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Not for profit website/blog on astronomy, space and my writing

Episode 109 – The Antikythera Mechanism with Prof Xenophon Moussas

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I first came across the Antikythera Mechanism just over a decade ago. It is still the most incredible artefact from history. It is as out of place in our time as William Shakespeare using an Iphone or Vasco De Gama travelling in a speedboat.

The Antikythera Mechanism is a complex mechanical (clockwork) device that can determine the position of the planets and phases of the Moon and predict when solar and lunar eclipses will occur. Constructed about two thousand years ago, it was discovered in 1901.

The three wooded calendaric machines in the National Museum of Iceland in Reykjavik

The three calendaric machines, made of wooden gears, from around 1780 in the National Museum of Iceland in Reykjavik. They are grandchildren of the Antikythera Mechanism. References to Cicero’s text to the Antikythera are available here.

Perhaps the most recent and informative video by published by mathematician Tony Freeth is available on Youtube. A paper published by several active researchers, including Tony Freeth, was published in Nature. Investigation continues today. Underwater research continues today at the shipwreck site. Press release from June 2022. This interview was recorded in July 2022 in Athens during Cospar 2022.

Athens-based Professor Xenophon Moussas has been mesmerised by it since childhood. As a mathematician and a space scientist, he has been involved in using leading technology to reveal its mysteries. He is available for presentations on the Antikythera Mechanism and can be contacted via email xmoussas AT gmail.com.

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Episode 104 – William Leitch. The forgotten Scottish Rocket Pioneer

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When it comes to the pioneers of rocketry, tradition has it that it was Tsilokosky, Goddard and Oberth. in this episode, author Rob Godwin talks about William Leitch from Scotland. Leitch was writing about the principles of rocket propulsion and space travel in 1861. Decades before Tsiolkovsy. Over the last few years, Rob has been researching Leitch’s story and published a book – William Leitch Presbyterian Scientist & The Concept of Rocket Space Flight 1854-1864

In this interview recorded via Zoom, Rob Godwin recalls how he came across Leitch’s work and the research activity that eventually led him to uncover this remarkable story.

The following 19th-century publications, that Rob refers to are now available online, and pdf versions can be downloaded. Links are available on the episode page

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Episode 99 Professor Stamatios Krimigis – Exploring the Solar System with Voyager

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This episode was recorded in Athens in July 2022 during Cospar 2022 and he speaks about his remarkable career guided in large part by his mentor, physicist James Van Allen.

Professor Stamtios Krimigis

He started studying physics at the University of Minnesota in the same month that Sputnik was launched. A chance meeting with James van Allen led Stamatios Krimigis to build instruments for Mariner 3 and 4. Eventually assigned as the Principle Investigator for the charged particle instrument on the voyager program which was initially known as Mariner Jupiter Saturn 77 program.

It is released today to mark his 84th birthday tomorrow on September 10th. Audio and youtube video below.

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WEA Online Courses starting in September 2021

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The two introductory courses below are organised by The Workers’ Educational Association (WEA), UK’s largest voluntary sector provider of adult education in England and Scotland. I will be delivering thee courses via Zoom in September. There is a cost but if you qualify that could be nil.

The New Space Age

The New Space Age

Introductory online course via Zoom. No prerequisite. Fee £64.00 or Nil.

Course dates 07/09/2021 – 09/11/2021
Ten sessions for 2 hrs per session every Tuesday starting at 7pm

Over the ten interactive sessions this course will provide an overview on:

Evolution of the space age from the beginnings with Sputnik to today
Outline the rich sources of services from space that shape society on Earth
The emergence of the private space sector in countries around the world
Space activities in India, China and Africa
Explore the concern of congestion in space from the growing number of spacecraft and the hazards of space debris.
The potential for the militarisation of space.
Humans living and working in Earth orbit. Returning to the Moon and beyond to Mars

Enrol Here

Explorers of the Cosmos

Explorers of the Cosmos

Introductory online course via Zoom. No prerequisite. Fee £64.00 or Nil.

Course dates 09/09/2021 – 11/11/2021.
Ten sessions for 2 hrs per session on Thursdays starting at 5pm

Over ten weeks the course will look at the life and work of the life and work of the following individuals

Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543)
Galileo Galilei (1564–1642) 
Isaac Newton (1643–1727)
Henrietta Swann Leavitt (1868–1921)
Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
Edwin Hubble (1899–1953)
Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar (1910-1995)
Vera Rubin (1928-2016)
Stephen Hawking (1942-2018) 
Jocelyn Bell (1943 – )

Enrol here