May 2012

MAY 2012 ISSUE

10 Page

A LOOK AT A GENIUS —LEONARDO DA VINCI THE NIGHT SKY IN 6-7 s e Pa g

MAY PG 8-9 4 Page

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THE NEED FOR THE NUMERICAL EVALUATION OF SETS OF EQUATIONS PG 11

DREAMS OF SATURN—THE GREAT LEAP THAT NEVER WAS

AN INTRODUCTION TO MULTIVERSE 12 Page

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GET PERSONAL WITH SAM WHITAKER! – This month’s feature writer. By Louisa Connolly A regular advisor on all things Faulkes and a with a dream to one day become a rocket scientist and a Noble prize winner, he spares 5 Editor: Chloe Partridge

minutes to answer our quick questions.

Copy Editor: Martin Griffiths

What do you enjoy most on this course?

Contributors: Chloe Partridge, Louisa Connolly, Chrissy

Learning the wonders of the universe! From the very big to the very

Birch, Terence Murphy , Sam Whitaker

small! The most ancient of history to the furthest future! The com-

Columnists: Phill Wallace, Martin Griffiths If you would like to contribute in any way, either by sending us your Faulkes images, or perhaps even writing an article , then get in touch, we would love to hear from you.

plexness and beauty of the universe blows my mind, which is what I live for!

What TV show/movie character would you liken yourself to?

Everyone seems to liken me to Sheldon from the big bang theory; a string theorist with an eidetic memory and a love of all things nerd; star trek, star wars, superheroes, being a genius. He’s also a little bit

Editorial Contacts :

OCD and a germaphobe. But apart from that I don't see it. I see my-

10017607@glam.ac.uk

self more of a Walter bishop from fringe; genius, mental, hilarious!

mgriffi8@glam.ac.uk

By the end of our lifetime (say the next 50 years) what current scientific conundrum do you hope will have been answered?

Proof of string theory; I will discover it within the next ten years...

Noble prize number one in the bag...

EDITORIAL So the Easter bunny has been and gone and for most of us it is back to assignment writing and revision (Yippee). For those who are looking for some excellent revision material Terence Murphy has found a wonderful summary paper on Lectures of Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmolo-

gy - might be worth looking at : arxiv.org/pdf/0706.1988v2.pdf This months magazine however, is exam and stress free ,with exciting articles which explore the exotic colours of Io and its feisty volcanic surface as well as three forgotten ideas by Leonardo da Vinci . You can also get a run down on this months night sky ,so enthusiasts can get observing and those, like myself, can get practising a little more on their observation techniques in practise for the Venus transit in June this year.

Enjoy another great month of articles and try not to stress to much about exams , if possible.

IMAGE REFERENCES: PG 4-5. Space Odyssey — headhuntersholosuite.wikia.com, Manned Mars landing— www.thespacereview.com PG 6-7. Io’s Interior — www.astro.virginia.edu, Sulphur - www.binscorner.com, Geological Feature - www.geology.sdsu.edu, Map - pubs.usgs.gov PG 8-9. All images Martin Griffiths, Sky Map — Heavensabove.com PG 10-11. Leonardo— Italian-culture-blog.blogspot.co.uk, Moon—io9.com, Invention— kaylabmuseum.wikispaces.com, Maths— www.create-it-ni.net PG 12-13. Multiverse— space.mit.edu, www.scientificamerican.com PG 14. Albert Einstein— en.wikiquote.org

GLMAORGAN ASTRONOMY

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MAY 2012 ISSUE

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4-5. DREAMS OF SATURN - THE GREAT LEAP THAT NEVER WAS IN 1969 NASA MADE A GIANT LEAP FOR MA NKIND. BY 1972 IT HA D B EC OM E A S TUM B LE. THIS M ON TH I L OOK A T W HA T MIGHT HA VE BEEN.

6-7

6-7. VOLCANISM OF IO EVER WONDERED WHY IO APPEARS SO YOUNGE - SHOWING OFF SUCH VIBRANT YELLOW AND ORA NGE COLOURS? WE LOOK A T TH E R EA S ONS F OR TH IS A ND I TS W ONDE R OUS V OLCA NIC A C TI V I TY.

