Book Review: Higgs Force by Nicholas Mee

Official Higgs Force website: www.higgsforce.co.uk

Congratulations to Pete Aighton, E. Parker and Alex Brown who were the winners of our Higgs Force book competition! You bagged yourselves a free copy, you lucky things…

Stunning Pictures: Earth and Planets as you’ve never seen them

The last few weeks have seen a spate of amazing images – from the outer edges of the solar system to as nearby as Alaska. Each image, while being visually amazing, represents incredible scientific research and potential discovery.

So, here are a pick of four incredible images from the past couple of months: a tour of the surfaces and skies of Mars, Earth, Saturn and the Milky Way itself.

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What is a black hole?

You may have been one of the millions of people who tuned in to the BBC’s Stargazing Live, hosted by Professor Brian Cox and comedian Dara O’Briain from Jodrell Bank Observatory. This odd but very watchable duo have guided Britain through various astronomical principles over the past three evenings, including the moon, extra-terrestrial life, the hunt for exoplanets and – the most mysterious topic – black holes. (more…)

Interview with an Astrobiologist! ET expert Lewis Dartnell talks to Guru

There is growing evidence that Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons, harbours an ocean of liquid water beneath its icy surface. Guru Magazine spoke to Dr. Lewis Dartnell, an astrobiologist at University College London, to find out why this ocean makes Europa one of the most likely places for finding extraterrestrial life.  

Lewis Darnell is Mr January in this year's 'Geek Calendar'!

Lewis Dartnell: I’d say we’re pretty certain, in that there are several different lines of evidence that support this idea, most of which have come from the Galileo space probe. By far the most convincing physics evidence was from the magnetometer aboard Galileo, which detected changes in the magnetic field around Europa, showing that there is something conductive beneath the Europa’s surface. The best explanation for this is a salty liquid layer beneath the frozen ice, i.e. a water ocean.

JL: If there was life beneath this icy surface, what might we expect to find? Probably not little green men I’m guessing… (more…)

Hunting for the Higgs Boson – have CERN found the ‘God particle’?

Want the latest news on the ‘discovery’ of the fabled God particle?

Guru subeditor Nicola gives a low-down on recent developments. If you’re horribly confused about what the Large Hadron Collider is all about – then there’s a great little video (‘edible CERN’) at the bottom of the post…

For several weeks there had been rumours flying about over what CERN was going to announce at yesterday’s press conference – and, for the most part, those rumours were reflective of the findings.

Have they found the God particle?

Unfortunately, the answer to this question is still: “perhaps”.

What did they find? (more…)

MOONS AND METEORS: DECEMBER’S ASTRONOMICAL TREATS

‘Heavens Above!’ The following piece featured in Issue Three of Guru. In case you missed it, here it is…

The night the moon turns black!

Missed Jackie's piece? Check out the full magazine here!

Unfortunately the full eclipse won’t be visible for anyone living in South America, West Africa, the Caribbean, or the extreme eastern parts of Canada – but everyone else, you’ll be able to catch at least part of the show!

The lucky ducks in Asia, Australia, and anywhere north of 60N (i.e. Greenland, Alaska) will get to see the whole thing from start to finish!

The partial eclipse is set to begin at 12:45 GMT, with the total eclipse happening from 14:06 GMT to 14:57 GMT, and ending at 16:17 GMT. But for everyone else, here’s when to look skyward…

Start of the Partial Eclipse

(look out for a darkening of the moon’s edge)

• If you live in Europe, India or the Middle East then this will be in early evening as the moon is rising.
• For those who live in eastern United States, Mexico, Central America or eastern Canada then you will be able to catch the partial eclipse at dawn (as the moon sets).

Total Eclipse

(a full colour change)

• Central Europe, eastern Africa and the United Kingdom – early evening as the moon is rising.
• USA and central Canada – around dawn as the moon is setting.

Partial Eclipse End

(watch the darkened edge of the Moon as the eclipse passes)

• Western Europe, Iceland, and west-central Africa as the moon is rising in early evening.
• Western United States and western Canada can catch thetail end of the eclipse at dawn as the moon is setting.

Meteors above!

One of the most exciting astronomical events of the year, happening from 6-19 December this year (and peaking from 13-15 December) is the Geminid Meteor Shower. Consistently one of the sky’s most spectacular shows, this shower produces around 50 to 60 meteors per hour – in multi-colour! This year will have some interference from moonlight, but only the dimmest meteors ought to be shut out. If you want to catch it then get comfortable in a very dark location (like a beach or large park away from light pollution) around 10pm and look to the east. Expect Mother Nature’s firework display to be at its best around midnight.

Not bad for free!

Why not check out the latest issue of Guru – a completely free digital science-lifestyle magazine for you to read on the go!

Milky Way History monitored by Starry-eyed Time-keepers

Like the Andromeda Galaxy, pictured above, the Milky Way is a spiral galaxy with winding arms, each containing countless stars. (Source: NASA)

There are more uses for the stars we see in the sky above us than you might think.

Astronomers rely on these heavenly bodies to understand how the universe formed out of the mess of the Big Bang. As current knowledge goes, immediately following this first explosion there was just hydrogen and helium – along with amounts of the mysterious ‘dark matter’ and ‘dark energy’ (although their existence is still quite speculative).

A brief history of the Milky Way

Through time, these first elements are gravitationally attracted to each other and clump to form stars. Inside these stellar cores, nuclear fusion takes place; a process of hydrogen and helium combining to form heavier elements such as carbon, oxygen and nitrogen. Scientists are desperately trying to mimic this environment on Earth, as it the most efficient energy production method we know of.

