April 2013

Glam UNIverse April 2013

Rocketry Special HOW BRITAIN IGNITED THE WORLD OF ROCKETRY Discover Britain’s first venture into rocketry

DEFYING GRAVITY Read about the advent of the SKYLON: Britain’s first true space plane

HOW-TO: VIEW THE PLANETS Find out the tips and tricks to best view our nearest planetary neighbours

LIVE FROM JODRELL BANK Discover where Science meets Music in the shadow of the looming Lovell Telescope

April 2013

Editorial

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Note from the Editor(s)

The Glam UNIverse team Jon Pratt

Editor and Designer

Hello!

Welcome to the April edition of Glam UNIverse.

In this issue, we’re running the theme of British Rocketry, focusing on our nation’s historical successes and hopefully pointing out a few of the key milestones in the field as we feel Britain is often left of the map when it comes to our space launch capabilities.

We would also like to say many thanks to all those who take the time out of their busy academic and social schedules to contribute articles and pieces towards the magazine. You all make this magazine a reality and we really couldn’t do it without your help, so please, I hope you will continue to support us and keep all of your fine submissions rolling in!

Happy Easter!

The Quartet of Editors

Greatest Aspiration: To be a Time Lord

Dean Tookey

Editor and Columnist

Most Anticipated Film: Star Trek Into Darkness

Amy Marklew Editor

Most Desired Place to Live: Bag End Jason Wotherspoon Editor Arch Nemesis: His Netbook

Other Written Contributors: Paul Merriman

George Cappell

Cover Image Credits Front: Night launch of the Space Shuttle Endeavour. Credit: NASA Back: Night launch of the Space Shuttle Endeavour. Credit: NASA Student Astrophotography Image Credits:

Paul Merriman, Jason Wotherspoon and Jon Pratt

Faulkes Telescope North located at located at the Haleakala Observatory in Hawaii. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

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April 2013

Contents

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2 Editorial 4 News 6 How to: View the Planets in our Solar System 8 The Night Sky in April 10 How Britain Ignited the World of Rocketry: Congreve Rockets 13 The Low-Down on High Down 15 Defying Gravity: The Advent of the True British Space Plane 18 Astrophotography 20 Ask an Astronomer 21 Events 22 Media Reviews 22 FUN. 23 Cosmic Crossword

Rising through the clouds: The Space Shuttle Endeavour, May 2011. Credit: NASA

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April 2013

News

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Possible Ancient Habitat Found on Mars

840 Confirmed Exoplanets

Artist’s depiction of Curiosity exploring Mars’ surface, using ChemCam to investigate rock composition. Credit: NASA

Mars has been postulated to contain life for more than a century now and evidence of it once being habitable is adding up. Curiosity has been searching for even more signs of life since its arrival on mars on August 6, 2012. It’s newest discovery shows ancient Mars could have supported living microbes. Scientists identified sulfur, nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, and carbon which are some of the key chemical ingredients for life as we know it. The discovery was made by drilling into sedimentary rocks on the surface of mars, powdering it, and passing it through its specialised instrumentation.

The Planck’s Microwave Background The most accurate microwave background images from the Planck mission have been produced and show some interesting characteristics. It shows the Universe at the earliest stages we’ve ever seen as the first matter in the universe started to form. It allows us to analyse the distribution of matter and energy throughout the early universe.

Map of the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation from Planck The map results suggest the universe Credit: Wikimedia Commons is expanding more slowly than scientists thought and is 13.8 billion years old, 100 million years older than previous estimates. The data also show there is less dark energy and more matter, both normal and dark matter, in the universe than previously known.

This new information is allowing for the refinement of the standard model and for more accurate measurements and a better understanding of our universe.

SpaceX Dragon arrives at the ISS The resupply mission by SpaceX arrived at the ISS on March 3, 2013 at 8:56 am. It brought with it many new experiments to be carried out on the ISS. The mission was not problem-free after losing three of its four thruster pods temporarily after launch. However, it docked with the space station successfully.

The SpaceX Dragon on approach to the ISS. Credit: NASA

It carries on board about 575 kg of supplies to support continuing space station research experiments and will return with about 1,210 kg of science samples from human research, biology and biotechnology studies, physical science investigations, and education activities.

These experiments are considered to be able to increase our understanding of many different areas of science and engineering.

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April 2013

Europa’s Subsurface Ocean

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Jupiter’s moon Europa has shown tantalising signs of water since the late 70’s when the Voyager probes passed by. The newest evidence comes from salts found on the surface indicating an exchange between the subsurface ocean and the hard, cold and most likely lifeless surface.

This discovery was made by the W. M. Keck Observatory and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. The findings were derived from spectroscopy delivered from the Keck Observatory finding many molecules and salts that would allow for an interesting chemistry below the surface, possibly even so for life to begin.

The new data has had scientists speculating that the ocean on Europa is similar to that of Earth’s oceans.

More research on the moon might even allow for the discovery of life beyond our own planet.

Europa, as imaged by the Galileo spacecraft.

Credit: NASA

Water Detected on Another Exoplanet The community of exoplanets with water on is a growing one with around 24 being found now with another one now joining this community, HR 8799c.

These discovery’s are important as it shows us that there appears to be plenty of possible habitats for alien life and maybe for humans too. Water is the key component needed by all live on earth, so our search for life in the universe beingins with looking for water such as on HR 8799c.

Artists depiction of HR 8799b Credit: NASA

The planet is one of four gas giants known to orbit a star called HR 8799 that is 130 light-years from Earth.

Scientists previously discovered this planet, designated HR 8799c, and its three companions back in 2008 and 2010. Unlike most other planetary systems, whose presence is inferred by their effects on their parent star, the HR 8799 planets can be seen individually.

This discovery was done using the most accurate spectrum taken using the OSIRIS instrument fitted on the mighty Keck II Telescope on the summit of Mauna Kea, Hawaii, has uncovered the chemical fingerprints of specific molecules, revealing a cloudy atmosphere containing water vapor and carbon monoxide.

A New Kind of Supernova Researchers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Centre Astrophysics have recently classified a new type of supernova called Type Iax, from observational data. Similar to a Type Ia supernova, which also originates from an exploding white dwarf, Type Iax is a much fainter and less energetic supernova, only approximately one-hundreth bright as a Type Ia. These are believed to be ‘mini supernovae’ and may not completely destroy the white dwarf, which may remain after the explosion.

