February 2012

FEBRUARY 2012 ISSUE

6-7 s e Pa g

cope: s e l e T s Faulke d Tips n a s t Hin 15 Pg 14-

A-Bombs – Why Should Astronomers Care?

-5 Pages 4

ASTRONOMY NOW’S DR EMILY BALDWIN—POSSIBLY THE COOLEST JOB! Pg 12-13

A VERY BRIEF HISTORY OF HAWKING Pg 10-11

P ag e s 8-9

PREDICTING ARMAGEDDON

EDITORIAL Welcome to the first ever issue of Glam Uni-verse. The magazine has been put together by the Observational Astronomy students and is a reflection on everyone's interest

Editor: Chloe Partridge.

Copy Editor: Martin Griffiths Contributors: Chloe Partridge, Louisa Connolly Columnists: Phill Wallace, Martin Griffiths, Emily Baldwin, Sam Whitaker Faulkes Telescope Images: Chris O'Morain

in astronomy- from the link between the internal processes in stars to the nuclear physics of an A-bomb, both of which are related. The diversity of the Observational Astronomy degree means that all the students have different passions and interests within the same field of science; this has enabled us to create a magazine which incorporates a diverse range of articles, which hopefully readers will enjoy.

This month we can look forward to an exclusive from Dr Emily Baldwin—the deputy editor of Astronomy Now, as well as a feature article on Dr Lyn Evans who last year visited the University of Glamorgan to talk us about his life works and achievements. It has been an exciting few weeks put-

If you would like to contribute in any way,

ting the magazine together and there are many interesting

either by sending us your Faulkes images, or

articles from students and guest writers all of whom I

perhaps even writing an article , then get in

would like to thank. They have helped to put together a mag-

touch, we would love to hear from you.

azine which has never been published before for the Observation Astronomy course which is a great achievement. I

Editorial Contacts :

look forward to the next few months, and the exciting is-

10017607@glam.ac.uk

sues to come. ...Next stop AstroFest!

mgriffi8@glam.ac.uk

Chloe Partridge

IMAGE REFERENCES: PG4-5. A Bomb www.officialpsds.com PG6-7. Lyn Evans www.techniche.org - CERN wall.alphacoders.com PG8-9. Asteroids Earth Impact www.armageddononline.org AR85 Earth Impact www.tribbleagency.com PG10-11. Stephen Hawking Wikipedia.com mediaarchive.ksc.nasa.gov PG12-13. Paul Sutherland PG14-15. Sam Whitaker , Chris O'Morain PG16. Carl Sagan www.thefamouspeople.com

GLMAORGAN ASTRONOMY

FEBRUARY 2012 ISSUE

CO SMO L O G ICA L

N EW S!

4-5 4-5. A-BOMBS WHY SHOULD ASTRONOMERS CARE? A TOM B OM BS A RE A S TRA NGE THING FOR A S TR ONOM ERS TO B E IN TE RES TE D IN, A ND YE T THE IN TE RES T IS THE RE. I N TH I S A R TI C L E I E XP L O R E TH E D E E P H I S TO R I C A L TI E S B E TW E E N B OM B S A N D S TA R S

6-7. DR LYN EVANS THE LIFE W ORK OF DR LYN EVA NS- DIREC TOR OF THE LA RGE HA DRON COLLIDER- A ND I TS RECEN T EX CITIN G DIS COVERIES.

8-9.

8-9. PREDICTING ARMAGEDDON WHA T CA N WE DO A BOUT THE THREA T FROM COME TS A ND NEA R EA R TH A S TE ROIDS ? D O WE HA VE A NY THING TO W ORRY A B OU T?

10-11. A VERY BRIEF HISTORY OF STEPHEN HAWKING. W E C E L E B RA TE TH E 7 0 TH B I R TH D A Y OF O N E OF TH E M OS T E M I N E N T B R I TI S H S C I E N TI S TS B Y S UM MA RIS ING HIS L IFE A ND W OR K IN A S HOR T A R TIC LE.

12-13. DR EMILY BALDWIN-POSSIBLY THE COOLEST JOB !

