Physics and Astronomy

Astronomers at the University of Southampton have uncovered a remarkable connection between the monstrous black holes residing at the hearts of distant galaxies and their comparatively tiny cousins which inhabit star systems in our own Milky Way: they are playing the same tunes. Dr Phil Uttley presents these findings in a talk called `The music of black holes` at the National Astronomy Meeting in Bristol on Tuesday 9 April.

Massive black holes, a million to a billion times heavier than the S

One of the most fascinating areas of astronomical research in recent years has been the search for other `Earths` circling Sun-like stars far beyond our Solar System.

In recent years nearly 100 planets have been discovered in orbits around other stars, but none of these `exoplanets` remotely resembles the Earth. However, according to the latest computer simulations by Barrie Jones and Nick Sleep (The Open University), millions of Earthlike worlds could be scattered throughout the Galaxy, ju

The European Space Agency is planning its first mission to unveil the mysteries of Earth`s cloud-shrouded sister planet, Venus. On Wednesday 10 April, Professor Fred Taylor (University of Oxford) will be explaining to the UK National Astronomy Meeting why European scientists are hoping to be on board the Venus Express in 2005.

Venus, the Earth`s nearest planetary neighbour, is remarkably similar in size and mass to our own world. However, its atmosphere and climate could hardly be more diff

New VLT Discovery Pushes Back the Beginnings

Using the ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT), a team of astronomers from The Netherlands, Germany and the USA [1] have discovered the most distant group of galaxies ever seen, about 13.5 billion light-years away. The Photo shows the sky region near the power

A new type of optical material has been developed by physicists that could replace the electronics used to route the light signals through optical fibre telecommunications networks. It could even provide the basis for future `optical computers` working on light pulses instead of electric signals. At the Condensed Matter conference on Monday 8 April, part of the Institute of Physics Congress in Brighton, Dr David Sharp, a member of Dr Andrew Turberfield`s research team from the University of Oxford, w

When it was announced last month that the Mars Odyssey satellite had found water ice beneath the planet`s frozen carbon dioxide south polar ice cap, “I felt excited!” says Dr Lidija Siller, a physicist from the University of Newcastle. “I believe that the data I have explains how this water got trapped underneath the surface”. Dr Siller will be presenting the results of her research – which involves studying photochemical reactions in ice – at the Condensed Matter physics conference on Monday 8 April