The Open University

Ruby clouds and water behaving strangely – what we found when studying an exoplanet’s dark side

25 February 2022

by Joanna Barstow, The Open University Since astronomers discovered the first planet orbiting a star other than the Sun, we have found many worlds that are very unlike the ones in our own Solar System. A large number of these “exoplanets” are large, gaseous planets roughly the size of Jupiter, orbiting close to their parent […]

The Power of Plants: join The OU and BBC for a virtual Green Planet event

22 February 2022

Join us for a virtual event this Friday (25 February) with the experts behind The Open University (OU) / BBC programme, The Green Planet. The Green Planet first aired on the BBC in January, offering a stunning insight into our world’s flora, presented by the legendary Sir David Attenborough. The event will be shot in […]

‘Metal clouds and rain made of liquid gems’ – new research into exoplanet atmosphere

21 February 2022

A group of astronomers, including Joanna Barstow from The Open University and experts from the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy (MPIA), have examined the atmosphere of a ‘hot Jupiter’ exoplanet, discovering how water changes physical state between day and night. Using the Hubble Space Telescope, an international collaboration of scientists led by Thomas Mikal-Evans from […]

Astronomers think they’ve just spotted an “invisible” black hole for the first time

7 February 2022

By Adam McMaster, Research Student at The Open University and Prof of Astrophysics Education Andrew Norton, at The Open University Astronomers famously snapped the first ever direct image of a black hole in 2019, thanks to material glowing in its presence. But many black holes are actually near impossible to detect. Now another team using […]

New space agency funding could make lunar living a reality

7 February 2022

The UK Space Agency (UKSA) has awarded funding to The Open University space academics to develop a ground-breaking new technology that could one day enable us to build on the Moon using lunar soil. The project has been led by Dr Sungwoo Lim and his colleagues Professor Mahesh Anand, Dr Andrew Morse and Dr James […]

Asteroid sharing Earth’s orbit discovered – could it help future space missions?

4 February 2022

David Rothery, Professor of Planetary Geosciences at The Open University writes for The Conversation about the asteroids that share Earth’s orbit. Research has shown that the Earth trails an asteroid barely a kilometre across in its orbit about the Sun – only the second such body to have ever been spotted. It goes round the […]

OU wins UK Space Agency funding to grow regional space activity

2 February 2022

The Open University (OU) is one of 10 organisations to be given a boost from UK Space Agency’s (UKSA) regional funding package. The funding comes after the Government published its landmark Levelling Up White Paper, exploring how new policy interventions can improve opportunity and boost livelihoods across the country as we recover from the pandemic. […]

Local MP meets with TreeView Research Team at Milton Keynes campus

1 February 2022

Ben Everitt MP visited The Open University campus in Milton Keynes to meet with the STEM academic team behind TreeView. As MP for Milton Keynes North, the OU campus is located within Mr Everitt’s constituency and he met with academics to discuss the TreeView project in more depth last week (28 January). TreeView aims to […]

New study finds some flowers unchanged for 100 million years

31 January 2022

An international research team has discovered 100-million-year-old fossil flowers preserved in amber, showing that some flowers found living today in South Africa have remained unchanged since the time of the dinosaurs. The flowers, discovered by experts from The Open University, Qingdao University, and others, are nearly identical to those of modern Phylica species, which are […]