DR EMILY BA LDWINS FORA Y IN TO SCIENCE W RITIN G A ND UL TIMA TELY BECOM IN G DEP UTY

EDI TOR OF A S TRON OMY NOW MA GA ZIN E.

14-15 14-15. FAULKES: A MONTH IN IMAGES W E TA KE A B R I E F L O O K A T H OW TO I M P R OV E TH E D E TA I L A N D N O I S E LEVEL OF YOUR IMAGES.

COSMOLOGICAL NEWS!

Page 4

A-Bombs – Why Should Astronomers Care?

At first glance, atom bombs have nothing at all but contain immense power, enough to divert trons. Each of those goes on to fission more to do with astronomy. So why are we learning the course of history, topple governments and atoms, and so on in an exponential sequence. about them at all? The reality is that astrono- bring about the Apocalypse if ever actually

First, one fission, then three, then nine, then

my, in a pure sense, has nothing to do with

used. In physical terms, they are fairly simple. twenty-seven and on and on, in a matter of

bombs (except possibly irate astronomers

For the most basic type of nuke, you need two nanoseconds.

complaining about light pollution from the

masses of Uranium-235 in a large tube with

rising fireballs). However, bombs have an

explosives at either end. Each of the U-235

intimate connection with astrophysics, that is; pieces are “subcritical,” meaning they’re too the study of stars, how they are born and how small to sustain a nuclear chain reaction. But they live and die. Before I go any further, a I

when the explosives detonate and the two

must make another distinction . A-bombs (that pieces of U-235 are fired together they is, fission weapons) have nothing to do with stars. It’s “hydrogen” bombs that are related to stars, in that they generate most of their energy by fusion. So then, what are nuclear bombs? They’re weapons, but unlike any other weapon in history. They are physically small

reach critical mass and starts to fission.

The part that makes this a weapon rather than a scientific curiosity is that the mass of all the neutrons and smaller nuclei released from the Uranium atom have a total mass slightly less than that of the original atom.

About 0.7% of the mass disappears from the reaction. However, energy has to be con-

Neutrons released from other elements slip

served, and Einstein showed that energy and

into a U-235 nucleus, making it unstable and

mass are equivalent. So that tiny fraction of

causing it to break in half, releasing a pair of

the original atom gets turned into energy. And

smaller nuclei and two or three more neu-

when E=Mc2, that is a lot of energy.

FEBRUARY 2012 ISSUE

Page 5

In physics terms, each Uranium fission re-

sity of Lead). And this, finally, is the link be-

successfully fused heavy Hydrogen (H-2 or H-

leases (on average) 931 MeV. In layman’s

tween stars and bombs. A star generates its

3) in the lab, building upon the transmutation

term, that’s about enough energy to make a

colossal energy in precisely the same way as work pioneered by Ernest Rutherford at Cam-

grain of sand ump into the air. And that’s

a fusion bomb; the fusion of Hydrogen into

bridge. With the knowledge of the fusion pro-

from just one atom. The energy released

Helium. The difference is the Sun doesn’t

cess in hand, Hans Bethe set about working

from the whole critical mass of Uranium is

need a fission bomb to generate the temper- out the complete fusion processes in stars

enough to level a large chunk of a major city

atures and pressures; it has its immense

over the rest of the ‘30’s. In the 40’s fusion

in a second. The largest US bomb, Castle

mass to do that naturally.

theories took a darker turn, when many of

Bravo, had a blast energy greater than all the bombs used in World War Two combined, including the atom bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Now, I’ve described fission bombs, and as I said above, these have little to no relation to stars. Hydrogen bombs however, are identical in basic principle to stars. They derive their energy from fusion. In simple terms, you take two Hydrogen-2 or -3 atoms (a proton and a neutron, or two neutrons in the case of H-3), heat them up to several million degrees and under intense pressure. They crash into each other and combine into one larger nucleus of Helium. As with a fission reaction, some mass is lost: the combined mass of the two Hydrogen atoms is slightly more than the mass of the resultant Helium atom. And as with fission, this is released as energy. In physics terms, one fusion event releases approx. 16 MeV of energy. That’s a lot less than the Uranium reaction, but you can fit a lot more Hydrogen into the same volume.

