The January digest of upcoming space and astronomy events. This month sees the winter meeting of the American Astronomical Society, a conference on the interaction between the Earth's atmosphere and space environment and another on the fate of planets around evolved stars, and a public lecture on the chemical evolution of the cosmos.

The 221st meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) will bring together around 3000 astronomers and space scientists for a weeklong conference covering a huge range of topics in astrophysics.

This major event includes sessions ranging from instrumentation for telescopes to studies of planets around other stars to the origin of and evolution of the Universe. Scientists at all levels will present the latest work in these research areas in a series of talks and posters throughout the week.

221st AAS Meeting
http://aas.org/meetings/aas221

Media contact

The AAS offers complementary registration to bona fide working journalists and public information officers. Details of eligibility criteria are available at http://aas.org/meetings/aas221/press and registration can then be requested from This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

An image of the Orion nebula, a cloud of gas and dust that includes regions where interstellar chemistry is taking place, made with the Hubble Space Telescope. Credit: NASA / ESA / M. Robberto (Space Telescope Science Institute/ESA) / Hubble Space Telescope Orion Treasury Project TeamAt 1 p.m. on Tuesday 8 January, Steve Miller, Professor of Science Communication and Planetary Science at University College London, will give the latest RAS public lecture. He will take the audience on a tour of the chemical evolution of the Universe, from the formation of the first molecules to the chemicals required for the development of life.

Prof. Miller will use the hydrogen molecule H3+ as a guide, starting from a time when the cosmos had only three elements and 13 types of molecules through the chemistry of the formation, evolution and destruction of stars to the rich complexity of substances in the present day.

RAS public lectures
http://www.ras.org.uk/events-and-meetings/public-lectures

Media contact

Robert Massey
(details above)

It is increasingly apparent that progress in conventional meteorology and its new cousin, Space Weather, both require an integrated understanding of the atmosphere from the ground to space. On 11 January scientists from the UK space and atmosphere communities will come together to attend a conference at the Royal Astronomical Society where they will explore this new scientific frontier, discussing the latest research results including for example the effect of energetic particles from space on atmospheric chemistry.

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

RAS Specialist Discussion Meetings
https://www.ras.org.uk/events-and-meetings/ras-meetings

Media contact

Robert Massey
(details above)

Astronomers will gather at the Geological Society on 11 January for a specialist meeting on the evolution and survival of solar systems around stars in the final phases of their lives.

Delegates will discuss the latest scientific results concerning planetary companions and material found around the different manifestations of evolved stars and their remnants, including giants, white dwarfs and neutron stars.

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

Planetary Systems of Evolved Stars: meeting home page
http://www2.le.ac.uk/departments/physics/news/evplansys

RAS Specialist Discussion Meetings
http://www.ras.org.uk/events-and-meetings/ras-meetings

Media contact

Robert Massey
(details above)

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: Jodrell Bank
http://www.jb.man.ac.uk/astronomy/nightsky/

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 RAS offices at Burlington House will be closed over the Christmas and New Year period.

A gingerbread version of the RAS roundel, created by staff member Claire Williams and currently hanging on the RAS Christmas tree. Click to enlarge.The last day Fellows and visitors can make use of the facilities is Friday 21 December 2012. The RAS will re-open on Wednesday 2 January 2013. We apologise for any delay in responding to enquiries over this period.

Merry Christmas to all our Fellows!

On 6 June 2012 Venus passed directly between the Earth and the Sun, in a so-called transit where the planet appears as a silhouette against the solar disk, something that will not happen again until 5 December 2117. A team of Italian astronomers led by Paolo Molaro of the Instituto Nazionale di Astrofisica at the University of Trieste used the opportunity to perform an unusual and challenging experiment, looking at the sunlight reflected off the Moon ('moonlight') to see how it changed during the transit. This technique could help scientists to find planets in orbit around other stars. The team publish their results in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters published by Oxford University Press.

