Astronomy and Planetary Science
Professor Jim Kasting – Pinning Down the Habitable Zones of Different Stars
One of life’s greatest mysteries is whether or not we are alone in the Universe. One way to find planets that could support life is by working out whether they lie in the ‘habitable zone’ of their parent star – a distance at which liquid water might exist on the...
Dr Yukitoshi Nishimura & Dr Ying Zou – Studying the Auroras and What Makes Them Shine
Space physicists Dr Yukitoshi (Toshi) Nishimura and Dr Ying Zou, along with their colleagues at Boston University and at UCLA, study the interactions between Earth’s atmosphere and energy that flows from the solar wind to determine how the Northern Lights – and the...
Professor Darryn W. Waugh – The Polar Vortex: Meshing and Stripping the Gears of the Atmosphere
Earth’s atmosphere is composed of multiple interlocked rotating parcels of air. At the poles, rotating vortices form an important part of this system. Climate scientist Professor Darryn Waugh of Johns Hopkins University investigates how polar vortices interact with...
Dr Jekan Thangavelautham – Designing Devices for Exploring Space and Investigating Climate Change
Dr Jekan Thanga and his team at Arizona State University are developing new and sustainable solutions for low-cost space and extreme environment exploration. His team operates robots and sensor-networks for quantifying the effects of global warming on the Greenland...
Dr Bart Wakker – Using the Hubble Telescope to Investigate the Universe’s Hidden Baryons
Astronomer Dr Bart Wakker and his colleagues use the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) to gather data on hidden baryonic matter and the composition of the Universe. Getting Closer to Far, Far Away From the era of Galileo and Copernicus up until now, our knowledge of...
Professor Vassilis Angelopoulos – From THEMIS to ELFIN: Exploring Near Earth Space
Dr Vassilis Angelopoulos and his colleagues at the UCLA Earth Planetary and Space Sciences Department in California study the interaction of solar radiation with the Earth’s magnetosphere using multiple NASA research satellites. Their aim is to protect our...
Dr Jian Du-Caines – Protecting the Earth by Predicting Space Weather
Atmospheric physicist Dr Jian Du-Caines at the University of Louisville and her colleagues explore the interactions between Earth’s atmosphere and near Earth space to better predict space weather that can adversely affect life on Earth. Everyone Talks About the...
The European Southern Observatory
The European Southern Observatory (ESO), is an intergovernmental organisation that facilitates astronomy and astrophysics research. Since its creation in 1962, ESO has provided scientists with the world’s most powerful ground-based telescopes in its host state of...
The Square Kilometre Array: The World’s Largest Radio Telescope
Comprising thousands of radio dishes and up to a million antennae, the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) will be the world’s largest radio telescope. Referred to as the next generation of radio telescope, this instrument will be tens of times more sensitive and hundreds of...
Kimberly Kowal Arcand – Somewhere, Outside The Rainbow
NASA’s Chandra X-Ray Observatory orbits high above the earth, beaming back images of the high-energy universe impossible to obtain from the ground. Bringing this data to the world is Kimberly Arcand, Visualisation Lead for the project. Here we go into detail on some...
Dr Tony Lui – Investigating Plasma Storms And Substorms In Our Near-Earth Backyard
Space physicist Dr Tony Lui has spent four decades increasing our understanding of the mechanisms behind the magnetic disturbances and interactions of space plasma surrounding our home planet. Plasma, a ubiquitous state of matter In the calm and comfort of a...
Dark Is The New Black
Eighty-four percent of the matter in the universe is made of something we cannot see, cannot detect, can only guess at based on the gravitational shadows it leaves in the visible universe. Sounds crazy? Welcome to the world of dark matter, where teams of researchers...
Dr Jesper W. Gjerloev – Earth Interactions With Space – Do We Finally Understand Them?
Space scientist Dr Jesper Gjerloev and his colleagues at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, are part of a world-wide consortium of scientists studying the Earth’s interactions with near Space. Mother Earth’s Magnetic...
American Geophysical Union – Space Physics And Aeronomy
The Space Physics and Aeronomy (SPA) section of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) is the primary professional organisation for over 2800 scientists, engineers and space weather forecasters across the globe who are actively engaged in trying to understand and...
The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory
On the 14th of September 2015 scientists at the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory observed ripples in the fabric of spacetime for the very first time. These ripples, known as gravitational waves, arrived at Earth from a cataclysmic event in the...
Fermilab
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