Now, I said you need high temperatures and

A star is a huge, dense ball of superheated Hydrogen plasma. At its core, the temperatures approach 15 million Kelvin, and pressures are inconceivably high. Here, Hydrogen fuses to Helium naturally, releasing the energy outwards, further heating the core region

bombs, dreaming of controlling the powers of the stars like Prometheus of legend.

between stars and bombs, and the closely

this push outwards is the mass of the star,

linked theoretical development of both. That

pulling everything in to the centre and holding answers part of the question, but the main the Hydrogen in place. So then, you can think points remains; why should we as practical of a star as a hydrogen bomb so massive its

astronomers care about bombs at all? The

gravitational pull holds it together while it

answer is; we shouldn’t. For purely practical

explodes. That’s the physical connection. The

astronomy, you can go an entire career with-

historical link is equally strong. At the start of out any knowledge of the bomb. But, for acathe 20th century, the Sun was thought to

demics, and for those interested in the how

mostly be made of Iron, due to some impres- and why rather than the what of the universe, sive mis-reading of the spectra. Cecilia Payne learning about stars leads inexorably to eventually showed the Sun was made mostly

learning about bombs. And that’s just the way

of Hydrogen, with about a quarter of it being

it is.

Helium. Once this was accepted, astrophysicists reached a problem: if the Sun is made of Hydrogen, what powers it? It can’t be simple combustion; the Sun would either burn

easiest way to generate those energies are

and the star would collapse in on itself.

right pressures (hundreds of times the den-

Edward Teller, began to consider fusion

outwards at the same time. Counteracting

would not be enough to balance the gravity

energy to compress the fusion fuel to the

bomb. Even at those early stages, some, like

So, we have seen the physical connection

where fission bombs come in. On Earth, the

the bomb case to channel and redirect the

Manhattan Project to build the first nuclear

(and sustaining the reaction) and pushing

pressures to make fusion happen, and this is itself out in only 50 or so years of life, or it

by detonating a fission bomb, and designing

the scientists involved were drafted into the

Developments in nuclear research in Europe proceeded onwards, quite uninterested in the astronomer’s woes. In 1932, Mark Oliphant

For more information, obviously, go to the lectures.

BY PHIL ‘STARMAN’ WALLACE

COSMOLOGICAL NEWS!

Page 6

Evans the Atom Dr Lyn Evans once stated that his passion for science was fuelled by relatively small bangs he had created with his chemistry set at his house in Aberdare.

Little did he know then that he would go on to create bangs at the world’s largest particle accelerator .

Dr Evans then went to the European Organi- most fundamental questions, the origin of zation for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Swit- mass, the matter-antimatter asymmetry, zerland as a Research Fellow where he

Dr Lyn Evans was born in Aberdare in 1945.

In 1956 he attended Aberdare Boys’ Grammar School where he studied Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry, obtaining top grades in all three subjects. Knowing he had always wanted to be a scientist he went on to study Chemistry at University College, Swansea in 1963, quickly switching to Physics as he found it easier. Here he gained first class honours; shortly after gaining a

what is dark matter and dark energy, all in

worked on the development of linear accel- a world-wide collaboration. “ erators. After receiving a permanent position, and being dubbed ‘Evans the Atom’, he then went on to become the project leader for the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) -which Dr Evans refers to as his “greatest achievement” . As leader of the project, Dr Evans is responsible for a staff of 2500 performing some of the most exciting experiments in modern science.

The particle accelerator is made up of six detectors, ATLAS, CMS, ALICE, LHCb, TOTEM and LHCf which are located underground at the LHC's intersection points. ATLAS and CMS have been at the forefront of recent scientific news, as the two independent detectors have been searching for clues on

Higgs boson and they may finally have The LHC is the world's largest and highest- caught a glimpse of them; although as of yet mental study of the interaction of intense energy particle accelerator. 27 miles in LHC does not have enough data to substanlaser radiation with gases. circumference, the LHC was built by CERN tiate it claims. The Higgs boson is believed PhD, for a combined theoretical and experi-

over a ten year period from 1998 to 2008.

