Astronomers are puzzled by the announcement that the masses of the largest objects in the Universe appear to depend on which method is used to weigh them. The new work was presented at a specialist discussion meeting on 'Scaling Relations of Galaxy Clusters' organised by the Astrophysics Research Institute (ARI) at Liverpool John Moores University and supported by the Royal Astronomical Society.

Caption: The Coma Cluster: A massive cluster of galaxies in the local Universe. Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA). Acknowledgment: D. Carter (Liverpool John Moores University) and the Coma HST ACS Treasury Team

Eduardo Rozo, from the University of Chicago, explained that any two of the measurements can be made to fit easily enough but that always leaves the estimate using the third technique out of line. Dubbed the 'Axis of Evil', it is as if the Universe is being difficult by keeping back one or two pieces of the jigsaw and so deliberately preventing us from calibrating our weighing scales properly.

More than 40 of the leading cluster astronomers from UK, Europe and the US attended the meeting to discuss the early results from the Planck satellite, currently scanning the heavens at millimetre wavelengths, looking for the smallest signals from clusters of galaxies and the cosmic background radiation in order to understand the birth of the Universe. The Planck measurements were compared with optical images of clusters from the Sloan Digitised Sky Survey and new X-ray observations from the XMM-Newton satellite.

ARI astronomers are taking a leading role in this research through participation in the X-ray cluster work and observations of the constituent galaxies using the largest ground-based optical telescopes.

One possible resolution to the 'Axis of Evil' problem discussed at the meeting is a new population of clusters which is optically bright but also X-ray faint. Dr Jim Bartlett (Univ. Paris), who is one of the astronomers who presented the Planck results, argued that the prospect of a new cluster population which responds differently was a 'frightening prospect' because it overturns age old ideas about the gravitational physics being the same from cluster to cluster.

Chris Collins, LJMU Professor of Cosmology, who organised the meeting said: 'I saw this meeting as an opportunity to bring together experts who study clusters at only one wavelength and don't always talk to their colleagues working at other wavelengths. The results presented are unexpected and all three communities (optical, X-ray and millimetre) will need to work together in the future to figure out what is going on.'

CONTACTS

Clare Doran, Press and Publications Officer
Liverpool John Moores University
Tel: +44 (0)151 231 3369
Mob: +44 (0)792 999 9460
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Professor Chris Collins
Astrophysics Research Institute
Liverpool John Moores University
Tel: +44 (0)151 231 2918
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Dr Eduado Rozo
Kavli Institute
University of Chicago
Tel: +1 773 702 7851
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Dr Jim Bartlett
AstroParticule et Cosmologie
University of Paris
Diderot
France
Tel: +33 1 57 27 60 95
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Images are available from http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/galaxy/cluster/2008/24/image/a/

Caption: The Coma Cluster: A massive cluster of galaxies in the local Universe. Credit:
NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA). Acknowledgment: D. Carter (Liverpool John Moores University) and the Coma HST ACS Treasury Team

NOTES FOR EDITORS

The Royal Astronomical Society

The Royal Astronomical Society (RAS, www.ras.org.uk), founded in 1820, encourages and promotes the study of astronomy, solar-system science, geophysics and closely related branches of science. The RAS organizes scientific meetings, publishes international research and review journals, recognizes outstanding achievements by the award of medals and prizes, maintains an extensive library, supports education through grants and outreach activities and represents UK astronomy nationally and internationally. Its more than 3500 members (Fellows), a third based overseas, include scientific researchers in universities, observatories and laboratories as well as historians of astronomy and others.

Follow the RAS on Twitter via @royalastrosoc

An international team of scientists have discovered what appears to be the simultaneous crashing together of at least four separate galaxy clusters. The researchers used telescopes on the ground and in space, including the Hubble Space Telescope and ESO's Very Large Telescope, to study the galaxy cluster Abell 2744, an object now nicknamed Pandora's Cluster and found evidence for the colossal collision. They publish their results in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

This image combines visible light exposures of galaxy cluster Abell 2744 taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope, with X-ray data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory (which largely detects hot gas shown here in pink) and a mathematical reconstruction of the location of dark matter (depicted in blue). Credit: NASA, ESA, ESO, CXC and D. Coe (STScI) / J. Merten (Heidelberg / Bologna)

Julian Merten, one of the lead scientists for the new study, explains: "Like a crash investigator piecing together the cause of an accident, we can use observations of these cosmic pile-ups to reconstruct events that happened over a period of hundreds of millions of years. This can reveal how structures form in the Universe, and how different types of matter interact with each other when they are smashed together."

"We nicknamed it Pandora's Cluster because so many different and strange phenomena were unleashed by the collision. Some of these phenomena had never been seen before," adds Renato Dupke, another member of the team.

Abell 2744 has now been studied in more detail than ever before by combining data from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT), the Japanese Subaru telescope and NASA's Chandra X-Ray Observatory.

The galaxies in the cluster are clearly visible in the Hubble and VLT images. Although the galaxies are bright they make up less than 5% of the mass there. The rest is gas (around 20%), which is so hot that it shines only in X-rays, and dark matter (around 75%), which is completely invisible. To understand what was going on in the collision the team needed to map the positions of all three types of matter in Abell 2744.

Dark matter is particularly elusive as it does not emit, absorb or reflect light (hence its name), but only makes itself apparent through its gravitational attraction. To pinpoint the location of this mysterious substance the team exploited a phenomenon known as gravitational lensing. This is the bending of light rays from distant galaxies as they pass through the gravitational field present in the cluster. The result is a series of telltale distortions in the images of galaxies in the background of the Hubble and VLT observations. By carefully plotting the way that these images are distorted, it is possible to map quite accurately where the mass — and hence the dark matter — actually lies.

