Archive June - August 2007

30 August 2007
Space Age Exhibition
I spent a fun morning at the V&A Museum of Childhood yesterday learning all about their new Space Age exhibition that is opening in November. It will look at the way the space age of the 50s and 60s influenced society, from toys to fashion to fiction. It is going to be a truly fascinating set of displays to wander around. I’ll post more information when the exhibition opens. In the meantime, here’s a picture of one of my favourite space age-looking objects, the Juicy Salif Fruit Juicer by Phillip Stark. Although he says it was inspired by an octopus, it reminds me of a 1950s rocket.

29 August 2007
Favourite stories from the last seven days
To make up for the lack of stories from me, here are some of the ones that have caught my eye during the last seven days or so.

Astronomers Find Enormous Hole in the Universe
“Astronomers have found an enormous hole in the Universe, nearly a billion light-years across, empty of both normal matter such as stars, galaxies, and gas, and the mysterious, unseen "dark matter." While earlier studies have shown holes, or voids, in the large-scale structure of the Universe, this new discovery dwarfs them all.
     "Not only has no one ever found a void this big, but we never even expected to find one this size," said Lawrence Rudnick of the University of Minnesota. …”
Read the full press release here.

Next, there are two about Saturn’s fascinating moon Titan:

Will Titan lose its veil?
Titan’s think hydrocarbon atmosphere is a bit of a puzzle for astronomers because Ganymede, a slightly larger moon at Jupiter, does not have an atmosphere.  This press release deals with whether Titan’s atmosphere is a passing phenomenon.
“The question of whether Titan can retain its thick, organic atmosphere for the rest of its lifetime could hinge on how efficiently methane molecules were packed inside water “crates” during a period of the moon’s formation. …”
Read the full story here.

Fasten your seat belts – Turbulent Lessons from Titan
I don’t know about you but turbulence on flights never fails to make me feel nauseous.  So it was with some amusement that I saw this press release: “Have you spilled your drink on an airliner?  Researchers on both sides of the Atlantic are finding new ways to understand turbulence, both in the Earth's atmosphere and that of Saturn's moon Titan. …”
Read the full story here.

Space travellers gather in Croatia for historic summit
“On the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of space travel, space travellers with a combined 415 days of space experience gathered in Split, Croatia to discuss the future of human spaceflight. …”
You can read about the conference here.

Edge-On!
Astronomers have their first chance to see the rings of planet Uranus edge-on since their discovery in 1977.
“As Uranus coasts through a brief window of time when its rings are edge-on to Earth – a view of the planet we get only once every 42 years – astronomers peering at the rings with ESO's Very Large Telescope and other space or ground-based telescopes are getting an unprecedented view of the fine dust in the system, free from the glare of the bright rocky rings. They may even find a new moon or two.”
Read the full story and see the images here.
You can also see Hubble images here.

Finally, here are some stories from the European Space Agency:

The latest from the SMART-1 mission to the Moon
The SMART-1 mission is now just a pile of wreckage on the surface of the Moon but its data lives on:  “Owing to SMART-1’s high resolution and favourable illumination conditions during the satellite’s scientific operations, data from Europe’s lunar orbiter is helping put together a story linking geological and volcanic activity on the Moon.”
Read the full story and see the images here.

AKARI’s observations of asteroid Itokawa
“The space-borne infrared observatory AKARI, observed asteroid Itokawa last month with its Infrared Camera. The data will be used to refine estimates of sizes of potentially hazardous asteroids in the future. …”
There is also a movie of Itokawa’s motion that goes with this press release.  Read the full story here.

Hinode helps unravel long-standing solar mysteries
A year after launch, scientists working with Hinode, a Japanese mission with ESA participation, are meeting at Trinity College, Dublin, to discuss latest findings on solar mysteries - including new insights on solar flares and coronal heating.
Read the full story here.

24 August 2007
Isaac Newton – The Last Sorcerer
As you can probably imagine, my broken collarbone has given me some time to catch up on my reading.  I have recently been entertained by Michael White’s excellent biography of Isaac Newton.  Having recently read Lisa Jardine’s book about Newton’s rival Robert Hooke, it was good to see things from this perspective.  This is not a new book, it is ten years old now, but it is well written and portrays Newton more as a reality rather than the extraordinary myth that has grown up around him.