Astronomers are not sure what processes result in a Type Iax supernova but 25 examples were identified , none appearing in elliptical galaxies. They appear not to be rare, just faint - a third as common as Type Ia.

SN 1572 - Tycho’s Supernova Remnant. Credit: NASA

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April 2013

How to:

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View the Planets in our Solar System

by Dean Tookey

Viewing planets is very awarding and allows for many new observation techniques to be tested. Planets such as Saturn and Jupiter are relatively easy to view and allow for some brilliant images. More challenging planets such as Uranus and Mercury allow for an increased test of skill but yet still give very rewarding observations.

A good place to start when viewing planets is to begin with one of our Solar System’s larger gas giants, such as Jupiter or Saturn are visible, which are both up this month. Both planets contain much detail when looking down a telescope such as Jupiter’s atmospheric belts and the Great Red Spot, as well as Saturn’s rings which are easily visible, even down a small telescope or binoculars.

To view the planets, first of all, they need to be located using a star chart for that night. Using the star chart, locate the planets in the night sky, then by using the finder scope on the side of the telescope, position it so it’s in line with the object to be viewed. Saturn and Jupiter are easily seen with the naked eye so finding them with the telescope should be relatively easy.

Once the telescope is in line with the planet, centralise it into the telescope and bring it into focus. Planets are, in general, relatively bright and small so a higher degree of magnification may be needed by using a 10 or 12mm eye piece.

Try picking nights with very good seeing conditions as any atmospheric distortion caused by high winds and temperatures will remove a lot of detail from the planets. Also try to acclimatise your telescope beforehand by allowing it to reach the surrounding ambient temperature for around 30-60 minutes, a good thing to practice anyway.

Remember also that the planets will change quickly, they rotate and move their position in the sky rapidly so to get the best from viewing them, try to observe them for a while to allow for as much of the planet to be seen as possible. It may also be useful to monitor the times at which they are closest where they may be best seen but these times can be very rare for some of the outermost planets and can still take a long time to come around for closer planets too so try to make the most of the time when they do appear closest.

Once an object is in view, allow your eye to get used to the object. The longer it is viewed for, the better the image will appear to the observer. Again, when viewing any astronomical object, ensure to look around the eyepiece to see if any detail can be picked out in your adverted vision. When viewing Jupiter this way, it’s four Galilean moons can usually clearly be seen depending on their positions and its atmospheric banding stripes will become apparent. If viewing Saturn, its rings can be very clear depending on their inclination, but this month they should be easily visible.

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Jupiter. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Saturn. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

April 2013 Glam UNIverse Mars. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Viewing of Uranus is more challenging as it is further away, smaller, and dimmer. It also has a relatively featureless surface and in a smaller telescope can appear Mercury transit of the Sun as viewed through a solar filter. to look more like a small blue star. Neptune is also very Credit: Wikimedia Commons difficult to view due to its star like appearance and has a magnitude is around 8 and will usually have stars within its field that are just as bright. To find and observe Neptune takes a lot of patience, practice and many observing skills need to be honed in before observations of Neptune can be undertaken. However, the same skills used on observing other planets can be used when observing Uranus and Neptune.

The terrestrial planets are also good to observe as even though they are smaller in size, they are generally closer and bright. Mars is easily visible in smaller telescopes and binoculars, and the same techniques can be used as with viewing the gas giants. Some surface features such as the polar caps may be visible.

Uranus, as imaged by ESO. Credit: European Southern Observatory

Venus is also relatively easy to view, however, it can only be seen in the early evening or early morning due to its proximity to the Sun. Although it’s relatively bright, it does lack surface features but some variation in its clouds can be seen in higher power telescopes.

Mercury is small, appears very featureless, and also will remain in a very close proximity to the Sun due to its orbit, so great caution must be undertaken when viewing it so as not to cause harm to the telescope user.

The Moon - with Venus present to the right and an extremely dim Mars to the left.

Credit: Wikimedia Commons M42 (Orion’s nebula) as taken by the Hubble Space Telescope

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April 2013

The Night Sky in April

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by Paul Merriman

By the 1st of April, the last of the winter constellations have set and the spring constellations have come into their own. Of course, by now the clocks have gone forward an hour, signalling the beginning of British Summer Time.

The nights may be shorter now but there are still some great opportunities to go observing. Saturn is perfectly placed to look at in between the constellations of Libra and Virgo. There are also a myriad of deep sky objects that are well worth observing.

The Moon in April Last quarter: 3rd April New: 10th April First: Quarter: 18th April Full: 25th April

There will be a partial lunar eclipse on the 25th of this month, visible right across Europe. By the time the Moon rises in Britain the eclipse will have already started but the maximum eclipse will still be visible at 20:08 UTC. At the maximum only a very small amount of the Moon will be in the Earth’s umbra. The eclipse will last for 27 minutes but the Moon will be in the Earth’s penumbra for around 4 hours.

The Planets in April Mercury:

As Mercury was at greatest elongation on the 31st of March it will still be visible just before the Sun rises at the beginning of the month but by the end of the month will be quite close to the Sun.

Venus:

It has just passed superior conjunction on the 28th of March and so is too close to the Sun to observe. Although by the end of the month it will have moved away slightly from the Sun it will still only be visible for a very short time after the Sun sets, so is not a good target for observing in April.

Mars:

It will be in superior conjunction on the 18th of April so is not going to be visible this month.

Jupiter:

It will still be visible at the beginning of the night for the whole month and still makes a nice target to observe.

Saturn:

Saturn is going to go into opposition on the 28th of April and so is perfectly placed to observe for the whole month.

Uranus:

It was in superior conjunction on the 29th of March and so is not going to be well placed for observation this month.

Neptune:

It will be visible for about an hour before sunrise in the constellation of Aquarius but it is low in the horizon and so not best placed for observation.

The sky as it would appear at midnight on the 15th of April from London.

Credit: heavensabove.com

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April 2013

Deep Sky Objects in April

M1 (Crab Nebula) taken with Faulkes Telescope North operated by Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network and taken by St. George’s School.

M13 (Hercules Cluster) taken with Faulkes Telescope North operated by Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network and taken by Blairgowrie High School.

M101 (Pinwheel Galaxy) taken with Faulkes Telescope North operated by Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network and taken by Treorchy Comprehensive School.

One very nice object to observe is M1 (the Crab Nebula). This supernova remnant is located in the constellation of Taurus and is visible at the beginning of the night, although it will be setting rapidly towards the end of the month. If you are able to see it you may be a bit disappointed as it may appear very small. It is only 6 arc minutes across and so you will only see a small point of light through binoculars. Something that would make it a bit larger through a telescope would be to use a barlow lens to bump up the magnification. Photographing it through a telescope is what will make it look its best as you will be able to pick out a lot more of the detail.