The Transit of Venus of 6 June 2012, as seen from Wiltshire in the UK. Image: Grant Privett. Click for a larger image.When Venus passes in front of the Sun it hides a part of our star's rotating surface. Because of rotation, the spectrum of the Sun (created splitting the different colours of light using a spectrograph) is slightly different on each side. On one side, the solar surface is rotating towards the observer and so its light will be 'blueshifted', meaning the lines seen in a spectrum move towards shorter wavelengths. On the other, the surface is rotating away from the observer, so its light is 'redshifted', meaning that the lines move towards longer wavelengths.

By looking at the reflected light from the lunar surface, this is averaged out as a broadening of the various lines. When Venus moves in front of the Sun from east to west, it first blocks out the surface moving towards us and then the surface moving away from us. This causes a distortion in the spectral lines known as the "Rossiter-McLaughlin effect".

The astronomers realised that the High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) spectrograph installed on a 3.6m telescope at La Silla in Chile, part of the European Southern Observatory (ESO), would be sensitive enough to detect the effect and that the Moon would be in the right place too. The Moon was slightly ahead of the Earth in its orbit, so 'saw' the transit a couple of hours later than terrestrial observers. This also meant that the Moon was in the night time sky in Chile, making it possible for the La Silla telescope to operate safely and observe the change in the solar spectrum.

Distortions in the spectral lines resulting from the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect are extremely small and are equivalent to a 3km / hour shift in the observed motion of the Sun. It has been seen before, in binary systems where the two stars eclipse each other. But it becomes more and more difficult to observe when the celestial body is a planet and rather than being the size of Jupiter is similar in size to the Earth, as Venus is. Scientists should nonetheless be able to measure the extent of this weak effect on the light from other planetary systems using telescopes such as the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) now under development. With the technique it should be possible to characterise important features of these systems and thus improve our understanding of the formation of planets in general.

Team member Lorenzo Monaco from ESO describes how important HARPS was in their work. "The measured magnitude of the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect is comparable to being able to track the speed of a person walking at a slow pace at a distance of 150 million kilometres, the space that separates us from the Sun. Nowadays there are very few instruments capable of recording such tiny changes, especially if you only have a few hours to measure them".

"There is close agreement between our work and the theoretical models", says Mauro Barbieri, from University of Padua, who is also a member of the team. "Among other things, this change in velocity is comparable with that due to the natural expansion and contraction of our star. Our observations however have allowed us to clearly see the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect during the transit".

"This measurement", says Paolo Molaro "shows the sensational results that spectrographs on telescopes like E-ELT will be able to deliver. We will open a new horizon in the study of the other Earth-like planets that are almost certainly waiting to be found around other stars in our galaxy".

Science contact

Paolo Molaro
INAF - Astronomical Observatory of Trieste
Tel: +39 (0)40 3199299
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Media contacts

Press Office
INAF – Italian National Institute for Astrophysics
Tel: +39 (0)6 355 33 221
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Dr Robert Massey
Royal Astronomical Society
Tel: +44 (0)20 7734 3307
Mob: +44 (0)794 124 8035
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Further information

The new work appears in, "Detection of the Rossiter–McLaughlin effect in the 2012 June 6 Venus transit", P. Molaro, L. Monaco, M. Barbieri, S. Zaggia, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters, published online at http://mnrasl.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2012/12/10/mnrasl.sls027.short?rss=1

This paper is currently free to access.

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

On the evening of 13 and the morning of 14 December, skywatchers across the world will be looking up as the Geminid meteor shower reaches its peak, in potentially one of the best night sky events of the year.

An all-sky image of the 2004 Geminids meteor shower. Credit: Chris L. Peterson, Cloudbait ObservatoryAt its peak and in a clear, dark sky tens of 'shooting stars' or meteors may be visible each hour. Meteors are the result of small particles entering the Earth's atmosphere at high speed, burning up and super-heating the air around them, which then shines as a characteristic short-lived streak of light. In this case the debris is associated with the asteroidal object 3200 Phaethon, which many astronomers believe to be an extinct comet.