23 August 2007
BBC Sky at Night Interview about The Sun Kings
You can hear an interview with me about The Sun Kings on the cover-mounted CD of the September issue of the BBC’s Sky At Night Magazine.  The magazine also features a superb article by Marcus Chown on the alternatives to dark matter.  Provocatively titled ‘Dark Matter is Dead’ on the cover of the magazine, it delves into the world of modified gravity as an alternative to dark matter.
     I have great hopes that dark matter research will reach a watershed next year when the Large Hadron Collider begins collecting data.  It is working in exactly the right region to generate the most favourable dark matter candidate, the Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs).  Should LHC fail to see these, I think modified gravity theories might become much more fashionable.
     On the subject of The Sky At Night, don’t forget that I’ll be their special guest at the Herstmonceux Astronomy Festival on 8th September.  See the 31 July 2007 blog entry for more details.
     The September issue of BBC Sky at Night magazine is available in your local newsagent now.  You can also visit them online here.

20 August 2007
Things didn’t quite go according to plan
Whilst in Cornwall, I broke my collarbone in two places.  I would like to be able to say that I was doing something heroic but alas I was simply playing rounders before the Thursday show at the Minack Theatre.  According to the doctors I’ll be recovering for six weeks, and I had horrid visions of a month and a half of one-fingered, left-hand typing.  In fact, I’m typing almost normally again now, although my shoulder is very sore.  Nikki is proving more invaluable than ever, by keeping up with my correspondence.
My big regret is that I have had to postpone my lecture tour of Ireland, organized by Astronomy Ireland.  I apologise to everyone who was planning to attend the lectures, and to TV3 who had booked me to appear on the television to talk about the book.  I hope to reschedule when I have recovered. 
The good news is that I do not foresee any reason to postpone any of my September lectures – although I might be delivering them in a sling and signing books might be a bit tricky!
I’ll try to keep the blog updated, mostly with cut and pasted material because I imagine my output is going to be quite low over the next month. I do have exciting commissions from the V&A magazine and The Scotsman to look forward to but I don’t want to push my luck taking on a lot of deadlines. 
Here are a few things I’ve noticed since being back:

Dark matter mystery deepens
NASA’s Chandra X-ray telescope team issued an intriguing press release on 16 August.  In the second paragraph it states:
"These results challenge our understanding of the way clusters merge," said Dr. Andisheh Mahdavi of the University of Victoria, British Columbia. "Or, they possibly make us even reexamine the nature of dark matter itself."
Read the press release here.
Read New Scientist’s story about the discovery here.

Europe’s Weather Satellites
On Thursday 6 September 2007 there is to be a free evening lecture about Europe's Weather Satellites in London.  The lecture will be given by Dr Lars Prahm, Director General, EUMETSAT.  The lecture will be held at 4 Hamilton Place, London, and starts at 18:00 with refreshments available from 17:30.
     About two thirds of the data used by the UK Met Office in its weather forecasting comes from satellites - the global coverage of satellite data underpins the gradual improvements in forecasting achieved over the past 30 years. Initially dependent on American satellites, Europe has for more than 20 years operated geostationary satellites covering the Eastern Atlantic and Western Indian Ocean regions - the Meteosat series (since 2002 in its enhanced second generation form). In October 2006, this fleet was augmented with Europe's first low orbiting weather satellite, the EUMETSAT Polar System (EPS), which is now in operation.
     See full details at the RAeS Space Group web site and click on "Next event". All RAeS Space Group evening events are public open lectures - all visitors welcome - no admission fee - no tickets required but please let them know you plan to attend by clicking here.

The Sun Kings recommended by the New York Society Library
The New York Society Library, the oldest in the city, was founded in 1754 by the New York Society, a civic-minded group formed in the belief that the availability of books would help the city to prosper. It now contains nearly three hundred thousand volumes.
The Book Committee meets monthly to discuss new books, periodicals, and electronic resources. After each meeting, a list of 35-50 recommended titles is displayed in the lobby on a shelf labelled "Recommended by our Books Committee." I’m thrilled to say that The Sun Kings is one of those books this month.  Visit the library by clicking here.

Worlds in Parallel in BBC Focus
I have a five-page feature in the September issue of BBC Focus about the physics behind that science fiction favourite: parallel worlds.  Until I wrote this feature, I had no idea how much of it is now based in scientific reality.  It was an eye-opener for me, and I hope for you too.  BBC Focus is available from all good newsagents.  Visit them on line here.

The Sun Kings: “the most extraordinary book on the history of science I have recently had the pleasure to read”
As I left for Cornwall, The Sun Kings’ was reviewed in the 3 August 2007 issue of the Times Higher Education Supplement.  Science writer Simon Mitton echoed his review on Amazon.co.uk and wrote “In The Sun Kings, the accomplished science writer Stuart Clark, who holds a doctorate in astronomy, gives a vivid account of the foundation of solar astrophysics and of the Victorian scientists who unlocked the secrets of the Sun's influence on Earth. This is the most extraordinary book on the history of science I have recently had the pleasure to read.  Here is popular science at its best: accurate, meticulously researched, not technical in any way (no equations) and full of adventures.”
     If you are a subscriber to the THES, you can read the full review here.