By comparison, finding the hot gas in the cluster is simpler as NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory can observe it directly. These observations are not just crucial to find out where the gas is, but also to show the angles and speeds at which different components of the cluster came together.

When the astronomers looked at the results they found many curious features. "Abell 2744 seems to have formed from four different clusters involved in a series of collisions over a period of some 350 million years. The complicated and uneven distribution of the different types of matter is extremely unusual and fascinating," says Dan Coe, the other lead author of the study.

It seems that the complex collision has separated out some of the hot gas and dark matter so that they now lie apart from each other, and from the visible galaxies. Pandora's Cluster combines several phenomena that have only ever been seen singly in other systems.

Near the core of the cluster is a "bullet", where the gas of one cluster collided with that of another to create a shock wave. The dark matter passed through the collision unaffected.

In another part of the cluster there seem to be galaxies and dark matter, but no hot gas. The gas may have been stripped away during the collision, leaving behind no more than a faint trail.

Even odder features lie in the outer parts of the cluster. One region contains lots of dark matter, but no luminous galaxies or hot gas. A separate ghostly clump of gas has been ejected, which precedes rather than follows the associated dark matter. This puzzling arrangement may be telling astronomers something about how dark matter behaves and how the various ingredients of the Universe interact with each other.

Galaxy clusters are the biggest structures in the cosmos, containing literally trillions of stars. The way they form and develop through repeated collisions has profound implications for our understanding of the Universe. Further studies of Pandora's Cluster, the most complex and fascinating merger yet found, are now underway.

CONTACTS

Julian Merten
Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics
Heidelberg, Germany
Tel: +49 6221 54 8987
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Daniel Coe
Space Telescope Science Institute
Baltimore, USA
Tel: +1 410 338 4312
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Oli Usher
Hubble/ESA
Garching, Germany
Tel: +49 89 3200 6855
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

NOTES FOR EDITORS

The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between ESA and NASA.

This study appears in the paper “Creation of cosmic structure in the complex galaxy cluster merger Abell 2744”, Merten J. et al, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, in press. A preprint of the paper can be downloaded from http://www.spacetelescope.org/static/archives/releases/science_papers/heic1111.pdf international team of astronomers consists of J. Merten (Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics, Heidelberg, Germany; INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Bologna, Italy), D. Coe (Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, USA), R. Dupke (University of Michigan, USA; Eureka Scientific, USA; National Observatory, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), R. Massey (University of Edinburgh, Scotland), A. Zitrin (Tel Aviv University, Israel), E.S. Cypriano (University of Sao Paulo, Brazil), N. Okabe (Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Taiwan), B. Frye (University of San Francisco, USA), F. Braglia (University of British Columbia, Canada), Y. Jimenez-Teja (Instituto de Astrofisica de Andalucia, Granada, Spain), N. Benitez (Instituto de Astrofisica de Andalucia), T. Broadhurst (University of Basque Country, Spain), J. Rhodes (JPL/Caltech, USA), M. Meneghetti (INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Bologna, Italy), L. A. Moustakas (Caltech), L. Sodre Jr.(University of Sao Paulo, Brazil), J. Krick (Spitzer Science Center/IPAC/Caltech, USA) and J. N. Bregman (University of Michigan).

IMAGES

The ESO / Hubble press release and associated images can be seen at http://www.spacetelescope.org/news/heic1111/

Three Fellows of the Royal Astronomical Society have been recognised in the Queen's Birthday Honours List for 2011 for their services to science.

Professor Richard Davis of the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics is awarded an OBE.

Professor Sheila Rowan of the University of Glasgow receives an MBE.

Dr Robin Clegg, Head of Science and Society at the Science and Technology Facilities Council also receives an MBE.

Download the Full Birthday Honours List for 2011

The June digest of forthcoming space and astronomy events, from the RAS. This month sees a lunar and solar eclipse, the final landing of Space Shuttle Endeavour and a public lecture on remote sensing and geophysics.

1 June: Endeavour due to land at Kennedy Space Center

The NASA Space Shuttle Endeavour is scheduled to make its final landing early on the morning of 1 June. In its last flight, the 16-day mission saw Endeavour carry astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS), where they delivered parts and fitted the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer 2, an instrument designed to search for exotic types of matter in the Universe.

After landing, Endeavour will be decommissioned and eventually be moved to Los Angeles, where it will become an exhibit in the California Science Center.

NASA home page
http://www.nasa.gov

CONTACT

Stephanie Schierholz
NASA HQ
Washington DC, USA
Tel: +1 202 358 1100
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

1 June: Partial solar eclipse visible from extreme northwest of Scotland

At sunset on 1 June, a partial solar eclipse will take place and will be potentially visible from a few locations in the northwest of Scotland.

Partial eclipses occur when the Earth, Moon and Sun are almost exactly aligned and the Moon blocks out part of the bright surface of the Sun. This eclipse is visible from eastern Asia including northern Japan, Mongolia, north-eastern China, eastern and northern Russia, the northern tip of Scandinavia, north-western Canada, Greenland and Iceland.

In Scotland, the eclipse will theoretically just be visible from the northern half of the Shetland Islands and the northwest coast of the Isle of Lewis in the Hebrides. In both cases, the eclipse begins a few minutes before sunset and given the low altitude of the Sun will only be seen if there is an exceptionally clear sky and observers have an uncluttered horizon. If it is visible, a maximum of 4% of the solar disk will appear to be covered by the Moon.

Note that although partial eclipses of the Sun are spectacular events, they should NOT be viewed with the unaided eye. Looking at the partially eclipsed Sun without appropriate protection can cause serious and permanent damage to the eyes.

