Archive September - November 2007

30 November 2007
An X-Ray Santa Claus in Orion
Right in time for the festive season, ESA's XMM-Newton X-ray observatory has discovered a huge cloud of high-temperature gas resting in a spectacular nearby star-forming region and shaped somewhat like the silhouette of Santa Claus.

Read the full story for free here

28 November 2007
Venus Express Mission Results
Venus Express has been making the most detailed study of the planet’s thick and complex atmosphere to date. The latest findings highlight the features that make Venus unique in the Solar System and provide fresh clues as to how the planet is - despite everything - a more Earth-like planetary neighbour than one could have imagined.

Venus: Earth’s twin planet?
ESA’s Venus Express has revealed Venus as never before. For the first time, scientists are able to investigate from the top of its atmosphere, down nearly to the surface. They have shown it to be a planet of surprises that may once have been more Earth-like, and still is, to a certain extent.

Read the full story for free here

The unexpected temperature profile of Venus’s atmosphere
Venus has a rich and complicated atmosphere - the densest of all the rocky planets – that is the key to understanding the planet itself. Venus Express, designed to perform an extensive investigation of the atmosphere, has revealed surprising details about its temperature structure.

Read the full story for free here

Caught in the wind from the Sun
Venus Express has exposed the true extent to which the Sun strips away the atmosphere of Venus. This process could be an important contribution to the way the planet has evolved to become so different from the Earth.

Read the full story for free here

Climate and Evolution
Today, Venus is a hellish place of high temperatures and crushing air pressure. Venus Express is showing that this was not always the case. Instead, some time in the past, Venus was probably much more Earth-like and contained large quantities of water.

Read the full story for free here

7 November 2007
New scientific riches from Integral
Astronomers from around the world have been discussing the extraordinary scientific riches that have flowed from ESA’s orbiting gamma-ray observatory, Integral. Here we present the gist of some of the astonishing ones.

Read the full story for free here

5 November 2007
Setting stars reveal planetary secrets
Watching the stars set from the surface of the Earth may be a romantic pastime but when a spacecraft does it from orbit, it can reveal hidden details about a planet’s atmosphere.
Read the full story for free here

1 November 2007
Mars Express probes the Red Planet’s most unusual deposits
The radar system on ESA’s Mars Express has uncovered new details about some of the most mysterious deposits on Mars: The Medusae Fossae Formation. It has given the first direct measurement of the depth and electrical properties of these materials, providing new clues about their origin.

Read the full story for free here

The trouble with supernovae
25 October 2007
New Scientist issue 2627
“IN NOVEMBER 1572, a dazzling new star appeared in the night sky. It became so bright so quickly that it soon outshone everything except the sun and the moon and could even be seen in daylight.

Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe tracked the star for 16 months. As it slowly faded, the star changed colour from white to yellow then orange and finally faint red.

We now know that what Brahe saw was probably a type Ia supernova, a species of exploding star that, over the past 30 years, has become increasingly important in astrophysics. Because they are all thought to explode with the same brightness, type Ia supernovae are used as "standard candles" to gauge distances across the universe.

But type Ia supernovae are beset with problems. It has become clear that they do not all explode with the same brightness. What's more, though astronomers were once sure they knew...”

The complete article is 1415 words long and is available here
(a subscription is required).

24 October 2007
Chang'e-1 - new mission to Moon lifts off
The Chinese National Space Administration (CNSA) launched a bold new mission to the Moon today. Chang’e-1 blasted off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre, Sichuan, atop a Long March 3A rocket.  Chang’e-1 represents the first step in the Chinese ambition to land robotic explorers on the Moon before 2020.

Read the full story for free here

10 October 2007
New isotope molecule may add to Venus’ greenhouse effect
Planetary scientists on both sides of the Atlantic have tracked down a rare molecule in the atmospheres of both Mars and Venus. The molecule, an exotic form of carbon dioxide, could affect the way the greenhouse mechanism works on Venus.

Read the full story for free here

3 October 2007
Gamma-ray lighthouse at the edge of our universe
There is a gamma-ray lighthouse shining from the edge of our universe. Astronomers have discovered it using ESA’s orbiting gamma-ray observatory, Integral. Now, they must work hard to understand it.