3 August 2007
I’ll be back!
It’s going to go quiet on the blog for the next couple of weeks. Firstly, I’ll be taking a break in Cornwall. I’ll be playing mandolin in the production of The True Story of Martin Guerre taking place at the Minack theatre. If you’re local or on holiday there, pop by and say ‘hi’. If you’re not in the locality, you can still keep tabs on me using the Minack webcam. You’ll be looking for the bloke who looks like an extra from Lord of the Rings.
Then I’ll be in Ireland for The Sun Kings lecture tour.  I’ll also be on Ireland’s TV3’s breakfast show on Monday morning around 7:45am. I’ll be back at my desk 20 August.

1 August 2007
The Sun Kings: “I finished this book in a single enthralled sitting.”
Emmet Mordaunt, Astronomy Ireland’s Education Officer, has reviewed The Sun Kings for the August issue of Astronomy and Space.  He concludes, “Clark is an accomplished storyteller, and I finished this book in a single enthralled sitting.  The science behind the story is effortlessly blended into the narrative, and the book is suitable even for those with no previous knowledge of astronomy.  It’s simply a great read about a fascinating story and comes highly recommended.”

You can read the full review in the August edition of Astronomy and Space, on sale at newsagents now.  There is also a feature about the new NASA spaceprobe, Phoenix, that sets off for Mars this month.

31 July 2007
Herstmonceux Science Centre lecture
I’ve just been confirmed as a guest speaker for the The Herstmonceux Science Centre Astronomy Festival 2007.  I’ll be based at the BBC Sky at Night table throughout the day, so do please come up and say hello.  I’m booked to give a lecture about The Sun Kings (what else?).  I also hope that my special guest at the lecture will be Norman Keer, who lived in Richard Carrington’s house and observatory before it was demolished.  Norman helped enormously in the early stages of the book and can certainly be considered one of the world’s experts on Richard Carrington.  The festival takes place on the 7th, 8th & 9th of September.  I’ll be there on the 8th.
Visit the festival web site here.

30 July 2007
The Sun Kings: “a vivid portrait of the scientific climate of a vanished era”
Melissa A. Barton has reviewed The Sun Kings for bookslut.com. She says, “The Sun King is a compelling account of how astronomers came to understand solar flares, sunspots, and magnetic storms. It is also a vivid portrait of the scientific climate of a vanished era. Clark’s research is meticulous and clearly presented as an interesting story, moving naturally between events and people as the narrative demands.  The Sun Kings is an excellent and fast-paced read for anyone interested in astronomy, history, or human drama …”
You can read the full review here.

28 July 2007
Applying space technology on Earth
I recently spent the day at the European Space Agency’s Headquarters in Paris.  I was in discussion with the team that produce the in-house magazine ESA Today.  ESA is an organization that I passionately believe in.  It allows us to play on the world stage of space exploration.  With that in mind, I’m happy to report that I’ll be helping out with some of the editing duties on ESA Today from this autumn onwards.
Whilst I was in Paris, I was reminded of a special issue that I helped edit back in April.  It was written by various people, all of whom are concerned with spinning out the technology from the space industry into every day applications, so that ordinary people can directly benefit from space research.  You can download a pdf of the document here.

27 July 2007
Solar activity and its effects on aviation
In the opening prologue of The Sun Kings, I describe how the solar flares of Halloween 2003 forced aircraft to be re-routed in order to avoid exposing the passengers and crew to potentially larger than normal radiation doses.  There is now an excellent article describing the importance of solar activity to the aviation industry on-line at the Flight Safety Foundation.
     Called Forecasting a Star, the article by Wayne Rosenkrans begins, “Scientists urge aviation professionals to obtain space weather training before intense solar radiation and geomagnetic storms expected around 2012.”
To download the article, click here. You can also read an extended version of the piece online by clicking here.

26 July 2007
The Guardian science web site re-launched
UK daily newspaper, The Guardian, has revamped its science website.  As part of the re-launch, they invited me to write a feature about the hunt for dark matter.  It turned into an extremely exciting piece for me – I had not realized just how close some scientists think we are to detecting or ruling out dark matter once and for all.  Keep watching the Guardian’s website.  The piece will probably be posted sometime whilst I’m away.  In the meantime, there is plenty of great stuff to read on there.
You can find the science pages here.