The partial eclipse visible from Scotland can be safely studied using purpose-designed solar filters available from reputable astronomical suppliers. Without these, the only safe ways to observe the Sun are to use a pinhole or telescope to PROJECT the Sun's image onto card.

HM Nautical Almanac Office eclipse predictions
http://www.eclipse.org.uk

Partial eclipse of the Sun: 1 June 2011
http://astro.ukho.gov.uk/eclipse/0222011/

Eye safety during eclipses
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEhelp/safety.html

14 June: RAS lunchtime lecture: A scientific eye: Geophysical imagery of the Earth and planets

At 1 pm on 14 June, Dr Sue Bowler, University of Leeds scientist and editor of 'Astronomy & Geophysics', will give the latest RAS public lecture. She will outline the ways in which geophysical information and imagery shapes research and exploration, not just on Earth but across the Solar system. In her talk, Dr Bowler will cover work stretching from Astronomer Royal and cometary discoverer Edmond Halley to remote sensing by satellites and space probes in the 21st century.

RAS public lectures
http://www.ras.org.uk/component/gem/?id=116

CONTACT
Dr Robert Massey
Royal Astronomical Society
Tel: +44 (0)20 7734 3307 / 4582 x214
Mob: +44 (0)794 124 8035
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

The total lunar eclipse of 28 August 2007 from Wollongong, Australia

On 15 June a total eclipse of the Moon is visible from Australasia, southern Japan, a large area of Asia, India, Africa, Europe and the eastern part of South America. Total lunar eclipses take place when the Moon, Earth and Sun are in line, with the Moon on the opposite side of the Earth from Sun.

The Moon then passes through the shadow of the Earth, dimming dramatically but normally remaining visible as the lunar surface is illuminated by sunlight passing through the Earth's atmosphere. Terrestrial atmospheric conditions determine the appearance of the eclipsed Moon, which ranges from brick red to dark grey.

Across the UK, with the exception of northern Scotland, the Moon rises during the total phase of the eclipse as the Sun sets. Moonrise time varies with location, with observers in London seeing this at 2113 BST (2013 GMT). In Glasgow moonrise on the same evening is not until 2158 BST (2058 GMT).

The total eclipse ends at 2203 BST (2103 GMT), when the Moon begins to leave the darkest part of the Earth's shadow or umbra. By this time it stands only 5 degrees above the south-eastern horizon from London, whilst in Glasgow the whole of the lunar disk will not yet have appeared and from northern Scotland it will not be visible at all.

The Moon then moves into the penumbra, the lighter part of the Earth's shadow and will likely have a yellowish hue. The eclipse comes to an end when the Moon leaves the penumbra at 0002 BST on 16 June (2302 GMT on 15 June).

The Moon's low altitude in the sky during the total phase of the eclipse means that observers will need an excellent horizon and clear skies to see it well, but if it is visible it could be a spectacular opportunity for photographers. And unlike their solar counterparts, lunar eclipses need no special equipment and are perfectly safe to watch with the unaided eye.

HM Nautical Almanac Office eclipse predictions
http://www.eclipse.org.uk

Total eclipse of the Moon: 15 June 2011: HMNAO map
http://astro.ukho.gov.uk/eclipse/1312011/L2011Jun15.pdf

The Baker Street Irregular Astronomers (astronomical society running a free public eclipse event in Regent's Park, London)
http://www.bakerstreetastro.org.uk/

24 June: RAS specialist discussion meeting: Scaling relations of galaxy clusters

In a specialist discussion meeting in the Peter Jost Lecture Theatre at Liverpool John Moores University on 24 June, astronomers will gather to discuss the latest research into clusters of galaxies and what this implies about the wider Universe. The meeting is supported by the Royal Astronomical Society.

Meeting details
http://www.astro.ljmu.ac.uk/ras2011/

CONTACT
Robert Massey (details above)

All month: June's night sky

Information on stars, planets, comets, meteor showers and other celestial phenomena is available from the British Astronomical Association (BAA), the Society for Popular Astronomy (SPA) and the Jodrell Bank night sky guide.

BAA
http://www.britastro.org

SPA
http://www.popastro.com

The Night Sky: June 2011 (Jodrell Bank)
http://www.jodrellbank.manchester.ac.uk/astronomy/nightsky/ 

NOTES FOR EDITORS

The Royal Astronomical Society (RAS, www.ras.org.uk), founded in 1820, encourages and promotes the study of astronomy, solar-system science, geophysics and closely related branches of science. The RAS organizes scientific meetings, publishes international research and review journals, recognizes outstanding achievements by the award of medals and prizes, maintains an extensive library, supports education through grants and outreach activities and represents UK astronomy nationally and internationally. Its more than 3500 members (Fellows), a third based overseas, include scientific researchers in universities, observatories and laboratories as well as historians of astronomy and others.

Follow the RAS on Twitter via @royalastrosoc

Two UK astronomers have found that the giant black holes in the centre of galaxies are on average spinning faster than at any time in the history of the Universe. Dr Alejo Martinez-Sansigre of the University of Portsmouth and Prof. Steve Rawlings of the University of Oxford made the new discovery by using radio, optical and X-ray data. They publish their findings in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

An artist’s impression of the jets emerging from a supermassive black hole at the centre of the galaxy PKS 0521-36. Credit: Dana Berry / STScI

As well as radiation, twin jets are often associated with black holes and their accretion disks. There are many factors that can cause these jets to be produced, but the spin of the supermassive black hole is believed to be important. However, there are conflicting predictions about how the spins of the black holes should be evolving and until now this evolution was not well understood.