Read the full story for free here

1 October 2007

Sun Kings lecture at the Glasgow Science Centre on Thursday 4 October
I will be lecturing at the Glasgow Science Centre on Thursday 4 October in the
ScottishPower Planetarium. Their contact details are:

50 Pacific Quay
Glasgow, G51 1EA
Phone: 0871 540 1000
Email: admin@gsc.org.uk
Website: www.gsc.org.uk

Hope to see you there!
Image: Kenny Muir

29 September 2007
The Scotsman: A tale of the Sun and how modern astronomy began
I was the guest columnist in the The Scotsman newspaper today.  I was asked to write about The Sun Kings as a preview of my lecture at the ScottishPower Planetarium in Glasgow this coming week.
     If you don’t have access to the newspaper, the article was reproduced on line.  You can read it here but you need a subscription.

26 September 2007
On-line Interview at Powells.com
Bookseller Powells.com have generously featured the Sun Kings in their September Technica newsletter.  They say:  “Stuart Clark loves to tell a good story, and he outdoes himself in his latest book, The Sun Kings: The Unexpected Tragedy of Richard Carrington and the Tale of How Modern Astronomy Began. Clark transports us back to Victorian England in 1859, when, during a solar flare, buildings burned, telegraphs failed, and compasses went wonky. Astronomer Richard Carrington tried to explain how the sun's magnetisms affect the Earth, but was met with ridicule and hardship, and died before he was proved correct. Check out Stuart Clark's Q&A to discover exactly what he found so fascinating about this nearly forgotten man. You'll save 30% on The Sun Kings, too.”

You can read the interview by clicking here
You can order the book from Powells by clicking here

25 September 2007
SOHO's new catch: its first officially periodic comet
I have a new story published by ESA.

It is nothing new for the ESA/NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) to discover another comet – it has already found more than 1350. But the latest is a bit different - SOHO had spotted it twice before.

Read the full story for free here

24 September 2007
The Sun Kings: The Passion and the Politics of Science
Naomi Pasachoff, Williams College, has reviewed the Sun Kings in the journal Metascience.  “When The Sun Kings came to my attention, what caught my eye was not the title but the back cover’s four enthusiastic endorsements, each by an acquaintance I greatly admire. How could I not want to read ‘‘a fast-paced, beautifully crafted story’’ (Dava Sobel), ‘‘the most gripping and brilliant popular-science history account that I have ever read’’ (Owen Gingerich), ‘‘the tale of intrepid astronomers, across time and cultures’’ (Neil Tyson), the ‘‘illuminat[ion of] the dawn of astrophysics’’ through biographical sketches of scientists who ‘‘blend a passion for their work with the more worldly passions of pride, jealousy, greed, and lust’’ (Bob Kirshner)? Without these blurbs, I might not have picked up Clark’s book. Having read it, I am pleased to add my less illustrious name to the recommenders’ list.
The heart and, for me, best part of Sun Kings is the interwoven stories of the lives of scientific contributors to our still-developing understanding of solar-terrestrial relations…”
The full review can be read here

22 September 2007
The Sun Kings lecture in Cambridge on Tuesday 25th September
Don’t forget that I will be in Cambridge at Heffers bookshop to give a lecture about The Sun Kings this Tuesday, 25th September. The time is 6.30 for 7pm. I look forward to seeing as many of you as can make it. If you need further information, Heffers’ contact details are:
Heffers
31 St Andrews Street
Cambridge
CB2 3AX
Tel: 01223 568568.

21 September 2007
It’s the autumnal equinox. 
Day and night are of equal length today. If you live in the northern hemisphere, autumn is upon us.  Those in the southern hemisphere are enjoying spring and getting ready for summer – you lucky things!

20 September 2007
Dealing with threatening space rocks
I have a new story published over at ESA.

Every now and then a space rock hits the world's media – sometimes almost literally. Threatening asteroids that zoom past the Earth, fireballs in the sky seen by hundreds of people and mysterious craters which may have been caused by impacting meteorites; all make ESA's activities in this field, including the Don Quijote study, look increasingly timely.