8-9. THE NIGHT SKY IN MAY TH IS M ON TH’S NIG H T S KY R OUND UP FEA TURES THE C ONS TE LLA TI O N O F C A NE S V E NA TIC I A ND S OM E O F TH E B R IG H TE R GA LA XI E S V IS IB L E W I TH I N I T. M O O N P HA S E S A N D P LA N E TS A R E F E A TU R E D A S U S UA L B U T TH E L IG H TE R N I G H TS A R E B E G I N N I N G TO R E D U C E TH E TI M E S P E N T S TA R GA ZI N G S O M A KE THE M OS T O F A N Y C L E A R OP P OR TU N I TI E S !

10. A LOOK AT A GENIUS – THREE IDEAS OF LEONARDO DA VINCI

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LE ONA RD O WA S A HEA D OF HIS TIM E IN S O MA NY A SP EC TS OF SCIENCE A ND ENGINEERING. HIS GENIUS KNEW FEW BOUNDS.

11.THE NEED FOR THE NUMERICAL EVALUATION OF SETS OF EQUATION N U M E R I CA L A NA L YS E S A R E HE R E TO S TA Y A N D W E L EA R N N E W TH I N G S B Y U S I N G TH E M E VE R Y DA Y.

12-13 12-13. AN INTRODUCTION TO THE MULTIVERSE W E TA KE A L O O K A T C OS M OL OG I E S M I N D B OG G L I N G M U L TI V E R S E TH E OR Y , S TA R TI N G W I TH L E V E L I.

COSMOLOGICAL NEWS

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Dreams of Saturn – The Giant Leap that Never Was In 1969 a human being stepped out of a frail

cheered so loudly shrugged their shoulders

spacecraft onto the surface of another world.

and went back to worrying about baseball. No

A seminal moment in Man’s history, it was the

men have flown beyond low orbit since then.

product of a decade of efforts, dreams and

The skills and technology was discarded and

sacrifices made by half a million people. A

NASA moved on. The “one giant leap” became a

culmination of the Space Race, this moment

stumble.

promised to be but the first in a brand new age and a brand new world for everyone. The man on the Moon spoke of a “giant leap for Mankind.”

and launch probes into the outer solar system.

However, the short sighted political morons in Washington saw this glorious endeavour, looked at the price tag and ran screaming. Yes, the dream of a true Space Age would not come cheap. To reach Mars as NASA planned, it would

So why did this happen? That’s easy enough to require another decade of high NASA budgets. answer. The scientists and engineers at NASA

If there is one thing politicians love, it is being

saw the Apollo program as a springboard to

able to say they are cutting spending. So the

launch mankind into space. The Saturn rockets wonderful plans were axed. After all, Apollo had won the Space Race, beaten the Russians and

In 1972, the United States abandoned the pro-

would be used to assemble laboratories, refu-

gram. No more men landed, no more missions

elling depots and larger shipyards in low orbit, shown how awesome America was to the rest

were flown. The nation that led the world in

allowing true space exploration to begin. The

manned spaceflight gave up the chase. Funding upper stage of the Saturn would be replaced was sent elsewhere, and the public that had

of the world. That was enough for the Congressmen.

with a nuclear rocket to reach Mars and Venus

A moonbase by 2001? We could have done it by 1980!

MAY 2012 ISSUE

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Planting the Flag on Mars should have happened in the late 1970’s But…what could have been if the politicians had surface, supported by cargo ferry flights to the This rocket configuration, dubbed the Saturn-N been willing to pay? Let’s explore some of the

orbital fuel depot. This base could have expand- (for Nuclear) would also have been used to

plans:

ed upon the work carried out by Apollo 17 crew- launch missions to Jupiter and beyond. Most

Orbital Refuelling Depot/Ferry Flight Base: In

man Dr Harrison Schimdt, the only scientist to

importantly, the NERVA engine was tested and

walk on the moon.

performed flawlessly on the ground. It was

eral spent Saturn upper stages would be linked

Manned Mars Landing and Venus Flyby: It is

ready and right there.

together and then filled with fuel. Launching

this option that is most interesting to me. The

But, as I said earlier, NASA’s budget was

spacecraft would be able to “tank up” in orbit,

plan involved replacing the conventional rocket

slashed. They made do with using surplus rock-

expanding the payload the spacecraft could

engine in the upper stage with a NERVA nuclear ets to launch a single Skylab station and that

carry up from Earth. One of these depots

engine. This brilliant design uses a nuclear re-

around Earth and another around the Moon

actor to superheat a coolant liquid, most likely

would allow for “ferry flights,” using vehicles

Hydrogen and expel it to generate thrust. The

a manner similar to the orbital laboratory, sev-

was it. The dream was gone.

