about the debate).  So I share what I learn with you on 24th November 6pm GMT (1pm EST, 10am PST) via Twitter.  Other chats will take place on consecutive Tuesdays in December (1st, 8th, 15th and 22nd).  Subjects could include ‘What is dark matter?’, ‘What defines a planet?’, and ‘Why isn’t Johannes Kepler better remembered?’
     To take part in the chats, start following @DrStuClark and tweet your question with the hashtag #askdrstu.  Also, tweet any ideas for future topics to the same hashtag.

17th November 2009
It was the Sun wot done it. Or was it?
I have an Opinion piece in The Times today.
“A sharp drop in solar activity could soon tell us how much mankind and the Sun are responsible for warming the planet
     Like it or not, it will soon be time to start placing bets for a white Christmas. If most climatologists are to be believed you are almost certainly throwing your money away.
The onward march of global warming is consigning such traditional Christmas card scenes to history. No more deep and crisp and even winters for Britain, replaced instead by damp and slush and stormy.
     But, if a small group of maverick scientists are right, the chances of Yuletide snow may rise dramatically over the coming decades. ...”
You can read the full article in today’s newspaper or by clicking here.

12 November 2009
The solar contribution to climate change
I am to be the moderator at the Sixth European Space Weather Week Debate in Brugge, Belgium, on Tuesday 17th November.  It is sure to be a lively discussion because it is about how much of Earth’s climate change might be coming from the Sun.
     The modulation of Earth's climate by solar activity has long been a subject of great interest in the specialist scientific community. That interest has become much stronger in recent years because it is an important contribution to the wider scientific and political debate on climate change. The fundamental challenge is to identify and understand the physical processes through which solar activity might influence the climate – and to compare and contrast these with the influence of greenhouse gases.
     The panellists will be Professor Mike Lockwood, an expert on solar physics, Professor Henrik Svensmark, an expert in the effects of solar activity on cloud formation and Professor Kalevi Mursula, an expert in long-term changes in the Sun.
     You can read more about the debate on the conference website here, including details of how to attend. 

I will be contributing an article to The Times to be published on Tuesday on their Opinion page, about the importance of understanding the solar contribution to climate change.

You can also read an article I wrote for New Scientist back in 2006 about this subject here.  And, of course, my book The Sun Kings delves deeply into the history of solar studies and how our nearest star affects us here on Earth.

22 October 2009
The Future of NASA’s manned missions on Radio 4
It is with the greatest of pleasure that I will be back in the studio with BBC science presenter Quentin Cooper today.  We will be discussing NASA’s Ares launch and the future of manned space exploration for his Radio 4 programme Material World. The programme will be broadcast live at 16:30 UK time, or you can listen live via the Internet here. The programme is also available for podcasting from that link.

20 October 2009
New interview with Astronomy Ireland
To mark the 150th anniversary year of the Richard Carrington solar flare, astronomy broadcaster Ben Emmett invited me onto the Astronomy Ireland radio programme.  Transmitted every week on Dublin City FM 103.2, the programme can also be accessed via the Internet here.  To download the 20th October programme and hear me talk about The Sun Kings, click here.  You will also hear me give a sneak preview of my next book Big Questions: Universe, due for release in the UK July 2010 by Quercus Publishing, and autumn/winter in the US from Barnes and Noble.  Stay tuned for more news!

16 October 2009
Hydrogen offers a new way to study the Moon
I have a new story published by the European Space Agency:
“The Moon is a strong source of hydrogen atoms. That is the surprise discovery from ESA-ISRO instrument SARA onboard the Indian Chandrayaan-1 lunar orbiter. It gives scientists an interesting new way to study both the Moon and any other airless bodies in the Solar System. ...”

Read the full story here

30th September 2009
Galaxy study hints at cracks in dark matter theories
I have a new story posted over at New Scientist. This is an important story because the work that I am reporting on may have delivered a fatal blow to the idea of dark matter in the universe. The analysis is a little tricky to follow but stick with it, and trust me, this is important. I will be keeping a close eye on developments and hope to report more as this story unfolds in the coming months:
“Dark matter is either weirder than we thought or does not exist at all, a new study suggests.
A galaxy is supposed to sit at the heart of a giant cloud of dark matter and interact with it through gravity alone. The dark matter originally provided enough attraction for the galaxy to form and now keeps it rotating. But observations are not bearing out this simple picture. ...”
Read the full story for free here.