Another nice deep sky object to observe is M13 (the Hercules Cluster). It is located in the constellation of Hercules and is a very nice example of a globular cluster.

It contains roughly 300,000 stars and is approximately 25,000 light years from Earth. It has a diameter of about 145 light years and has an angular diameter of around 20 arc minutes. It is just about visible to the naked eye on very clear nights with an apparent magnitude of 5.8 at its brightest. This combined with its size means that it is quite an easy object to observe through a small telescope. It is visible all night at the moment and so there are plenty of opportunities to go out and observe this very nice cluster.

I can’t talk about deep sky objects and not mention a galaxy, and one of the best ones is M101 (the Pinwheel Galaxy). It is a face on spiral galaxy at a distance of 21 million light years from Earth. It is larger than the Milky Way, with a diameter of around 170,000 light years. It has an angular diameter of about 27 arc minutes making it easy to find in a telescope as it is nearly the same size as the full Moon. It, however, has an apparent magnitude of 7.86 at its brightest so is not visible to the naked eye.

Despite this it is a fantastic object to observe and is a very nice example of a spiral galaxy. As with most deep sky objects, imaging M101 will make it look best as the longer exposure of the camera will bring out a lot more detail in the spiral arms.

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There are always lots of Deep Sky objects to observe at any time of the year but April is a particularly good month to see some of the best ones. The time for holding a Messier marathon was in mid-March which means that most of the Messier objects are still going to be observable at some time during the nights. This is great for any amateur astronomers or astrophotographers because a lot of the objects in the Messier catalogue are visible to the naked eye, and so look fantastic through binoculars or small telescopes.

The black squares show the positions of each of the above astronomical objects; 1) M1 in Taurus, 2) M13 in Hercules, and 3) M101 in Ursa Major. Credit: SkyMap

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April 2013

Launch of Juno on an Atlas V carrier rocket. Credit: NASA

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How Britain Ignited the World of Rocketry:

Congreve Rockets

by Jason Wotherspoon

“Never did men with arms in their hands make better use of their legs.�

- Lt. George Gleig It may surprise a number of people that Britain was once the leading authority on rocketry. Germany, America, or Soviet Russia are always the powers that come to mind when rocketry is mentioned, and this is very true; since World War II America and Russia have been running the show with regards to rocketry, and even Britain tried to keep up for a time with their Blue Streak or Black Arrow rockets. But none of these advances would have been possible without a foundation from which to build.

That is exactly what the Congreve rocket provided. Rockets had been used for hundreds of years by the Chinese or Indians, but it was the advancement provided by the Congreve rocket that gave the British military their first effective use of this technology, and their use in campaigns around the globe may have introduced the world as a whole to rockets and their potential uses. With results as those mentioned by Lt. Gleig (against American forces in the battle of Bladensburg), it would have been fool-hardy for

the world not to sit up and notice, and, as humans do, we developed and re-invented time and time again, and made more and more impressive designs up until present day.

NASA may have put a man on the moon, but without the Congreve they would not have had a base on which to design the Saturn V. The time when Britain reigned over two thirds of the world, when we lead the field in rocketry must be THE milestone in British rocketry.

Artistic depiction of early naval rocket-based warfare. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

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April 2013

Congreve History

A year earlier, in 1803, war with France was renewed and the Napoleonic wars started (proceeded by the French revolutionary wars), The British military were trying desperately to tip the war in their favour, and, in 1805, Congreve demonstrated his newly designed rocket to the Prime Minister, and in 1806, after approval and funding, they were used for the first time in combat; two thousand Congreve rockets were fired from especially built launching boats at the town of Boulogne. The French did not fire a single return shot, and much of Boulogne was burnt to the ground.

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Sir William Congreve invented the Congreve rocket in 1804, following rocket use against British troops in the four Mysore wars (Between the British East India Company [EIC] and the Kingdom of Mysore, India). Rockets were repeatedly used to startle, injure, and confuse troops as much as possible, and were successfully used in a number of battles between Mysore and EIC troops. Following these conflicts Congreve (a Commandant of the Royal Artillery) worked on the designs of the Indian rockets to make them a more useful tool the British military.

The French Empire at its greatest extent in Europe in 1811 Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Congreve rockets were used throughout the rest of the Napoleonic wars; in 1807 Copenhagen was severely damaged by fire after 25,000 Congreves were fired, and Congreve himself commanded a (newly formed) rocket regiment during Napoleon’s heavy defeat at Leipzig. Finally, in 1815, Congreve’s were even used during the battle of Waterloo, Napoleon’s final defeat.

At the same time, Britain was involved in the American war of Independence, and Congreve rockets were again employed during the campaign. with a variety of attachments (incendiary, fragmentation etc.), and the most notable use was upon Fort McHenry, Baltimore.

This turned out to be a flawed attack, as the fortifications defended American troops from the 25 hour barrage by British troops (aboard the Erebus) very effectively and it only four deaths from this bombardment were recorded.

The siege is most well remembered from Francis Scott Key’s poem with the ‘Rocket’s red glare’, which was part of The Star Spangled Banner.

The Congreve rockets were so successful that other countries started producing them, and installing rocket regiments and brigades into their armies as artillery forces, and from these rockets an attempt at a peaceful use was even proposed in 1841, with a patent for a steam rocket powered aircraft being granted. The Congreve rockets were so successful that for nearly forty years, they were the dominant rocket artillery in the world. However, during the 1840s advancements in rocketry showed a spun rocket was more accurate, and consequently an Englishman called William Hale created a rocket that implemented that, and his design became the standard equipment for UK and US rocket brigades. Despite being superseded by Hale rockets, Congreves were still used for a number of years, and notably in the Mexican war (US against Mexico), Variations of Congreve rocket in length and design. however, its time had come, and from them, Credit: Wikimedia Commons rocketry could spring-board to more familiar areas.

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April 2013

What the Congreve Provided

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inhumane, were a huge boost to the whaling industries around the world. So, the Congreve rocket managed to provide an economic boost, saved thousands of lives through Trengrouse’s work (and more as there are installations still operational today), and lead to the creation of the first two stage rocket.