The meteors appear to originate from a 'radiant' in the constellation of Gemini, hence the name Geminid. By 0200 GMT on 14 December the radiant will be almost overhead from the UK, making it ideally placed for observers. As a bonus, the Moon will not be present in the sky on the morning of maximum activity so the prospects for a good view of the shower are excellent. And unlike many astronomical phenomena, meteors are best seen without a telescope (and are also perfectly safe to watch).

Meteors in the Geminid shower are less well known than those at other times of year, probably because the weather in December is less reliable. But those who brave the cold can be rewarded with a fine view. In comparison with other showers, Geminid meteors travel fairly slowly, at around 35 km (22 miles) per second, are bright and have a yellowish hue, making them distinct and easy to spot.

According to the International Meteor Organisation, which coordinates meteor observations, the Geminids meteor shower will peak at around 2330 GMT on 13 December, but the highest level activity is spread over a period lasting a day or more. This means that if conditions are clear even casual observers may want to take a look until Saturday morning.

International Meteor Organisation: Geminids 2012
http://www.imo.net/calendar/2012#gem

Dr Robert Massey
Royal Astronomical Society
Tel: +44 (0)20 7734 3307
Mob: +44 (0)794 124 8035
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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

Sir Patrick Moore, astronomer, broadcaster and Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, has died at the age of 89. The Society offers its sincere condolences to his family, friends and colleagues. Sir Patrick will be sorely missed by astronomers and space scientists in the UK and around the world, many of whose careers were inspired by his extraordinary passion for the wider universe.

RAS President Professor David Southwood, reflected on Sir Patrick's life and influence. "His passing away is a great loss. For my part, I first worked in a very junior capacity with Sir Patrick on the BBC coverage of the Apollo missions over 40 years ago. I was always inspired by his love of his subject and his professionalism in communicating it. First and foremost, he was a person with an apparently endless capacity to enthuse and inspire about astronomy, but there must be many that Patrick drew into working in science and technology in general. He'll be missed by millions."

A team of astronomers led by the University of Leicester has uncovered new evidence that suggests that X-ray detectors in space could be the first to witness new supernovae that signal the death of massive stars.

Artist's impression of the Switft satellite (UK Swift Science Data Centre)Astronomers have measured an excess of X-ray radiation in the first few minutes of collapsing massive stars, which may be the signature of the supernova shock wave first escaping from the star.

The findings have come as a surprise to Dr Rhaana Starling, of the University of Leicester Department of Physics and Astronomy, whose research is published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, published by Oxford University Press.

Dr Starling said: "The most massive stars can be tens to a hundred times larger than the Sun. When one of these giants runs out of hydrogen gas it collapses catastrophically and explodes as a supernova, blowing off its outer layers which enrich the Universe. But this is no ordinary supernova; in the explosion narrowly confined streams of material are forced out of the poles of the star at almost the speed of light. These so-called relativistic jets give rise to brief flashes of energetic gamma-radiation called gamma-ray bursts, which are picked up by monitoring instruments in Space, that in turn alert astronomers."

Gamma-ray bursts are known to arise in stellar deaths because coincident supernovae are seen with ground-based optical telescopes about ten to twenty days after the high energy flash. The true moment of birth of a supernova, when the star's surface reacts to the core collapse, often termed the supernova shock breakout, is missed. Only the most energetic supernovae go hand-in-hand with gamma-ray bursts, but for this sub-class it may be possible to identify X-ray emission signatures of the supernova in its infancy. If the supernova could be detected earlier, by using the X-ray early warning system, astronomers could monitor the event as it happens and pinpoint the drivers behind one of the most violent events in our Universe.

The X-ray detectors being used for this research, built partly in the UK at the University of Leicester, are on the X-Ray Telescope on-board the Swift satellite. Swift is named after the bird because, like its namesake, it is able to swiftly turn around to catch a gamma-ray burst in action. Data from Swift of a number of gamma-ray bursts with visible supernovae have shown an excess in X-rays received compared with expectations. This excess is thermal emission, also known as blackbody radiation.

