Archive June 2008 - June 2009

23 June 2009
Strange Encounter on Radio 3
Last month I was approached by Radio 3 and asked to adapt a small portion of The Sun Kings for Radio 3’s Strange Encounter programme.  In this fascinating series, guest presenters revisit key turning points in science.  So, what more natural moment to visit than the Great Solar Storm of 1859?
     I spent a fascinating morning with Producer Roland Pease at Bush House making the recording, which you can listen to here on iPlayer.  If the first link has expired head over here to where the speechification blog has kindly highlighted my episode, and a downloadable version.  My thanks to James Bridle.

16 June 2009
Giant eruption reveals 'dead' star
I have a new story published at ESA: 
“An enormous eruption has found its way to Earth after travelling for many thousands of years across space. Studying this blast with ESA’s XMM-Newton and Integral space observatories, astronomers have discovered a dead star belonging to a rare group: the magnetars. ...”
     Read the full story for free here

Also today:
Mission Impossible at Imperial College
I’ve just spent a really fun hour with the science communications students at Imperial College, London.  Each week they produce a radio programme and today I had the pleasure of being their studio guest.  We talked about The Sun Kings, my upcoming novels: the CosmoThriller trilogy, and a blast from the past: my book Life on Other Worlds and How to Find It. You can read New Scientist’s review of it here.
     And we also played scientific Call my Bluff.  You can stream the show here. Then don’t forget to go here and stream the rest of the episodes. There is some great science being covered here. 

14 June 2009
The Sun Kings wins Italian Book Prize
I am deeply honoured to announce that The Sun Kings has won Italy’s 2009 Montselice Prize for best scientific translation.  In Italy the book is titled I re del Sole, Il racconto dell'astronomia moderna.  It was published by Giulio Einaudi editions and translated by Giorgio P. Panini.  Signor Panini received the prize today (see picture) in the castle of Monselice, Padova.  I extend my thanks to both Giulio Einaudi editions and George P. Panini for the care they have taken with the Italian edition of my book.
     In other ‘Sun Kings’ news, I have recently signed contracts that will see the book translated for Greek, Brazilian and Taiwanese publishers. 
     To find out more about the Italian edition, click here. To find out more about the prize ceremony, click here and scroll almost to the end for The Sun Kings.

11 June 2009

Appearing at Edinburgh Literary Festival, 2009
It is with the greatest of pleasure that I can announce today that I will be appearing at the 2009 Edinburgh Literary Festival.  I took the stage for the first time at the festival last year and spoke to 350 people about bringing astronomy to life for the general public.  This year it is my pleasure to be sharing the stage with Rick Stroud (read more about him here) and talking about my latest book projects, including Galaxy from Quercus. I look forward to seeing you.  Here’s the listing from the Festival programme:
     “Stuart Clark & Rick Stroud, Popular Science, Tuesday 25 August 2009, 2.00pm, ScottishPower Studio Theatre.  An extra-terrestrial hour! Come on an astounding illustrated tour of the wonders of the Milky Way with astronomy journalist Stuart Clark. And forty years after Neil Armstrong first set foot on the moon, celebrate man’s relationship with the moon and all things lunar with Rick Stroud.  Book now at www.edbookfest.co.uk or 0845 373 5888.  Prices: (£9.00, £7.00)”
     I shall also be reading the previous day at the Imprisoned Writers event, Monday 24 August, 5:30pm, Peppers Theatre.  I have been invited to read an extract from the work of Melissa Rocío Patiño Hinostroza, who is currently on trial in Peru.

27 May 2009
XMM-Newton takes astronomers to a black hole’s edge
I have a new story published at ESA: 
“Using new data from ESA’s XMM-Newton spaceborne observatory, astronomers have probed closer than ever to a supermassive black hole lying deep at the core of a distant active galaxy. ...”
            Read the full story for free here

11 May 2009
Follow me on Twitter
I have joined the twitterverse.  You can find my account here. Come and follow me. I’ll be tweeting about interesting facts and websites that I find to do with astronomy and physics.  I’ll also be tweeting updates about my own writing.