built solely for spaceflight (not re-entry or lunar design has several advantages: only one worklanding, thus saving weight). These flights could ing fluid needed, so only one tank and bulkhead carry the maximum possible load of passengers (saving mass), a higher thrust and efficiency and cargo between Earth and lunar orbit.

than conventional engines and a much greater

Permenant Manned Lunar Base: Using more

endurance. This engine would allow a manned

prefabricated workshops, a permanent base on the Moon could have been built with a half dozen launches, allowing crews of five or six men to spend nearly unlimited periods on the lunar

spacecraft to reach Mars in a fraction of the time needed with conventional rockets. This allows the possibility of a manned Martian landing, as well as an ambitious Venus manned flyby.

BY PHIL WALLACE

COSMOLOGICAL NEWS

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Io is the innermost moon of Jupiter, and the Without this tidal heating it is thought that most volcanically active body in our Solar

Io might be similar to our Moon. However,

System. It has an Iron Sulphide inner core, the continuous distortion of Io’s molten a molten silicate mantle and an outer sili-

interior, means that the moon surface con-

cate crust. Due to Jupiter’s gravitational

stantly experiences volcanic eruptions, and

influence on the moons interior , Io is al-

outpouring of basaltic lava’s.

ways in a continuous state of flux, being

Volcanic plume (March 4, 1979) taken by Voyager spacecraft

stretched and compressed. It is also being Between 1996 – 2000 the Galileo space

As a result of these umbrella shaped

tidally heated by Jupiter resulting in the

craft revealed that volcanic lava flows on

plumes, SO2 and pyroclastic material is

inner core and mantle being completely

Io’s surface were primarily basaltic based

propelled into space which hits the –150˚C

molten.

and silicate rich; similar to shield volcanoes surface temperature and condenses, falling seen in Hawaii on Earth. Earlier images

back down as frost, which is deposited on

taken by Voyager 1 (1979) revealed volcanic the moon’s surface. It is this snow, along plumes erupting 300km high above the

with the silicate based lava flows which

moon’s surface. These Plumes were later

constantly resurface Io’s surface. The con-

confirmed by the Galileo space craft to be

tinuous resurfacing of the moon’s surface

volatised Sulphur (S) and Sulphur dioxide

means no creators are seen meaning the

(SO2 ). Spectral analysis of the surface also surface always appears youthful. confirmed that liquid Sulphur spilled out vents in less violent eruptions.

Io’s interior

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MAY 2012 ISSUE

At different temperatures Sulphur changes colours; at lower temperatures

from the interactions of lava flows and Sulnent red SO2 rich pyroclastic deposits around phur deposits at different temperature.

In 1997 the Galileo spacecraft imaged promi-

the Pele Plume – rained down in a ring around A new geological survey of Io’s surface has red and finally black as temperatures increase the central black vent. just been released showing volcanic features on the moon’s surface and its similarities with to (523K).

Earth based volcanism.

The interaction of hot lava with SO2 rich debris (373K) its is yellow, through to orange, then

on the ground gives rise to the colours ob-

The map can be found at hhpt:/pubs.usgs.gov/

served on Io’s surface in irregular patches

sim/3168/sim3168sheet.pdf

and streaks.

Pillan Petera on April 4, 1997 Molten Sulphur at 373 KelThe Pillan Petra caldera to the side of the Lava flows on Io share the same low-viscosity characteristics as basaltic lava flows found on Earth. Invasive flows and lava tubes, similar to those found on Earth, have also been observed, which further confirm that basaltic lava dominates volcanism on the moon.

Pele Plume 6 months later was seen showing dark deposits surrounding it, intersecting the

US Geological survey of Io’s surface, showing the Maui and Amirani lava flows

SO2 red ring. The Caldera had erupted covering an area the size of Arizona with Silicate rich material; this is why it appears black.

The Maui and Amarani are examples of this.

Note: Volcanism on Io is sometimes referred to as Cryovolcanic due to the Sulphur snow as Cryovolcanism is anything non basaltic based.

The se two lava flows extend more than 250km from the main vent and are the longest active lava flows in the Solar System. The white deposits that encircle the vent are thought to be SO2 rich vapours which were ejected and then snowed down.

