In the news (I)

Good evening folks.

In this post I thought I'd commentate on a couple of articles that are space-science related in the news this month. There appears to be a lot going on lately, whether this be that I am more frequently checking or that there is actually more activity I don't know - anyway here goes!


EXOPLANETS!  --planets outside our solar system--
This is big interest of mine and certainly a hot topic in astrophysics, at the time of writing, 518 planets have been discovered outside of our solar system. The significant thing about these this month is that rather a small rocky one has been found, I say small, it is still 40% more massive than the Earth. This is the first exoplanet to be discovered that is composed of a rocky material (all others being large gas giants), like our very own Solar system's inner planets, however due to it being a mere 1.8 million miles away from it's star - the rocky material that composes it is certainly in a molten liquid state.

Kepler-10b, artists impression
Credit: NASA

Most of the planets discovered so far have been far greater mass than Earth and are usually far larger than our largest neighbour Jupiter. Without getting technical, these planets are spotted because they make their parent star move due to gravity, this movement is for shorthand referred to as a star 'wobble'. The bigger the planet or the closer the planet to the star, the larger the wobble; this is why mainly huge planets are found first.

This news obviously shows progress is being made in finding smaller planets, but as for a planet that really is  Earth-like, I.e. being far enough from it's parent star to be fairly cool, I doubt this will occur this year. My reasoning for this is simply that it took 8 months to detect this one, and it had the advantage (in terms of being detectable) of being 20 times closer to it's star then Mercury is to our Sun! Still, it is still fantastic to hear about the various combinations of planets that are out there.



The problem with Astrology
I must admit, this next piece of news made me laugh. I will post the video below first for your perusal.


Credit: BBC

So, Astrology has been around since ancient times in various forms. Generally it is the belief that the bodies of our solar system and galaxy that we can see, can be used to obtain information about ourselves. Lately this is in the form of star signs, telling you how your day will be and maybe even your future.

Astrology, along with palm reading, Scientology and Go Compare adverts, make up a high percentage of my pet hates. The position of Saturn in relation to the Sun has about as much effect on your day as the position of  the clothes in your wardrobe, in fact; the latter has significantly more to do with your day. [Rant over].

The funny thing about this video is that the only science that this pseudo-science is based upon has turned out to be wrong, for thousands of years - it was formerly based around a different North star. Now the genuine followers of Astrology are panicking because they have been living in the wrong star sign, due to using two different North Stars. Guess they didn't see that coming...



European Space Agency (ESA) - Rivalling NASA
So finally I quickly wanted to show people this image:

ESA's space sport in French Guiana

Whilst I'm a scientist in the field of space physics, I was blissfully unaware that Europe was such a big contender, above shows the European space-port in French Guiana (N.E. of S.America). This seems almost science-fiction, it is a shame to see this kind of place doesn't make the news quite as much as NASA.

If you live in the UK, in 2009 the government paid  ESA approx. €254 million. So it would interest people to see how their money is spent. Since it's creation in 1975, it has sent over 200 rockets into space. ESA has dubbed 2011 'The year of rockets' for Europe, with as many as one per month going up (that's almost as many as Heathrow in a cold December!). So it is exciting times ahead.


I'm going to leave it at that tonight, see you soon!
James

The first three months (PhD life I)

Hello there! This post will talk a little about the first three months of my PhD, this could prove useful for people thinking about starting a PhD.

Towards the end of my degree in "Physics with planetary and space science" at Aberystwyth University, I applied to Leicester University to do a PhD. When I heard that a place was awarded to me, a sudden sense of worry appeared, worry that I hadn't felt since the first year of degree level physics.

You find in asking ex-supervisors and current/past PhD students, that this is a perfectly normal state of mind; they all say you feel very stupid for the first year. It is my pleasure to confirm that this (at least so far) is true.

The stupid-feeling, is derived not just from having to learn incredible amounts more or learning complex new techniques. The main reason is that you've just come from being in the comforting state of mind where you feel you know your subject well, only to suddenly find that every tiny piece of your subject is a subject in itself. The analogy 'big fish in a small sea' to 'small fish in a huge sea' has never applied so well!



Below is a list of some of the things I've got up to, with a brief description. (You will find that I like to write lists in my blog, they are often a much better way to disseminate information than a sentence - when there is a lot to say).

1. Seminars! This has been an eye opener, roughly once every three weeks we have a visiting researcher from another university to give a talk, they specialise in similar work to ours. It has been great to hear what they have to say in their seminars, although I only understand a small amount of their talk, I feel much is learnt each time. Plus every time one comes, our whole group has a curry and a beer with them...
   
2. Conferences! I've been to two conferences which have both been held at the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS), London. Essentially these appear to be similar to seminars, but with about fifteen speakers and chances to mingle in-between talks. These are great for seeing the latest research in your field, being on the frontier of science is a humbling experience. This has also been a good chance to meet people that do similar work to myself, I endeavour to get them following my blog!
   
3. Work!? I suppose I'd better say something about the work I've done, less my supervisor reads this and thinks my time is spent waiting for curries, beer and packing for trips to London. The main challenge in my PhD thus far has been programming, it has also simultaneously been the most rewarding.
   My first task was to arrange image files taken at the NASA Infra-Red Telescope Facility (IRTF) in Hawai'i. These were images of Jupiter taken in the Infra-Red band, it was my job to arrange these in order of their longitude, by which I mean; if you had images of Earth rotating - you would want it to rotate in the order the Earth does and not be centered on France in one frame and then suddenly India in the next. Below is a movie of this:
   
   

Jupiter through the IRTF, Hawai'i. 

A mini-conclusion to this PhD life post would be to say, I am really enjoying it, there isn't anything else I'd rather be doing. It is rewarding, interesting and let's face it - cool!


Thanks for reading, my next blog will appear within the next 10 days.
James

Blog 0

Hello and welcome to my blog!

This blog starts at zero as it is really just an introduction, firstly a little about myself.

I am a first year PhD student at the University of Leicester, UK, the title of the PhD is nicely named 'Jupiter's elegant infra-red aurora'. This all started on 10th October 2010, since the beginning I have kept a written journal on my office desk, an entry for my plans at the start of the day and an entry for what was accomplished by the end of it. 

Whilst I will continue this tradition, it occurs to me that there are a great many more advantages in writing a blog on-line. So, if you are interested, here is a little list of things I will talk about in my blog.

1.  PhD life. Starting only a few months ago, I am still in the very confusing early stages of it all. For those thinking of starting a PhD or are just interested in what PhD'ers do - this will be helpful.
2. Jupiter research. My PhD is all about Jupiter's upper atmosphere and aurora ('Northern lights'). We are particularly interested in creating a temperature profile of this planet within the next year. It would be a great idea for networking with other scientists in the field, sharing knowledge and ideas.
3. Thirdly and finally, "et cetera"; meaning 'everything else'. I may occasionally read something in the news (science related), that causes me to want to have a rant... good or bad :-). I may also have some philosophical epiphany's about the universe that I want to share, which may spark up some debate - or might just make me appear like an eccentric; either way it will be entertaining.

My next blog will talk about the first few months of PhD life here at Leicester. Also just for fun, here is an image I've refined from my initial dataset!

Jupiter as seen in Infra-red light.
Using NASA's Infra-red Telescope Facility (IRTF) in Hawai'i

With those things in mind, I would like to thank you for getting this far and hopefully see you again soon!

James