3 April 2009
Dissecting a stellar explosion
I have a new story published at ESA: 
“Integral has captured one of the brightest gamma-ray bursts ever seen. A meticulous analysis of the data has allowed astronomers to investigate the initial phases of this giant stellar explosion, which led to the ejection of matter at velocities close to the speed of light. In particular, the astronomers believe that the explosion lifted a piece of the central engine’s magnetic field into space.
     Read the full story for free here

19 March 2009
Mars Express zeros in on erosion features
I have a new story posted over at ESA:
“Mars Express has uncovered geological evidence suggesting that some depositional process, revealed by erosion, has been at work on large scales in the equatorial regions of the planet. If so, this would provide another jigsaw piece to be fitted into the emerging picture of Mars’ past climate. ...”
     Read the full story for free here

13 March 2009
Richard Carrington lecture at the Royal Astronomical Society

It is with great pleasure that I shall be lecturing today at the Royal Astronomical Society.  The subject will be Richard Carrington, the central character of The Sun Kings.  The RAS will devote a day to discussing our modern understanding of solar flares and then I will present my historical story at the ordinary meeting, which takes place between 4-6pm.
For more details go here

6 March 2009
Dr Stu at Geekpop!
How to describe Geekpop?  Well, the organisers describe it as “a gleeful celebration of geek pop music at our online science-inspired festival”.  It’s a virtual sci-pop festival that seems to be establishing itself as an annual event.  This year, I was invited to join in the fun by writing and recording a song for the festival.  If you dare, you can listen to the song here. You have to click to the Tetrahedron Stage and then on Dr Stu and the Neutron Stars.  Turn the volume up and rock.
     And now for the part that sounds like the Oscars:  warmest thanks to good friend Dan Breeze who played drums and sang on the song; thank you to Geekpop organiser and fellow science writer Hayley Birch for asking me to be involved; also thanks to James Urquhart, another fellow science writer, for coming up with the hook line that inspired me to write the lyrics for the song.  Remember: Neutron stars – they’re heavier than metal!
     So, what are you waiting for?  Get over to Geekpop and join in the fun.

24 February 2009
Watching Venus glow in the dark

I have a new story published over at ESA:
“ESA’s Venus Express spacecraft has observed an eerie glow in the night-time atmosphere of Venus. This infrared light comes from nitric oxide and is showing scientists that the atmosphere of Earth’s nearest neighbour is a temperamental place of high winds and turbulence. ...”
You can read the full story for free here

18 February 2009
Do gravity holes harbour planetary assassins?
New Scientist issue 2696
I have the cover story on New Scientist this week:
“THEY are the places gravity forgot. Vast regions of space, millions of kilometres across, in which celestial forces conspire to cancel out gravity and so trap anything that falls into them. They sit in the Earth's orbit, one marching ahead of our planet, the other trailing along behind. Astronomers call them Lagrangian points, or L4 and L5 for short. The best way to think of them, though, is as celestial flypaper.
     In the 4.5 billion years since the formation of the solar system, everything from dust clouds to asteroids and hidden planets may have accumulated there. Some have even speculated that alien spacecraft are watching us from the Lagrangian points, looking for signs of intelligence.
     Putting little green men to one side for the moment, even the presence of plain old space rocks would be enough to keep most people happy. "I think you certainly might find a whole population of objects at L4 and L5," says astrophysicist Richard Gott of Princeton University. ...”
     You can read the full story for free online here

26 January 2009
Global Trajectory Optimisation Competition

I have a new story published by ESA:
“Entries are now being welcomed for the 4th Global Trajectory Optimisation Competition. The competition seeks to find the best solution to an interplanetary trajectory problem. It has proved a unique playground for researchers to test new ideas and to compare methods. ...”
You can read the full story for free here