“We are addressing some of the most fundamental questions, all in a worldwide collaboration”

It is hoped that the particle accelerator will

to be the particle by which things in the

Universe obtain their mass. The importance mimic the conditions less than a billionth of of LHC is to systematically look and try to a second after the Big Bang, revealing clues detect the exact mass of particles which to the origins of the fundamental laws the Standard Model does not predict. which governed our universe. According to Dr Evans “We are addressing some of the

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FEBRUARY 2012 ISSUE

LHC Timeline The LHC continues operations at 3.5 Tera electron volts (TeV ) for 18 months to two years, after which it will be shut down to prepare for the 7 TeV per beam.

First particle collisions in all four detectors, ATLAS, CMS, ALICE, LHCb, at 450 Giga electron volts.

28 Feb 2010

23 Nov 2009

10 Sep 2008

CERN successfully fired the first protons around the entire tunnel circuit in stages.

OPERA experiment, results appear to show that neutrinos produced at CERN, appear to travel faster than light when arriving at the Gran Sasso Laboratory in Italy

Perhaps though the most controversial de-

Dec 2011

30 Mar 2010

30 Nov 2009

LHC becomes the world's highest-energy particle accelerator achieving 1.18 TeV per beam.

23 Sept 2011

The two beams collided at 7 TeV (3.5 TeV per beam) in the LHC at 13:06 CEST, marking the start of the LHC research program.

faster than light when arriving at the Gran

At Cern the heads of Atlas and CMS announce they see "spikes" in their data at roughly the same mass as a what a Higgs Boson is thought to be.

“The best way to prove or disprove it is with

tection LHC has made is of neutrinos travel- Sasso Laboratory in Italy. However if this is a completely independent experiment.” says ing faster than the speed of light. The detec- true Einstein’s theory of special relativity

Dr Evans -which he is working on as he

tion by the OPERA experiment, which is being would be in violation; a fundamental key in

“does not believe that relativity is wrong.”

dubbed an anomaly, has detected that neu-

our understanding of modern physics and

However “If it proves to be a correct result

trinos produced at CERN, appear to travel

the world around us. The experiment which

then it would need a completely new theory

created a form of neutrinos, muon neutri-

probably involving extra dimensions, but

nos, at CERN's older SPS accelerator, is

let’s wait for the independent results before

under great scrutiny . Scientists and inde-

we worry about that” remarks Evans.

“The best way to prove or disprove it is with a completely independent experiment.”

pendent tests by other collaborators are being carried out to verify or refute the OPERA results.

So only time will tell if the LHC has revealed some of the most fundamental secrets in our Universe and the implications these findings may have upon our understanding of modern Physics.

BY CHLOE PARTRIDGE

COSMOLOGICAL NEWS!

Page 8

PREDICTING ARMAGEDDON Since the beginning of our modern scientific time it has been known that the Earth is subjected to a continuing celestial rain of cosmic debris. Nearly all of it is fine dust or slightly larger objects that mostly burn up in the atmosphere and are of little consequence to our environment. Occasional larger objects survive to be found on the ground and are known as meteorites. Every couple years a meteorite causes damage, penetrates a roof, strikes a car, or is otherwise a nuisance, but such events are newsworthy only because of their rarity and unusual nature. Yet what is disturbing about this rain of cosmic debris is that the distribution of this meteoritic material has no large-size cut-off, and unlike terrestrial natural hazards the implications of a collision with a large object from space may have extreme consequences for our planet.

Very rarely (every few 100,000 years or so, or 1 chance in several thousand during a human lifetime) a comet or asteroid more than a mile in diameter strikes the earth with serious global environmental consequences that could well threaten the future of civilization as we know it.

More rarely (every 100 million years or so but it could happen this decade) a cosmic projectile 5 to 10 miles across strikes, with consequences so terrible that most species are threatened with extinction. It is plausible that an even larger object, perhaps 25 miles across or larger will strike the Earth during our Sun's lifetime with the possibility of virtually sterilizing the surface of our planet.