Congreve developed a number of different weights of rocket weighing in between 3 and 300 pounds (1.4 and 136 kg), but the most commonly used were the 32 pound (14.5 kg) rocket. The rockets were mounted on the side of a long stick (in 1815, Congreve adapted his design to have the rocket on the end of the stick, and five exhausts around it); this ‘guidestick’ was to try and maintain the accuracy of the rocket by balancing them during their flight (which was more methodical than The Congreve rocket was far from perfect, and some reswift). enacting rocketeers have a saying that ‘Grizzly bears and Congreve rockets go wherever they darn well please’, but it wasn’t their accuracy, nor their firepower that made the Congreve so indispensable, it was the way that it bought rockets into the view of European and American governments and people. Without it, rockets may have been consigned to Asia for a good few decades, and when they did arrive they may not have Head of a Congreve rocket. Credit: Wikimedia Commons had someone like Congreve to refine them, and they certainly wouldn’t have appeared in such a large scale Using a solid fuel of Potassium Nitrate, the rockets could conflict such as the Napoleonic or American civil wars, be sent up to 3000 yards (2750m) by a typical 32 pound which showed what they could do to most of Europe shot, however, with a 32 pounder being 5 metres long and America.

(1metre for the actual rocket) the portability of larger rockets, combined with the difficulty of production and It saved lives, took them, helped economically, but most use meant in actuality a 42 pound rocket was the heavi- of all, it inspired, it lead the field, and showed the world est practical application. this ‘new’ technology, and it spread, through Europe, America, and Russia. The good and the bad followed it, One thing the Congreve rockets did allow was the and although there is no doubt it and its descendants advancements of payloads; the Mysorean rockets gen- were used for unethical means at times, but it allowed erally were equipped with a sword tied to the rocket, us all to expand our knowledge (and use) of rockets, and or with pieces of bamboo for a limited amount of frag- maybe the world would be a different place without it, mentation upon impact. However, the Congreve rockets either way the Congreve was a highly influential rocket, expanded upon this, they had incendiary payloads which and made Britain the power in rocketry. were loaded into a conical head of the rocket, designed to lodge into a target (ship of town generally), these ‘Carcass’ rockets were designed to start fires and burn the target down. The rounded or ogive (shape used by regular bullets/missiles) shaped warheads however, were explosive and could also contain grape-shot.

In Summary

How else the Congreve helped You may think that it is all well and good that this rocket ‘started’ rocketry in the West, all it did was steal an Indian design and modify it, how could we possibly trace the Saturn V or anything else useful from it. This however, is not the case; the Congreve was put to many uses, such as a peaceful application invented by Henry Trengrouse, which fired a Congreve rocket attached with by a line to the shore, and enabled sailors on a sinking ship to escape. In 1855, towards the end of the Congreve’s life, the very first two stage rocket was launched, this was designed as an improvement on Trengrouse’s design by increasing the distance up to 1000 yards that the half inch line could be fired, and this Boxer rocket design was used right up until the end of the First World War. Another use inspired from the Congreve rockets was that of whaling harpoons, and, although now considered 12

Artistic depiction of the lighting of a Congreve rocket.

Credit: Wikimedia Commons

by Amy Marklew

April 2013 Glam UNIverse

The Low-Down on High Down

The test site at High Down. Credit: Lewis Clarke (www. geograph.org.uk/profile/11775) CC BY-SA 2.0

On the Isle of Wight’s most westerly point, close to the calm waters and colourful sand cliffs of Alum Bay, looming above the aptly named Needles, three stacks which rise from the sea like white chalk sentinels, the last thing you would expect to see is the eerie concrete remains of an abandoned, top secret rocket missile testing site...

Built on the site of the old Battery over the fear of Soviet aggression brought on by the Cold War, the High Down Test Site is the only memorial left to the successful if not short-lived 20th Century British space programme.

Designed by architect, John A. Strubbe, the headland was transformed into a complex of control rooms, laboratories and offices residing both above and below the chalky ground. The site was a perfect choice with Scratchel’s Bay below acting as a natural amphitheatre against the roar of the combined 23,800 lb thrust rocket-exhausts aimed out into the Solent. It is usually thought that rocket facilities are the advent of the United States or Russia, but in the heyday of British rocket and missile technology research, between 1955 and 1971, the facility employed a relatively small workforce of 240 people in the development of the 10 metre Black Knight and 13 metre Black Arrow space rockets which were mostly designed, assembled and tested on the Isle of Wight. None of the rockets tested were launched at the High Down site, instead they were shipped off to Woomera in Southern Australia.

Blue Streak

The year is 1955 and Britain, in the build up to the Cold War, has begun developing its very own long range, liquid fuelled missile.

Although not built and tested at High Down, the Blue Streak rocket was designed to carry nuclear warheads up to a range of 2,500 miles.

Five years later however, the programme was cancelled due to a long launch preparation time which could have lead to pre-emptive strikes against the rocket, and budget cuts. But this wasn’t the end of the abandoned Blue Streak.

Its life as a military missile may have ended but its life as a satellite launcher had only just begun.

Black Knight Made entirely out of aluminium, the Black Knight rocket measured 10.5 metres tall with a diameter of 0.9 metres and weight of 7tons. It was involved in two tests codenamed ‘Dazzle’ and ‘Gaslight ’ to experiment with the possibility of the re-entry of warheads from the information gathered from the Blue

Blue Streak missile at the Deutsches Museum at Schleissheim, Munich.

Credit: John McCullagh / Wikimedia Commons

Streak. With a modified motor from an SR53 fighter-aircraft adapted for operation in space, the creators of the Black Knight engine developed special methods to engineer the large, lightweight tanks needed to hold the rocket’s fuel, which made up approximately 90% of the rocket’s total mass. Maintaining

the chemical purity of the hightest peroxide, which reacts rapidly with most substances by violently separating into very high temperature steam and oxygen, was of the utmost importance. With the purposeful design of the high-test hydrogen peroxide igniting instantly on contact with kerosene and with 13

April 2013 Glam UNIverse

the reaction creating super-heated steam that would propel the missile faster than the speed of sound but with an almost-invisible flame wake, the Black Knight was considered “perhaps the most economical and powerful space missile of its time.”

Although it performed perfectly throughout its seven year lifespan, with twenty-two out of its twentytwo tests in Woomera producing seamless results, by 1965, the race to develop British nuclear warheads was winding to a close and the ballistic job of the Black Knight was coming to a steady end.

