November Digest

As the end of 2020 draws near, we’d like to share some of the stories from the Physics and Astronomy Community from the past month.

 

The Physics Community team is busy compiling our 2020 yearbook, so please send any late-breaking stories to phys.community@le.ac.uk by Monday December 14th at the latest, using the normal instructions for blog posts.  And don’t forget to send photos of 2020 events, submissions for the Yearbook cover, and questions for our Agony Aunt, directly to Emily Baldwin (ejb71@le.ac.uk) before December 14th.

Upcoming Event: If you’re blessed with clear skies over the next few days, don’t forget to look up to spot the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction, low in the dusk sky in the southwest – if you capture any good photographs, please do send them to us!

Our Community: November saw a host of events designed to connect members of our school, from the success of the All-School Quiz (congrats to the “Mind Rover Matter” team!), our first PhysUoL Live discussion event on the next big things in Astro, to the expansion of the informal “To Infinity and Beyond” Discord server.  We’ve continued to add to our “Conversations with…” series, with new profiles of Tom Stallard and Dipali Thanki, and you can also hear video blogs from Sarah Casewell and Charly Feldman about women in space science and careers in STEM. Finally, congratulations to Soheb Mandhai for one of the five winning entries in a research exhibition from the Royal Astronomical Society, and you can read all about Sam Frampton’s experiences with the “I’m a Scientist, Get Me Out of Here!” outreach programme.

Space News:  Leigh Fletcher showcased some of Leicester’s planetary research and involvement in ESA’s JUICE mission on this month’s BBC Sky at Night, John Bridges provided blogs about the successes of the Chinese Chang’e 5 lunar sampling mission and the Japanese Hayabusa 2 mission returning samples from Asteroid Ryugu, and Phil Evans describes recent gravitational wave black hole observations.  You can also read blog posts about Leicester involvement in future Ice Giant exploration, the launch of the Galactic Unite scholarships for first-year undergraduates, and look back to our archive of Leicester in space in the 1960s.

Opportunities: Don’t forget that all School members are invited to forthcoming seminars; 4th year undergraduates might like to explore the PhD projects on offer for 2021; and the National Space Centre has been hosting live Q&A sessions – this Friday, Apollo 17 Flight Director Gerry Griffin will be chatting live with the team.

Best wishes, and Season’s Greetings from The Physics Community Team