The Open University

Dr Ross Burgon with the C3D2 payload during acceptance testing [Credit: Courtesy of SSC]

OU to launch its first ever in-orbit experiment for student labs

23 September 2016

A miniature camera developed by space scientists at the OU will open up a new experience for distance learning students who will be able to interact with a live space instrument. The camera will be on board the Algerian Space Agency’s (ASAL) first CubeSat Mission, which will launch on 26 September 2016. OU space scientists […]

Mordor mystery: scientists solve puzzle of the strange, dark north pole on Pluto’s moon Charon

16 September 2016

Had Pluto itself not proved to be so spectacular when NASA’s New Horizons probe flew past last year, there can be no doubt that its large moon Charon would have won more admirers. The remarkable moon has a mysterious dark-red stain over its north pole, called “Mordor Macula” by the New Horizons team – where […]

Ceres asteroid may have an ‘ice volcano’ and other signs of water, NASA mission reveals

2 September 2016

The arrival of NASA’s Dawn mission at the huge asteroid “1 Ceres” in early 2015 has turned out to have been well worth waiting for. This dwarf planet is the largest body in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter and was the first to be discovered. But, until recently, we have only had information […]

An artist impression oF the surface of the Planet Mars four billion years ago

Mars had climate similar to Earth, concludes OU research

30 August 2016

It has been an amazing week for the world of Astronomy. With the discovery of an Earth-sized planet orbiting our nearest stellar neighbour within a zone that could support life, we are again forced to question whether we are alone. Now, a team of scientists from The Open University and several other UK and US institutes […]

How a ‘weather bomb’ shook the Earth – and why that’s not an earthquake

26 August 2016

The Earth beneath your feet is “humming” all the time. Typically these vibrations are too faint and low-frequency for your ears to hear. But they can be detected by seismometers, the instruments designed to study the generally more powerful vibrations that emanate from earthquakes. Now researchers have used an array of seismometers in Japan to […]

Artist's impression of the planet orbiting Proxima Centauri

OU astronomer helps to discover an Earth-like planet

25 August 2016

An international team of astronomers has detected a planet orbiting our nearest star, Proxima Centauri. The research, which has been published in Nature to a global audience, suggests the planet is at just the right distance from Proxima Centauri for liquid water to exist on its surface and has the potential to support life. Only […]

OU expands Cisco computing courses on OpenLearn

18 August 2016

Updating your smartphone is one thing, but getting to grips with how the Internet of Everything will change lives across the globe, is no longer something only computer programmers can worry about. With more data, people and processes coming online, the Internet of Everything (IoE) – the online, networked connection of devices and processes – […]

What does the solar system sound like?

27 July 2016

“In space, no one can hear you scream” was the tagline of the 1979 box office film success Alien. And it’s true. Sound waves propagate mechanically as a vibration and therefore need a medium – solid, liquid or gas – to travel through. Although interplanetary (and interstellar) space is not completely empty, gas molecules and […]

From Neptune’s blue hue to Jupiter’s red spot: are the colours of the planets real?

25 July 2016

These days, we’re used to seeing pictures of planets sent back by spacecraft. Some pictures look colourful, others less so. But do they show what each planet really looks like? The short answer to this is “sometimes”, because some planets are genuinely quite colourful. Others are surfaced by rock that is almost entirely grey, and […]

OU joins new search for water on the Moon

13 July 2016

A new mini robotic laboratory going to the south pole of the Moon to search for water could “enable a new wave of human exploration of the Moon and beyond” according to Open University scientist Dr Simeon Barber. The Open University has partnered with leading aerospace company Leonardo-Finmeccanica to develop ProSPA, a miniature robotic laboratory […]

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Category: Science, maths, computing and technology