Dr Martinez-Sansigre and Professor Rawlings compared theoretical models of spinning black holes with radio, optical and X-ray observations made using a variety of instruments and found that the theories can explain very well the population of supermassive black holes with jets.

Using the radio observations, the two astronomers were able to sample the population of black holes, deducing the spread of the power of the jets. By estimating how they acquire material (the accretion process) the two scientists could then infer how quickly these objects are spinning.

The observations also give information on how the spins of supermassive black holes have evolved. In the past, when the Universe was half its the present size, practically all of the supermassive black holes had very low spins, whereas nowadays a fraction of them have very high spins. So on average, supermassive black holes are spinning faster than ever before.

This is the first time that the evolution of the spin of the supermassive black holes has been constrained and it suggests that those supermassive black holes that grow by swallowing matter will barely spin, while those that merge with other black holes will be left spinning rapidly.

Commenting on the new results, Dr Martinez-Sansigre said: "The spin of black holes can tell you a lot about how they formed. Our results suggest that in recent times a large fraction of the most massive black holes have somehow spun up. A likely explanation is that they have merged with other black holes of similar mass, which is a truly spectacular event, and the end product of this merger is a faster spinning black hole."

Professor Rawlings adds: "Later this decade we hope to test our idea that these supermassive black holes have been set spinning relatively recently. Black hole mergers cause predictable distortions in space and time - so-called gravitational waves. With so many collisions, we expect there to be a cosmic background of gravitational waves, something that will change the timing of the pulses of radio waves that we detect from the remnants of massive stars known as pulsars.

If we are right, this timing change should be picked up by the Square Kilometre Array, the giant radio observatory due to start operating in 2019."

CONTACTS

Dr Alejo Martinez-Sansigre
University of Portsmouth
Tel: +44 (0)23 9284 5146
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Professor Steve Rawlings
Oxford Astrophysics
University of Oxford
Tel: +44 (0)1865 273352
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Dr Robert Massey
Royal Astronomical Society
Tel: +44 (0)20 7734 3307 x214
Mob: +44 (0)794 124 8035
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Sophie Hall
Press & Public Relations Officer, University of Portsmouth
Tel: +44 (0)23 9284 5350 (Mon-Wed & Fri)
Tel: +44 (0)23 9284 4316 (Thurs)
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

IMAGES AND ANIMATIONS

An artist's animation of a quasar with jets emerging from a supermassive black hole. Credit: ESA / Hubble / M. Kornmesser and L. L. Christensen.

http://www.spacetelescope.org/videos/hst15_quasar/http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/opo9029a/

An artist's impression of the jets emerging from a supermassive black hole at the centre of the galaxy PKS 0521-36. Credit: Dana Berry / STScI

http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/opo9029a/

FURTHER INFORMATION

The results are published in the paper, "Observational constraints on the spin of the most massive black holes from radio observations", Martinez-Sansigre A., Rawlings S., Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. A preprint of the paper can be seen at http://arxiv.org/abs/1102.2228

NOTES FOR EDITORS

The Royal Astronomical Society (RAS, www.ras.org.uk), founded in 1820, encourages and promotes the study of astronomy, solar-system science, geophysics and closely related branches of science. The RAS organizes scientific meetings, publishes international research and review journals, recognizes outstanding achievements by the award of medals and prizes, maintains an extensive library, supports education through grants and outreach activities and represents UK astronomy nationally and internationally. Its more than 3500 members (Fellows), a third based overseas, include scientific researchers in universities, observatories and laboratories as well as historians of astronomy and others.

Professor Roger Davies, President of the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS), today backed a report published by MPs on the Science and Technology Select Committee that set out the risks to UK astronomy posed by ongoing and future budget cuts.

In its submission to the Committee earlier this year, the Society expressed great concern at the unprecedented scale of the cuts in both capital and resource budgets. The RAS is particularly concerned by the decision to drastically reduce the size of the astronomy research community through a 50% cut in postdoctoral researchers and the likely pullout from all optical observatories in the northern hemisphere. Together, these pose a great threat to the UK's global leadership in astronomy, which currently sees it ranked second only to the United States.

The Society has also long emphasised the 'STEM attractor' role of astronomy, whereby school students are drawn into careers in science and engineering after first being excited by the science of the wider Universe. The RAS believes that cutting the astronomy budget sends these young people the wrong message.

In their report, MPs make a series of recommendations for the Government and for the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC). They urge STFC to re-examine its decision to pull out of northern hemisphere facilities and suggest that public outreach work should be protected and developed by collaborations between research councils, learned societies like the RAS, universities and industry. The Committee also recommends that STFC ensures that 50% of the members of its governing Council are practicing academics, with at least one individual from each of the core scientific fields it is responsible for, in the hope that this will help to improve relations with the research community.

Professor Davies welcomed the findings of the Committee: "As a lifelong advocate of public outreach work, I have seen how astronomy inspires people of all ages and backgrounds to study and work in science and engineering. I want to see the RAS expand its work in this area and am certainly happy to see us collaborate more closely with the wider scientific and industrial communities to make this happen. To support this, we recently created the Patrick Moore Medal to recognise the best teachers of astronomy in the UK.

'However, astronomers in the UK face a retrenchment in funding that is a direct threat to an area of science where Britain excels. It will be much harder to promote our science to young people in such a difficult environment.

'I can only agree with MPs that the cuts are also doing tremendous damage to our international reputation as a world class centre for scientific research. There is now a real risk that our most talented early career scientists will simply leave the UK altogether resulting in potentially permanent damage to our research base.