Pillan Petera on September 19,1997

Maui and Amirani active lava flows (Oct. 8, 1999)

So the primary source of volcanism on the Io is Silicate based, with some liquid Sulphur. The secondary composition on Io’s surface is snowed down Sulphur deposits. The overlapping of lava flows and Sulphur snow resurface the moon, whilst the planets colour comes

BY CHLOE PARTRIDGE

COSMOLOGICAL NEWS

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The Night Sky in May May is a mixed month for stargazers as its lighter nights only leave a few hours of darkness to observe some of the faintest things the sky has to offer. At least the rising Milky Way gives promise of better views to come.

Moon In May th

th

First quarter: 29 April and 28 May Full: 6th May Last Quarter: 12 th May New: 21st May

On the early evening of the 22nd May a very thin crescent Moon will accompany Venus in the west.

They will be within 5 degrees of each other, yet make a challenging photographic opportunity due to the light evening.

Planets in April: Mercury: Is a morning object for the first week night nonetheless. A telescope should reveal the rings and any satellites or shadows cast by the of May before drawing closer to the sun and shading of features on its surface though high rings. reaching superior conjunction on the 27th May magnification is needed.

Uranus: Is a morning object but due to the Venus: Visible in the southwest after dark and Jupiter: Is in conjunction with the Sun on the lighter mornings, it becomes very difficult to still a very bright object at magnitude -4.2 and 13th May and is not easily visible throughout this see unless its exact position is known or can be is close to the star b Tauri setting just before month found by GOTO. It is magnitude 5.9 midnight throughout May Saturn: Transits before midnight and is visible Neptune: is also a faint morning object in Mars: Visible in the evening in the south east as all month as a bright star to the NE of Spica in Aquarius shining at magnitude 7.9 but is not well a red star shining at magnitude -0.2 It has Virgo. The rings are plainly visible through a placed in the bright morning sky passed opposition but is visible for most of the telescope. Look for the Cassini division in the

Constellation of the month: Canes Venatici This is a rather obscure constellation made up of faint stars, two of which are easily visible to the naked eye lying below the tail of Ursa Major.

The group is meant to represent the two hunting dogs of Bootes, the herdsman as they chase the bears around the sky. The names of the dogs are Asterion and Chara, names that

were recognized by the Chinese and the dogs were assigned the role of guardians of the emperor’s heir. Canes Venatici is especially rich in all manner of deep sky objects, of which many can be seen with a pair of binoculars or a small telescope.

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The sky in May: The sky as it would appear at 22:00 on the 1st

The most magnificent globular cluster after M13 can be found in the southern part of Canes Venatici, namely M3, a huge aggregation of stars 27,000 light years away. To my eyes, M3 is slightly easier to resolve in a small telescope than M13, starry points burst forth in profusion from this beautiful object, and some outliers may even be resolved with a good pair of binoculars. M3 contains upwards of 1 million stars, and the highest number of

beta Canum. It looks like a fuzzy star in binoculars, but a small telescope will only reveal a slightly larger bright white smudge of light with no detail detectable. The other galaxy to be seen is M63, which lies north of alpha Canum, and is a ninth magnitude smudge of elongated light that betrays itself to large telescopes as an Sb type spiral.

Both galaxies are reputed to be outlying members of the Virgo group, approximately 55 million light years away.

Globular Cluster M3

RR Lyra type variables yet found in a globular cluster. These variables are a fast type of "Cepheid", going through their light amplitudes in a matter of hours rather than days.

Two galaxies of note in Canes Venatici are both Messier objects. The first, and easiest to spot is M94, an E1 type galaxy that lies slightly north of and in the centre of a line drawn from alpha to

an Sa pec type. Another galaxy of note is the wonderful NGC 4362 in the south of Canes Venatici. In a small telescope this galaxy can be seen as a sliver of electric blue light, this coloration arising from the fact that this is another active galaxy, possibly arising from a recent collision with a near neighbour. Canes Venatici is a great hunting ground for galaxy observers.

M51 The Whirlpool Galaxy One of the most beautiful galaxies in the heavens can be found in the north of the constellation. This is the incomparable M51 the "Whirlpool Nebulae", as Lord Rosse called it. It is a face on Sc type, which is interacting with an irregular type galaxy.