•

The probability of a major impact occurring in a politically relevant timescale (say, during our lifetimes) is extremely low, but not outside the bounds of possibility

The impact hazard is, therefore, a terrifying prospect that remains the ultimate highconsequence, low-probability hazard that engenders our ideal of Armageddon. However, trying to predict such a catastrophe is not very easy, and the predictions themselves run a gamut of risks. Predicting Armageddon is more than producing an array of facts and figures, but involves genuine concern based upon evidence of recent impacts. Although insurance underwriters use the term “act of God”, a catastrophe of this type is simply a hazard of living in a planetary system.

This discovery has recently generated a rather belated programme called Spacewatch which attempts to give prior warning of, and try to predict the chances of any asteroid or comet that could come within striking distance of the Earth. The destructive scenario envisioned by an impact of such an object has brought a new undertone to the words apocalypse and Armageddon. This cosmic catastrophe is bigger than biblical proportions and differs from all other natural hazards in two ways: A number of impacts have already occurred in the last century. The first impact was in Siberia, at a place known as Tunguska in June 1908, • The potential consequences of a major and the second was in Brazil in 1930. Thankfulimpact exceed any other known natural ly, both areas are depopulated and not a single or man-made hazard (including nuclear human being was killed, but the consequences war). could have been very different, and the threat

FEBRUARY 2012 ISSUE

brought to the world’s attention sooner, if these impactor’s had demolished a city or town. In 1966 an object exploded in an airburst over the frozen Canadian north with a destructive force of 25 kilotons but caused no damage on the ground. In 1992 a similar incident occurred in the south Pacific with another airburst measuring 30 kilotons.

Now that the threat is out in the open, greater attention is being paid to astronomical programmes which seek these threats from space, and alongside them, more balanced views of startling media reports such as the one proclaiming a forthcoming "near-miss" of Earth by a mile-wide asteroid (predicted for the year 2028, with initial reports suggesting a serious possibility of actual impact) which generated front-page news in March 1998.

Astronomers dare not appear to be like Ae-

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sop’s fable of “The boy who cried wolf” by playing on fears and making banner headlines whenever an object appears which passes closeby, but far enough away to cause no harm. To do so would mean a loss of credibility in an arena in which they might someday have to forecast an event that would deserve to be taken seriously at the highest public and governmental levels.

What could be done about an impending impact? Once we know that an event was likely, we could attempt to deflect the asteroid or comet from its interception course with the Earth. This could be done with a high yield nuclear weapon, which may move the object from its course if the weapon is delivered in plenty of time - say months to years - before the impact event. At present there exists no rocket vehicle capable of lifting a high yield

warhead into deep space, and one is unlikely to be developed due to the high cost factor in the face of such a low risk event.

The alternative approach to this threat would involve destroying the potential impactor completely. Depending on the size of the incoming object, a high yield warhead, or several of them may be able to accomplish this goal. The problem of delivery and synchronization of the explosions have yet to be overcome, and few scientists are worried enough to provide alternate solutions. However, would the costs of self-preservation be too much to ask, especially in the face of the unlikelihood of such a catastrophe? There are several opinions on this point, some that actively see the nuclear deterrent as a bigger threat than destruction by natural means, as the possibility of nuclear accidents or deliberate misuse loom over mankind in the short term.

Most astronomers downplay the threat of such events, and statistically they are correct. We have a 1 in 20,000 chance of such an impact event happening within our lifetime, and as our technological capability to discover and deal with such threats grows, so do our chances of avoiding this kind of apocalypse. However, the current scientific debate about protecting the earth from such impacts is essentially the latest chapter in the long and violent history of our planet. Most recommend that we simply get on with our everyday lives with a fateful acceptance of the facts.

In short, the most sensible thing to do about these potentially destructive asteroids is try not to think about them.

BY MARTIN GRIFFITHS

COSMOLOGICAL NEWS!

Page 10

A very brief history of Stephen Hawking.

On the 8th January 2012, Professor Stephen Hawking reached the milestone age of 70.

As one of the most acclaimed scientific figures of the last century, we briefly explore his life, his work and his achievements in modern cosmology and theoretical physics.

Stephen William Hawking was born in Oxford in 1942 during the second world war.