13 January 2009
XMM-Newton measures speedy spin of rare celestial object

I have a new story published over at ESA:
“XMM-Newton has caught the fading glow of a tiny celestial object, revealing its rotation rate for the first time. The new information confirms this particular object as one of an extremely rare class of stellar zombie – each one the dead heart of a star that refuses to die. ...”
You can read the full story for free here

7 January 2009
Flamsteed Astronomy Society
My wife and I spent a most enjoyable day on Monday at the Greenwich Observatory, hosted by the Flamsteed Astronomy Society. During the afternoon Jane Bendall and Mike Dryland showed us around the galleries generously sharing their expert knowledge. In the evening I presented a lecture about The Sun Kings to the Society and had a fascinating time talking to the members afterwards. You can read about the evening here. Or visit their main web page here to learn of their other planned events. They meet in the National Maritime Museum down the hill from the Observatory, which is a lovely setting.
Above image courtesy of Mike Dryland

6 January 2009

Galaxy: new book to be published soon
I have a new picture book to be published by Quercus on 5 February.  It is a sister volume to my previous book Deep Space.  Whereas that volume concentrated on faraway objects, Galaxy looks at the closer celestial objects, including the planets.
     You can read more details about the book and pre-order it through Amazon.co.uk and receive a 50% discount as of today.  But hurry, these discounts tend to change quickly. 

1 January 2009
Welcome to the International Year of Astronomy
This year is the 400th anniversary of Galileo’s first use of a telescope to observe the night sky.  To celebrate this turning point in astronomical history, an international collaboration of astronomers is organising events in 140 countries.  For those in the UK on 26 July 2009, there is a major event being organised at Syon Park, West London.
     On July 26th 1609, an English scientist called Thomas Harriot carried out the first observations and drawings of the Moon, using a telescope at his residence in the grounds of Syon House, West London. Harriot achieved this probably four months before the more famous Galileo.
There is very little public recognition of Thomas Harriot in the UK and no lasting memorial to his very considerable achievements in maths, physics, engineering as well as astronomy.
     The day at Syon House will attempt to rectify this and open up the last four hundred years of astronomy to everyone.  It will also be the place to learn about the very latest discoveries in astronomy.  For more details, visit the website here.  With great regret, I will be arriving back in the UK on that day from the China eclipse tour (see here for details of that).  But you never know, I may be able to pop in my jet-lagged head and say hello.  If not, enjoy the day for me.
     The main International Year of Astronomy website can be found here.

20 December 2008
New Book Information – CosmoThriller
You may have noticed that few new stories have been posted recently.  This is because I have spent the majority of my time since the summer writing a new book.  This book is a departure for me, in that it is a work of fiction.  The story is based on the characters at the heart of a key turning point in the history of astronomy and it is the first in a trilogy of historical astronomical stories that I will be completing during the coming year. Working on this book has been a superb challenge and driven my writing in new directions.  With the first book now largely complete, I am looking forward to launching straight into the next book.
     For those of you who prefer non-fiction, I have a new non-fiction picture book out on 5 February 2009.  It is called Galaxy and is a sister volume to Deep Space.  Both of these books are published by Quercus.  In Deep Space I dealt with the furthest objects in the Universe, the way in which the Universe came into being and the way it evolved into what it is today.  In Galaxy, I deal with ‘near space’ and detail the things that exist within our galaxy, and put our galaxy into its cosmic context.
     Finally, I have also been approached to write another non-fiction book as well.  It is an exciting project and, if it goes ahead, will be mostly words rather than pretty pictures.  So, there is plenty to keep me busy.  Please visit the site regularly for updates.

18 December 2008
Where did Venus’s water go?
I have a new story published over at ESA:

“Venus Express has made the first detection of an atmospheric loss process on Venus's day-side. Last year, the spacecraft revealed that most of the lost atmosphere escapes from the night-side. Together, these discoveries bring planetary scientists closer to understanding what happened to the water on Venus, which is suspected to have once been as abundant as on Earth.”

