Focusing on Titan’s lakes and Io’s volcanism

Published Sunday, 17 January, 2010 astronomy Leave a Comment
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A little while ago I had a lot of fun being interviewed by Jheni, J and Andy from Focus magazine’s podcast. We talked about a new astronomy TV series coming to our screens called ‘Seven Wonders of the Solar System’. Presented by particle physicist Prof Brian Cox the series will, according to the BBC, look at “how the laws of nature…carve spectacular sights throughout the Solar System.”

On the Focus podcast I talked specifically about the lakes of liquid methane on Titan and the spectacular volcanism which occurs on Jupiter’s moon Io. The podcast is now online, on iTunes and embedded below, with my interview starting about 8 minutes 45s in. There’s a short trailer for the series here, so check it out when it airs in the UK sometime later this year.

Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2010

Published Wednesday, 13 January, 2010 astronomy 2 Comments
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After the huge success of Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2009 the Royal Observatory Greenwich (and Sky at Night Magazine, as media partner) have today opened entries to this year’s competition. Last year the competition received hundreds of images showing everything from spectacular swirling nebulae to moonscapes reminiscent of the views seen by Apollo astronauts.

This year’s competition takes on much the same form as last year’s but with a few interesting extras. Just like last year there are three main categories. They are: ‘Earth and Space’ (for ‘earthly’ landscapes with an astronomical object in them), ‘Our Solar System’ (for images of our Sun, the planets, the Moon, comets etc.) and finally ‘Deep Space’ (for pictures of stars, nebulae and galaxies). There will also be two special prizes. The first is ‘People and Space’ which, according to the ROG website, is for “photos that include people in a creative and original way” and the second is the ‘Best Newcomer’ prize. This is a new prize for those of you who have just started taking pictures of the night sky in the last year and haven’t entered the competition before. Here’s where we’ll no doubt see the rising stars (if you’ll excuse the pun) of astroimaging.

Last, but by no means least, there will also be the Young Astronomy Photographer of the Year category, for entrants under-16 years old. There were some fantastic images from last year’s young astroimagers, with some really clever shots entered. So if you know a budding young astroimager, why not tell them about the competition?

The overall winner of the competition will receive £1000 and there are other prizes for the various category winners, runners up etc. For the full rules of the competition and more about how to enter see the Royal Observatory Greenwich’s website.

I’ll be on the judging panel again for this year’s competition and, like last year, I’m really looking forward to seeing what the world’s top astroimagers can produce. We had a superb mix of subjects last year and I know that all of the judges were incredibly impressed at the quality in all the categories. For now though it’s over to you…impress us! You’ve got until the 16th July to submit your images, so good luck and clear skies!

APOTY logo courtesy & copyright NMM/Royal Observatory Greenwich

“The science of Avatar” – new S@N podcast episode

Published Sunday, 27 December, 2009 astronomy Leave a Comment
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With the release of James Cameron’s new 3D movie Avatar, cinema-goers are being transported to the surface of an alien world called Pandora. Pandora is an exomoon (a moon of an extrasolar planet) and the setting for much of the film’s spectacular action. For the new episode of the Sky at Night Magazine podcast I interviewed David Kipping, an extrasolar planet and exomoon expert, and Dr Lewis Dartnell who is an astrobiologist at UCL in London. We talked about the astronomy behind the movie & the science going on at the moment that might enable astronomers to detect a real exomoon. We also covered what any observations of an exomoon or extrasolar planet could tell us about its physical characteristics. The podcast can be listened to in the player below or downloaded here [12.5 MB mp3]; and I’ve embedded the Avatar trailer below if you’re thinking of going to see the film.

A chilly crescent

Published Sunday, 20 December, 2009 astronomy Leave a Comment
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Despite the bitterly cold wind, tonight’s crescent Moon was a sight that I couldn’t resist photographing. The first and third shots show an interesting phenomenon known as ‘Earthshine’ where the shadowed part of the Moon is partially illuminated by light reflected off the Earth. If you look closely at the first image you’ll be able to make out some of the more prominent lunar ’seas’. Jupiter was not far from the Moon tonight too, as can be seen in the last two shots. Click on the images to see larger versions and remember to look out for the faint glow of Earthshine the next time you see a thin crescent Moon.

The Moon with Earthshine. Credit: Will Gater
The Moon and Jupiter at twilight. Credit: Will Gater
The Moon and Jupiter at twilight. Credit: Will Gater

The Cosmic Keyhole at The Book Depository

Published Sunday, 20 December, 2009 astronomy Leave a Comment
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I’m very pleased to say that my new book The Cosmic Keyhole is now on sale at the online book store The Book Depository. At the moment it’s available for a discounted price of just over £15 (a discount of over 40%) and you can get free delivery to the UK and many other countries too. If you want to find out a little more about the book and what it covers there’s a blurb for it on the books page.

Hubble reveals a sparkling spectacle in the LMC

Published Tuesday, 15 December, 2009 astronomy Leave a Comment
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A section of the new Hubble image showing the star cluster R136 and surroundings.
Credit: NASA, ESA, and F. Paresce (INAF-IASF, Bologna, Italy), R. O’Connell (University of Virginia, Charlottesville), and the Wide Field Camera 3 Science Oversight Committee. Click for a larger version.

I’ve thought hard about how I might write this post. How do you go about introducing the incredible image above?

I could tell you that it’s a new image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope’s shiny new Wide Field Camera 3. I’d probably say that it shows a region of frenetic star formation in the Large Magellanic Cloud (a nearby galaxy to the Milky Way) known as 30 Doradus. Undoubtedly I’d draw your attention to the cluster of stars to the centre right of the image, designated R136. It’s full of infant massive stars whose winds are sculpting the gas around the cluster; seen clearly in the great, roughly 70 lightyear wide, cavern forming at the centre of the image. I’d likely also talk about the huge billowing clouds of hydrogen gas which are glowing red around the young cluster – a typical trait of star forming regions. And I’d definitely say that using Hubble to study regions like this one allows astronomers to examine the processes which create and shape the stars in vast stellar clusters like R136.

Of course, in the end, the image speaks for itself in many ways; its sheer beauty, the vivid colours, the stunning detail that shows the power of the instrument that made it. We’re going to miss Hubble when it’s gone. But images like this one show that it’s got a lot more to offer before that time comes.

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