At the age of 11 he attended St. Albans school and with an interest in Science and Mathematics he later went on to study at University College, Oxford. Originally, he sought to study Maths – a course, unfortunately, not offered by the University. Instead he pursued Physics.

After three years of what would seem ‘easy’ study, he gained a first class honours degree in Natural Sciences. Following this, he proceeded in researching Cosmology at Cambridge where his supervisor was Denis Sciama; despite his wish for Fred Hoyle, who was working at Cambridge at the time. After acquiring his PhD, he became first a Research Fellow and eventually a Professorial Fellow at both Gonville and Caius College.

After leaving the Institute of Astronomy in 1973, he upheld the prestigious position of Lucasian Professor of Mathematics from 1979 to 2009 within the department of Mathematics and Theoretical physics. He still plays a substantial part in the depart-

ment for applied Maths and Theoretical Physics at Cambridge; his official title being ‘Director of Research at the centre for theoretical cosmology.

Hawking’s principle fields of research are Theoretical Cosmology and Quantum Gravity. His work with Roger Penrose showed that Einstein’s General theory of Relativity implied that space and time would have a beginning in the Big Bang, and an end in black holes. This suggested that it was necessary to unify the General Theory of Relativity with Quantum theory. This unification would mean that black holes should not be completely black but should emit radiation and eventually evaporate and disappear. This is today known as Hawking radiation. Another conjecture was that the universe has no edge or boundary in imaginary time. This infers that the way the universe began was completely determined by the laws of Science.

“The downside of my celebrity is that I cannot go anywhere in the world without being recognized. It is not enough for me to wear dark sunglasses and a wig. The wheelchair gives me away.”

– Steven Hawking

Hawking’s has made many publications, both academic and more popular books, of which have contributed into making him a household name. These include – The large scale structure of space-time with G. R. Ellis, General Relativity: An Einstein Centenary survey with W. Israel, and more publicised books such as the bestseller – A brief history of time and his more recent work – The Grand Design (2010).

Many awards have been presented to the professor including 12 honorary degrees.

He was also award the CBE in 1982, made a companion of honour in 1989 is a fellow of the Royal Society and a member of the US National Academy of Science. In 2009 he was also awarded the highest civilian award in the United States of America – the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Shortly after his 21st birthday Professor Hawking was diagnosed with the most common form of motor neurone disease - amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). A neurodegenerative disease that affects nerves and muscle and is at present incurable. He first experienced symptoms while he was

FEBRUARY 2012 ISSUE

enrolled at Cambridge. Over time he gradually lost use of his arms, legs and voice.

He is now completely paralysed as of 2009. After contracting pneumonia in 1985, Hawking was forced to have an emergency tracheotomy. This resulted in him losing the remaining ability of speech.

He has since communicated through an electronic voice synthesizer. He has used the same version of this for several years, giving him an American English accent – the distinguishing voice of Hawking. The illness was expected to cut short Hawking’s life within a few years of the symptom’s arising yet he continued to live a full

Page 11

and impressive life.

In April 2007, in celebration of his 65th birthday, Hawking took a zero-gravity flight on Virgin Galactic’s space service.

Doing this, he experienced weightlessness eight times, becoming the first quadriplegic to float in zero-gravity.

Possibly one of the most significant roles Stephen Hawking has played is in popularising physics in a way no other has. His work and publications have inspired and interested thousands in subjects such physics, astronomy, cosmology. He certainly has one of the greatest minds of this

Hawking’s personal life involves two marriages which ended in divorce . He has three children, Robert, Lucy and Timothy and three grandchildren.

generation, and still continues in his research in theoretical physics as well as having an extensive programme of public lectures.

"We are just an advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet of a very average star. But we can understand the Universe. That makes us something very special” Steven Hawking.

Stephen Hawking during his zero-gravity flight on April 27 2007. This was the first time in forty years that he moved freely, without his wheelchair.

