AstrotalkUK

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

Episode 116: Exploring Cosmic Events with Professor Rene Breton at Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics

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Professor Rene Breton. Deputy head of the Department of Astronomy and Physics at the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics

Some of the most energetic events in the cosmos are associated with the products left after a star’s violent end. These products are always smaller and denser: a white dwarf (the size of a planet), a Neutron star (the size of a city), or a Black Hole (an object without a size). The bigger the initial mass of a star, the sooner and more energetic its end will be. Our Sun is not all that massive; it will end up as a white dwarf in and out 4.5 billion years from now.

Professor Rene Breton, originally from Quebec, has been working at the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics for over a decade. We discuss only a small part of his current research, including how Pulsars may one day be used as a GPS for interstellar travel. Other topics include

Credit McGill University
  • Why and how he ended up in Manchester
  • His first impressions of Manchester and comparisons with Quebec in Canada
  • The key role of a high-school teacher, Mr. Gaudreault, setting him on his career in science
  • Stellar evolution – how stars are born and the process by which they end up as white dwarfs, neutron stars and black holes
  • Event Horizon Telescope – imaging the black hole in the centre of our galaxy
  • The ultimate fate of our Sun
  • Quasars are distant galaxies with a Black Hole in the centre,  so distant that they look like stars. 
  • FAST Radio bursts, including Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs), are from extragalactic distances. Events that last a few seconds or less – a sign of merging neutron stars or evidence of Hypernovae (not novae or supernovae)!
  • Neutron Stars in Binary Systems, accretion discs and “spiders”
  • Neutron Stars as a cosmic GPS for future space travellers
  • Detect Gravitational Waves using neutron stars. Gravitational Wave detectors are not very sensitive, so they can only detect high-energy events, such as the collision of two neutron stars or the formation of black holes. 
  • Space-borne Gravity Wave detectors, such as the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna, which NASA plans to launch in the 2030s, will be able to detect a wider range of cosmological phenomena.
  • Square Kilometer Array’s role in detecting more neutron stars, pulsars and even pulsars orbiting black holes
  • Pulsar Timing Array – a GPS for interstellar travel
Professor Rene Breton. University of Manchester. Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics

Episode 60: Square Kilometre Array

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Artists impression – from http://www.skatelescope.org/

The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) is a global science and engineering project to build a revolutionary new radio telescope with extraordinary scientific ambitions.

With funding from ten nations the building of the SKA will start in 2016 and be fully operational in 2024. It will tackle some of the profoundest questions of cosmology associated with organic molecules, gravitational waves,  pulsars orbiting black holes and light from the earliest stars that illuminated the universe. To do this the SKA will require super computers,  innovative new power stations and high speed communication links  that currently do not exist.

This interview with Professor Michael Kramer was recorded in March 2012 at the National Astronomy Meeting in the University Manchester two months prior to the announcement that the Square Kilometre Array will be built in South Africa along with  Australia & New Zealand.

Professor Kramer from the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Germany that manages the 100m Effelsberg Radio Telescope  is  a former associate director at Jodrell Bank and still professor  there, talks about the technical, political and economic concerns associated with the SKA project.

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Episode 49: 17th March 2012: National Astronomy Meeting 2012

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This episode has no specific astronomical topic but draws attention to a very special astronomy meeting later this month. The Royal Astronomical Society’s annual National Astronomy Meeting last year was held in Wales, next year it will be in Scotland but this year it is in Manchester. National Astronomy Meeting 2012 or  NAM2012 will be hosted by the University of Manchester in partnership with Germany’s equivalent to the RAS, the Astronomische Gesellschaft in the last week of March 2012. Despite the title it is very much international in nature with professional astronomers attending from USA, Australia and Europe.

I hope be blogging from the meeting, if you are around do stop by and say hello. I plan to record interviews with some of the speakers for future astrotalkuk episodes.

From the evening of Monday 26th March to Friday 30th, the weeklong program has a fascinating and varied schedule including free public talks. Although free – booking online is essential. Some of the  outreach elements include

  • Two public lectures in the evening on Monday and Wednesday – book here
  • Two plenary session talks during each day of the week  between 09:00-10:00 and again between  17:00-18:00 (except Fri 15:45 -16:45). Contact Anna.Mayall@manchester.ac.uk Group booking by astronomical societies are welcomed but should done quickly – its first come first served.
  • A program of talks specifically for A level students. They are day-long event not free but refreshments are included.
  • A unique social event on the  evening of Tuesday 27th  in a city centre pub, an unusual blend of standup comedy and science £3.00 at the door.

In the following recording by telephone Dr Tim O’Brien from Jodrell Bank, explains the background to NAM2012 in Manchester.

Incidentally,  like me, you may enjoy a picture on Tim’s website. No doubt taken during the emmensly successful Stargazing live event earlier this year. It show’s Tim falling asleep in his chair with Dara Obriain looking on with Prof Brian Cox in the background. All the links online in episode 49.  Here’s Tim.

 

Summary of free public talks

Public Lectures

  1. Mon 26th March 8pm All from Nothing : The Structuring of Our Universe Prof. Simon White
  2. Wed 28th March 8pm The Juno Mission to Jupiter: What’s Inside the Giant Planet?  Prof. Fran Bagenal

Plenary Session Lectures

  1. Tue 27th March 9am-10am The Square Kilometre Array Michael Kramer
  2. Tue 27th March 5pm-6pm Probing the interior of Jupiter: NASA’s Juno mission Fran Bagenal
  3. Wed 28th March 9am-10am Frontiers in gravitational lensing Peter Schneider
  4. Wed 28th March 5pm-6pm The protocloud and the large-scale environment of galaxies Joss Bland-Hawthorn
  5. Thu 29th March 9am-10am Wonders of the solar atmosphere Alan Hood
  6. Thu 29th March 5pm-6pm Astrophotography Nik Szymanek
  7. Fri 30th March 9am-10am Catching Shadows: Kepler’s Year-Three Exoplanet Census Natalie Batalha
  8. Fri 30th March 3:45pm-4:45pm Cosmology in our backyard

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