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Astronomy & Space
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Astronomy & Space - 06.08.2024

Scientists have developed a new method for detecting supermassive binary black holes, pairs of the largest kind of black holes in the Universe and located at the very centre of galaxies. The new technique will require a deci-Hz gravitational-wave detector and would enable astronomers to study supermassive black hole binaries, which might otherwise remain inaccessible.
Astronomy & Space - Physics - 05.08.2024

Astronomers have discovered that red dwarf stars can produce stellar flares that carry far-ultraviolet (far-UV) radiation levels much higher than previously believed. The discovery suggests that the intense UV radiation from these flares could significantly impact whether planets around red dwarf stars can be habitable.
Astronomy & Space - 30.07.2024
Sci-fi spaceships could create gravitational wave bursts within range of future detectors, scientists say
Scientists have modelled the breakdown of alien spaceships using "warp drive" technology, to study the gravitational wave emissions that are generated. The technology, seen in sci-fi shows like Star Trek, creates a bubble in which fictional spacecraft are propelled forward by compressing the spacetime in front of them.
Chemistry - Astronomy & Space - 30.07.2024

The mystery of how complex molecules essential to life first formed may have been solved by a new study involving UCL's Dr Paola Pinilla. Planetary scientists believe that organic macromolecules that make Earth suitable for life, including elements such as carbon, nitrogen and oxygen, initially came from a type of meteorite known as a chondrite - but how chondrites acquired these molecules in the first place was unknown.
Astronomy & Space - 15.07.2024
’Morning’ and ’evening’ detected on an exoplanet
The different atmospheric conditions of the 'morning' and 'evening' sides of a distant planet have been revealed by the James Webb Space Telescope. The atmospheres of exoplanets - those outside our Solar System - have been measured using powerful telescopes for some time. However, the atmosphere has always been treated as being the same all'over the planet.
Astronomy & Space - Environment - 10.07.2024
Cool exoplanet reveals missing link between hot Jupiters and cold solar system planets
Research into a rare planet is revealing the link between hot Jupiter-sized exoplanets and cold solar system giants like Saturn. Astronomers searching for exoplanets (planets outside of our solar system) have investigated a Saturn-sized body around a Sun-like star, 490 lightyears from Earth. The research, led by The University of Warwick in collaboration with other global institutions, focused on a transiting exoplanet called TOI-2447 b, which is much cooler and further away from its host star than most known exoplanets.
Astronomy & Space - Earth Sciences - 05.07.2024
Repurposed technology used to probe new regions of Mars’ atmosphere
An antenna on ExoMars' Trace Gas Orbiter has been given a new lease of life, helping researchers delve into the Martian atmosphere like never before. Using the repurposed equipment, a team including Imperial College London researchers have measured parts of the Martian atmosphere that were previously impossible to probe.
Astronomy & Space - Earth Sciences - 27.06.2024

A massive balloon, designed to measure the background radiation left over from the 'Big Bang' and help scientists better understand the infancy and evolution of our Universe, has just moved to the next stage of development Thirty years after the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) spectrum was first precisely characterised by NASA's Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) mission, a new experiment - known as BISOU (for Balloon Interferometer for Spectral Observations of the Universe) - is expected to significantly advance these measurements, gaining a factor of ~25 in sensitivity.
Astronomy & Space - History & Archeology - 27.06.2024
Gravitational wave researchers cast new light on Antikythera mechanism mystery
Techniques developed to analyse the ripples in spacetime detected by one of the 21st century's most sensitive pieces of scientific equipment have helped cast new light on the function of the oldest known analogue computer. Astronomers from the University of Glasgow have used statistical modelling techniques developed to analyse gravitational waves to establish the likely number of holes in one of the broken rings of the Antikythera mechanism - an ancient artifact which was showcased in the movie Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny .
Microtechnics - Astronomy & Space - 17.06.2024

