Tag Archives: astronomy
Sun-worshipping robot puts Bayfordbury on the world map
A robot installed at the University’s Bayfordbury Observatory has just joined the worldwide network AErosol RObotic NETwork (AERONET), which is coordinated by NASA. The robot is a sun photometer, an automatic instrument for measuring the properties of atmospheric aerosols, such … Continue reading
Astronomer finds evidence for record-breaking nine planet system
How many planets does a planetary system need to break a record? According to a study conducted by Mikko Tuomi from the Centre for Astrophysics Research, the answer is nine – one more than our own Solar system! This significant … Continue reading
Milky Way image of one billion stars
Two sky surveys of the Milky Way led by Dr Phil Lucas from the School of Physics, Astronomy and Mathematics have been combined to show more than one billion stars in a near-infrared image. British-built telescopes were used to take … Continue reading
New super-Earth detected within the habitable zone of a nearby cool star
Guest post by Hugh Jones, Professor of Astronomy
I have been working as part of an international team of scientists that have discovered a potentially habitable super-Earth orbiting a nearby star. The planet’s host star is well-established to have a different makeup from that of our Sun, lacking the … Continue reading
Dark Sky Discovery sites
Astronomers at the University of Hertfordshire are taking part in Dark Sky Discovery – a pioneering new national and regional partnership of astronomy and environmental organisations led by the Science and Technology Facilities Council, which is being launched this week … Continue reading
A Twisted ring in the Galactic Centre
Astronomers at the University of Hertfordshire are part of an international team which has observed unprecedented views of a ring in the centre of our Milky Way galaxy with the Herschel Space Observatory. The ribbon of gas and dust is … Continue reading
First images from VLT Survey Telescope open the way for UK-led surveys of the southern sky
The VLT Survey Telescope (VST), the latest addition to ESO’s Paranal Observatory, has made its first release of impressive images of the southern sky. The VST is a state-of-the-art 2.6-metre telescope, with the huge 268-megapixel camera OmegaCAM at its heart, … Continue reading
First Pictures from LOFAR Telescope
First Pictures from LOFAR Telescope A new UK telescope has taken ‘radio pictures’ deep into space for the first time in the quest to discover more about the birth of stars and galaxies just after the Big Bang. The images … Continue reading
Astronomers discover coolest objects outside solar system
Our astronomers have measured the distances to 11 of the coolest objects ever discovered outside our solar system. The 11 cool objects – known as brown dwarfs – have masses intermediate between stars (more massive) and planets (less massive), and … Continue reading
First UK cameras to scan the sky
One of our astronomy graduates set up the first UK camera which continuously scans the night sky and dictates the best conditions for surveys. David Campbell, an Astrophysics graduate at the University, who collects meteorites as a hobby, set up … Continue reading