When stars die, they blast all these heavier elements out into space and enrich the interstellar medium (like the beautiful gas clouds we see from the Hubble Telescope). As more and more stars die and blast their cores of heavy elements into space, stars forming from that gas and dust therefore contain more heavy elements. By carefully observing individual stars, we work out their age – and it acts like a kind of universal clock.

In certain galactic classifications, the age of the stars present is reflected in their positioning; in galaxies such as the Milky Way the spiral arms contain older stars, and the central bulge is packed with young, newly-formed stars (source: .galactic-centre-2012.com)

Old Star Mysteries

However, astronomers are puzzled by the fact that some of the oldest, most ancient stars we can observe contain surprisingly high levels of heavy elements. Recently, this has occupied researchers at the Niels Bohr Institute, who studied a selection of 17 ancient Milky Way stars using Chile’s giant ESO telescopes. Their aim has been to investigate the origin of the high levels of heavy elements such as gold, platinum and uranium present in the observational spectra of these ‘abnormal’ stars.

It was initially proposed that the orbital motions of these stars might be the key to the problem. It is thought that many stars are in binary systems (two stars orbiting around each other). Astrophysicist Terese Hansen of the Niels Bohr Institute and Michigan State University, USA, explains that there are a couple of plausible explanations – one of which involves a binary star exploding as a supernova and coating its companion in a thin coating of heavy elements.

A Gold-plated problem

However, “My observations of the motions of the [17] stars showed that… only three (20 percent) belong to binary star systems,” says Hansen. “So the theory of the gold-plated neighbouring star cannot be the general explanation.” This leaves an alternative possibility: very early supernova ‘jets’, or explosions, blasted enriched material out in predominantly one direction. Surrounding gas clouds hit by these jets would therefore be enriched – explaining the incongruous levels of heavy elements present in stars that formed from such clouds.

Although there is still much to learn about the past universe, understanding stellar evolution and formation is a great step forward. The full results from Hansen and team are published in Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Fly me to the moon – Virgin Galactic’s space tourism to launch in 2013

An artists impression of SpaceShipTwo, with arms in the 'feather' position. Copyright Virgin Galactic

The cold, wintry weather always inspires a mass exodus of Britons to warmer climates. With the dark evenings closing in, once again holidays are on the agenda – but this time with a completely different destination…

A new statement issued by Richard Branson’s space tourism project Virgin Galactic has put an estimate on when they feel it would be realistic for Mr. and Mrs. Joe Bloggs to expect a trip to the stars – and it could be as soon as 2013.

Of course, as with anything so expensive and potentially dangerous there are always caveats. Commercial director Stephen Attenborough, spokesman for Branson’s firm, was quick to add a word of caution, stating that as the safety of future passengers was paramount there may yet be further delays in the pipeline.

Sir Richard gives the venture a big 'thumbs up' at Spaceport America. Copyright Mark Greenberg and Virgin Galactic

Although perhaps for understandable reasons given the inherently risky nature of the venture, there have been numerous revisions of its launch date from the initial 2008 to 2010, later to 2012 and now to 2013. However, there has been progress, with a test  flight programme well underway, an opened launchpad and plans for rocket-powered test launches in the pipeline.

Its first craft, named the SpaceShipTwo, will launch from a dedicated launchpad in New Mexico, with its inaugural flight taking Sir Richard and his children on board as passengers.

Around 500 people have already bought tickets for flights into space – however, at a staggering $200,000 (£127,000) per ticket, it might be a while before spaceflight is accessible for all. Until then, I guess we’ll have to settle for planet Earth.

Feeling flush? Book your flight here!

Galileo satellites lift off! Move over America – Europe leads the way…

21 October 2011: Soyuz lifts off for the first time from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana carrying the first two Galileo In-Orbit Validation satellites. Credits: ESA/CNES/ARIANESPACE - S. Corvaja, 2011

Last Friday saw the launch of the first two satellites that will take their places as key components in Europe’s planned satellite navigation system.

The network, to be formed by four satellites, aims to be similar to the American GPS system, and represents an international effort – while the satellites are European, they were launched out into space on Russian spacecraft Soyuz VS01. It was a mission of firsts; not only was the craft was the lucky one to christen the new launch complex in French Guiana, it was also the very first Soyuz craft to be launched outside of Kazakhstan or Russia.

ESA were quick to emphasise the higher-than-ever levels of co-operation between Russia, France and the EU in making the mission a success, but were sure to credit European involvement. Director General of the ESA Jean-Jacques Dordain described at length how “[t]his launch consolidates Europe’s pivotal role in space cooperation at the global level”.

These first two satellites will act as pathfinders to the system, which will be completed when the final two satellites are launch in summer 2012. It is thought that the system will affect our everyday lives from 2015 as we begin to use them alongside the GPS on our smartphones and car sat-navs.

The system will deliver more accurate data on locations and timings than ever before, which is expected to have a signifcantly positive side-effect on the European economy. This would be very welcome for financial backers and supporters of the Galileo mission, as it has been dogged by a spate of funding and budget problems as its initial estimated cost of 1.8 billion euros soared to over 5 billion euros.

Hubble Sheds light on Dark Matter (and neutrinos!)

There have been a flurry of press releases from NASA, ESA and other space organisations recently, announcing the results of their “ambitious surveys” covering issues such as dark matter, Antarctic ice, and even how the Earth’s oceans were initially formed! It is the new Hubble survey which provides a census on dark matter clusters that has piqued quite a lot of interest, and (perhaps more importantly) offers the chance to reproduce some wonderful Hubble photos! Check this one out… (more…)