Read the full story for free here

21 November 2008
Mars Express observes aurorae on the Red Planet
I have a new story published over at ESA:

“Scientists using ESA’s Mars Express have produced the first crude map of aurorae on Mars. These displays of ultraviolet light appear to be located close to the residual magnetic fields generated by Mars’s crustal rocks. They highlight a number of mysteries about the way Mars interacts with electrically charged particles originating from the Sun.”

Read the full story for free here

21 November 2008
China Eclipse Tour 2009 Update
As some of you know, I am to accompany a tour of China in July 2009 to view the total solar eclipse.   I am thrilled to say that my good friend and respected fellow writer Paul Parsons is to join me on the trip, which is organised by the travel company Wendy Wu.  The response to the tour has been so overwhelming that there are now too many people for me to deal with alone.  Paul has agreed to be a fellow guide.  His knowledge and enthusiasm will add considerably to the tour.  Here is his official biography from Wendy Wu:
    “Dr Paul Parsons is a former science journalist for the BBC, where he served as editor of award-winning science magazine Focus and managing editor of BBC Sky at Night magazine. He remains a consultant editor to Focus and is now a freelance writer, editor and author specialising in science, space and astronomy. Paul has contributed to a wide range of publications including Nature, New Scientist and the Daily Telegraph and his books include The Big Bang and The Science of Doctor Who. Paul also makes frequent appearances on radio and TV and gives regular talks at science festivals and events.”
     To find out more about the itineraries offered, visit Wendy Wu’s eclipse tour page here.

3 November 2008
It is with great sadness that I pass on the news that Les Sayer died peacefully in his sleep on Saturday November 1st.  A veteran of World War II, Les wrote a book called Tag on a Stringbag, Aspen Publications, which is on my shelf.  In later years, Les became a great patron of amateur astronomy. He allowed and encouraged North Essex Astronomical Society (NEAS) to refurbish and re-equip an observatory built on his land originally in the 1980s. You can read about it here
     I had the honour of performing the official opening some years ago and the observatory has gone from strength to strength. Nikki, my wife, and I extend our condolences to Val his widow, whose own enthusiasm for the club matches Les’s, and to all his friends in NEAS.

27 October 2008
How to make yourself a star
New Scientist issue 2679
I have a new feature article published in New Scientist:
“ASTRONOMY. It may be the venerable granddaddy of science, but over the last century it has been reduced to the poor relation of every other branch of modern science.
         That's because it is missing one of the foundation stones on which to build its house of knowledge. It has observation and theory in spades but, unlike most other scientific disciplines, it lacks experiment. No one can bench-test the formation of the gas giant Jupiter or nip out the back and explode a star to see if their ideas are correct. No, we have simply had to make do with what the universe throws at us. Until now, that is.
         We have at last found a way to bring the universe inside the laboratory. Home-made stars and planets are allowing our various ideas and assumptions about celestial objects to be put ... “

The complete article is 2031 words long and can be read here but a subscription is required.

You can also watch a video of a megalaser being assembled here.

16 October 2008
ESA closes in on the origin of Mars’ larger moon
I have a new story published on the ESA website:
“European space scientists are getting closer to unravelling the origin of Mars’ larger moon, Phobos. Thanks to a series of close encounters by ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft, the moon looks almost certain to be a ‘rubble pile’, rather than a single solid object. However, mysteries remain about where the rubble came from. …”

Read the full article for free here

10 October 2008

Read the full article for free here

24 September 2008
Unknown Earth: Our planet's seven biggest mysteries
New Scientist issue 2675
I have contributed to a special feature in New Scientist”
“It's the place we call home, but there is much about planet Earth that remains frustratingly unknown. How did it form from a cloud of dust? How did it manage to nurture life? And just what is going on deep within its core? New Scientist investigates these and other fundamental questions about our beautiful, enigmatic world.”