You can read the full story for free here

The story is accompanied by a pod cast that also talks about the Peru meteorite strike and ESA’s involvement in asteroid research. You can listen to the pod cast here.

For information about the Peruvian meteorite crash, click here.

Also, I have another new story published by ESA.

Explosion reveals tiny magnetic island
ESA’s XMM-Newton has provided new insight into puzzling celestial objects known as magnetars. Thanks to the orbiting X-ray observatory, astronomers have traced powerful explosions to a region just beneath a magnetar’s surface.

You can read the full story for free here.

19 September 2007
“Run, don’t walk, to buy The Sun Kings”
Astronomer Jeffrey Kuhn has reviewed The Sun Kings in the journal Nature Physics. He writes, “Run, don't walk, to your nearest Princeton University Press outlet store to buy The Sun Kings by Stuart Clark. It is a remarkable book combining science, history and human drama. It exemplifies a genre that includes fascinating physical science stories such as The Neptune File (by Tom Standage) or Longitude (Dava Sobel). I was drawn into Clark's story like to a detective novel — even devouring his footnotes with as much anticipation as his human accounts.
Stuart Clark deftly manages an authoritative description of how the Sun affects the Earth within a captivating story-telling presence.” Thanks Jeff, I’m thrilled that you like the book so much. 
On the subject of people liking the book, thanks also to the gentlemen from Fife who contacted me through this webpage. Your message made me smile.

18 September 2007
Fantastic sunspot movie released
Today NASA released a story about sunspots with the most amazing movie of a developing sunspot.

“Last week in Boulder, Colorado, scientists converged on the "Living With A Star" workshop to share the latest research in solar physics. At one point, nearly 200 participants sat slack-jawed as they watched a new movie recorded by Japan's Hinode spacecraft showing a sunspot emerging from the depths of the sun. The newborn spot resembled nothing less than a swimming planet-sized trilobite.”

Read the full story and see the movie here.

15 September 2007
Nanolayers could hold key to invisibility cloak
I have a new article published in New Scientist this week (issue 2621).

INVISIBILITY cloaks that work at optical wavelengths are a step closer to reality thanks to a different take on the problem.
In previous attempts fiendishly small structures had to be precisely positioned in the cloaking material. However, super-thin layers of much simpler stuff should do the trick.
Invisibility cloaks burst into the public consciousness last year, when a transatlantic team unveiled both the theory and a working device. Engineering constraints only allowed them to construct a cloak that could hide a very small object at microwave wavelengths, as confirmed by a microwave detector, and they warned that to achieve the same feat at optical wavelengths would require an extremely difficult leap in miniaturisation.
Now, Yijun Feng, a physicist from Nanjing University, China, and colleagues are trying a new approach that significantly reduces the complexity of the cloaking fabric. To cloak an object from light...

The complete article is 566 words long and can be read on the web here but a subscription is required.

The original paper that triggered this story is here.

14 September 2007
“The Sun Kings is a book everyone should read”
John S. Rigden and Roger H. Stuewer have most generously reviewed The Sun Kings in September 2007 edition of the journal Physics in Perspective.  They begin, “Few authors of science-based books combine the page-turning quality of a good novel with scientific information that entrances the reader. Drama and sharp-edged scientific data are often seen and experienced as mutually exclusive. As both editors of this journal know, the history of science can be tedious; however, it can also be both dramatic and rich with information that illuminates science itself. The book by Stuart Clark, The Sun Kings: The Unexpected Tragedy of Richard Carrington and the Tale of How Modern Astronomy Began proves beyond doubt the latter point. For several reasons, The Sun Kings is a book everyone should read.”
The full review is published in Physics in Perspective (PIP), Volume 9, Number 3 / September, 2007.  The reference is: DOI 10. 1007/s00016-007-0360-4.

13 September 2007
Gresham Lecture now online
What a tremendous pleasure it was to meet so many of you at Gresham College last night. It really is turning into one of my favourite places. Everyone there makes me so welcome, whenever I visit. Sir Thomas Gresham founded the college in 1597 and it is an independently funded educational institution based in Barnard's Inn, Holborn, in the centre of London. It exists to provide free lectures to the public and has done so now for over four hundred years. My lecture was recorded both with audio and video. So you can listen or even watch the lecture by clicking here.