Dr Starling added: "We were surprised to find thermal X-rays coming from a gamma-ray burst, and even more surprising is that all confirmed cases so far are those with a secure supernova identification from optical data. This phenomenon is only seen during the first thousand seconds of an event, and it is challenging to distinguish it from X-ray emission solely from the gamma-ray burst jet. That is why astronomers have not routinely observed this before, and only a small subset of the 700+ bursts we detect with Swift show it."

"It all hangs on the positive identification of the extra X-ray radiation as directly emerging from the supernova shock front, rather than from the relativistic jets or central black hole. If this radiation turns out to be from the central black-hole-powered engine of the gamma-ray burst instead, it will still be a very illuminating result for gamma-ray burst physics, but the strong association with supernovae is tantalising".

The team, comprising scientists from the UK, Ireland, USA and Denmark, plan to extend their searches, and make more quantitative comparisons with theoretical models both for stellar collapse and the dynamics of fast jet-flows.

Astronomers will continue to view supernovae at their visible-light peak, when they are already tens of days old, but for the most energetic among them it may become possible to routinely witness the very moment they are born, through X-ray eyes.

Media contact

Ather Mirza
Press Office
Division of Corporate Affairs and Planning
University of Leicester
Tel: 0116 252 3335
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Science contacts

Dr Rhaana Starling
Tel: +44 (0)116 223 1891
Mob: +44 (0)7795 967 962
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Prof Julian Osborne
Tel: +44 (0)116 252 3598
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Further information

Dr. Starling's work is funded by a Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Fellowship.

The two published works appear in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 427, pages 2950-2974, led by Dr. R. Starling (University of Leicester) and Mr. M. Sparre (Dark Cosmology Centre, Niels Bohr Institute, Copenhagen, Denmark).

Notes for editors

The UK Swift Science Centre, at the University of Leicester, provides an archive of all Swift data, with open access for the wider UK astronomical community http://www.swift.ac.uk/. Funding for UK Swift activities is provided via the UK Space Agency.

The Swift observatory was launched in November 2004 and was fully operational by January 2005. Swift carries three main instruments: the Burst Alert Telescope, the X-ray Telescope, and the Ultraviolet/ Optical Telescope. Its science and science and flight operations are controlled by Penn State from the Mission Operations Center in State College, Pennsylvania. Swift's gamma-ray detector, the Burst Alert Telescope, provides the rapid initial location and was built primarily by the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico and constructed at GSFC. Swift's X-Ray Telescope and UV/Optical Telescope were developed and built by international teams led by Penn State and drew heavily on each institution's experience with previous space missions. The X-ray Telescope resulted from Penn State's collaboration with the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom and the Brera Astronomical Observatory in Italy. The Ultraviolet/ Optical Telescope resulted from Penn State's collaboration with the Mullard Space Science Laboratory of the University College London. These three telescopes give Swift the ability to do almost immediate follow-up observations of most gamma-ray bursts because Swift can rotate so quickly to point toward the source of the gamma-ray signal. The spacecraft was built by General Dynamics. In the UK Swift is funded by the UK Space Agency.

The Royal Society is the UK's national academy of science. Founded in 1660, the Society has three roles, as a provider of independent scientific advice, as a learned Society, and as a funding agency. Our expertise is embodied in the Fellowship, which is made up of the finest scientists from the UK and beyond. For further information on the Royal Society please visit royalsociety.org. Follow the Royal Society on Twitter at http://twitter.com/royalsociety or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/theroyalsociety .

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

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Nominations are invited for the RAS thesis prizes, to recognise the best doctoral theses completed in the UK during 2012.

Separate awards are made for theses in astronomy & astrophysics (the Michael Penston Prize) and in geophysics (the Keith Runcorn Prize). Winners receive £1000 and an invitation to present their results at an RAS meeting. Runners up receive a £50 book token.

Both prizes are sponsored by Oxford University Press, and the deadline for nominations is 31 January 2013. For further details of the criteria and nomination process, see the articles on each award.