3 quick facts! o

Was born exactly 300 years after the death of Galileo.

o Occupies the same post, as Lucasian professor of mathematics at Cambridge University, as was earlier occupied by Sir Isaac Newton. o Has played himself in "Star Trek: The Next Generation" (1987), "The Simpsons" (1989) and "Futurama" (1999)

BY LOUISA CONNOLLY

COSMOLOGICAL NEWS!

Page 12

Dr Emily Baldwin and the Shuttle Atlantis after its final flight !

Possibly The Coolest Job !

My foray into science writing and ultimately becoming Deputy Editor of Astronomy Now magazine is a somewhat convoluted tale, but here goes... short planetary science news stories for the Geological Society of London's magazine, Geoscientist. Then, as a result of my efforts with the Young Stargazers launch, which was featured in an issue of Astronomy Now, I was approached by Keith Cooper (editor of Astronomy Now) to help with his International Year of Astronomy 2009 project Starlight – an eight page glossy newsAt the same time as the Young Stargazers letter about space which was sent to school was evolving I was also starting to write up children and science centres in the lead up my PhD, and realising that I was getting far to and during IYA (five issues in total, too much enjoyment in the writing up stages reaching out to 120,000 school children).

I did a fairly eclectic choice of A-Levels than was deemed normal and, moreover, I After I'd written my first piece for Starlight, (Geography, French, Physics and AS Maths), appeared to be better at writing about my I then showed Keith some of my Geoscienand then found my dream degree in plane- research than actually doing it! Two things tist articles as evidence of my 'grown-up' tary science at University College London, then happened at about the same time writing, and asked if there might be an opwhich bolstered my decision to move into where I stayed on to do a PhD in impact portunity to write for Astronomy Now. cratering. During my PhD I got involved with science writing rather than stay in research. First I was given the opportunity (by the Society for Popular Astronomy – my supervisor Ian Crawford was the thensimply asking the editor, Ted Nield) to write My interest in astronomy began when I was about eight, at a school open evening run by local astronomy societies – I got to look through telescopes at the Moon and Jupiter and its satellites, and I remember being wowed by how fast the satellites moved. I also won a signed copy of Patrick Moore's Universe for the Under Tens – I was hooked on all things space-related since that moment. Later on I was involved with school magazines and loved the media section of my english language GCSE.

President and took me along to a discussion meeting about how to encourage more young people to join the society. I promptly became Editor of the (now discontinued) Prime Space supplement, was co-opted onto the SPA council, and subsequently set up an under 16s section called the Young Stargazers.

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FEBRUARY 2012 ISSUE

Dr Emily Baldwin looking out over the ALMA telescope array in the Atacama Desert in Chile.

I wrote my first commissioned feature about how gas giant planets are formed, and the trickle of Astronomy Now commissions over the following few months helped fund my living in London while I over-ran on the PhD.

great opportunities over the last year especially – spending some time at our sister company Spaceflight Now reporting on shuttle launches and various NASA activities, including talking to the astronauts onboard the International Space Station in a live press conference link-up, was a definite hight point! I was also invited on a media trip to Chile to visit the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (VLT), Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) and the site for the planned European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) last year, the follow-up report is featured in the November 2011 issue of Astronomy Now.

About two weeks after I handed in my PhD thesis in March 2008 I started a full-time position as Astronomy Now's Website Editor, and in the four years that I've been there I've written over 900 news stories for the website, as well as numerous features for the magazine, yearbooks and special publications. In July 2009 I also took on the role of Deputy Editor, which means I take care of some of the regular sections of the magazine – commissioning articles, editing them, doing image The best piece of advice I can offer to research and making design suggestions. someone looking to break into science writing is to not be afraid to ask people Even though I've been at the magazine for work experience, and to accept the four years I still sometimes can't quite fact that you might not get paid for it! I believe that I work here! I've had some started by writing for society magazines,

and for free, just to build up my portfolio, but the writing I did for Geoscientist resulted in Astronomy Now offering me a feature commission instead of "starting me off with a news story", which eventually led to me having a full-time position here. So, please don't hesitate to ask me for advice or for some writing work experience for astronomynow.com if you're interesting in pursuing a science journalism career. Good luck!

BY DR EMILY BALDWIN

COSMOLOGICAL NEWS!

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Hints and Tips for improving your images.