25 July 2007
The Sun Kings: lecture tour of Ireland confirmed
It is with great pleasure that I can announce my lecture tour of Ireland to promote The Sun Kings. Confirmed today, I will be lecturing at 8pm and signing copies of the book at the following venues:

August
Mon 13 - Millennium Hall, Cork.
Tues 14 - Arts Millennium Building, Galway.
Wed 15 - Physics Building, Trinity College Dublin.

I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible.  For more details and to book tickets, click here .

For those of you in England or Scotland. don’t forget that I have the following general public lectures coming up in the autumn:

September
12 - 6pm Gresham College, Holborn, London
25 - 6.30 for 7pmHeffers Bookshop, Cambridge 01223 568568

October
4 - 7pm Glasgow Planetarium

There are also the local astronomical society lectures.  See the talks page on this website for the full itinerary.  Most societies admit visitors, and you can contact them through my talks page.  Alternatively, email me through my talks page, and I’ll put you in touch.  See you on the tour!

24 July 2007
Solar Crisis
I have the cover story on BBC Sky at Night magazine’s August issue.

“The Sun is big, bright and close.  It’s also one of the most studied objects in the entire Universe and, up until 2004, solar physicists thought they knew how it worked.  Now they aren’t so sure.
     “We thought we had a very clear understanding of the chemical composition of the Sun.  We now realise this might not be the case,” says Hector Socas-Navarro, a solar physicist from the High Altitude Observatory, Boulder, Colorado.  The chemical composition of the Sun is the foundation stone for computer models of the solar interior.  If the composition is wrong, the models are wrong and so our understanding of the Sun’s interior collapses.  This particular house of cards does not stop there.  The Sun serves as our reference for the other stars, so if our comprehension of the Sun falls down, so does our understanding of the universe.  “This is a scientific crisis, a crisis in our understanding of the Sun,” says Socas-Navarro. …”

BBC Sky at Night magazine is available in newsagents.  To visit them on-line, click here

To read the full article, visit your local newsagent and pick up the August issue.

Also in the same issue:

The Sun Kings: August Book of the Month
The Sun Kings has been chosen as BBC Sky at Night’s August book of the month.  The review generously says, “In this book, Stuart Clark, one of Britain’s best-known science writers, sets out to tell the stories of these ‘Sun Kings’ and at the same time outlines some of the most important aspects of present-day research.  He succeeds in these tasks admirably.
This book is as fascinating as the constantly changing field of research it describes.  Make haste to add it too your library.”

To read the full review, visit your local newsagent and pick up the August issue.

20 July 2007
The Enigma of Sunspots
Author Judit Brody wrote to me recently having just read The Sun Kings.  Her own book, The Enigma of Sunspots, covers similar ground but concentrates on the sunspots rather than the solar flares and the magnetic storms.  It is a highly illustrated book and well worth a read.

You can order a copy from the UK here.

18 July 2007
X-ray satellites discover the biggest collisions in the Universe
I have a new story published at ESA

The orbiting X-ray telescopes XMM-Newton and Chandra have caught a pair of galaxy clusters merging into a giant cluster. The discovery adds to existing evidence that galaxy clusters can collide faster than previously thought. …

Read the full story for free here.

17 July 2007
First Light Weekend 3-5 August 2007
Jodrell Bank is organizing First Light, a weekend of events celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the first observations with the Lovell Telescope.  There are several events that weekend but do not miss Saturday 4 August, 7:30pm An Audience with Sir Bernard Lovell.
Jodrell Bank describe the evening as “An extremely rare opportunity to hear the Founder and First Director of Jodrell Bank Observatory talk about his life and work, including the creation of the giant radio telescope which now bears his name. A unique reflection on the development of radio astronomy from its earliest days on the occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the iconic Lovell Telescope.“
     I certainly wish I could be there but unfortunately I cannot.  One of you will have to let me know how good it was!
     Tickets for the evening are £6.00 for adults and £5.00 for concessions.  Tel : 01477 571 339 or 01477 571 321 or email thehotspot@jb.man.ac.uk

For more details of the weekend click here.

15 July 2007
The Sun Kings reviewed in Astronomy Now
Neil Bone, an aurora expert with the British Astronomical Association has given The Sun Kings a highly favourable review in the August issue of Astronomy Now.  He concludes: “This is popular science history told with rare accuracy and enough intrigue to keep the reader entertained.”
Neil Bone’s own book Aurora: Observing and Recording Nature’s Spectacular Light Show can be bought in the UK here.
In the US, you can buy it here.