Black Arrow By this time, Britain was technologically ready to begin its own satellite programme. The plan was to create a satellite launcher named the ‘Black Prince’ which would, for its first stage, use the earlier scrapped Blue Streak rocket. An adapted Black Knight would have been used in the second stage with an un-named part making up the third stage. But this idea was quickly written off with the advent of the European Launcher Development Organisation (ELDO) and a new rocket design, amply named ‘Europa’, was proposed which would employ the British Blue Streak in its first stage, with France supplying the second stage with their rocket ‘Coralie,’ and Germany, the third. But with many failures on the launch pad at Woomera in Australia, the Europa design was also abandoned. So instead, Britain focused itself on making its very

A Black Arrow launch vehicle in the rocket park at Woomera.

Credit: Wikimedia Commons

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own satellite launcher. This five stage, eighteen ton rocket would go on to be known as the ‘Black Arrow,’ and would comprise of recycled components from both the Blue Streak and Black Knight rockets.

This would prove to be the only British rocket currently to launch a British satellite in a low-Earth orbit.

Compared to the manufacture of twenty-four Black Knight rockets, the Black Arrow only needed to be produced and launched three times, with the fourth being donated to the Science Museum and the fifth used to actually launch the British-made Prospero satellite into orbit.

End of an era

The controversial issue of funding hung over all three rocket projects until eventually the Ministry of Defence concluded that it would be cheaper to invest in the use of other Space Agency’s launch vehicles to place British satellites in orbit, but the decision also came with the review of the Black Arrow Launcher Programme by former head of the British Atomic Bomb Project, William Penney, who concluded that “The Ministry of Defence has neither the time nor the resources to build up greater confidence in Black Arrow before X3 is ready for launch,” due to the fact that the rate of Black Arrow launchers being produced far outnumbered the viable number of British satellites being produced by a factor of 3:1. In his report he went onto say, “The current programme gives us too few Black Arrow to establish the vehicle as a proven launcher in a reasonable timescale,” and he recommended that “the Ministry should make a formal approach to the US authorities as soon as possible about the availability of launchers for X4 and subsequent satellites in the National Space Technology Programme.” Quite frankly, the Government found his conclusions difficult to argue against and so the Prospero X-3 satellite flight spare in London’s announcement of the cancellation of Science Museum Credit: Wikimedia Commons the Black Arrow was placed forward in the House of Commons on the Built in Farnborough, by the Royal 29th of July 1971.

Aircraft Establishment, and launched from Woomera in Southern Australia on the 28th of October 1971, the British satellite ‘Prospero’ was created to show that a relatively With the emergence of America as small rocket would be capable of the leading innovators in the spaceplacing it into orbit. The main job, flight industry, it seems as if Britain however, of the 66 kg satellite was has just abandoned its own efforts to test whether or not current solar in developing a space agency that cell power systems and telemetry could keep up with the Americans technologies were suitably able to and Russians and instead decided perform in space. to partner up with these agencies, such as the ESA, contributing to The satellite was essentially an these international projects rather experiment on the systems thought than focusing on our own. In the to be used in communication satel- end, the main aim of our current lites, but its subsequent success space programme, the UKSA (UK placed Britain only 6th on the list Space Agency) which was estabof countries who used their own lished in 2010, is to “provide new rockets to place their own function- scientific knowledge and provide ing satellite into orbit. Inevitably, benefits to all citizens” through the Prospero’s orbit is a degrading one development and research into and will continue to orbit for the space technologies. next 220 years.

The Prospero (X-3) Satellite

Gracious defeat

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April 2013

Artist depiction of the SKYLON spaceplane in the process of deployment within Earth’s orbit. Credit: Press release image - Reaction Engines Ltd.

Defying Gravity

The Advent of the True British Space Plane

For decades, man has sought to travel amongst the stars or at the very least, reach Earth-orbital altitudes. The engineering that has taken precedence behind this impressive feat has taken many forms, with the most successful enterprises opting for multi-stage launch vehicles, in order to achieve their goals of exiting our atmosphere. American and Russian space initiatives have often utilised these types of vehicles for launch, with NASA predominantly being a reigning faction in the space race that took place in the latter half of the 20th Century, often leading the way in new technological endeavours. However, the cost of such achievements has never been cheap, often resulting in the expenditure of billions of dollars of U.S. taxpayers’ money. The cost of the design, development, construction and fuel, even without training or labour of appropriate personnel, already add up to a monumental figure.

by Jon Pratt

So the search continues for a cheaper alternative for space flight. Along such a route, the idea for a spaceplane, or SSTO (Single Stage to Orbit) vehicle, has been previously proposed and was first investigated in the 1960s by Philip Bono, an American-born aircraft engineer working for the Douglas Aircraft The last launch of the multi-staged Saturn V in May 1973 Company. The concept was simple; design a vehicle that could Credit: NASA not only achieve orbital altitudes within a single stage, but also return safely and intact. Multi-stage space vehicles have always been blighted by their disposable nature, single-use fuselages that are often discarded inflight and crash back down to the Earth’s surface with no hope of re-use. There has been no doubt that the use of a fully reusable launch system would prove to be extremely beneficial; entailing reduced operating expenses, improved safety, and most importantly, reliability.

A Saturn V stage separation discards unnecessary mass.

Credit. NASA

However, there are many obstacles which stand in the way of making this a reality, the first possessing the engineering skill and scope to circumvent the technical challenges that will be faced by constructing a vehicle that can not only operate in space but within all levels of the Earth’s atmosphere too. Another is that by solely being of a single stage design, the entire mass of the vehicle has to be carried into space, as opposed to multi-stage rockets which discard unnecessary structural mass (for example, when the fuel in that stage has been expended).

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April 2013

The Past

Glam UNIverse Project Daedalus probe design.

Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Alan Bond, a man who has been working in the field of British rocketry since the 1960s, is on the precipice of making this idea a reality. Born in 1944 in Derbyshire, England, he has spent a large portion of his career on the design and execution of rocket engines, working for Rolls Royce, as well as trialling the Blue Streak missile at the Woomera launch site, in Australia. He subsequently worked for the UK Atomic Energy Authority, researching nuclear fusion, and conducted further studies into advanced space propulsion. On behalf of the British Interplanetary Society, he also went on to lead a team of scientists in a study to design an unmanned interstellar probe, a project entitled Daedalus, which incorporated the work of theoretical physicist, Friedwardt Winterberg, who had perceived an inertial confinement fusion drive concept.