Manchester engineers unlock design for record-breaking robot that could jump twice the height of Big Ben Engineers at The University of Manchester have unlocked the secrets to designing a robot capable of jumping 200 metres - higher than any other jumping robot designed to date. Using a combination of mathematics, computer simulations, and laboratory experiments, the researchers have discovered how to design a robot with the optimum size, shape and the arrangement of its parts, allowing it to jump high enough to clear obstacles many times its own size.
Astronomy & Space - Health - 11.06.2024

The structure and function of the kidneys is altered by space flight, with galactic radiation causing permanent damage that would jeopardise any mission to Mars, according to a new study led by researchers from UCL. The study, published in Nature Communications , is the largest analysis of kidney health in space flight to date and includes the first health dataset for commercial astronauts.
Astronomy & Space - 06.06.2024

Astronomers have detected carbon in a galaxy just 350 million years after the Big Bang, the earliest detection of any element in the universe other than hydrogen. Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), an international team of astronomers led by the University of Cambridge observed a very young galaxy in the early universe and found that it contained surprising amounts of carbon, one of the seeds of life as we know it.
Astronomy & Space - Physics - 05.06.2024
Scientists detect slowest-spinning radio emitting neutron star ever recorded
Artist's depiction of CSIRO's ASKAP radio telescope with two versions of the mysterious celestial object: neutron star or white dwarf Most collapsed stars rotate faster than once per second. This one takes nearly an hour. Scientists have detected what they believe to be a neutron star spinning at an unprecedentedly slow rate -slower than any of the more than 3,000 radio emitting neutron stars measured to date.
Astronomy & Space - Computer Science - 31.05.2024

Scientists at the University of Warwick are using artificial intelligence (AI) to analyse cosmic explosions known as supernovae. Many stars in the Universe will end their lives as white dwarfs - compact stars containing about the mass of the Sun in the size of the Earth. Some of these white dwarfs will eventually explode as supernovae.
Astronomy & Space - Physics - 30.05.2024

The two earliest and most distant galaxies yet confirmed, dating back to only 300 million years after the Big Bang, have been discovered using NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), an international team of astronomers today announced.
Astronomy & Space - 24.05.2024

Two international teams of astronomers, including one co-led by a PhD candidate based at UCL and the University of Edinburgh, have discovered a planet only 40 light years away whose size is between that of Earth and Venus. The researchers used observations by NASA's TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite).
Astronomy & Space - 16.05.2024
Webb detects most distant black hole merger to date
An international team of astronomers, led by the University of Cambridge, has used the James Webb Space Telescope to find evidence for an ongoing merger of two galaxies and their massive black holes when the Universe was only 740 million years old. This marks the most distant detection of a black hole merger ever obtained and the first time that this phenomenon has been detected so early in the Universe.
Astronomy & Space - 15.05.2024

A new, Earth-sized planet orbiting an ultra-cool red dwarf star, has been detected by an international team of astronomers - just 55 light years away. The planet is only the second of its kind to be discovered around this type of star. Called SPECULOOS-3 b, it takes around 17 hours to complete an orbit of the star which is more than twice as cold as our sun, as well as ten times less massive and a hundred times less luminous.
Astronomy & Space - 16.04.2024

The European Space Agency's Gaia mission involving UCL researchers has discovered the most massive black hole in our galaxy to date that formed from an exploding star. The black hole, known as Gaia BH3, is 33 times the mass of our Sun and located relatively close to Earth at 2,000 light years away. (The Milky Way is 100,000 light years across.
Astronomy & Space - Earth Sciences - 16.04.2024

Intensive new nano-analysis of the Winchcombe meteorite has revealed how it was affected by water and repeatedly smashed apart and reassembled on the journey it took through space before landing in an English sheep field in 2021. Researchers from dozens of institutions in the UK, Europe, Australia, and the USA collaborated on the research.
Computer Science - Jun 13
Student app designed to bridge the life skills gap shortlisted for national award
Student app designed to bridge the life skills gap shortlisted for national award