1.

When taking images with the Faulkes Telescopes, the images obtained may not appear as one would expect, nor look as beautiful as modern culture has us believe. However with the following simple tricks, you will be well on your way to producing professional images.

2.

3.

to the CCD. The images below are all taken with the Hydrogen Alpha filter, within the red part of the spectrum, whereas an Oxygen III filter is midway between blue and green giving a teal colour not normally captured by standard filters.

them all. Hit Edit, and then Auto-Align. Not all of the images will able to be aligned this way so a little bit of manual moving may be needed. Once everything is lined up, select all your images again and click Layer and Smart objects. Repeat this and a new set of options will have opened up. Click stack Increasing the length of an exposure inmode, and select the most appropriate for creases the number of photons that the the type of image you have taken. I personCCD receives, so longer exposures give ally prefer to use median, which averages better detail, though be careful not to do out the intensity of all the images taken.

CCD captures, as there is a limit to the Adjust your image from Grayscale to RGB length of any exposure. If it is too lengthy you may end up burning out cells on the CCD mode, and Rasterize if necessary. and cause over bleeds or damage to the You should now see a high detail and low noise image, which is now ready for camera.

Image 1 below is a 30s shot of M27; Image 2 some colour. We will be looking at different is a 200s exposure. The second is obviously colour stacking techniques and some functions in Fits Liberator next month! less fuzzy and has much greater detail in

The foremost piece of advice is to have good software! Photoshop is probably the best and is most readily available and as such, this guide will refer to that. To open any image taken with Faulkes you will also need to be able to open and alter FITS files, so you will need to download FITS liberator, a free programme from the internet. However, different pieces of software interpret data files in different ways, with no two being exactly the same. Fits liberator has a Photoshop plugin but beware as it does not the internal structure. Taking multiple shots open the files as Faulkes itself interprets of the same object in the same filter and them, so do not expect an exact match. stacking them with Photoshop can improve The first way to improve your im- this further. In total, image 3 contains 10 ages is to use narrow band filters as opindividual shots, amounting to 1100s of expoposed to the standard RGB filter set. This sure time, and has far more detail then allows for much more detail to be captured either of Image 1 or 2. by the CCD with longer exposure lengths, as To stack in Photoshop, put all of your imagthe filter is not letting as much light through es into the one page, Lighten and then select

BY SAM WHITAKER

Page 15

FEBRUARY 2012 ISSUE

This months Images and descriptions by Chris O'Morain NGC 1501

NGC 1501 is located in the constellation Camelopardalis. It is a planetary nebula that was discovered in 1787 by William Herschel. It is also known as the Blue Oyster Nebula due to its colour & central star which is classed as a Wolf-Rayet star of the 14th magnitude. Wolf-Rayet stars are evolved massive stars (over 20 solar masses) that are losing mass rapidly by means of a strong stellar wind at speeds of 2000 km/s, such as commonly found in planetary nebulae. While our own Sun loses approximately 10−14 solar masses every year, Wolf–Rayet stars typically lose 10−5 solar masses a year. Wolf–Rayet stars are very hot, with surface temperatures in the range of 25,000 K to 50,000 K.

M13 M 13, the Hercules Globular Cluster, is a large globular cluster of 300,000 stars located in the constellation Hercules. It is just visible to the naked eye on a clear night, otherwise small telescopes can image this cluster quite clearly. This image was taken with the Faulkes Telescope North with a 10 second RGB capture.

NGC 7635 NGC 7635, The Bubble Nebula, is located in the constellation Cassiopeia and is an H II ( a low density ionized gas) region surrounding an O6 emission line star, this central star is currently going through an evolutionary phase into a Wolf-Rayet class star.

The strong winds emitted by the central star is what has caused the H II gas to form a shell around it while the ultraviolet radiation emitted by this hot star is what has caused the Bubble Nebula to glow in the manner it does.

This is a composite image taken with Faulkes Telescope North; 60 second RGB, 100 second Sloan i, 100 second Hydrogen-alpha, 100 Second Hydrogen-Beta.

“If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.� Carl Sagan

BSc (Hons) Observational Astronomy