In the 1980s, he continued to work on rocket design and realising the need for a much more cost-effective solution to attaining space flight, in 1982 started development on a spaceplane, in conjunction with Rolls Royce and British Aerospace, namely the HOTOL (Horizontal Take-Off and Landing) which featured a rocket design that Bond himself had designed whilst at Rolls Royce. However, this design was ultimately deemed to fail due to the heavy nature of the engine which moved the centre of mass to the rear of the vehicle, which consequently meant that the allowable payload weight had to be reduced in order to move the centre of drag to the rear also. It proved not to be economically viable as it had been found that now allowable payload weight could be still delivered by a cheaper ‘rocket-only’ alternative, so development into HOTOL by Rolls Royce and British Aerospace ceased.

This did not however deter Bond, who founded Reaction Engines Ltd (REL) in 1989 where he took the position of Managing Director and Chief Technical Analyst and is continuing to develop his latest spaceplane project, the Skylon. The project is aimed at circumventing the problems that were faced in the development of HOTOL and is largely privately funded, although a small ESA grant was also obtained for the project.

The Present The Skylon spaceplane has essentially been in development since the 1990s, giving the original HOTOL design a complete overhaul, aiming to tackle the issues of its previous incarnation. The plane itself will be 83.3 metres in length with a wingspan of 25.4 metres. It will be remotely operated from the ground with the possibility for an on-board pilot in later stages, with the ability to cruise at Mach 5 (five times the speed of sound). It is also expected to be able to carry a payload of up to 15,000 kilograms, with the optional choice of an installable passenger module for up to 30 people.

The potential reusability of the craft has been estimated to around 200 uses and the entire cost of the project over the programme’s lifetime has been projected at £7.1 billion.

This may sound like a lot of money, but in comparison, the calculated 16

A schematic of the HOTOL design. Credit: KVDP > Wikimedia Commons

cost of achieving an orbital altitude per kg of payload weight is reduced by an order of approximately 23 times when drawn against previous conventional space transport (i.e. multi-stage rocket launches), although this cost has seen to be much reduced with more recent multi-stage rockets such as the SpaceX Falcon 9, which offers one of the cheapest cost to weight ratios currently at around £4,000 per kg.

The Skylon, however, is expected to be able to operate at a cost level of roughly £650 per kg of payload.

So how is this possible? The secret appears to lie in what looks to be a milestone in British technological ingenuity in the field of rocketry and engine design - the SABRE engine, a revolutionary development by Reaction Engines Ltd, with the aid of the University of Bristol.

The SABRE (Synergetic Air-Breathing Rocket Engine) is essentially a hybrid rocket and jet-engine system, with the capability of switching between an Air-Breathing and conventional Rocket mode whilst in flight. The Air-Breathing component, for operation from ground to high altitudes, is fuelled by liquid hydrogen and rapidly sucks in air as a source of oxygen for combustion in the reaction chamber, providing up to 200 tonnes of thrust. Once a sufficient altitude has been reached within the atmosphere, a conventional Rocket mode can then be initiated supplementing liquid oxygen as the standard oxidiser for combustion, to increase the thrust to 300 tonnes to make the plane’s final journey into space. It has been heralded by engineers as “…the biggest breakthrough in aerospace propulsion since the jet engine.”

Glam UNIverse

April 2013

Artist depiction of SKYLON. Credit: Reaction Engines Ltd.

“This is a remarkable achievement for a remarkable company. Building on years of unique engineering knowhow, Reaction Engines has shown the world that Britain remains at the forefront of technological innovation and can get ahead in the global race. This technology could revolutionise the future of air and space travel.”

David Willetts, Minister for Universities and Science

Jet engines, however, must be amply powerful to even reach altitudes close to space transit, which has often proved to be a problem in conventional jet engines as these are unable to operate at a sufficiently high enough level without bearing significant overheating issues. In the SABRE engine, rapid heating is caused by the quick compression of the intake air to a pressure of 140 atmospheres which could lead to this problem. REL believe they have resolved this issue using an ingenious “pre-cooler” design element that rapidly cools the air to an almostliquid state of -150 °C in just 1/100th of a second before it is compressed. This isn’t without its own complications though as frost build-up as a result could block up the pre-cooler, but REL have also accounted for this using an innovative frost control system to compensate. ESA (the European Space Agency), who have an invested interest in the project, oversaw vital tests of the pre-cooler at the end of last year (November 2012) and have confirmed that it operated within the expected parameters and successfully fulfilled all of its aims. Dr Mark Ford, ESA’s Head of Propulsion Engineering, noted:

SABRE engine schematic. Credit: Reaction Engines Ltd.

SKYLON internal schematic.

Credit: Reaction Engines Ltd.

“One of the major obstacles to developing air-breathing engines for launch vehicles is the development of lightweight high-performance heat exchangers. With this now successfully demonstrated by Reaction Engines Ltd, there are currently no technical reasons why the SABRE engine programme cannot move forward into the next stage of development.”

The Future

With ESA’s blessing, REL are now able to move into the final stages of their engine design process; the construction of a full-sized engine prototype. If further tests prove to be successful, Alan Bond stated, at the 7th Appleton Space Conference, that their development plan could hopefully see the Skylon in service as early as 2021 – 2022. This would enable a much greater orbital operational presence for a wide range of uses, including orbital payload delivery and transport & docking with orbital vehicles such as the ISS, as well as for sub-orbital commercial flights. The commercial flight industry could see incredible journey times of 4 hours to travel to the opposite side of the world. All spaceplanes currently in operation only have the ability as of yet to glide on descent, but if fruitful, the Skylon could take the lead in spaceplane technology as to be the only one to be able to take off under its own power, reach orbital altitudes, and descend in a controlled sustained-engine flight, returning safely onto a conventional runway. Britain is back in the game.

“The gateway is now open to move beyond the jet age.”

Dr Mark Ford, ESA

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April 2013

Astrophotography

Glam UNIverse

Showcasing some of the best monthly images submitted by the BSc Observational Astronomy students of the University of Glamorgan

Object: M16 - Eagle Nebula Filters applied: Composite (R, V, B, Ha, OIII) Taken with Faulkes Telescope North operated by Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network and taken by Paul Merriman

Object: M51 Filters applied: Colour Taken with SLOOH Telescope

by Paul Merriman

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April 2013 Glam UNIverse Object: NGC 2070 - Tarantula Nebula Filters applied: Colour (R,V,B) Taken with Faulkes Telescope South operated by Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network and taken by Jason Wotherspoon Object: The Moon Filters applied: Colour Taken with Canon 60D Vixen 100mm refractor

by Jon Pratt

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April 2013

Ask an Astronomer How do we know that The Milky Way is a spiral galaxy?