I tackled the first three of the seven biggest mysteries:
How come Earth got all the good stuff?
“Look around our solar system and you could be forgiven for thinking its eight planets drifted in from completely different parts of the cosmos. Yet they all formed from the same cloud of gas and dust that surrounded the sun more than 4.5 billion years ago. As gravity pulled this cloud together with the sun at its centre, dust grains collided and stuck to each other, growing in size and generating ever-larger gravitational fields. These clumps collided and merged, building the planets we know today.
         That's the big picture, but the details of what happened in the early stages of Earth's life remain a mystery. Solving it is fundamental to understanding why Earth is so suitable for life. We know that its distance from the sun provides the right ...”

The complete article is 631 words long.  You can read it here but a subscription is required.

What happened during Earth's dark ages?
“Some 4.53 billion years ago, as the infant Earth was settling down in its orbit around the sun, disaster struck. Our young planet was dealt a glancing blow by an object the size of Mars. Debris from the impact was thrown into Earth's orbit to form the moon, and the energy of the collision supplied enough heat to melt the Earth's upper layers, erasing our planet's previous geological record. This has left a yawning chasm in our knowledge of the planet's first 500 million years, a period that has become known as the Hadean era, Earth's darkest age. We know almost nothing about it.
         "Time zero" for the solar system is generally agreed to be 4.567 billion years ago, and by 4.55 billion years ago, about 65 per cent of ... “

The complete article is 618 words long.  You can read it here but a subscription is required.

Where did life come from?
“Leaving aside the remote possibility that life arrived on Earth on a meteorite from somewhere else, we have to assume that it emerged from whatever physical and chemical conditions existed in the planet's youth. Working out what these conditions were is problematical, mainly because the Earth we live on today retains almost no trace from that time.
         To date, the earliest evidence for life comes from sedimentary rocks that are 3.8 billion years old. Discovered in the 1990s in west Greenland, these rocks have an unusually low proportion of the heavy isotope of carbon. This is thought to be a sign of microorganisms at work, because the lighter isotope passes more easily through cell walls and so accumulates wherever microbes have been. …”

The complete article is 536 words long.  You can read it here but a subscription is required.

You can read all the mysteries here but again, a subscription is required.

22 September 2008
Mars polar cap mystery solved
I have a new story published on the ESA website:
“Scientists are now able to better explain why Mars’s residual southern ice cap is misplaced, thanks to data from ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft - the Martian weather system is to blame. And so is the largest impact crater on Mars – even though it is nowhere near the south pole. …”

Read the full article for free here

20 September 2008
The Minack Theatre generously awarded The Hertfordshire Players’ show, Jeff Wayne’s The War of the Worlds, their trophy for 2008. Read about it here

8 September 2008
I survived The War of the Worlds!
As those of you who read this page regularly will know, I often play guitar in various local and regional productions. This last week, I have been performing in a specially licensed version of Jeff Wayne’s The War of the Worlds. Don’t for a moment confuse this with the official production that has been touring arenas around the country. To find out more about that, click here. This was a smaller, dramatic presentation staged by The Hertfordshire Players and performed at the open-air Minack Theatre in Cornwall.

     It was great to perform to sold-out audiences of 800 every show, even if the wet weather gave us some problems, and indeed forced the cancellation of our opening night.
     The dramatic picture above was taken by the official Minack photographer during the show.  To see more, click here then click on the images themselves to see higher resolution versions. The other is a picture of me looking confused at soundcheck taken by my friend Zoe Watkins.

My thanks to everyone who came to see the show and to the whole cast and crew for making it an unforgettable experience. Finally, a big hello and welcome to anyone visiting this site for the first time having seen the web address in the show programme on my page about the real science of Mars.

