A Leap Forward in the Race to Find Extreme Events Quickly
Extreme events in space will be identified faster than ever before thanks to a new tool developed by experts at the University of Leicester’s School of Physics and Astronomy, write Dr. Phil Evans. Who doesn’t love a good light display? The Universe certainly knows how to put on a firework show and some of its […]
Research Bites: ESA’s Gaia Mission
Please join us again this Friday December 2nd for our second research bites of the term. – Featuring Prof. Martin Barstow, talking about ESA’s Gaia mission. We will be in workshop room E (F23) from 1-2pm, the talk will last around 15-20 minutes, with time for questions afterwards. Free refreshments will be available, but feel […]
Astrophysics seminar – Wed 9th Nov 3pm LTA
This week’s in person astrophysics seminar will be by Sam Gill (Warwick). Sam will be around in Leicester from about 11am to 6pm. Please let me know if you’d like to meet up. Bridging the Gap between Hot Jupiters and Ice Giants Abstract: While thousands of transiting exoplanets are now known, the observed population is […]
“Planet and Binary Formation” Conference at the University of Leicester
An international astronomy conference on planet and binary formation took place at University of Leicester in mid-September 2022. Over 50 attendees from more than 10 countries as diverse as the USA and Taiwan gathered in the College Court from 12 to 16 September 2022 during the “Planet and binary formation in gravitationally unstable protoplanetary discs […]
Brightest Gamma-Ray Burst Detected by Swift
On the afternoon of Sunday 9th October, the Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) onboard Swift triggered on a new and incredibly bright gamma-ray source – write Kim Page, Andy Beardmore and Phil Evans. This first trigger was followed, about seven minutes later, by a second trigger on the same source. A double trigger such as this […]
Centenary Inaugural Lectures: Black Holes to Giant Planets
Members of the School of Physics and Astronomy are invited to two Professorial Inaugural Lectures in September. Black holes, Bayes’ rule and blended learning Professor Simon Vaughan’s centenary inaugural lecture will be taking place on Thursday 22 September 2022 at 5.30pm in Bennett Lecture Theatre 1. To attend please register on EventBrite (by Friday 16 […]
The first Wide-Field Snapshots of the X-ray Universe
The first truly wide-field X-ray images of the sky have been taken by a pathfinder mission testing Lobster-Eye technology for the Einstein Probe (EP) satellite, writes Prof. Paul O’Brien. The EP-Pathfinder instrument is on a Chinese test satellite launched on August 27. The first results including an 800-second X-ray “time-lapse photography” of a region of […]
SUREFest – Final Internship Presentations
This summer, the School of Physics and Astronomy has hosted 11 interns working as part of the SURE (summer undergraduate research experience) programme. The SURE programme provides paid opportunities for talented undergraduates to get a flavour of the cutting-edge research being undertaken within the School of Physics and Astronomy. Our students will be presenting their […]
New telescope to be the ‘GOTO’ for gravitational wave events
Leicester space scientists will contribute to a huge new telescope, made up of identical arrays on opposite sides of the planet, to track down sources of gravitational waves. The Gravitational-wave Optical Transient Observer (GOTO) will be deployed across two antipodal locations to fully cover the sky, and will scour our galaxy – and beyond – […]
First JWST Images – What do they Show?
Professor Martin Barstow wrote in the Conversation to explain what JWST’s first, amazing images show – and how it will change astronomy. After decades of development and many trials and frustrations along the way, the James Webb telescope has finally started to deliver what it came for. On July 12, Nasa released the first scientific […]
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