The December digest of forthcoming space and astronomy news events, from the Royal Astronomical Society. This month sees two major space conferences in the UK; astronomy meetings on detecting particles from astrophysical objects and on exploring the outer planets and the maximum of the Geminids meteor shower.

The European Space Solutions conference takes place in London from 3-5 December. This major meeting will bring together business and the public sector to explore the ways in which space science and technology can make a difference to the lives and livelihoods of people across Europe.

Keynote speakers at the meeting include the Rt Hon David Willetts MP, the UK Minister for Universities and Science; Sir Richard Branson, Chairman of the Virgin Group and Jean-Jacques Dordain, Director General of the European Space Agency (ESA).

Media contacts

Donna Reay
European GNSS Agency (GSA)
Tel. +32 498 985 210

Lena Klemm
European Satellite Navigation Competition
& GMES Masters
Tel. +49 8105 7727717
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European Space Solutions
http://www.space-solutions.eu/

Press programme and registration information
http://www.space-solutions.eu/index.php?kat=pressform.php&anzeige=pressform.php

6 December: 8th Appleton Space Conference, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Didcot, Oxfordshire

The 8th Appleton Space Conference will take place on 6 December. It will bring together scientists, engineers, writers, outreach specialists and other interested parties from the UK, Europe and NASA to consider a wide range of space-related issues from managing space debris to the influence of space on contemporary art.

Keynote speakers at the Conference include HRH Prince Andrew the Duke of York and Jean-Jacques Dordain, Director General of ESA.

8th Appleton Space Conference
http://www.stfc.ac.uk/RALSpace/News+and+events/Appleton+Space+Conference/39751.aspx

Conference programme
http://www.stfc.ac.uk/RALSpace/resources/PDF/8ASCV2_k.pdf

Media contact

Sarah Smart
Tel: +44 (0)1235 445742
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The (delayed) latest launch of the US Orbital Test Vehicle X-37B is set to take place on or after 11 December, when it will be carried aloft from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida atop an Atlas 5 rocket. Built for the US Air Force, the X-37B is a reusable robotic spaceplane designed to operate in Earth orbit for several months at a time, where it can carry out a variety of missions before making an autonomous landing.

US Air Force factsheet on X-37B
http://www.af.mil/information/factsheets/factsheet.asp?fsID=16639

An all-sky image of the 2004 Geminids meteor shower. Credit: Chris L. Peterson, Cloudbait ObservatoryThe evening of 13 and morning of 14 December see the annual maximum of the Geminid meteor shower.

At its peak and in a clear, dark sky between 50 and 100 'shooting stars' or meteors may be visible each hour. Meteors are the result of small particles entering the Earth's atmosphere at high speed, which then burn up and superheat the air around them to create the characteristic short-lived streak of light seen from the ground. In this case the debris is associated with the asteroid-like object 3200 Phaethon, which many astronomers believe to be an extinct comet.

The meteors appear to originate from a 'radiant' in the constellation of Gemini, hence the name Geminid. This year the Moon will not be present in the sky on the dates of maximum activity so the prospects for a good view of the shower are excellent. And unlike many astronomical phenomena, meteors are best seen without a telescope and are perfectly safe to watch.

International Meteor Organisation: Geminids 2012
http://www.imo.net/calendar/2012#gem

14 December: RAS specialist discussion meeting: Future Exploration of the Outer Planets: Royal Astronomical Society, Burlington House, London

On 14 December planetary scientists will gather at the Royal Astronomical Society for a conference on the key science questions about the outer planets. The four worlds furthest from the Sun, the so-called gas giants Jupiter and Saturn and ice giants Uranus and Neptune, serve as natural planetary-scale laboratories for the fundamental physics and chemistry at work throughout our Solar system. With their retinues of moons they can also be viewed as miniature solar systems in their own right.

Delegates will consider planned and potential exploration missions, including the ESA JUICE probe to Jupiter and concepts for a NASA/ESA spacecraft that could explore Uranus. The scientists will also discuss how the planets can be observed using orbiting observatories such as the James Webb Space Telescope now under construction.