14 July 2007
Breckland Astronomical Society
Last night, I slotted in to give an ‘emergency talk’ to Breckland Astronomical Society, after their scheduled speaker had to pull out.  I was made extremely welcome and considering that the audience thought they were going to hear about dark matter, they gave the Sun Kings their full attention.
You can visit Breckland Astronomical Society by clicking here. They have a great observatory, whose dome used to sited at the University of Hertfordshire. In fact, it’s the dome where I learnt observational astronomy when I was an undergrad at Hertfordshire!
Also, at the talk was astronomy writer Gerald North, whose new book Observing the Moon is just out.  It’s been getting excellent reviews and if you are a casual observer who wants to take things a stage further, I thoroughly recommend it.

You can order the book in the UK here.
You can order the book in the US here.

12 July 2007
Astronomers find the most distant known galaxies
The Royal Astronomical Society, in association with CalTech, has issued an exciting press release.  The hunt for the first galaxies in the Universe is well and truly underway, and it reports the discovery of the most distant galaxies yet found.  It begins:
“Using natural ‘gravitational lenses’, an international team of astronomers claim to have found a hint of a population of the most distant galaxies yet seen - the light we see from them today left more than 13 thousand million years ago, when the Universe was just 500 million years old. …”

To read the full press release for free, click here

11 July 2007
Water, water everywhere – on an extrasolar planet
I have a new story published by ESA.
Scientists report the first conclusive discovery of the presence of water vapour in the atmosphere of a planet beyond our Solar System. The discovery was made by analysing the transit of a gas giant planet across its star, in the infrared. Giovanna Tinetti, ESA fellow at the Institute d’Astrophysique de Paris, and colleagues from around the world, used data from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope. They targeted planet HD 189733b, 63 light-years away, in the constellation Vulpecula.

To read the full story for free, click here

9 July 2007
Big bang machine nearing completion
One of the most amazing astronomical experiments ever is gearing up to take place – not in space but on the ground.  The Large Hadron Collider (LHC), a particle accelerator at CERN in Europe, is in the final throes of construction and is expected to begin working next year.  It will probe the structure of matter as never before and simulate the conditions that prevailed in the early Universe, mere moments after the big bang.  One of the most tantalising possibilities is that the LHC might even be powerful enough to create particles of dark matter - thus proving that the elusive stuff exists.
The UK’s Science and Technology Facilities Council released a press release today to announce that the construction of one detector, called ALICE, for the LHC is also on schedule.  You can read that press release here.
You are going to hear an awful lot about the LHC and its various detectors in the coming years.  As well as dark matter, it will investigate how particles acquire mass, perhaps even proving that the Higgs particle, the hypothetical particle that facilitates this, exists.
To read about the ALICE, click here.
To read about the LHC, click here.
To read about the Higgs particle, click here.

8 July 2007
ESA’s Gamma ray observatory INTEGRAL
I’m working on a brochure for ESA about the scientific results from their gamma ray space observatory, INTEGRAL.  It reminded me that, back in 2002, I co-wrote a brochure about the spacecraft just before it launched, containing all the background to the mission and the science objectives.  I’ll link to the new brochure when it’s published in a few weeks’ time.  In the meantime, you can download the original brochure for free by clicking here.
You can keep up to date with the latest on INTEGRAL by clicking here.

7 July 2007
Radioactive iron, a window to the stars
I had a new story posted by ESA on 25 June, but forgot to link to it.  So here it is now:
ESA’s orbiting gamma-ray observatory, Integral, has made a pioneering unequivocal discovery of radioactive iron-60 in our galaxy that provides powerful insight into the workings of massive stars that pervade and shape it.

Read the full story for free here.

6 July 2007
In The Shadow of the Moon
I spent a fun evening yesterday at BAFTA in Piccadilly, watching a preview of David Sington’s documentary film In the Shadow of the Moon.  It is a retrospective story about the Apollo moon landings; there are extensive recollections from the astronauts themselves and some great footage of the preparations and landings.  It is beautifully shot with new filming woven seamlessly into the archive material.  The documentary opens in cinemas in the US on 7 September 2007 and across the UK on 26 October 2007.
To watch the trailer, click here.
For more information visit the website here.

5 July 2007
The Sun Kings: “Science With Flare”
Jan Stenflo, professor of astronomy at the Institute of Physics in Zurich, Switzerland has just reviewed The Sun Kings in Nature, the world’s most prestigious science journal.  After summarizing the book, he says, “Stuart Clark weaves all these events and ideas together in a fascinating tapestry.  The account is non-technical, and is suited for anyone with a general interest in the history of science.  Clark’s engaging writing style conveys the passion, intrigues and captivating life stories of the main players.  It is a gripping tale of the birth of modern astronomy.”