'I urge STFC and the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) to look hard at ways to support our science before it is too late. Continuing the essential access to telescopes in the northern hemisphere and mitigating the savage cuts in research grants would help as would timely approval for continued UK involvement in the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) and Square Kilometre Array (SKA), forefront global projects that will lead to great opportunities for British industry.

'I have no doubt that scientists want to work with STFC to get the best possible outcomes for UK astronomy and space science. The proposal to bring in more academics to its governing Council is very welcome and could help STFC to deliver this and to secure the confidence of the research community in the years ahead."

CONTACTS

Professor Roger Davies
President, Royal Astronomical Society
Tel: +44 (0)1865 273305
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Dr Robert Massey
Royal Astronomical Society
Tel: +44 (0)20 7734 3307 x214
Mob: +44 (0)794 124 8035
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

FURTHER INFORMATION

Science and Technology Select Committee: inquiry into astronomy and particle physics

RAS written submission to Select Committee

RAS Patrick Moore Medal
 

NOTES FOR EDITORS

The Royal Astronomical Society (RAS, www.ras.org.uk), founded in 1820, encourages and promotes the study of astronomy, solar-system science, geophysics and closely related branches of science. The RAS organizes scientific meetings, publishes international research and review journals, recognizes outstanding achievements by the award of medals and prizes, maintains an extensive library, supports education through grants and outreach activities and represents UK astronomy nationally and internationally. Its more than 3500 members (Fellows), a third based overseas, include scientific researchers in universities, observatories and laboratories as well as historians of astronomy and others.

Follow the RAS on Twitter via @royalastrosoc

The latest digest of forthcoming space and astronomy events from the RAS. Events this month include the likely final launch of the Space Shuttle Endeavour, a public lecture on the secrets of the Universe and a specialist discussion meeting on solar and stellar magnetic fields.

Space Shuttle Endeavour leaving the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center. Credit: NASA / Jim Grossmann

10 May: Next possible date for launch of NASA Space Shuttle Endeavour to ISS

The next launch date for the delayed final flight of the Space Shuttle Endeavour and the penultimate mission in NASA's Space Shuttle Program is now 10 May. When it takes off, Endeavour will travel to the International Space Station (ISS) carrying a crew of six astronauts, a spectrometer designed to detect antimatter and dark matter, and other Station components set to be installed in four separate spacewalks.

The mission will be commanded by Mark E. Kelly, whose wife is Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, critically injured in a shooting in Arizona in January, but now sufficiently recovered to attend the launch. The Shuttle will take off from the Kennedy Space Center and is scheduled to return 14 days later.

NASA
http://www.nasa.gov

CONTACT

NASA HQ
Washington DC, USA
Tel: +1 202 358 1100
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

10 May: RAS lunchtime lecture: Secrets of the Universe

At 1 pm on 10 May, Professor Paul Murdin will give the latest RAS public lecture, where he will talk about the big discoveries that unlocked the hidden secrets of the Universe. Based on his recent book for Thames & Hudson, the lecture is an invitation to participate in moments of revelation and wonder as scientists first experienced them, starting with discoveries made at the advent of the telescope, through to those made within our own Solar System and on to gravitation, relativity, pulsars, and black holes. The lecture concludes by looking at where astronomy still teeters on the edge of discovery, for example in dark matter and dark energy.

Paul Murdin is an astronomer who has worked in observatories and space programmes in many countries all over the world and who now makes a second career in writing about astronomy.

RAS public lectures

http://www.ras.org.uk/component/gem/?id=106

CONTACT

Dr Robert Massey
Royal Astronomical Society
Tel: +44 (0)20 7734 3307 / 4582 x214
Mob: +44 (0)794 124 8035
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

13 May: RAS specialist discussion meeting: Earthquake mechanics and supershear rupture speeds

In a specialist discussion meeting at the RAS on 13 May, geophysicists will gather at the RAS, Burlington House, London, to present and discuss the latest research into the occurrence, nature and impact of 'supershear' earthquakes. The existence of these events was first suggested in the 1970s, when theoretical models demonstrated that some earthquakes could rupture faster than the local shear wave (where material oscillates at right angles to the direction of the wave) speed of the medium they travel through, causing a kind of 'sonic boom' shock. Direct observation of supershear events has been difficult, but now laboratory experiments have shown that they are of vital importance in understanding earthquake hazards, for example in their impact on high-rise buildings.

Full meeting programme

http://www.ras.org.uk/images/stories/meetings/May_2011_Programme_for_RAS.pdf

Bona fide members of the media who wish to attend this meeting should present their credentials at the registration desk in the Royal Astronomical Society for free admission.

CONTACT
Robert Massey (details above)

13 May: RAS specialist discussion meeting: Waves and oscillations in the magnetic Sun

On 13 May, scientists will gather at the Geological Society, Burlington House, London, for a specialist discussion meeting on waves and oscillations in the magnetic field of the Sun. Delegates at the meeting will present and consider the latest research on the major role magnetic fields play in our own and other stars.

Full meeting programme

http://www.ras.org.uk/images/stories/meetings/May_2011_Programme_for_Geological_Society.pdf

Bona fide members of the media who wish to attend this meeting should present their credentials at the registration desk in the Geological Society for free admission.

CONTACT
Robert Massey (details above)

All month: May's night sky

Information on stars, planets, comets, meteor showers and other celestial phenomena is available from the British Astronomical Association (BAA), the Society for Popular Astronomy (SPA) and the Jodrell Bank night sky guide. Events this month include the annual maximum of the Eta Aquarids meteor shower on the morning of 6 May.