Glam UNIverse

An infrared image of the Milky Way as shown by the 2MASS Infrared Sky Survey. Credit: NASA

Even when looking up at the sky without a telescope on clear night you can see the distinctive bright band of billions of stars which form the Milky Way. This long, thin band of highly concentrated stars suggests that the galaxy is a disk we are seeing edge on, we also see the bulge at the centre (near Sagittarius, where the band of stars is thicker) and by our observations of other spiral galaxies we see that they bear this disk-bulge configuration. However, on a good night, you can also see darker streaks which cut across

the band; these dust lanes make it harder for us the measure the exact size and shape of our galaxy as they obscure the most distant areas.

Nevertheless, by using what we know of other spiral galaxies, such as our neighbour the Andromeda galaxy, you can make out that they also have these dust lanes, so it is pretty safe to assume that our galaxy is also a spiral. This simpler explanation can be broadened upon by observations made using the 2MASS Infrared Sky Survey which compiled a detailed image of the entire sky and revelled

that the Milky Way is indeed a flat plain of stars with this central bulge.

Not only do these infrared images help us in determining the shape of the galaxy, the study of the motion of the interstellar gases and the mapping of large neutral Hydrogen regions using radio astronomy has allowed us to build a pretty consistent and thorough top-down image of the galaxy which includes many spiral arms; by using the same data, astronomers have also been able to deduce our position within the Milky Way. Credit: Amy Marklew

Why is the Sun’s corona so much hotter than its surface?

Maybe one of the biggest mysteries left in our Solar System is the one surrounding the heat of the Sun’s corona. The corona is effectively a sparse outer atmosphere of the Sun heated to in excess of 1x10^6 K were-as the surface below it, the photosphere, is only heated to around 6000K. Many theories have been postulated over this conundrum as basic physics tells us that the cooler photosphere cannot be responsible for such a dramatic increase in temperature.

The current leading theory states that waves similar to sound waves called Alfven waves travelling up from the Suns core outwards until they reached the corona are responsible. On the surface of the Sun they cause a phenomenon called spicules, where magnetic flux lines The Sun’s corona as imaged by SOHO. Credit: NASA there become tilted focusing this rising material. As they originated from the core it would be natural to suggest they carried with them part of the cores energy eventually dissipating in the corona resulting in a huge energy transfer. This theory was originally brought to the table in the 1949 but was disproved after, in the 1990’s, these waves were seen to carry no where near the amount of energy needed to heat the corona to its extraordinary temperatures. However in 2007 a second type of spicules were discovered to live shorter but travel faster than the previously observed spicules and insert enough material and energy to explain the sudden increase in temperature associated with the corona. Credit: George Cappell

Why are all stars fuelled by burning hydrogen?

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Hydrostatic equilibrium. Credit: NASA

Stars are formed due to the collapse of hydrogen rich nebulae. These hydrogen rich clouds become hotter and denser as they collapse under the weight of their own gravity, heating up as they convert gravitational energy into thermal energy to eventually form into dense bodies called protostars. Before it can start nuclear fusion, first the protostar must achieve and maintain hydrostatic and thermal equilibrium. In a stable star which has reached this equilibrium, the gas pressure emitted from the core is equal to the gravitational force pulling the atoms inward. When the protostar reaches this certain critical mass it ceases collapsing and nuclear fusion begins at its core; once at this stage the star is now a part of the main sequence. Simply put, the basic model of hydrogen fusion involves four hydrogen nuclei (free flying protons) colliding to form a helium nucleus, with gamma-rays (high energy photons), electron neutrinos and positrons also being released. The minimum mass of a star is about 0.08 solar masses, any object below this mass has insufficient mass for the onset of hydrogen fusion; Jupiter is a smaller example of one of these objects. Credit: Amy Marklew

Glam UNIverse

April 2013

Events

The Lovell Telescope during Jodrell Bank Live at Jodrell Bank Observatory. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Live at Jodrell Bank: Transmission Series Music, Space, Stars

6-7th July & 30th August 2013 The Lovell Telescope, situated at the Jodrell Bank Radio Observatory, has formed the backdrop for this amazing event - a marriage between science and music. Over the years, the Observatory has hosted an incredible array of musical talent with 2011 seeing the Flaming Lips, British Sea Power, Wave Machines, and OKGO performing in front of the 76 metre dish, whilst images are projected onto its majestic surface. 2012 then saw the return of Elbow to their home turf of Manchester to perform in front of a 10,000 strong crowd, with support from Field Music and Lianne La Havas, later joined by American singer-songwriter, Willy Mason.

As well as these stunning musical performances, Jodrell Bank Observatory also hosts a number of science-based workshops and displays available for participation before the music. This has in the past included live projected feeds from an observatory in Chile, the feature of a Mars Rover prototype, and investigating stellar phenomenon live such as pulsars. Cheshire indie rock band, the Doves, also experimented using the telescope when one of their guitar riffs was directed at the moon and reflected back to the telescope, albeit indistinguishable from the original sound.

Now looking to the future, 2013 looks to be an equally exciting year with such highly anticipated acts as New Order, Johnny Marr, The Whip, The Australian Pink Floyd Show, and the awe-inspiring, ethereal sounds of Sigur Rós, much better known for their song Hoppipolla, used to advertise the BBC’s extremely successful documentary series, Planet Earth.

Sigur Rós performing live in Barcelona, 2005.

Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Sigur Rós bassist, Georg Hólm Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Another view of the Lovell Telescope.

Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Jodrell Bank is a not only a historic monument but an important contributor to the field of astronomical research, currently operating MERLIN (Multi-Element Radio Linked Interferometer Network), as part of an array of radio telescopes located around Great Britain, with separations of up to 217km apart, operating at frequencies ranging from 151 MHz to 24 GHz. At 5GHz, the resolution of MERLIN is better than 50 milliarcseconds, greater than the Hubble Space Telescope. The Telescope has been previously used to measure the distance to the Moon and Venus, perform observations of astrophysical masers around star-forming regions and giant stars; pulsars (including the discovery of millisecond pulsars and the first pulsar in a globular cluster); quasars and gravitational lenses (including the detection of the first gravitational lens and first Einstein ring). The telescope has also been used for SETI observations.

