Astrophysics Group News
RAS Michael Penston Thesis Prize for 2012: Runner-up prize awarded to Dr Stephen Feeney
Dr Stephen Feeney has been awarded the runner-up prize for the Michael Penston Thesis Prize 2012. This Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) prize is awarded to the best doctoral thesis in Astronomy and Astrophysics; Stephen's thesis was entitled ‘Novel Algorithms for Early Universe Cosmology'. More...
ESA selects instruments to be flown on its icy moons mission
The JUpiter ICy moons Explorer mission (JUICE) will study Jupiter and its large, ice/ocean-bearing moons. JUICE is planned to launch in 2022 and arrive in 2030. Dr Nick Achilleos (Astrophysics) is part of the J-MAG Consortium, an international team of investigators who have successfully proposed one of the 11 scientific experiments to be flown on board this mission. More...
Betelgeuse braces for a collision
However you pronounce its name*, the star Betelgeuse is hard to miss on a clear winter's night. Representing the top left shoulder of Orion the Hunter it blazes a bright red colour. At over 600 light years away Betelgeuse is not particularly close, but it shines 100,000 times as brightly as our Sun. More...
Dust Factory in the Crab Nebula revealed by the Herschel Space Observatory
Herschel has produced an intricate view of the remains of a star that died in a stellar explosion a millennium ago. It has provided further proof that the interstellar dust which lies throughout our Galaxy is created when massive stars reach the end of their lives. More...
Astronomy in the Classroom
This is an ongoing outreach programme based at the University of London Observatory and funded by small awards from the Science and Technology Facilities Council.
School groups (daytime) tour the installations and get a short lecture followed by some discussion. Weather permitting, telescopes are used to observe the Sun in white light and in
H-alpha, a special filter to observe spectacular prominences and flares. Sometimes it is possible to observe the planet Venus.
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| Observatory IT manager Theo Schlichter assists school children observing the Sun through a narrow band hydrogen filter. |
We also visit schools to give lectures and demonstrations to large groups and offering the children an opportunity to observe the Sun with a portable H-alpha solar telescope (STFC funded).
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| Francisco Diego uses the portable H-alpha telescope during a school visit. |
So far the programme has been attended by around 15,000 school children and teachers. Our current target is for 300 children visiting the observatory and 2500 children at visiting lectures every year.
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| Large groups at the observatory using the portable H-alpha telescope. |
Please visit www.ulo.ucl.ac.uk/outreach for details.
Page last modified on 18 jan 12 11:13 by Joanna N Fabbri
