Observations with Herschel have revealed unprecedented views of a ring in the centre of our Milky Way galaxy. The ribbon of gas and dust is more than 600 light years across and appears to be twisted, for reasons which have yet to be explained. The origin of the ring could provide insight into the history of the Milky ...
Liz Parvin presented a lecture on the history of x-ray images at St Peter’s School in York on the 27th June 2011
Sam Eden has been awarded a 5 year career advancement fellowship “electron attachment to biomolecular clusters”.The aim of this fellowship is to advance our understanding of how the chemical environment affects low-energy electron interactions with biomolecules, notably DNA constituents. Detailed knowledge ...
A group of students from the masters level module S819 Radiotherapy and its physics were recently fortunate enough to visit ELEKTA’s manufacturing centre in Crawley, Surrey. The visit was arranged for us by S819 student, Paul Naine, who works for the company as a technical specialist, and he was supported in ...
Researchers have discovered 122 new eclipsing binary stars and observed hundreds more variable stars in an innovative survey using NASA's two STEREO solar satellites. The survey has been carried out by team from The Open University, University of Central Lancashire and the STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. Dr ...
A new science-based story book for young children (ages 4-8) has been published by Andrew Norton from the Department of Physics and Astronomy. "Oogle-Flip and the Planet Adventure" follows the adventures of a space explorer as he tries to find another planet suitable for life. The various planets he visits ...
Brian Ellison has been given the title of Visiting Professor at the Open University, and will be working closely with us in CEPSAR and in the new Department. Brian is a senior staff member of the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RALSpace) whose primary work is on ...
A collaboration between plasma physicists at the OU (Prof Nicholas Braithwaite) and in Paris (Dr Pascal Chabert) has led to a new graduate text book : “Physics of Radio-Frequency Plasmas”, Cambridge University Press. Though not exactly midway between the Ecole Polytechnique and the OU campus, the authors ...
A few years ago, the Physics and Astronomy Department received a legacy from Peter Napier, an OU graduate who had studied many of our physics modules. The Department decided to invest the money and use the income to fund two annual student prizes of £50 book tokens. One prize goes to the student with the best ...
Cambridge University Press has recently co-published a set of five astrophysics and cosmology textbooks written by OU authors. The books are the main study materials for the OU modules: S382 Astrophysics and S383 The Relativistic Universe, but as a result of the CUP co-publication deal they are also available ...
We are delighted to announce that Open University student Jayne Waters has won a £100 voucher for OU study at Astrofest 2011. Every year, one winner is selected from all the names and addresses collected at Astrofest by the Open University. Jayne Waters said: "Having had a fantastic day of lectures, meeting ...
The European Space Agency (ESA) has selected 14 space mission concepts (out of 47 submitted from the International Community) to go forward for further study for a Medium-size mission launch in 2022. Three of these missions with OU involvement are: the Exoplanet Missions, NEAT (Nearby Earth Astrometric Telescope) and ...
Dr Stephen Lewis, from the Department of Physics & Astronomy, has received a grant from the UK Space Agency/STFC to support atmospheric modelling and data assimilation in preparation for the NASA/ESA ExoMars 2016 Trace Gas Orbiter mission. The grant will support a full-time PhD studentship from October 2011, ...
A team of scientists, led by The Open University, has made a breakthrough discovery of a new population of galaxies magnified by warps in space and time. The team found these galaxies in their first data from the European Space Agency's infrared space telescope, Herschel.Lead researcher for the team doing this ...
Gabriel Horvath a student in the Department of Plasma Physics of the Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia a regular visitor to the Department of Physics and Astronomy, The Open University has won a prestigous national award as the best research student in the Physical and Mathematical Sciences. The prize was ...
Dr. Stephen Lewis has received a NASA Group Achievement Award "For the successful design, development and execution of the Mars Climate Sounder investigation of the weather and climate of Mars."Mars Climate Sounder is an instrument on board NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, and is designed to perform a ...
Orbiting at the edge of the outer Solar System, Pluto is an intriguing object in astronomy. Since the fascinating events surrounding its discovery, it has helped increase our understanding of the origin and evolution of the Solar System, and has raised questions about the nature and benefits of scientific ...
Please see the link for more information from the IoP. Please also see the guide on their website to physics teacher training 'Love Physics – Pass on the Passion and Teach'.
Using ESO’s Very Large Telescope, OU astronomers have for the first time demonstrated that a magnetar — an unusual type of neutron star — was formed from a star with at least 40 times as much mass as the Sun. The result presents great challenges to current theories of how stars evolve, as a star as ...
NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) have embarked on a joint programme to study the chemical composition of the atmosphere of Mars from 2016. They have just announced the providers of five scientific instruments for the first mission, including two consortia in which The Open University has a major role. The ...