BAA

http://www.britastro.org

SPA

http://www.popastro.com

Jodrell Bank night sky guide: May 2011

http://www.jodrellbank.manchester.ac.uk/astronomy/nightsky/

NOTES FOR EDITORS

The Royal Astronomical Society (RAS, http://www.ras.org.uk), founded in 1820, encourages and promotes the study of astronomy, solar-system science, geophysics and closely related branches of science. The RAS organizes scientific meetings, publishes international research and review journals, recognizes outstanding achievements by the award of medals and prizes, maintains an extensive library, supports education through grants and outreach activities and represents UK astronomy nationally and internationally. Its more than 3500 members (Fellows), a third based overseas, include scientific researchers in universities, observatories and laboratories as well as historians of astronomy and others.

Follow the RAS on Twitter via @royalastrosoc

Astronomers from the Scottish Universities Physics Alliance (SUPA) have produced a completely new catalogue of ~15,000 groups of galaxies that gives a new insight into dark matter, the material of unknown composition that makes up a fifth of the mass of the Universe. Dr Aaron Robotham of the University of St Andrews will present the work of the Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA) team in his talk on Thursday 21 April at the Royal Astronomical Society's National Astronomy Meeting in Llandudno, Wales.

Current models of the Universe predict that galaxies reside in large clumps of dark matter, commonly referred to as dark matter halos. Unlike individual galaxies, galaxy groups provide a unique environment in which to study the properties of this elusive material. Understanding the 20% of the cosmos comprised of dark matter is important – in comparison only 3% of the mass of Universe consists of 'ordinary' matter.

Part of an image of a galaxy cluster discovered in the GAMA group catalogue. This is a inverse colour composite of ultraviolet, visible light and infrared images so redder galaxies appear blue and vice-versa. Galaxies in the cluster are highlighted with circles, with the size of the circle proportional to the mass of the galaxy. The colour of the circle indicates the true colour of the galaxy. In this image a mixture of galaxy types are visible, but very few blue (star-forming) galaxies. The brightest galaxy is located at the centre. Credit: GAMA / Aaron Robotham

Dr Robotham describes the construction of the group catalogue, which is a significant improvement on previous similar attempts with much shallower surveys. "The sample has some of the most massive bound structures ever measured. These range from the equivalent of a million billion times the mass of the Sun down to a mere few thousand billion solar masses. To have this range of dark matter halo masses within a single study is unprecedented".

"Some of our groups contain hundreds of galaxies while others only a handful", says Dr Peder Norberg, a co-investigator based at the Royal Observatory Edinburgh, "the ratio of the number of very high mass to very low mass groups is a direct indicator of the type of dark matter that the Universe contains. Hot or warm dark matter (meaning light particles) suppresses the formation of low mass halos while cold dark matter (heavy particles) encourages their formation."

It will take a further few years of detailed studies, with a large range of models, before a definite conclusion can be reached on whether the new GAMA data and supercomputer predictions (based on the popular Cold Dark Matter model of the Universe) are in good agreement or not.

"Currently the differences seen between the model and the data can be understood as limitations in the galaxy formation model used, explaining why intense modelling and further studies are required, and hopefully leading to some exciting new findings in the years ahead with possibly the first new insight into the properties of dark matter particles," adds Dr. Norberg.

GAMA team leader Professor Simon Driver of the University of St Andrews and the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research at the University of Western Australia, says this group catalogue is the first big step of 4 years of data gathering by the GAMA Team at the Anglo-Australian Telescope. "The catalogue will provide the opportunity to study how gravity works over an unprecedented mass range and using data from other telescopes around the world we will shed fresh light on how dark mater helps to turn gas into stars".

Science contacts

At NAM 2011:
Dr Aaron Robotham (lead author and presenter)
Scottish Universities Physics Alliance (SUPA)
University of St Andrews
Tel: +44 (0)1334 461668
Mob: +44 (0)7905 711490
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

At Royal Observatory Edinburgh:
Dr Peder Norberg (second author)
Scottish Universities Physics Alliance (SUPA)
University of Edinburgh
Tel: +44 (0)1316 688465
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

In Australia (Perth, GMT+8hrs)
Prof Simon Driver
GAMA Team leader
International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR)
University of Western Australia
Tel: +61 8 6488 7747
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Press contacts

NAM 2011 Press Office (0900 – 1730 BST, 18-21 April only)
Conwy Room
Venue Cymru conference centre
Llandudno
Tel: +44 (0)1492 873 637, +44 (0)1492 873 638

Dr Robert Massey
Royal Astronomical Society
Mob: +44 (0)794 124 8035
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Anita Heward
Royal Astronomical Society
Mob: +44 (0)7756 034 243
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Images

Images and captions are available from http://star-www.st-and.ac.uk/~asgr/NAMpress/

Notes for editors

GAMA

The GAMA survey is major international collaboration which will eventually combine the data flows from five ground-based telescopes, three space-missions, and two radio arrays. The survey will eventually cover six large patches of sky and provide multi-wavelength measurements for almost 400,000 galaxies from X-ray thru UV, optical and IR to Radio wavelengths. The construction of the group catalogue is a major milestone for the team and follows the first data release last year. More information on the survey is available from the GAMA website: http://www.gama-survey.org/

NAM 2011

Bringing together around 500 astronomers and space scientists, the RAS National Astronomy Meeting 2011 (NAM 2011: http://www.ras.org.uk/nam-2011) will take place from 17-21 April in Venue Cymru (http://www.venuecymru.co.uk), Llandudno, Wales. The conference is held in conjunction with the UK Solar Physics (UKSP: http://www.uksolphys.org) and Magnetosphere Ionosphere and Solar-Terrestrial Physics (MIST: http://www.mist.ac.uk) meetings. NAM 2011 is principally sponsored by the RAS and the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC: http://www.stfc.ac.uk).