28 August 2008
Cluster watches Earth’s leaky atmosphere
I have a new story just published at ESA:

“Oxygen is constantly leaking out of Earth’s atmosphere and into space. Now, ESA’s formation-flying quartet of satellites, Cluster, has discovered the physical mechanism that is driving the escape. It turns out that the Earth’s own magnetic field is accelerating the oxygen away. …”

Read the full story for free here:

25 August 2008
XMM-Newton’s massive discovery
I have a new story published over at ESA:

“ESA’s orbiting X-ray observatory XMM-Newton has discovered the most massive cluster of galaxies seen in the distant Universe until now. The galaxy cluster is so big that there can only be a handful of them at that distance, making this a rare catch indeed. The discovery confirms the existence of dark energy. …”

Read the full article for free here:

15 August 2008
Edinburgh Literary Festival Review
I had a great time meeting some of my readers at the Edinburgh Literary Festival, including my maths teacher from twenty years ago and three hundred miles away.  I was there to talk about my Deep Space book and my presentation was reviewed by Scottish novelist Alan Bissett and published on line by The List.

“You know you're onto a winner when the first image you see in a Powerpoint presentation is the image of a solar system exploding. Such are the ways in which Stuart Clark grabs attention in the Popular Science strand of the Festival. …”

To read the full review, click here.

To visit Alan’s website, click here.

31 July 2008
ESA prepares for November's Ministerial Meeting
I have a new story posted over at ESA.

“In November 2008, the ministers responsible for space activities in ESA's member states and Canada will gather in The Hague to set the course of Europe’s space programme over the period ahead. They will be invited to endorse the next stages in a series of ongoing programmes and to commit to the start of new programmes. …”

For those of us in the UK, the most important aspect of this story is at the end of the story: the UK is currently in negotiation with ESA to site a new ESA facility in Oxfordshire.  What a boost to the UK’s sadly beleagued space industry this would be.

Read the full story for free here.

23 July 2008
Peterborough Astronomical Society
My talk to Peterborough has been postponed from the beginning of October to November 6th because I am hoping to visit The Netherlands for a week to tour their astronomical sites. They are celebrating the fourth centenary of their invention of the telescope. I am grateful to Peterborough for letting me move the talk and as soon as I know more about the trip I’ll put it into my blog.

18 July 2008
XMM-Newton discovers the star that everyone missed
I have a new story published over at ESA:

“XMM-Newton has discovered an exploding star in the Milky Way. Usually that would be important in itself, but this time there is a special twist. Calculations show that the explosion must have been clearly visible to the unaided eye but was missed by the legions of star watchers around the planet.”

Read the full story for free here.

16 July 2008
Mars Express to rendezvous with Martian moon
There is a new story published over at ESA that I helped out with:

“Scientists and engineers are preparing ESA’s Mars Express for several close fly-bys of the Martian moon Phobos. Passing within 100 km of the surface, Mars Express will conduct some of the most detailed investigations of the moon to date.”

Read the full story for free here.

27 June 2008
Cluster listens to the sounds of Earth
I have a new story published over at ESA:

“The first thing an alien race is likely to hear from Earth is chirps and whistles, a bit like R2-D2, the robot from Star Wars. In reality, they are the sounds that accompany the aurora. Now ESA’s Cluster mission is showing scientists how to understand this emission and, in the future, search for alien worlds by listening for their sounds. …”

You can read the full story here for free.

Also published today, is another new story over at ESA:

SOHO discovers its 1500th comet

“The ESA/NASA SOHO spacecraft has just discovered its 1500th comet, making it more successful than all other comet discoverers throughout history put together. Not bad for a spacecraft that was designed as a solar physics mission. …”

You can read the full story here for free.

24 June 2008
Exploring the Cosmic Dark Ages
I have the cover story on BBC Sky at Night’s July issue:

“Imagine a time when there was nothing: no stars, no planets, no galaxies.  Nothing to shine light into the Universe, just darkness and vast clouds of gas that will one day coalesce into the familiar celestial objects around us.  Welcome to the cosmic dark ages, the most mysterious of all the cosmic realms.