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

RAS Specialist Discussion Meetings
https://www.ras.org.uk/events-and-meetings/ras-meetings

Future exploration of the outer planets: meeting details
http://www.atm.ox.ac.uk/user/fletcher/Site/RAS_Meeting.html

Media contact

Robert Massey
(details above)

In the 20th century our understanding of the wider universe increased dramatically with the construction of ever more sophisticated telescopes that can observe the cosmos over the whole spectrum, detecting not just visible light but electromagnetic radiation from gamma rays to radio.

On 14 December astronomers will gather at the Geological Society to consider how the next revolution in astronomy may come from detecting the individual particles from some of the most extreme objects in the universe. Delegates at the meeting will consider the history of this science and how it has developed from the neutrinos detected from a nearby supernova in 1987. The scientists will then discuss the future prospects for the field and the opportunities it presents.

This meeting is timed to coincide with an exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts of Mariko Mori's work, which visualises information from the SuperKamiokande neutrino detector situated in the Kamioka Observatory in Japan.

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

RAS Specialist Discussion Meetings
http://www.ras.org.uk/events-and-meetings/ras-meetings

Media contact

Robert Massey
(details above)

At 1 p.m. on Tuesday 18 December, Professor Frank Close OBE of the University of Oxford will give the latest RAS public lecture on the (still nascent) field of neutrino astronomy.

Neutrinos are light subatomic particles that interact very weakly with their surroundings. They are the product of nuclear reactions, including those that take place in the core of the Sun and during the explosions of massive stars as supernovae. In our own Solar system, neutrinos fly straight out of the solar core, with vast numbers passing straight through the Earth, only a handful of which are observed. Although difficult to detect, their ability to travel through dense matter means that they give an insight into conditions in environments that are impossible to observe with visible light, such as the interior of stars.

In his lecture, Professor Close will describe how astronomers make use of neutrinos to study the universe in ways that would have been unthinkable to physicist Wolfgang Pauli when he first proposed their existence in 1930.

RAS public lectures
http://www.ras.org.uk/events-and-meetings/public-lectures

Media contact

Robert Massey
(details above)

19 December: Soyuz TMA-07M mission to International Space Station

The launch of the latest mission to the International Space Station (ISS) is scheduled to take place on or after 19 December. Russian cosmonaut Roman Romanenko, Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield and US astronaut Thomas Marshburn will blast off in a Soyuz spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The crew will then travel to the ISS, where they will join the three inhabitants already on board. The spacecraft will remain docked to the ISS where it will serve as an emergency escape vehicle for Expedition 35, which begins in March 2013.

NASA: Expedition 34
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition34/index.html

Media contacts

John Yembrick
Headquarters, Washington, USA
Tel: +1 202 358 1100
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Nicole Cloutier-Lemasters
Johnson Space Center, Houston, USA
Tel: +1 281 483 5111
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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: Jodrell Bank
http://www.jb.man.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

The Royal Astronomical Society has welcomed the commitments made by UK and European ministers to support new space science and exploration programmes. At the European Space Agency (ESA) Ministerial Council meeting in Naples last week, ministers from the Agency's member states agreed a budget of €10 billion (£8 billion) for the years 2013-17.

The International Space Station, as seen from Space Shuttle Endeavour in May 2011. Credit: NASAThe UK financial contribution to Agency activities will rise by 30% to €1.5 billion (£1.2 billion) and for the first time British scientists and engineers will be involved in the European programme for LIfe and Physical sciences and applications utilising the international space Station (ELIPS). In a further signal of interest in human space exploration, the UK will also contribute to the ESA development of the propulsion unit for the NASA Orion spacecraft designed to carry astronauts to deep space targets from the 2020s.

Following the withdrawal of NASA from the ExoMars programme, ESA will now work with the Russian space agency to continue this project, which will see European robotic satellite and rover missions exploring the Red Planet by the end of this decade.