The Royal Astronomical Society

The Royal Astronomical Society (RAS: http://www.ras.org.uk), founded in 1820, encourages and promotes the study of astronomy, solar-system science, geophysics and closely related branches of science. The RAS organizes scientific meetings, publishes international research and review journals, recognizes outstanding achievements by the award of medals and prizes, maintains an extensive library, supports education through grants and outreach activities and represents UK astronomy nationally and internationally. Its more than 3500 members (Fellows), a third based overseas, include scientific researchers in universities, observatories and laboratories as well as historians of astronomy and others.

The Science and Technology Facilities Council

The Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC: http://www.stfc.ac.uk) ensures the UK retains its leading place on the world stage by delivering world-class science; accessing and hosting international facilities; developing innovative technologies; and increasing the socio-economic impact of its research through effective knowledge exchange. The Council has a broad science portfolio including Astronomy, Particle Astrophysics and Space Science. In the area of astronomy it funds the UK membership of international bodies such as the European Southern Observatory.

Venue Cymru

Venue Cymru (http://www.venuecymru.co.uk) is a purpose built conference centre and theatre with modern facilities for up to 2000 delegates. Located on the Llandudno promenade with stunning sea and mountain views; Venue Cymru comprises a stunning location, outstanding quality and exceptional value: the perfect conference package.

A study of spiral patterns found in galaxies like our Milky Way could overturn the theory of how the spiral arm features form and evolve. The results are being presented by postgraduate student, Robert Grand, at the Royal Astronomical Society’s National Astronomy Meeting in Llandudno, Wales this week.

Since 1960s, the most widely accepted explanation has been that the spiral arm features move like a Mexican wave in a crowd, passing through a population of stars that then return to their original position.  Instead, computer simulations run by Grand and his colleagues at University College London’s Mullard Space Science Laboratory (MSSL) suggest that the stars actually rotate with the arms. In addition, rather than being permanent features the arms are transient, breaking up and new arms forming over a period of about 80-100 million years.

"We have found it impossible to reproduce the traditional theory, but stars move with the spiral pattern in our simulations at the same speed. We simulated the evolution of spiral arms for a galaxy with five million stars over a period of 6 billion years. We found that stars are able to migrate much more efficiently than anyone previously thought. The stars are trapped and move along the arm by their gravitational influence, but we think that eventually the arm breaks up due to the shear forces," said Grand.

In the simulations, Grand found that some stars gradually move outwards and inwards along the spiral arms. Stars travelling at the leading side of the spiral arm slide in towards the centre of the disc, whereas the stars travelling at the trailing side are kicked out to the edges.

"This research has many potential implications for future observational astronomy, like the European Space Agency's next corner stone mission, Gaia, which MSSL is also heavily involved in.  As well as helping us understand the evolution of our own galaxy, it may have applications for regions of star formation," said Grand.

SCIENCE CONTACTS

Robert Grand

Mullard Space Science Laboratory

University College London

E-mail:   This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

PRESS CONTACTS

NAM 2011 Press Office (0900 – 1730 BST, 18-21 April only)

Conwy Room

Venue Cymru conference centre

Llandudno

Tel: +44 (0)1492 873 637, +44 (0)1492 873 638

Dr Robert Massey

Royal Astronomical Society

Mob: +44 (0)794 124 8035

Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Anita Heward

Royal Astronomical Society

Mob: +44 (0)7756 034 243

Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

IMAGES

An image can be found at:

http://www.ras.org.uk/images/stories/NAM/2011/images/grand.jpg

Image Caption:   Snapshots of face-on view of a simulated disc galaxy. A Brighter colour indicates higher density. The Image shows two examples of star particles: the red star are travelling at the leading side of the arm, and the blue star are at the trailing side. It can be seen that the blue and red stars interchange their radial distances, with rapid migration within 40 million years. The dotted lines trace circles with radii of 4, 5 and 6 000 parsecs (1 parsec = 31 trillion kilometres), to guide the eye. 

NOTES FOR EDITORS

NAM 2011

Bringing together around 500 astronomers and space scientists, the RAS National Astronomy Meeting 2011 (NAM 2011: http://www.ras.org.uk/nam-2011) will take place from 17-21 April in Venue Cymru (http://www.venuecymru.co.uk), Llandudno, Wales. The conference is held in conjunction with the UK Solar Physics (UKSP: http://www.uksolphys.org) and Magnetosphere Ionosphere and Solar-Terrestrial Physics (MIST: http://www.mist.ac.uk) meetings. NAM 2011 is principally sponsored by the RAS and the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC: http://www.stfc.ac.uk).

The Royal Astronomical Society

The Royal Astronomical Society (RAS: http://www.ras.org.uk), founded in 1820, encourages and promotes the study of astronomy, solar-system science, geophysics and closely related branches of science. The RAS organizes scientific meetings, publishes international research and review journals, recognizes outstanding achievements by the award of medals and prizes, maintains an extensive library, supports education through grants and outreach activities and represents UK astronomy nationally and internationally. Its more than 3500 members (Fellows), a third based overseas, include scientific researchers in universities, observatories and laboratories as well as historians of astronomy and others.

The Science and Technology Facilities Council

The Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC: http://www.stfc.ac.uk) ensures the UK retains its leading place on the world stage by delivering world-class science; accessing and hosting international facilities; developing innovative technologies; and increasing the socio-economic impact of its research through effective knowledge exchange. The Council has a broad science portfolio including Astronomy, Particle Astrophysics and Space Science. In the area of astronomy it funds the UK membership of international bodies such as the European Southern Observatory.

Venue Cymru

Venue Cymru (http://www.venuecymru.co.uk) is a purpose built conference centre and theatre with modern facilities for up to 2000 delegates. Located on the Llandudno promenade with stunning sea and mountain views; Venue Cymru comprises a stunning location, outstanding quality and exceptional value: the perfect conference package.