11 September 2007
New Scientist Space Special now online
The New Scientist Space Special is now on-line here. Three of the articles are free to read, the others need a subscription. Also well worth checking out are the New Scientist videos on You Tube. There are plenty, covering all aspects of science, not just astronomy. Visit them here.

9 September 2007
Explore the observatories of Mauna Kea, Hawaii
I came across this excellent page that shows you all the telescopes on the summit of Mauna Kea, Hawaii. It is provided by the University of Hawaii’s Institute for Astronomy. You can click on the image to get more information about each telescope. I have used the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope (UKIRT). Back then it was considered a big telescope, now it’s just another tiddler. Visit the Mauna Kea observatory by clicking here.

7 September 2007
Gresham College Lecture on Wednesday 12th September
Don’t forget, if you are in the vicinity of Gresham College, London, at 6pm on Wednesday 12 September, I am giving a lecture about The Sun Kings. Come along, it’s free and I’d love to see you. There will be a reception afterwards where we can chat more informally. The full address of the venue is Barnard's Inn Hall, Holborn, London EC1N 2HH.

Their contact details are:
Tel: 020 7831 0575
Fax: 020 7831 5208
Email: enquiries@gresham.ac.uk
For directions, click here.

6th September 2007
New Scientist Space Special
To celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Sputnik 1’s launch, New Scientist has produced a space special. I didn’t have very much input into it, so I can be objective. It is full of fascinating information and personal opinions from space experts and enthusiasts. It taught me a lot and I thought I knew what was going on in space! Don’t miss this exciting read; it will only be on the newsstands this week.

5 September 2007
Galaxies near and far from AKARI
The collarbone is well on the way to being mended now and so I’m getting back into the swing of things. To prove it here is a story I worked on for ESA this week.
Two new sets of observations from the AKARI Infrared Space Telescope, a JAXA (Japanese) mission with ESA participation, show how the spaceborne telescope has investigated galaxies both near and far.
Read the full story here.

3rd September 2007
Favourite stories this week
Here’s another round up of interesting news stories:

500 days at Venus, and the surprises keep coming
Venus Express has now orbited Earth’s twin for 500 Earth days, completing as many orbits. While the satellite maintains steady and excellent performance, the planet continues to surprise and amaze us.
Read the full story here.

Scientists Find Elusive Waves in Sun's Corona
Scientists for the first time have observed elusive oscillations in the Sun's corona, known as Alfvén waves, that transport energy outward from the surface of the Sun. The discovery is expected to give researchers more insight into the fundamental behaviour of solar magnetic fields, eventually leading to a fuller understanding of how the Sun affects Earth and the solar system.
Read the full story here.

Cosmic Cockroaches
A tough, pesky molecule that is possibly the key to the origin of life on Earth has been spotted in deep space, surviving the ferocious blast wave of a supernova explosion.
Read the full story here.

Mars Rovers and the Giant Martian dust storm
New images reveal threatening conditions that two rovers face in a giant Martian dust storm.
The mighty Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity continue to persevere in brutal conditions, as revealed in images of the sun they are sending home. The images show how opaque the Martian atmosphere has been in the face of a raging, two-month dust storm.
Read the full story here.

Asteroids and dinosaurs
The impactor believed to have wiped out the dinosaurs and other life forms on Earth some 65 million years ago has been traced back to a break-up event in the main asteroid belt.
Read the full story here.

2 September 2007
Investigating the 1859 solar flare
I recently swapped emails with Dr Brian Thomas from Washburn University, Kansas. He and colleagues have investigated the effects that Richard Carrington’s solar flare of 1859 would have had on the Earth’s atmosphere. Their results are fascinating and just a little scary. You can read an interview that I conducted with Dr Thomas especially for this web site here.
Dr Thomas’s work generated interest in the press as well.  Here are the resultant stories from New Scientist Space and The Discovery Channel on-line. You can also download the original research paper here.

Archive index

December 2007 - February 2008

September - November 2007

June - August 2007

March - May 2007