This interaction has given rise to many knots of bright blue stars, and has distorted the shape of this exquisite object. M51 is a ninth magnitude galaxy possibly the only object of this type where the spiral arms can actually be seen, winding around the nucleus in a glorious array of light. Not far away is the enigmatic object known as M 106, a strange galaxy lying in the north-western portion of the constellation. In a small telescope, a very bright nucleus can be seen, plus a condensation that reveals itself as a spiral arm. This galaxy is undergoing some type of explosive activity, similar to the Seyfert galaxies and has been classified as

BY MARTIN GRIFFITHS

COSMOLOGICAL NEWS

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A look at a Geni

us – Three Ideas of Leonardo da Vinci Whilst there are plenty of scientists that helped revolutionise the astronomical world, few managed to equally transform other fields. Art, literature, engineering, music and science – these were all dominions that Leonardo Da Vinci perused. Yet many only know a little of the genius who typifies the Renaissance man. I will briefly cover three areas that Leonardo is associated with: Engineering, sonar and most importantly, astronomy.

understand sonar. He created a tube that could be placed in water, then the operator could listen for sounds being emitted by ships. Whilst he did not make much headway with his invention it simply shows how far reaching his scientific experiments were. It was not until 1914 His large list of inventions includes a selfthat Reginald Fessenden propelled car, a triple-barrelled cannon and the managed to craft an early Aerial Screw. This creation is considered the device for submarines to earliest idea of a helicopter although most The crescent moon as defined by Leonardo a n object which communicate to one anscientists agree that it would not have been other. reflects Sun light. able to take off due to its weight – it did need four men turning cranks to keep it in flight after The most important asLeonardo was correct in saying this view was all. The Aerial Screw would have worked in a tronomical discovery Leonardo made was his due to reflections from the Earth and that the similar way to normal helicopters, compressing explanation of Earthshine. This is a phenomenon sunlight was reflecting off of Earth’s oceans. As air to gain flight. There is also no evidence that where, if a crescent moon is seen during dusk, most already know, the Moon has no oceans. he ever actually made the device although he then a ghostly image of the full moon is visible Today we understand that Earthshine is as may have tried smaller models. But for any It’s an oddly beautiful event but one that had no much due to clouds as reflection of the oceans, individual to be able to create such a device is explanation during Leonardo’s time. He studied a visible example of the albedo or reflectivity of the moon in some detail, sketching out all he remarkable. our home planet. could see. With this study he began to underUnbeknownst to many people, Leonardo tried to Leonardo was ahead of his time in so many stand Earthshine. He explained that both the aspects of science and engineering. His genius Earth and Moon reflect knew few bounds. a great deal of light. He believed that the sunBY CHRISSY BIRCH light bouncing off Earth was hitting the moon on its unlit side. The brighter side, the crescent, is the part facing towards the sun. So on Earth we can see a spectacular image of a ghostly full moon due to Leonardo’s Aerial Screw these reflections.

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The need for the numerical evaluation of sets of equations.

The normal approach to this is to try to simplify In some sort of perfect world this would be the problem in some way so as to approximate a enough to analyse the problem, solve the set of equations and produce beautiful answers that a lifetime trying to understand the world, as I worthwhile result. would be a joy to use. Unfortunately this cannot have, albeit with limited success, then it can happen in our world. come as a great shock to realise that the years Engineering and science uses integral calculus spent in learning how to formulate and manipuand differential equations until they come out of late equations that represent real-life problems Of those seven equations four of them are difyour ears. can all count for nought very quickly. ferential equations and three are linear. This is Only in special cases is it possible to solve these much too complex for an analytical solution. equations exactly. Very often any attempt to simplify or approximate the equations produces Numerical evaluations must suffice.

The purpose of sets of equations in science and engineering is that these equations repre- results that are seriously inadequate. In these I find it amusing sometimes to read a scientific circumstances what is done is to try to attempt paper in which the author states that he has sent a model of the quantities that are to be solved the relevant equations and produces the found in that particular problem. Equations can to reach meaningful answers using what is following results. He hasn't solved the equations be manipulated and reformulated so as to im- called numerical methods. prove their transparency, so as to render them he has evaluated them.