If you are a subscriber to Nature, you can read the full review here.

4 July 2007
The Sun Kings - “popular science writing at its best”
Astronomy author Dr Simon Mitton has reviewed The Sun Kings on amazon.co.uk:
“This is an excellent account about how the study of our daytime star ushered in the new science of astrophysics. This book is popular science writing at its best. The science concerns the recognition that the Sun exerts a serious hold over the Earth: solar flares and solar magnetism have direct effects, such as the phenomenon of the aurora. This account scores with its detail in terms of the people who made it all happen: tragic Richard Carrington, William Herschel, Warren de la Rue, and Walter Maunder. If you like reading about the history of astronomy, you will find this account deeply rewarding.”
Simon’s own book, Fred Hoyle: A Life in Science published by Aurum Press is well worth reading for the insight it gives into the maverick astronomer.

3 July 2007
Robert Hooke – The Man Who Measured London
I’ve just finished Lisa Jardine’s biography of Robert Hooke, one of the founders of The Royal Society.  It was a superb read, summarising well the many aspects of this early scientist.  In particular, it brought home just how thinly Hooke spread himself by constantly helping others with experiments and being involved with Sir Christopher Wren in the rebuilding of London following the 1665 fire of London.
Of particular interest to me, there were some illuminating comments about one of my scientific heroes, and one of Hooke’s near-contemporaries, Edmund Halley.  Jardine also covered the controversy between Hooke and Newton over the law of gravity.

2 July 2007
A visit to the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne
Here’s a story from the vault.  In September 2006, I visited the European Astronaut Centre (EAC) near Cologne in Germany.  I was working for the in-house European Space Agency journal, ESA Today.  As well as writing a piece for them, which focused on the details of the up-coming astronaut missions, I also constructed a more general piece to reflect my experience of the centre.  I never published it anywhere else, so I guess that makes it a web site exclusive!

You can download and read the full article here.

29 June 2007
New dawn for asteroid studies
After years of studies, research, building, cancellations and reinstatements, NASA’s ambitious asteroid mission DAWN is finally set for launch on 7 July. I’m too busy at the moment, working out ideas for what I hope will become my next book, to be writing about the mission but here are links to some of the on-line coverage:

There is the BBC On-line report ‘NASA readies for asteroid mission’ here.

New Scientist report on some last-minute glitches, in their ‘NASA scrambles to launch Dawn asteroid mission’, here:

Finally, there is the official NASA page for the mission.  Visit that here.

27 June 2007
World’s largest radio telescope to close?
Whilst working on the dark galaxies story for New Scientist (see blog entry for 20 June 2007), Dr Robert Minchin mentioned that the Arecibo telescope is in danger of having its funding withdrawn.

Today, the following press release was issued: “The planetary radar system at the Arecibo Observatory, which Cornell manages for the National Science Foundation (NSF) through its National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center (NAIC), is the most powerful in the world and is considered the best tool for tracking asteroids that may be on a collision course with the Earth.”

Read the full story here.
Image: GeoEye

21 June 2007
New podcast about The Sun Kings
I was interviewed this afternoon by Harriet Scott (Heart 106.2 FM) and Chris Lintott (Sky at Night) for their internet-based astronomy podcast, Livingspace.  Find out which of my Victorian Sun Kings was likened to Bruce Willis in Die Hard 4.0 by downloading the podcast here.
Once you have finished listening to my interview, I recommend you download and listen to the others - there is a lot of good stuff in there.

20 June 2007
'Dark galaxy' continues to puzzle astronomers
I have a new story over on New Scientist’s space web site.

The Hubble Space Telescope has failed to reveal the expected number of stars in the mysterious, galaxy-sized cloud of hydrogen known as VIRGOHI21. The research bolsters the idea that the gas cloud is the only known example of a 'dark galaxy' that failed to kick-start star birth.

Read the full story for free here.

19 June 2007
Planning for Planck’s science
I have another new story published over at ESA.

With ESA’s Planck microwave observatory in its final phases of development, mission scientists are stepping up their activity ready to exploit the mission once it is in orbit. Scheduled for launch next year, Planck will survey the Universe at microwave wavelengths, making the most precise study yet of the ‘echo’ of the Big Bang.

Read the full story for free here.

18 June 2007
New Sun Kings lectures added
A number of new dates on The Sun Kings UK lecture tour have been added recently, including Gresham College, Glasgow Planetarium and Heffers Bookshop in Cambridge. Check out the talks' page for details.