 The Hubble Deep Field (HDF), taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in the 1990s, is one of the most iconic images in astronomy.  Now, astronomers at Jodrell Bank Observatory have produced a high-resolution mosaic of the HDF region using observations from the MERLIN and VLA radio telescope arrays, as well as the new e-MERLIN array.

Nineteen separate images have been stitched together to create the widest high-resolution radio map of the region to date. The area observed measures a quarter of a degree wide, about half the apparent diameter of the full moon, and depicts numerous galaxies billions of light-years away. The map is inset with images showing even sharper views of some of the galaxies observed.  The map will be presented at the RAS National Astronomy Meeting in Llandudno by graduate student, Nick Wrigley, on Wednesday 20^th April.

The MERLIN array is in the final stages of an upgrade to become the e-MERLIN array of seven radio telescopes, spanning 217km, connected by a new optical fibre network and operated from Jodrell Bank by the University of Manchester. Wrigley, under the supervision of Dr Rob Beswick and Dr Tom Muxlow at the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics, has created the map as a pilot study for a future e-MERLIN survey, which will focus on ever deeper (more sensitive) studies in the HDF region.  The survey will measure massive star formation and Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN) activity in very distant galaxies, tracing the development of the stellar populations and black hole growth in the first massive galaxies.

"This type of high-resolution imagery provided by MERLIN, and soon e-MERLIN, will allow astronomers to distinguish between different types of galaxies mapped, with the wide field of view allowing relative populations to be determined, giving insights into how they change over cosmological time.  In the centre of the image is a galaxy with a bright AGN, a feature thought to be caused by matter falling towards a central super-massive black hole. This close-up is the most recent image taken by e-MERLIN and shows the compact core in extraordinary detail," said Wrigley.

"Through e-MERLIN, we will get our first truly reliable view of the distribution of star formation within typical galaxies at the time when the bulk of the stars in the present-day Universe were being formed. e-MERLIN will help us disentangle the mystery of why we see apparently simultaneous growth of the black holes and stellar populations in galaxies," added Muxlow.

"Using the more accurate observations from e-MERLIN, it will be possible to produce more precise models of the physical process of star formation and understand how star clusters affect the growth of stellar populations, providing answers to some key questions in modern cosmology."

CONTACT

Dr Tom Muxlow

Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics

The University of Manchester

Tel: +44 (0) 161 2754108

Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Dr R Beswick

Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics

The University of Manchester

Tel: +44 (0) 161 2754083

Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Nick Wrigley

Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics

The University of Manchester

Mob: +44 7890 296669

E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

PRESS CONTACTS

NAM 2011 Press Office (0900 – 1730 BST, 18-21 April only)

Conwy Room

Venue Cymru conference centre

Llandudno

Tel: +44 (0)1492 873 637, +44 (0)1492 873 638

Dr Robert Massey

Royal Astronomical Society

Mob: +44 (0)794 124 8035

Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Anita Heward

Royal Astronomical Society

Mob: +44 (0)7756 034 243

Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

IMAGE

The image can be found at http://www.ras.org.uk/images/stories/NAM/2011/images/emerlin.jpg

Caption: Composite image of 19 sets of observations by the MERLIN and VLA radio telescope arrays. The high resolution of the map is illustrated by the inset images of selected galaxies in the field. The most central image is expanded twice (including an e-MERLIN high-resolution image), and depicts a type of galaxy with a bright Active Galactic Nucleus, thought to be caused by matter falling towards a central super-massive black hole. This close-up is the most recent image taken by e-MERLIN and clearly reveals the compact core - less than 0.05 arc-seconds in diameter.
 

NOTES FOR EDITORS

NAM 2011

Bringing together around 500 astronomers and space scientists, the RAS National Astronomy Meeting 2011 (NAM 2011: http://www.ras.org.uk/nam-2011) will take place from 17-21 April in Venue Cymru (http://www.venuecymru.co.uk), Llandudno, Wales. The conference is held in conjunction with the UK Solar Physics (UKSP: http://www.uksolphys.org) and Magnetosphere Ionosphere and Solar-Terrestrial Physics (MIST: http://www.mist.ac.uk) meetings. NAM 2011 is principally sponsored by the RAS and the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC: http://www.stfc.ac.uk).

The Royal Astronomical Society

The Royal Astronomical Society (RAS: http://www.ras.org.uk), founded in 1820, encourages and promotes the study of astronomy, solar-system science, geophysics and closely related branches of science. The RAS organizes scientific meetings, publishes international research and review journals, recognizes outstanding achievements by the award of medals and prizes, maintains an extensive library, supports education through grants and outreach activities and represents UK astronomy nationally and internationally. Its more than 3500 members (Fellows), a third based overseas, include scientific researchers in universities, observatories and laboratories as well as historians of astronomy and others.

The Science and Technology Facilities Council

The Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC: http://www.stfc.ac.uk) ensures the UK retains its leading place on the world stage by delivering world-class science; accessing and hosting international facilities; developing innovative technologies; and increasing the socio-economic impact of its research through effective knowledge exchange. The Council has a broad science portfolio including Astronomy, Particle Astrophysics and Space Science. In the area of astronomy it funds the UK membership of international bodies such as the European Southern Observatory.

Venue Cymru

Venue Cymru (http://www.venuecymru.co.uk) is a purpose built conference centre and theatre with modern facilities for up to 2000 delegates. Located on the Llandudno promenade with stunning sea and mountain views; Venue Cymru comprises a stunning location, outstanding quality and exceptional value: the perfect conference package.