29th September 2009
Russian astronaut rituals
Popped into Bush House this evening to talk to the BBC World Service about Russian astronaut rituals. Apparently they urinate on the wheel of their transport vehicle just before they get on the rocket and all cosmonauts are required to watch the same 1969 adventure movie the night before the launch. Crazy stuff – but I suppose it keeps their mind of the fact that their job is ten times more deadly than serving in the American military during the Iraq war.
To catch up on the press release that triggered this story, click here. To listen to the interview, click here.

17th September 2009
My review of We Need To Talk About Kelvin
I reviewed Marcus Chown’s new book We Need To Talk About Kelvin in the October issue of BBC Focus magazine.  “Parodying the title of the novel We Need to Talk About Kevin, Chown delivers a enjoyable selection of musings on modern cosmology, astronomy and quantum theory in 11 chapters. ...”

You can read the full review here.

9th September 2009

“What’s wrong with the Sun?”
I am looking forward to talking at the Herstmonceux Astronomy Festival this Saturday 12th September.  I shall be in the Earth and Beyond Gallery signing books from eleven o’clock until four on Saturday.  I will punctuate this with my talk “What’s wrong with the Sun?” in Dome B above the gallery at 1.30pm.   I will be discussing the strange lapse in activity on the Sun and what this means for the likelihood of solar storms.  I look forward to seeing lots of familiar faces and meeting new people. For more information about the three-day festival click here, click on Events and then on the bottom left picture that becomes September and finally Herstmonceux Science Centre Astronomy Festival.  It is always a great day out for the whole family.

8th September 2009
Cosmic Katrina
I have the cover story on the October issue of BBC Knowledge magazine:
“With no warning, a sudden loss of electrical power has struck the whole of the United States. Air traffic control goes offline, hospitals switch to back-up generators. A stunning aurora dances in the sky overhead as you make your way home through the chaos to wait it out.
     But the blackout stretches on. Hours become days and the power does not return. There is no internet, television or newspapers to tell you what is happening, and no phones to check if your friends are OK. The diesel that drives the emergency generators in hospitals runs out. The food stores are empty – there’s no electricity to power any fuel pumps so the delivery trucks have stopped.
     In short, the technological trappings of civilisation have been destroyed at a single stroke by a solar storm – a hail of electrified, superheated gases, catapulted from the Sun with the energy of a thousand atomic bombs.  With little warning, it conjures up phantom currents in the power lines and damages the transformers beyond repair – along with many of the satellites that we rely upon for communications and navigation. ...”
     Read the full article in BBC Knowledge’s October 2009 issue. Visit them on the web here.

4 September 2009
The Sun Kings on Science In Action
Talked to John Stewart today from the BBC’s World Service for the science programme Science in Action. The programme is available for a limited time here. The Carrington flare story begins at 6 mins 43 secs.

3 September 2009
XMM-Newton uncovers a celestial Rosetta stone
I have a new story published over at ESA:
“ESA's XMM-Newton orbiting X-ray telescope has uncovered a celestial Rosetta stone: the first close-up of a white dwarf star, circling a companion star, that could explode into a particular kind of supernova in a few million years. These supernovae are used as beacons to measure cosmic distances and ultimately understand the expansion of our Universe. ...”
     Read the story for free here

2nd September 2009
Telegraphs Ran on Electric Air in Crazy 1859 Magnetic Storm
Interviewed today for a Wired.com article by Alexis Madrigal. You can read that great article here
     I was also interviewed by The Sun newspaper about the Carrington event.  They printed a five-paragraph story on page 25. I was described as a “Brit scientist” – I quite like that, makes me sound Brit-popish.

1 September 2009
Happy 150th anniversary of the Carrington Solar Flare!
150 years ago today, amateur astronomer Richard Carrington witnessed a solar flare, the first time such a phenomenon had been observed. It triggered the largest solar storm in history, wiping out navigation and communications around the nineteenth century world. It also led to me writing The Sun Kings.
     Join me on Twitter (@DrStuClark) for minute by minute updates of what was happening on that fateful day back in 1859, and the chance to Tweet me your questions. Search for the hashtag #solarstorm.

27 August 2009
The Sun Kings on Radio 4’s Material World
I had the pleasure today of meeting BBC science presenter Quentin Cooper and appearing on his Radio 4 programme Material World. My fellow guest on that programme was distinguished solar physicist Professor Mike Lockwood. We chatted about solar flares, the extraordinary events of 1859 triggered by solar activity and the likelihood of it happening again.  The programme is available for a limited time from here

10 August 2009
Mars, methane and mysteries
I have a new story published over at ESA:
“Mars may not be as dormant as scientists once thought. The 2004 discovery of methane means that either there is life on Mars, or that volcanic activity continues to generate heat below the Martian surface. ESA plans to find out which it is. Either outcome is big news for a planet once thought to be biologically and geologically inactive. ...”
     Read the story for free here.