17 June 2007
Sun Kings interview posted on Lablit.com
Last week, I spent a fun lunch talking to Lablit.com’s editor Jennifer Rohn about The Sun Kings, my approach to science journalism and whether or not my writing had an agenda.
     Lablit stands for Laboratory Literature and refers to writing that portrays realistic scientists, usually in fiction.  Jenny became interested in talking to me about The Sun Kings because a number of reviewers have noted that it is reads more like a novel than a traditional slab of non-fiction.
     Read the whole interview here. Then have a good look around the site; it is fascinating.

16 June 2007
A big thank you to all of you
This week the website broke through the 10,000 hits barrier, with 10,951. The number of visitors each week has been steadily rising since the site began in May but this feels like a milestone.  It is a great pleasure to know so many of you are stopping by, and hopefully returning, to take a peep into my universe.  Many thanks for your support - I truly appreciate it and I hope to see some of you on my summer lecture tour of Ireland and my autumn lecture tour of the UK.  My thanks go also to the growing number of people and organisations that are linking to me from their sites.

15 June 2007
Science You Can't See Season on BBC Four
For those of you who can receive BBC Four television, there is a fascinating series of documentaries beginning on 24 July 2007.  They are:

Absolute Zero (Tuesday 24 July, 9pm & Wednesday 25 July, 9pm)
Absolute Zero is a scientific detective story about a remarkable group of pioneers who wanted to reach the ultimate extreme of cold. Along the way, this conquest of cold triggered breakthroughs such as air conditioning and refrigeration that have transformed the way we live.

Atom (Thursdays at 9pm on 26 July, 2 & 9 August)
In Atom, author and physicist Jim Al-Khalili takes an epic journey of discovery – from the relatively simple premise that we live in a world made up of atoms – to the outlandish and mysterious realm of quantum theory.

Dangerous Knowledge (Wednesday 8 August, 9pm)
Dangerous Knowledge tells how a small group of the most brilliant minds unravelled the old cosy certainties about maths and the universe. It is also about how, once they had looked at these problems they could not look away, and pursued their questions to the brink of insanity and then over it to madness and suicide including Georg Cantor, Ludwig Boltzmann, Kurt Gödel, and Alan Turing.

You can read more details about the programmes here.

14 June 2007
What I’m Reading in BBC Sky at Night
If you’re curious to know what science books I’m reading at the moment, check out the July issue of BBC Sky at Night magazine. I’m on the books pages. The magazine also features an exclusive update about the progress of NASA’s replacement for the Hubble Space Telescope, due for launch next decade.
As well as the books I mention in BBC Sky at Night, I have also just read Brian Aldiss’s Earthworks.  It was written in the mid 1960s but is far from a nostalgic piece.  Its apocalyptical tale of the future Earth, poisoned beyond hope, is as relevant today as it was then. Plus, it features some exquisite prose. Although, it is out of print at the moment, you can still pick it up second hand here. Check it out - you won’t be disappointed.

13 June 2007
Two more active moons around Saturn
I have a new story published over at ESA:

Saturn’s moons Tethys and Dione are flinging great streams of particles into space, according to data from the NASA/ESA/ASI Cassini mission to Saturn. The discovery suggests the possibility of some sort of geological activity, perhaps even volcanic, on these icy worlds.

Read the full story for free here.

12 June 2007
ESA takes steps toward quantum communications
I have a new story published at ESA:

A team of European scientists has proved within an ESA study that the weird quantum effect called 'entanglement' remains intact over a distance of 144 kilometres. The experiment allows ESA to take a step closer to exploiting entanglement as a way of communicating with satellites in a secure fashion.

Read the full story for free here.

11 June 2007
Guardian podcast
The Guardian science podcast about The Sun Kings is now available for download.  There is much more on there than just The Sun Kings, including a discussion about detecting life on other worlds and a brief discussion about dark matter. You can download it here or by visiting their myspace page.

8 June 2007
Guardian podcast
I spent a fun hour at the Guardian newspaper today talking about The Sun Kings with Guardian science writer Alok Jha.  The interview was recorded and will be part of their next science podcast.  You can download and the episode from Monday 11th June by visiting their myspace page.

7 June 2007
Star duo are biggest yet
I have a new story published on the New Scientist space website.

The two most massive stars ever discovered are circling each other 20,000 light years away near the centre of the Milky Way. The heavier of the two is 114 times as massive as the Sun – so big that according to some astronomers it should have blown itself to pieces. …

Read the full story for free here.