This uses an algorithm written in a computer easier to use and so as to allow their solutions language that starts with some educated guessto be determined with as little effort as possible. es at what the values of at least some of the It is just such evaluations that tell us that the variables would be. This proceeds by utilising diameter of any Brown Dwarf with between about 13 times the mass of Jupiter and some 75 Now in Science and Engineering, as well as some simple, tedious and very long-winded times the mass of Jupiter is very nearly the calculations that are often far too timeother subject areas, the normal reason for consuming for a human to carry out. Whatever same as Jupiter. More mass results in greater using these mathematical models is so that one , or more, quantities can be evaluated with- result is obtained is then fed back into the tedi- density rather then greater volume. out having to build experimental mock-ups and ous calculations and the calculations are done again. This feedback process is called iteration simulators etc. that are inevitably timeconsuming and expensive. An equation or a set and each turn of the cycle results in the answer Numerical analyses are here to stay and we obtained being that little bit closer to the cor- learn new things by using them every day. I just of equations is analysed, solved and the required answers can be found in comparatively rect value than the one before. This carries on wish that science and engineering students until a numerical test written into the program were told more about the shortcomings of analno time at all. is passed and the program offers up its results. ysis earlier in their studies.

When someone is not as long in the tooth as me and has not spent

In my electronics degree I went through years of piecemeal, part-time study during which time I must have learned how to analyse hundreds of circuits with hundreds of types of equations. It was only at the very end of my courses that it was pointed out to me and my small tutorial group that most design problems in electronics and the equations that result from their analysis do not lend themselves to exact solutions.

TERENCE MURPHY

The only way for Astronomers to approach the conditions found inside a star is to use such methods. The seven equations of hydrostatic equilibrium that describe the balancing act between the forces of expansion driven by nuclear fusion and the forces of contraction driven by gravity contain seven unknown quantities.

COSMOLOGICAL NEWS

The concepts that are involved with cosmology are sometimes considered to be mindboggling. None more so than that of the potential existence of duplicate universes and copies of ourselves. In this series of articles we will explore the different kinds of multiverse, their potential detection methods and why we believe they may exist. There are four “levels” of multiverse theories, we will start with Level I. A Level I multiverse is the simplest form of parallel universe and is considered to be just an extension of our own universe in its current, however it must be infinite in size. It states that other universes are simply areas of space that are too far away for us to see just yet. We can currently observe 42 billion light years, 4 x 1026m of space, known as the Hubble Volume. This is the distance that light has travelled since the big bang and is higher than the 13.8 Billion year age of the universe due to the cosmic expansion of space, which has lengthened distance. All Level I parallel universes are basically the same as ours, but if there are any differences then they are due to any variations in the initial arrangement of matter that occurred in the first moments of inflation during the big bang. This theory uses statistical mathematics to suggest that given enough space and time then the same arrangement of atoms can occur and we can

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work out how far away I would find an exact duplicate of myself; every 1029 meters.

Cosmic inflation suggests that the universe is infinite, and if this were true then that would result in the existence of an infinite number of Level I parallel universes and therefore, statistically anything that could happen, no matter how improbably must have occurred in one of these parallel universes! Including me being a god, or superman, or an expert in fish swimming styles!

For the Level I theory to be correct, the shape of the universe needs to be flat, if it is hyperbolic or spherical then space is finite, but a flat universe allows the universe to be infinite.

WMAP, the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe is tasked with measuring the left over radiation from The Big Bang which we now call the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), but an additional experiment was designed to discover the shape of the universe. By sending two lasers out into space and crating a massive “light” triangle scientists used a complex form of trigonometry to discover if the sum of the angles added to more, less or exactly 180˚. More would result in a hyperbolic, less in a spherical and exactly 180˚ results in a flat universe. The final result came in at exactly 180˚ - a flat and thereby infinite universe. This does not completely prove the shape of the universe however; as expansion

might have made the universe so large that a curve becomes imperceptible, even at massive scales. As such another, different experiment is postulated. Hot and cold spots in the CMB should have a characteristic sizes depending on the shape of space. The results from WMAP showed that the average spot size appeared to be to small to be a result of either open or closed spherical curvature, and as such cosmologists state that they are 99.9% sure that the universe is flat, resulting in the high likelihood of the existence of a Level I multiverse. However the only way to definitely prove this observationally is to build a massive telescope and wait an extremely long time for this distant light to reach us, or to simply go there, using faster than light travel of some kind, which at the moment, is not possible with our technology.

BY SAM WHITAKER

NGC

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Dumbbell Nebula

“Bear in mind that the wonderful things you learn in your schools are the work of many generations.

All this is put in your hands as your inheritance in order that you may receive it, honour it, add to it, and one day faithfully hand it on to your children� - Albert Einstein

BSc (Hons) Observational Astronomy