Prof. David Southwood, President of the Royal Astronomical Society, said: "This new investment by the UK is a clear and welcome sign of our commitment to space science and exploration. For many years British universities and research establishments have been instrumental in developing technology, carrying out cutting edge space science and astronomy and thereby training the men and women who work in the space industry here in the UK and across Europe. This world class expertise means they are well placed to take advantage of the strengthened commitment to space made by our own and the other ESA governments. I have no doubt that our scientists and engineers will rise to this challenge."

ESA Press Release: Ministerial Council 2012 (includes Council Resolutions)

Using ESA's Herschel space observatory, astronomers have discovered vast belts of comets surrounding two nearby planetary systems known to host nothing larger than Earth-to-Neptune-mass worlds. The comet reservoirs could have delivered life-giving oceans to the innermost planets. The scientists publish their work in papers in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society and Astronomy and Astrophysics.

An expanded diagram of the debris disc and planets around the star known as Gliese 581, superimposed on a composite Herschel image assembled from separate observations made with its PhotoArray Camera and Spectrometer (PACS) at 70, 100 and 160 micrometre wavelengths. The white region in the lower centre of the image is the emission that originates almost entirely from the disc, with only a small contribution from the unseen Gliese 581. The line drawing superimposed on the Herschel image gives a schematic representation of the location and orientation of the star, planets and disc, albeit not to scale. The black oval outline sketched onto the Herschel data represents the innermost boundary of the debris disc; the approximate location of the outermost boundary is represented by the outer set of dashed lines. Gliese 581’s planets have masses between 2 and 15 Earth masses and are all located within 0.22 Astronomical Units (AU, where 1 AU is the distance between Earth and our Sun or about 150 million km) of the central star. A vast debris disc extends from approximately 25 AU to 60 AU. Background galaxies are also visible in the Herschel image, seen here as the tail-like feature, visible in yellow/red to the right of the disc, and the yellow/red objects in the upper left corner of the image. Credit: ESA/AOESLast year, Herschel found that the dusty belt surrounding the nearby star Fomalhaut must be maintained by collisions between comets. In the new Herschel study, two more nearby planetary systems – GJ 581 and 61 Vir – have been found to host vast amounts of cometary debris.

Herschel detected the signatures of cold dust at -200ºC (70 Kelvin), in quantities that mean these systems must have at least 10 times more comets than in our own Solar System's Kuiper Belt, a reservoir of cometary nuclei located beyond the orbit of Neptune.

GJ 581, or Gliese 581, is a low-mass red dwarf star, the most common type of star in the Galaxy. Situated in the constellation of Libra, earlier studies have shown that it hosts at least four planets, including one that resides in the 'Goldilocks Zone' – the distance from the central sun where liquid surface water could exist.

Two planets are now confirmed around the star 61 Vir, which is just a little less massive than our Sun and lies in the constellation of Virgo. The planets in both systems are known as 'super-Earths', covering a range of masses between 2 and 18 times that of Earth.

Interestingly, however, there is no evidence for giant Jupiter- or Saturn-mass planets in either system. The gravitational interplay between Jupiter and Saturn in our own Solar System is thought to have been responsible for disrupting a once highly populated Kuiper Belt, sending a deluge of comets towards the inner planets in a cataclysmic event that lasted several million years.

"The new observations are giving us a clue: they're saying that in the Solar System we have giant planets and a relatively sparse Kuiper Belt, but systems with only low-mass planets often have much denser Kuiper belts," says Dr Mark Wyatt from the University of Cambridge, lead author of the paper focusing on the debris disc around 61 Vir.

"We think that may be because the absence of a Jupiter in the low-mass planet systems allows them to avoid a dramatic heavy bombardment event, and instead experience a gradual rain of comets over billions of years."

"For an older star like GJ 581, which is at least two billion years old, enough time has elapsed for such a gradual rain of comets to deliver a sizable amount of water to the innermost planets, which is of particular importance for the planet residing in the star's habitable zone," adds Dr Jean-Francois Lestrade of the Observatoire de Paris who led the work on GJ 581.

However, in order to produce the vast amount of dust seen by Herschel, collisions between the comets are needed, which could be triggered by a Neptune-sized planet residing close to the disc.

