AstrotalkUK

Chris Lord  of Blackpool & District Astronomical Society continues the story of the telescope leading up to its use by Galileo for astronomical observations.

Ibn Sahl and Ibn al-Haythem were two scholars who during the 10th and 11th century developed the fundemental mathematical principles of refraction, reflection and dispersion and kick started the science of optics. Chris concludes this 2nd part at that point in history which marks the beginning of the telescope - Galileo’s profound astronomical discoveries in 1609.

 

 episode24 [24:22m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Hans Lipperhey’s patent application in the Netherlands for a telescope was formally denied on 2nd October 1608. Nonetheless, it is that individual, that place and that date which history associates with the invention of the telescope. Most of us are aware of the fundamental astronomical discoveries Galileo went on to make with it in the following year but could they have been made earlier?

Three thousand years ago, in what today is  Iraq , the  Nimrud lens now in the British Museum is clearly recognised as a lens. It probably could not have been used as part of an astronomical telescope but it is evidence that strongly indicates that lenses were in use long before Lipperhey and Galileo. The Pharos lighthouse in Alexandria is another illlustration of the advance understanding of optics in ancient times.

Chris Lord is an accomplished amateur astronomer and member of Blackpool & District Astronomical Society. He has recently completed a major piece of research in telescopes and optics to mark the International Year of Astronomy in 2009.

In this Episode, Chris talks about at the theory of vision, optics and the making and use of lenses during the almost two centuries from Euclid to Galileo.

 

 episode23 [16:58m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Just over a week ago, Wordpress 2.6 was released. I updated and everything was working fine. I have run in to a problem when I attempted to upload episode 23. It turns out that the plugin I use for this - called Podpress, is not compatible with Worpress 2.6. For existing episodes its fine but I cannot upload anything new.

An updated version of the plugin should be available early next week. Rather than regress to Wordpress version 2.51 I will wait a few days. So middle of next week if not before, it should be back to “normal”.

Something different.

If you are even only a tiny bit of a techie, you will be aware of the huge impact of Wordpress - the open source blogging platform, is having in the online community worldwide. Indeed, AstrotalkUK runs on Wordpress.

From time to time,  the Wordpress community gets together for a day or two to talk, mingle, learn and socialise with other wordpress bloggers, designers, developers or just about anyone who is interested in or connected to Wordpress. They call these events  “Wordcamp”.  They have taken place around the globe and on the weekend of July 19th and 20th, the UK contingent will have one of our own in Birmingham. I’ll be there. Its 35 quid for the two days of talks, presentations,  social events. Interested? More here.

As episode 21 indicated, the power of science fiction to motivate the imagination is perhaps as strong as science itself.

1957 is known for the launch of Sputnik but it was also the year that the scientist Fred Hoyle published a science fiction novel called The Black Cloud. One of its readers in Italy would be inspired by it to  become an astronomer and embark on a career which involves the scientific study such clouds.

Professor Paola Caselli was that reader and since the autumn of 2007 has been the professor of Astronomy at the University of Leeds where Fred Hoyle had been a student. Her area of interest is the study of those regions of space of dust and gas (“dark clouds”) from which stars and planet eventually form.

Dust comes in many forms – cosmic, cometery and interplanetary dust which is responsible for the zodiacal dust we can see from Earth. Professor Caselli investigates cosmic dust grains (atoms or molecules of Silicon, Magnesium, Carbon and others) which act like magnets and help suck out the volatiles from a dust cloud in the early stages of star formation. Some of these process are probably taking place right now in the recently announced discovery of HL Tau and its associated proto planet HL Tau b.

She will be speaking on “From Interstellar Clouds to Planets: the Universal Factory“at the now famous, Leeds Astromeet on Saturday 15th November at the University of Leeds.

 

 Episode22 [33:03m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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.

 

 episode21 [19:11m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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.

 

 episode20 [33:06m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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.

 

 episode19: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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 in addition to USA and Russia. Next year the 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 part in ESA.

ESA has many projects active or in the pipeline and last month initiated an astronauts recruiting 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. Incidentally thanks to the guys at space.co.uk (Paul and Martyn) and Cy from speed-of-light.co.uk, a video of this conversation is available here.

 

 episode18 [16:36m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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.

 

 episode17 [26:37m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download