6 June 2007
The Sun Kings: “as exciting as a novel”
Sir Patrick Moore has reviewed The Sun Kings in the July issue of BBC Focus, recently named magazine of the year. He calls it “scholarly… [yet] as exciting as a novel”, “an immensely enjoyable book”, says that it is some of my very best work, and finishes with a two-word command: “Read it.”  I am blushing the same colour as the book jacket. Thank you, Sir Patrick.
The July issue of BBC Focus, recently named magazine of the year, is on the newsstands now.

4 June 2007
A big thank you to the University of Hertfordshire, the Institute of Physics, Princeton University Press and Waterstones, Hatfield for making the The Sun Kings’ launch event last Friday so successful.  It was such a pleasure to see so many faces, familiar and new. 

Latest reviews of the Sun Kings:
Booklist, Gilbert Taylor writes, “the author has recovered a touchingly dramatic story in Carrington. Well paced and well chosen.”
Visit Booklist here.

The Age, Lorien Kaye writes, “We still don't understand the sun, but Clark shows with verve and assurance how it is that we understand so much more than we used to.”
Visit The Age here.

Science News says, “Clark summarizes the struggles of these early astronomical visionaries and relates their work to that done by modern-day scientists.”
Read the full review here.

Also, Stardate magazine picked The Sun Kings as one of their four essential summer reads.  Thank you Stardate.  Visit them here.

3 June 2007
Big sunspot complex appears
spaceweather.com reports:

“A big sunspot is emerging over the sun's eastern limb, posing a threat for significant solar activity. Already it has unleashed several M-class solar flares. One of the eruptions, an M3-flare on June 1st, caused a shortwave radio fadeout over Europe.  Amateur astronomers with solar telescopes should keep an eye on this photogenic sunspot, while shortwave radio listeners should be alert for flare-triggered fadeouts and other propagation effects.  Visit http://spaceweather.com for photos and more information.”

See a picture of this sunspot here.

BBC World Service interview about The Sun Kings.
The BBC World Service programme The World Today interviewed me for a five-minute slot about the Sun Kings today.  My thanks to BBC presenter Mark Whitaker and researcher Ron Bhola for their interest in the book.

2 June 2007
Stonehenge lecture at the Royal Astronomical Society
There is to be a fascinating lecture at the Royal Astronomical Society about Stonehenge, aimed at the general public.  It will take place on 21 June at Burlington House, London.  

The RAS describe it as: Stonehenge – It’s only rock and roll
Professor Clive Ruggles (University of Leicester) and Professor Timothy Darvill (University of Bournemouth) will use archaeology, geometry and astronomy to describe how Stonehenge developed from simple beginnings to become the most elaborate stone circle in Britain. 

For further information visit the RAS here.

1 June 2007
The latest from Titan
One of the things that has kept me busy this last week or so has been writing a mini-website for ESA.  The work presents the considered analysis of the Huygens data from Saturn’s moon Titan.  The six new stories can be found here, they build a picture of complex world, incredibly similar to Earth in some respects and totally alien in others.  Here is a taste of each of the six stories:

Building our new view of Titan
Today, two and a half years after the historic landing of ESA’s Huygens probe on Titan, a new set of results on Saturn’s largest moon is ready to be presented. Titan, as seen through the eyes of Huygens still holds exciting surprises, scientists say. …

Read the rest of this introductory article here.

Revealing Titan’s rugged surface
During its two and a half hour descent, the cameras on Huygens showed eager scientists on Earth spectacular regions of bright highlands with river drainages and canyons, bounded by dark plains on Titan. New information about the composition of the landing region is now ready for the public.

Read the full story for free here.

Titan’s mysterious radio wave
Huygens scored a first in 2005 by measuring the electrical conductivity of Titan’s atmosphere. The results hint at a new way to investigate the subsurface layers of Titan and could provide insight into whether or not Titan has a subsurface ocean.

Read the full story for free here.

Dissecting the dirt on Titan
Planetary scientists are a step closer to understanding the composition of the dust in Titan’s atmosphere. A decade-long programme of laboratory studies, aiming to reproduce Titan’s unique dust, or ‘aerosol’ population in specially constructed reactors, has proved invaluable.

Read the full story for free here.

Huygens’ path to Titan
Scientists now know exactly how Huygens made its way to the surface of Titan. The trajectory reconstruction is the culmination of two years of effort and is particularly valuable for a correct interpretation of the observations from all six scientific investigations on board.

Read the full story for free here.

The way the wind blows on Titan
A simulation of the winds encountered by Huygens has led planetary scientists to believe that its entire atmosphere is circulating around on a conveyor belt. This huge system of moving gas transports warm air from the southern hemisphere to Titan’s north pole and back again.

Read the full story for free here.

Archive index

December 2007 - February 2008

September - November 2007

June - August 2007

March - May 2007