Transmissions 004 (Australian Pink Floyd) and 005 (New Order) will be airing on the 6th & 7th July respectively, with Transmission 006 featuring Sigur Rós on August 30th of this year. Further information may be obtained at www.livefromjodrellbank.com 21

April 2013

Media Reviews

Glam UNIverse

Book: “Antimatter” by Frank Close

****

An insightful work into the topic of antimatter by Frank Close, OBE, a Professor of Physics at Oxford University and Fellow of Exeter College. Formerly the Head of the Theoretical Physics Division at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory and Head of Communication and Public Education at CERN, he was also awarded the Institute of Physics’ Kelvin Medal in 1996 for his contributions in the public understanding of Physics, and the Sygenta prize in 2007 for exemplary scientific writing in a non-scientific context, which makes him one of the foremost qualified minds who can successfully communicate a number of scientific topics to the public.

In Antimatter, Close eases you in into the subject answering such questions as; What is antimatter? Who predicted it?

How was it discovered? Successfully critiquing on the public perception of antimatter, Close continues to dissect the topic and separate fact from fiction; popularised by media, conspiracy, government interest, and popular culture, such as film ‘Angels and Demons’ (2009) in which a plot sees an ‘antimatter bomb’ explode over the Vatican. He also explores potential previous encounters with antimatter, as well as current experiments and the hurdles and pitfalls of creating and storing such a substance.

He also goes indepth into the science behind antiparticles, the anti-world and why there should be anything left at all in the Universe. Overall, Antimatter is an enthralling read and Close successfully manages to communicate in an insightful and easily digestable form. Definitely worth a read if you have any interest in the science and uses of these amazing mirror particles.

A composite image (optical & x-ray) of the Crab Nebula as observed by Chandra showing dynamic rings, wisps and jets of matter and antimatter around the pulsar. Credit: NASA

FUN. Class O or Class T?

A profile project to create an H-R diagram of Astronomy’s ‘hottest and nottest,’ rating from the hottest - Class O, to the coldest - Class T, and to discuss and recognise their contributions to the field of astronomical science.

Oh, and how attractive they are.

Mike Brown

Professor of Planetary Astronomy at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Alabama native Mike Brown finished his BA (Bachelor of Arts) degree in Physics at Princeton University in 1987, and earned his MA and PhD in Astronomy from the University of California and has been working with Caltech since 1996 specialising in the discovery and study of trans-Neptunian objects, with over 16 discovered so far. But Mike Brown is, in his own words, best known for ‘killing Pluto’.

His weapons of choice - the discoveries of Eris, the largest object found within the Solar System in 150 years, and Sedna, the only trans-Neptunian object found to be larger than Pluto.

His teams’ discoveries have been covered on front pages of countless newspapers worldwide. In 2006 he was named one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People as well as one of Los Angeles magazine’s Most Powerful Angelinos. He has authored over 100 scientific papers and he is a frequent invited lecturer at astronomical meetings as well as at science museums, planetariums, and college campuses. At Caltech, he teaches undergraduate and graduate students, in classes ranging from Introductory Geology to the Formation and Evolution of the Solar System. He was especially pleased to be awarded the Richard P. Feynman Award for Outstanding Teaching at Caltech. The murder of Pluto may not be easy to forgive but after five years and recently having helped find new evidence of the salty ocean on Jupiter’s icy moon Europa actually reaching and sharing water with the moon’s surface, we decree that comet enthusiast but nonetheless ‘Pluto Killer’ Mike Brown deserves a respectable B9 stellar spectral class.

Credit: Wikimedia Commons

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April 2013

Cosmic Crossword

Glam UNIverse

Across 7. Stellar system consisting of two stars orbiting a common centre of mass (6) 8. Man’s best friend (6) 12. Who discovered Jupiter’s moons? (7,7) (2 words) 13. The third moon out from Jupiter (8) 15. A theory of the Universe that has the Earth at its centre (10) 16. Kepler’s __ law says that the line joining the Sun and a planet sweep out equal areas in equal times (3) 18. A decrease in wavelength of radiation emitted by an approaching celestial body as a consequence of the Doppler effect (9) 19. Smallest wavelengths, largest energies (5,4) (2 words) 20. First person to measure the distance to a star (6,9) (2 words) 21. The small, solid core of a comet (7) 24. Dark, smooth plains on the Moon’s surface (female horse) (5) 26. Used in the study of stellar evolution (11,7,7) (3 words) 30. Equatorial coordinate system (11) 31. Loose layer of dust, soil and broken rock present on the Moon, Mars and asteroids (8) 32. Johannes Kepler is heralded the father of what? (12) 33. Bending of light (10) 34. 16th Century Danish observer of the planets who lost his nose in a sword fight (5,5) (2 words) Down 1. Trans-Neptunian space (4,5) (2 words) 2. Point of orbit closest to Earth (7) 3. Cosmic noise (6,10,9) (3 words) 4. First day of Spring (6,7) (2 words) 5. Local arm (5) 6. Horizon coordinate system (7) 9. Trans-Neptunian object discovered in 2003 with the longest orbital period and largest eccentricity of any known large object in the Solar System (5) 10. Globular clusters spend most of their time here (8,4) (2 words) 11. Number of stars in the Big Dipper (5) 14. Who confirmed Aristotle’s prediction that the Earth revolved around the Sun? (8,10) (2 words)

17. An object of known brightness, such as a supernova or variable star (8,6) (2 words) 22. The linking of several telescopes (14) 23. Christian Huygens is most famous for discovering what? (7,5) (2 words) 25. Deepest region of a star that is transparent to photons of certain wavelengths (11) 27. Betelgeuse is described as being a red __ (10) 28. The peak wavelength of a hot star will be __ than the peak wavelength of a cooler star (7) 29. Layer of a planet’s atmosphere which contains a high concentration of ions and free electrons (10)

Answers to March’s Crossword Across 1. Metallicity 4. Albedo 5. Aurora 7. Saros 8. Eccentricity 12. Aphelion 15. Semi-major axis

16. Speed of light 17. Extinction 18. Blackbody 19. Baryon 20. Ecliptic 24. Nebula 27. Seeing

28. Oort cloud 29. Fusion 30. Waxing 31. Mercury 34. Quasar

Down 2. Adaptive optics 3. Parallax 6. Precession 9. Supernova 10. White dwarf 11. Spectroscopy 13. Mimas

14. Satellite 18. Black hole 21. Corona 22. Plasma 23. Kepler 25. Zenith 26. Pulsar

32. Comet 33. Laika

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April 2013 Glam UNIverse 24

“Earth is the cradle of humanity, but one cannot live in the cradle forever” - Konstantin Tsiolkovsky

Written and published by the BSc Observational Astronomy students of the University of Glamorgan © 2013 UoG