"Simulations show us that the known close-in planets in each of these systems cannot do the job, but a similarly-sized planet located much further from the star – currently beyond the reach of current detection campaigns – would be able to stir the disc to make it dusty and observable," says Dr Lestrade.

"Herschel is finding a correlation between the presence of massive debris discs and planetary systems with no Jupiter-class planets, which offers a clue to our understanding of how planetary systems form and evolve," says Göran Pilbratt, ESA's Herschel project scientist.

Science contacts

Markus Bauer
ESA Science and Robotic Exploration Communication Officer
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Mark Wyatt
University of Cambridge, UK
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Jean-Francois Lestrade
Observatoire de Paris, France
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Göran Pilbratt
ESA Herschel Project Scientist
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Robert Massey
Royal Astronomical Society
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Thomas Kirk
University of Cambridge
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Carolin Crawford
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Images and captions

Image 1: http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/~wyatt/FINAL_GJ581_cropped.jpg

An expanded diagram of the debris disc and planets around the star known as Gliese 581, superimposed on a composite Herschel image assembled from separate observations made with its PhotoArray Camera and Spectrometer (PACS) at 70, 100 and 160 micrometre wavelengths.

The white region in the lower centre of the image is the emission that originates almost entirely from the disc, with only a small contribution from the unseen Gliese 581.

The line drawing superimposed on the Herschel image gives a schematic representation of the location and orientation of the star, planets and disc, albeit not to scale.

The black oval outline sketched onto the Herschel data represents the innermost boundary of the debris disc; the approximate location of the outermost boundary is represented by the outer set of dashed lines.

Gliese 581's planets have masses between 2 and 15 Earth masses and are all located within 0.22 Astronomical Units (AU, where 1 AU is the distance between Earth and our Sun or about 150 million km) of the central star. A vast debris disc extends from approximately 25 AU to 60 AU.

Background galaxies are also visible in the Herschel image, seen here as the tail-like feature, visible in yellow/red to the right of the disc, and the yellow/red objects in the upper left corner of the image.

Credit: ESA/AOES

Image 2: http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/~wyatt/FINAL_61VIR_cropped.jpg

An expanded diagram of the debris disc and planets around the star 61 Vir, superimposed on a composite Herschel PACS image assembled from separate observations at 70, 100 and 160 micrometre wavelengths.

The white region at bottom centre in the image is the emission that originates almost entirely from the disc, with only a small contribution from the unseen 61 Vir.

The line drawing superimposed on the Herschel image gives a schematic representation of the location and orientation of the star, planets and disc, albeit not to scale. The black oval outline sketched onto the Herschel data represents the innermost boundary of the debris disc; the approximate location of the outermost boundary is represented by the outer set of dashed lines. It is not possible to see that the part of the disc closest to the star is empty of dust due to smearing of the Herschel data.

The two planets around 61 Vir have masses between 5 and 18 Earth masses and are both located within 0.22 AU of the central star. A vast debris disc extends from approximately 30 AU to 100 AU.

Credit: ESA/AOES

Further information

The new work appears in two papers:

"Herschel imaging of 61 Vir: implications for the prevalence of debris in low-mass planetary systems," by M. Wyatt et al., is published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 424, 2012.

"A DEBRIS disk around the planet hosting M-star GJ 581 spatially resolved with Herschel," by J.-F. Lestrade et al., is accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics.

Copies of the papers can be downloaded from http://arxiv.org/pdf/1206.2370 (Wyatt et al) and http://arxiv.org/pdf/1211.4898 (Lestrade et al).

The observations were carried out as part of the DEBRIS (Disc Emission via a Bias-free Reconnaissance in the Infrared/Submillimetre) key project for Herschel, using both PACS and SPIRE instruments. DEBRIS is an international collaboration with researchers from Canada, the USA, the UK, Spain, Germany, France, Switzerland and Chile.

This work was supported by the European Union through ERC grant number

279973 (Debris in Extrasolar Planetary Systems), though this press release reflects only the author's views and the Union is not liable for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.

Notes for editors

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