31 July 2009
Solar Storms
I have the cover story in Focus this month:
“With no warning, the lights go out. A sudden loss of electrical power has struck the whole country. Air traffic control goes offline, hospitals switch to back-up generators and as you wait it out at home a stunning aurora dances in the sky above your head.
     The blackout stretches on. Hours become days and the power does not return. There is no Internet, TV or newspapers to tell you what is happening. Soon, the diesel driving the hospitals’ emergency generators runs out and food stops arriving in supermarkets because fuel for the delivery trucks can’t be pumped without electricity.
     Why is nothing working? An extraordinarily powerful solar storm has battered the Earth causing phantom currents in the power lines and damaging the transformers beyond repair. But that’s not all it has destroyed. ...”
     You can read the full story in the August issue of BBC Focus magazine or by clicking here.

30 July 2009
Who was the luckiest Apollo astronaut of them all?
The 40th anniversary of the Apollo Moon landings this year coincides with the 150th anniversary of the Carrington event, the fiercest solar storm to have ever struck the Earth. So it seems fitting to muse on a link between extreme solar events and the Moon landings. That link is astronaut Harrison Schmitt, who may be the luckiest astronaut alive.
     Schmitt is the only scientist to walk on the Moon. He is a geologist and was originally scheduled to fly on the Apollo 18 mission. When Apollo 18 was cancelled, he was shifted up the rota to Apollo 17, kicking out Joe Engle from the team. That was Schmitt’s first piece of luck.
     His second was that Apollo 17 did not launch until December. In the August, after the safe return of Apollo 16, a large sunspot appeared on the solar surface and let fly a rash of solar flares that pumped deadly radiation into space. Had Schmitt, or any other astronauts, been in space at the time, they would have perished from a fatal dose of solar radiation.
     After Apollo 17 splashed down, solar physicists had some luck too. 
The moon rocks Schmitt and his colleagues returned, proved invaluable to solar storm studies. The rocks had soaked up flare particles like sponges during the August outbursts, allowing scientists on Earth a first-hand look at the particles given off by the Sun during these extreme solar events.
     This blog was also posted on the BBC Focus website here.

9 July 2009
Mirrors on the Moon
New Scientist 2716
I share the cover this week on New Scientist as part of their Apollo’s Unfinished Business special feature.  My article is about how the legacy of the Apollo Missions might yet give us our first real insight into string theory:
     “EACH clear night when the moon is high in the sky, a group of astronomers in New Mexico take aim at our celestial neighbour and blast it repeatedly with pulses of light from a powerful laser. They target suitcase-sized reflectors left on the lunar surface by the Apollo 11, 14 and 15 missions, as well as by two Russian landers.
    Out of every 300 quadrillion photons that are sent to the moon, about five find their way back. The rest are lost to our atmosphere, or miss the lunar reflectors altogether.
    From this small catch, the team can assess the movement of the moon to an accuracy of a millimetre or two - a measurement so precise that it has the potential to show up any cracks in Einstein's general theory of relativity. If that's what it does, this lunar laser-ranging experiment will become Apollo's greatest scientific legacy. ...”
    The full issue is in the shops now, check it out.  You can read my Mirrors on the Moon story for free here. The online version of the entire special is here.

2 July 2009
Moon Rock of Ages
I was published in The Times today as part of their special issue commemorating the Apollo Moon landings.  I wrote their summary of the science to come out of Apollo:
     “Apollo may have been conceived as a political vehicle during the US-Russian Cold War, but nonetheless the missions provided a spectacular hoard of science that continues to reward researchers today. The lunar rocks alone have become the foundation stones on which our modern understanding of planetary formation is built...”
    You can read the full article for free here. Then, check out the entire Apollo special here

1 July 2009
Galaxy chosen as Book of the Month
Another good thing to report:  the July issue of the BBC’s Sky at Night magazine has given my latest book, Galaxy, a five star review and made it their Book of the Month.  Thanks guys!  Check out their July issue in shops now.

Don't forget to take a look through the archive for previous updates.

June 2008 - June 2009

March May 2008

December 2007 - February 2008

September - November 2007

June - August 2007

March - May 2007