Astronomers estimate that the cosmic dark ages lasted from around 300,000 years after the Big Bang to just over a billion years.  Although it may initially sound like a cosmic wilderness of zero interest, astronomers are now determined to see into this era because during this time, the first celestial objects formed.  When they did, they began shining their radiation across the Universe. …”

You can read the full story in the July issue of BBC Sky at Night magazine.

18 June 2008
Astronomers may have glimpsed tiny star’s surface
I have a new story published by ESA:

“Astronomers have used ESA's gamma-ray observatory Integral to study a very special neutron star system: Hercules X-1. They may have detected individual X-ray emitting regions on the neutron star’s surface, resolving details on a celestial object only 20 km across at a distance of 15 000 light-years…”

You can read the full story for free here

17 June 2008
Royal Society Book Prizes
I had a superb evening at the Royal Society Book Prizes last night, accompanied by my special guests Nicola Clark, my wife and business partner; Peter Hingley, the Royal Astronomical Society’s librarian; Peter Tallack, my agent; Caroline Priday, the book’s publicist.
         The Sun Kings did not win; that honour went to Mark Lynas for his book Six Degrees about climate change.  It was a great pleasure to meet the other shortlisted authors, apart from Craig Venter who could not make the ceremony, and spend a celebratory dinner with my guests afterwards.
         Whilst The Sun Kings did not win, Jo Marchant from New Scientist did award me a special runners-up prize. Read here.

15 June 2008
Lecture at the National Space Centre
Thanks to the cover story I wrote for the BBC Sky at Night Magazine’s June issue about Tunguska, I will be lecturing at the National Space Centre in Leicester on 28 June about the Tunguska Event.  Come along and say hi.  More details about the Centre itself can be found by clicking here.

“The joint ESA/NASA solar mission Ulysses has forever changed the way scientists view the Sun and its effect on the surrounding space. The mission’s major results and the legacy it leaves behind have been presented today at ESA Headquarters in Paris, in view of the impending conclusion of the mission on 1 July 2008.”

I wrote three stories about this great mission for the farewell.  They can all be reached through here.

Or accessed individually here:

Sun to set on Ulysses solar mission
After over 17 years of operation, the joint ESA/NASA mission Ulysses will officially conclude on 1 July this year. The spacecraft, which studied the Sun and its effect on the surrounding space for almost four times its expected lifespan, will cease to function because of the decline in power produced by its on-board generators. …”

Read the full story for free here.

Ulysses: the science legacy
“During its 17.5 years in space, Ulysses has rewarded scientists with the unprecedented depth and breadth of its results. These have not just been about the Sun and its influence on nearby space. The mission has also provided surprising insights into the nature of our galaxy and even the fate of the Universe.

Read the full story for free here.

Ulysses: the engineering challenge
“If Ulysses had been human, with a life expectancy of 70 years, it would have just celebrated its 245th birthday, thanks to a dedicated ESA/NASA engineering team. In spacecraft years, the mission's life expectancy was five years. This turned into 17.5 years, 3.5 times what was envisaged.”

Read the full story for free here.

10 June 2008
Detective astronomers unearth hidden celestial gem
I have a new story published by ESA:

“ESA’s orbiting X-ray observatory XMM-Newton has re-discovered an ignored celestial gem. The object in question is one of the youngest and brightest supernova remnants in the Milky Way, the corpse of a star that exploded around 1000 years ago….”

Read the full story for free here.

6 June 2008
Fantastic Milky Way graphic

I noticed an amazing graphic of the Milky Way on the Astronomy Picture of the Day [http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/] site, today.  It shows a artist’s impression of the Milky Way and then, when you put your cursor over the image, it superimposes a co-ordinate grid based on the Sun’s location.  The spiral arms are also named.  Check it out here.

Archive index

June 2008 - June 2009

March - May 2008

December 2007 - February 2008

September - November 2007

June - August 2007

March - May 2007