AstrotalkUK

Professor Mark Brake from the University of Glamorgan has an eclectic interest. An academic, broadcaster and author of science and popular science books, he is the organising chair for the the third conference of the Astrobiology Society of Britain: ASB3: The Living Universe, will take place in Cardiff between July 1-4, 2008. We spoke about the relationship between science & science fiction and astrobiology.

As the European city of Culture, Liverpool has more than its fair share of activities this year. Many have an astronomy connection. In today's episode Andy Newsam from Liverpool John Moores University, Joanne Coleman from the British Association for the Advancement of Science talks about the Science Festival between 6th and 11th of September and Gary Evans from the sciencephoto library on a unique exhibition of astronomical images called Earth to the Universe which is already underway.

All of these take place in Liverpool as it celebrates its role as the 2008 European City of Culture. Infact, if you do see this in time and are close enough to Liverpool there is in interesting lecture this Thursday 17th June 18:30, Chadwick Lecture Theatre, University of Liverpool. Robert Fosbury, is talking about How Astronomers Image the Sky.

There are many ways to participate in and learn about astronomy online.

In today’s episode, three examples of how the web is being used to share resources and build communities around Science http://www.sciencefile.org Space http://www.space.co.uk and Astronomy http://www.fedastro.org.uk .

Many astronomical societies are preparing or have already completed a program of speakers for the 2008/9 season. If you are a member I would encourage you exploit one or better still all three resources featured in today’s episode to advertise you societies events. You will be surprised at the visitors who may turn up.

Since the days of Sputnik and Apollo, Space technology has matured to an extent that it is almost a routine commercial activity. China, India, and Japan are well-established players, along with the USA and Russia. Next year, Virgin Galactic will embark on space tourism. Since its establishment in 1975, the European Space Agency ( ESA) has come a long way. The original 10 founding member countries have now grown to 17 with a broad mission to “Explore Space”. All member countries are European, as you would expect – except one. With the same disregard for geography that allows Israel to join the Eurovision Song Contest, Canada also plays a role in the ESA.

ESA has many projects active or in the pipeline, and last month initiated an astronaut recruitment program. You have to be from one of the 17 member countries and you can even apply online. David Southwood is the ESA Director of Science. The following conversation with him was recorded at the Space conference.

Thanks to the guys at space.co.uk (Paul and Martyn) and Cy from speed-of-light.co.uk for the following video.

http://youtu.be/Q3uIl7MU9QM

As the most energetic photons, gamma rays are rare, difficult to observe, require special telescopes & detectors, and not many of them make it to the surface of the earth anyway. So why is gamma ray astronomy important?

Its not an area of astronomy that amateurs usually dip even their big toe in and something entirely new for me. Talking jointly with a Dr Stella Bradbury and Dr Joachim Rose at the department of Physics was a little scary, but turned out to be extremely informative. They spoke about their work at many observatories, including Veritas Array. I spoke to them a couple of weeks ago and you will hear the reference to the launch of Gamma Ray Large Area Telescope (GLAST). That launch has been delayed to June 3rd.

For realtime GRB alerts see here.

You can’t think of Darwin without Wallace, Laurel without Hardy. In UK astronomy, there is no more enduring and familiar partnership than Henbest and Couper. Nigel and Heather have been writing, broadcasting, supporting and publicising astronomy for decades.

Their most recent project is a series of daily radio programs for BBC Radio 4 called Cosmic Quest, and an associated book, History of Astronomy, which together chart the story of how human societies, throughout history and around the globe, have attempted to understand the universe and their place within it.

Nigel Henbest - Science Writer from gurbir on Vimeo.

Astrobiology is the study of life outside the earth. Paradoxically, it is advanced by understanding how life started here on earth. More about Astrobiology in the UK at the Astrobiology Society's website.

In the famous Miller Urey experiment to discover the origin of life, the experiment did not result in primitive life but succeeded in creating organic molecules from inorganic constituents. The starting point of the Miller and Urey experiments was the chemical composition of the early Earth’s atmosphere. Could meteorites also have given life a helping hand?

In today's episode, Dr Terry Kee from the School of Chemistry at the University of Leeds talks about the key processes involving Phosphorus that may have been critical in kick-starting life on earth. The type of Phosphorus required for these processes is not found on the surface of the Earth today but is found in Iron meteorites. In a new collaborative project funded by £500,000 grant University of Leeds will investigate the beginning of life on Earth 3.8 billion years ago.

Sorry about the quality of the audio - the recording was made in Dr Kee's office which apparently was much noisier than I remember:(

After a 7 year journey, Cassini/ Huygens arrived at Saturn in 2004 and Huygens landed on the surface of Titan on January 14th 2005. The only moon within the solar system known to have a substantial atmosphere.

On Monday 3rd of July 1989 it was possible to study the atmosphere of Titan from here on Earth when it occulted a 5.8mag star 28 Sagittarius. Ken Irving from Salford Astronomical Society describes the observation he made and video recording of the unexpected central flash. Available below.

Using data from the onboard Acoustic Sensor Unit, the Planetary Society compressed Huygens two and half hour descent into a 10 second audio clip.

After landing, Huygens continued to transmit data including those incredible pictures of the surface for another 70 minutes until the communication link to Earth - Cassini disappeared over the horizon. It would not come in range again for 40 days by when Huygens’ batteries were dead. There in its dark cold -180C deep freeze it remains. Probably intact. Professor John Zarnecki from the Open University who lead the Surface Science Package team talk a little about the achievements f the Cassini/Huygens mission.

You may have seen the report from the British UK Space Exploration Working Group suggesting that Britain can get two British Astronauts to the Space station costing less than £75m over 5 years by commercially engaging the Russian Soyuz program rather than the annual £60m cost of going with ESA, or indeed developing a British launch capability.

The Astronomer Royal on the other hand insists that unmanned space research is the way to go. You get a heck of a lot more science for your money

Dave and Leslie Wright from the British Rocketry Oral History program (BROHP) reminisce about the early days when Britain had its own launch capability and the UK Space conference that they host each year.

Want to be a rocket Scientist? Well a new book from a rocket scientist Lucy Rogers may be a good start. Lucy is also the chairman of the Vectis Astronomical Society on the isle of Wight. Their website must be one of the most elaborate. Check it out but .. turn down the volume on your PC first.

July 2009 marks the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11 landing in the Sea of Tranquillity on the moon. In today’s episode – assistant director & co-producer Chris Riley talks about the recent film “In the Shadow of the Moon” which recounts that period and someone who was a part of it - astronaut Buzz Aldrin on his interest in Astronomy.

A short written account of his visit, including a lunch with him and his wife, is here.

https://youtu.be/8JDqbqhmixs

Buzz Aldrin from AstrotalkUK on Vimeo.