The Hidden Universe at TEDxCardiff
Apr 16On Wednesday I had the great pleasure of speaking at TEDx in Cardiff. I chose to speak about multiwavelength astronomy - why it is useful and what it means. This post is designed to outline my talk and provide links and media around it, both for those present and anyone who is interested in the topic. You can download the talk here as a PDF and a video of my talk will be going up on the...
Mercury Setting
Apr 07
Mercury, the innermost planet, is currently making one of its elusive appearances in the night sky. Being so close to the Sun, and fairly small, Mercury is only visible when our line of sight to it places it at its most easterly or most westerly point. The orbit of Mercury is not very wide and so this means that even at its greatest elongation from the Sun it is still only visible for a few days,...
UKSA
Mar 23
The UK Space Agency (UKSA) launched today in Swindon. The new body, which replaces the British National Space Centre (BNSC), is being created to bolster the UK's impact in the space sector and to bring together what is currently a very fragmented set of space-related government bodies and agencies. This new body will have an annual budget of about £230 million behind it (a drop compared to...
Trapped in the Thesiverse
Feb 12In March I will begin working at Oxford University, as a postdoctoral researcher in citizen science. The 'post'-doctoral part of that title means that I must submit my PhD thesis by the end of this month. Eek! It has been on the boil for some time now, and I'm pleased to say that next week I intend to take it off the boil and begin letting it cool on the windowsill before handing it over at the...
Happy 2010
Dec 312010 is going to be a big year for me and my family. I will be submitting my thesis in February and am currently applying for jobs.
What was the Star of Bethlehem?
Dec 21So it's that time of time year - "what was the Star of Bethlehem?". This is a question a lot of astronomers will be innocently asked by all sorts of people over the festive season. Best answer: "nothing, it doesn't even make sense".
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