UCL - Astrophysics Group

***SEMINARS***

Monday 16th November - Speaker: Ciska Kemper (Jodrell Bank/Manchester) Title: The life cycle of dust in galaxies

Please click here to see the full programme listing.

***NEWS***

--Guardian weekly science podcast (5 October 2009)--

Prof. Ofer Lahav (Head of UCL Astrophysics) was interviewed on dark matter and dark energy, and on UCL's contribution to the 'Dark Energy Survey'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/blog/audio/2009/oct/05/science-weekly-podcast-astronomy

--Astronomy meets art--

Katie Paterson visits the UoL Observatory at Mill Hill to talk to Prof. Ofer Lahav about the mysteries of the universe. Her latest work is a map of ‘dead stars’ 27,000 of them, or all that have so far been observed and recorded. Katie Paterson’s work was featured in the Altermodern exhibition at Tate Britain. To hear the interview see http://www.tate.org.uk/tateshots/episode.jsp?item=18622

--Herschel Planck--

At 2:12 p.m. (UK time) on Thursday May 14th, the European Space Agency has successfully launched in space one of its most valuable scientific payloads ever. An Ariane V launcher blasted off from Kourou on the Atlantic coast of French Guyana. The two satellites are now en route to the L2 Earth-Sun Lagrangian point, one million miles away from the Earth, where they will orbit the sun and start their scientific mission.

The Herschel Space Observatory, named after the astronomer William Herschel, has a 3.5m diameter telescope, the largest ever sent into space and the first mirror made of silicon carbide to be used by a large space telescope. It will have three scientific instruments on-board, for imaging and spectroscopy in the far-infrared and submillimetre wavelength regions (55-670 microns), all cooled to -269 Celsius, with more than 3000 litres of liquid helium needed to cool them over its anticipated lifetime of 3 to 4 years. Herschel will carry out searches for newly formed galaxies in the early Universe, as well as as studying star formation in our own and other galaxies. The second satellite, called Planck after the physicist Max Planck, will use a 1.6m diameter telescope to obtain detailed maps of the primordial seeds of matter in the early Universe. With detectors sensitive to 9 different wavelength regions collecting electromagnetic radiation from far-infrared to microwave wavelengths (~100 microns to 1 cm), the Planck satellite will map the whole sky every six months by rotating on its axis while orbiting the sun synchronously with Earth, gathering vast amounts of data on diffuse structures, as well as on the large scale magnetic field in which our galaxy is enveloped. It should detect with unprecedented sensitivity the primordial fluctuations of matter in the early stages of the Universe allowing a test of many cosmological models, tracing the possible gravitational imprint of the Big Bang on the distribution of matter in the Universe.

Parts of the SPIRE instrument on Herschel were designed and constructed at UCL's Mullard Space Science Laboratory. Researchers in UCL's Department of Physics and Astronomy and at the Mullard Space Science Laboratory will be involved in the calibration, data analysis and science programmes of both these observatories.

For more information please see the following links:
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Herschel/index.html
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Planck/index.html


Contacts and Location Staff and Students Research Groups Undergraduate Studies Postgraduate Studies Part-Time Studies Public Outreach Seminars Meetings & Events Publications Useful Links Vacancies	UCL ASTROPHYSICS GROUP The Astrophysics Group at UCL forms part of the Physics & Astronomy Department. The main subgroups are: Atmospheric Physics (APL) Circumstellar and Interstellar Environments Extrasolar Planets Galaxies & Cosmology Massive Stars and Clusters Optical Science Laboratory (OSL) Star Formation and Astrochemistry University of London Observatory (ULO) We are one of the largest Astrophysics groups in the UK and are comprised of about 20 academic staff, 15 post-doctoral fellows, 40 PhD students and 15 support staff. An overview of the group's research can be found in the most recent Departmental Annual Review. ***SEMINARS* Monday 16th November - Speaker: Ciska Kemper (Jodrell Bank/Manchester) Title: The life cycle of dust in galaxies Please click here to see the full programme listing. NEWS** --Guardian weekly science podcast (5 October 2009)-- Prof. Ofer Lahav (Head of UCL Astrophysics) was interviewed on dark matter and dark energy, and on UCL's contribution to the 'Dark Energy Survey' http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/blog/audio/2009/oct/05/science-weekly-podcast-astronomy --Astronomy meets art-- Katie Paterson visits the UoL Observatory at Mill Hill to talk to Prof. Ofer Lahav about the mysteries of the universe. Her latest work is a map of ‘dead stars’ 27,000 of them, or all that have so far been observed and recorded. Katie Paterson’s work was featured in the Altermodern exhibition at Tate Britain. To hear the interview see http://www.tate.org.uk/tateshots/episode.jsp?item=18622 --Herschel Planck-- At 2:12 p.m. (UK time) on Thursday May 14th, the European Space Agency has successfully launched in space one of its most valuable scientific payloads ever. An Ariane V launcher blasted off from Kourou on the Atlantic coast of French Guyana. The two satellites are now en route to the L2 Earth-Sun Lagrangian point, one million miles away from the Earth, where they will orbit the sun and start their scientific mission. The Herschel Space Observatory, named after the astronomer William Herschel, has a 3.5m diameter telescope, the largest ever sent into space and the first mirror made of silicon carbide to be used by a large space telescope. It will have three scientific instruments on-board, for imaging and spectroscopy in the far-infrared and submillimetre wavelength regions (55-670 microns), all cooled to -269 Celsius, with more than 3000 litres of liquid helium needed to cool them over its anticipated lifetime of 3 to 4 years. Herschel will carry out searches for newly formed galaxies in the early Universe, as well as as studying star formation in our own and other galaxies. The second satellite, called Planck after the physicist Max Planck, will use a 1.6m diameter telescope to obtain detailed maps of the primordial seeds of matter in the early Universe. With detectors sensitive to 9 different wavelength regions collecting electromagnetic radiation from far-infrared to microwave wavelengths (~100 microns to 1 cm), the Planck satellite will map the whole sky every six months by rotating on its axis while orbiting the sun synchronously with Earth, gathering vast amounts of data on diffuse structures, as well as on the large scale magnetic field in which our galaxy is enveloped. It should detect with unprecedented sensitivity the primordial fluctuations of matter in the early stages of the Universe allowing a test of many cosmological models, tracing the possible gravitational imprint of the Big Bang on the distribution of matter in the Universe. Parts of the SPIRE instrument on Herschel were designed and constructed at UCL's Mullard Space Science Laboratory. Researchers in UCL's Department of Physics and Astronomy and at the Mullard Space Science Laboratory will be involved in the calibration, data analysis and science programmes of both these observatories. For more information please see the following links: http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Herschel/index.html http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Planck/index.html
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Astrophysics Views