Well, I’ve been quiet for a while and its good to still be able to post here, so far 2010 has been a productive year! Last week I was out with the “Space Bus”, which is single deck coach stripped of its inside and replaced with a 3D screen to watch movies on, and have school children come onboard and participate in interactive activities. The last week has been spent with much scratching of heads and figuring out what kind of new experiments we can do on the bus, with the idea of being as close to living and working in space as possible. I have to say one thing the kids loved was the touch and feel session on geological rocks. Amber, fossils, Meteorites, Tecktites, they all were fascinated.

In the meantime its back to what seems to be soaking up all of my time at the moment, yes you guessed it, Grant proposal writing! seems to be the pass time of most astronomers and science communicators looking to find funding for their next project, so will post more here in the weeks ahead.

Its the Christmas holiday season and as we draw to a close with the International Year of Astronomy there are already a milliion and one projects waiting to be brought off the drawing board to be put into action. This year has been somewhat of an emotional roller coaster for me, both work and family wise, and to some extent I will be glad to see the back of 2009.

So I will start these last posts of the year with a series of images that to me are simply awe inspiring. For the reason that they defy our current understanding of our Universe and may herald a new dawn of astronomy (quite appropriate for bringing in 2010 I think!). As they say, out with the old in with the new, so lets see what 2010 may bring.

Number 1. A better understanding of magnetic fields on cosmological scales

In a news story released by the Hubble Space Telescope Press Office, Perseus A is described as a “Erupting Magnetic Monster”.  Plasma from the nucleus of NGC 1275 is being ejected out into the surrounding galaxy cluster and is forming giant filaments which are then shaped by the magnetic fields of NGC 1275. These energetic filaments stretch out for over 20, 000 light years. The press release continues to comment that it has been a challenge for astronomers to understand how the delicate structures withstood the hostile, high-energy environment of the galaxy cluster for over 100 million years. They should have heated up, dispersed, and evaporated by now, or collapsed under their own gravity to form stars. A new study published in the August 21(2008) Nature magazine proposes that magnetic fields hold the charged gas in place and resist the forces that would distort the filaments. This skeletal structure is strong enough to resist gravitational collapse.

Similar networks of filaments are found around other more remote central cluster galaxies. However, they cannot be observed with comparable resolution to the view of NGC 1275. The team will apply the understanding of NGC 1275 to interpret observations of these more distant galaxies.

So, to conclude, a new explanation as to how plasma can withstand gravitational collapse and how it can lead to new structures forming in the Universe on cosmological scales.

Gianluca has just made the joke to the VT Galilean Nights webchat that the time is now 00:07, just like 007, the webchat participants have erupted with 007 jokes, its good to see that astronomy can bring so many people together in one evening from all over the world.

which draws the observing event for Galilean Nights with the Virtual Telescope to an end.

But some amazing pictures and much banter were shared between participants, and here are some more images:

So, the Tetraverse crew are simultaneously observing with the Virtual Telescope for the Galilean Nights event, there’s me in Manchester, UK and one part of our team, Virgiliu Pop in Timisoara in Romania joining in the observing fest also.

Dr. Gianluca Masi has opened up the Virtual Telescope and as promised, the telescope is available for people to request images, here are some below :

The day is picking up, we’ve had 3 shows so far, two 3D theatre shows and one live astronomer presented star show, I’m coming down with a cold so I’m glad my  throat didn’t give up during the live presentation.

It is also half term bank holiday and most of the children here in the UK are off school and the weather here is dreadful with rain , rain, and guess what? more rain! But at least we have the stars here inside!

So a mad week of teacher training, planetarium presenting, and kids entertaining is facing me this week as we gear up for Galilean Nights at the Yorkshire Planetarium tomorrow. Yesterday was a busy day for me as the Science Learning Centre in London invited me to present a workshop on IYA related activities for teachers to use in the classroom.

The teachers were so enthusiastic about the resources and materials that I covered during the session that I am really pleased I had the opportinity to do it!

Tomorrow a school group (lucky guys!) are coming to the planetarium for a visit and as its Galilean nights they will get an extra treat an something to make in their workshop so I’d better get ready  for the weekend of events the only way I know how best, with a cup of tea and a good nights rest! After havng a 4 hour delayed train journey up from London to Manchester I’m exhausted! But as we say in Manchester… “Buzzin!”

“The LCROSS Science team are making their preliminary assessment of data collected from the LCROSS Space craft of the plume created by the Centaur impact. Observatories involved in the LCROSS Observation Campaign are reporting in.”

How exciting! This is the comment on the LCROSS facebook page and I have been glued to my PC and TV screen watching the event take place live along with several thousand people across the planet. This is not only an important mission to define water’s existence on the moon , it also falls at the end of World Space Week, which couldn’t have been more appropriate.

A press conference is now being held to report on the telescopes and instruments measurements that were tracking the impact event, fingers crossed for a successful mission!

World Space Week 2009 is upon us and what better way to spend a Sunday morning than planning a primary school activity for young kids. I say Sunday morning, its actually officially my Saturday night and its 2.30am.

This year’s WSW has the theme of Space for Education and to celebrate the joint effort of IYA 2009 joint activities and UN-delcared World Space Week a competition has been launched for kids and their teachers to create a project and have the chance to win some really cool prizes for their school.

I’m adding some details below as this competition is a collaboration between the World Space Week Association and the Galileo Teacher Training Programme. The My Moon Campaign will coincide with Galilean Nights,you can find out about the competition here at:

http://www.site.galileoteachers.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=141:gttp-a-world-space-week-campaign&catid=41:projects&Itemid=30

Everyone who knows me will know how enthusiastic I am about astronomy, especially outreach and education. With this year being the International Year of Astronomy now is the perfect opportunity to give everyone, and I mean EVERYONE regardless of race, creed or colour of any age the opportunity to discover the universe.

Cyprus has its problems, there is no doubt about that, but it also has something that can be found that is quite rare in some places, that is unique and is worth more than its weight in gold. And this is a very special group of enthusiastic astronomers who are single handedly creating a planetarium and observatory for the people pf Cyprus to enjoy discovering the Universe through.

Tonight they have an event called the “Mars Hoax”.  Would the Moon and Mars look the same size if you could see them on the night of August 27th 2009?

A clever way to get the public to explore concepts of space and indeed misconceptions!

My only wish would be to be there to join in on the events takig place tonight, I cannot tell you how beautiful the stars appear from the mediterranean, not that I’m biased or anything but the night sky here from the centre of Manchester is pretty dismal and you can’t see the Milky Way!

More on the event and details can be found here:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=114752327671&ref=mf

To celebrate the Virtual Telescope’s birthday, Gianluca Masi is holding a live event now through an internet webchat through the telescope’s website, you can literally see live telescope images as the “live cosmic event/birthday pary” takes place.

http://virtualtelescope.bellatrixobservatory.org/3rdbirthday/

The Virtual Telescope has provided  many live events during IYA 2009 and also an event for 100 Hours of Astronomy, tonight will be the first time some viewers through the internet will get to see astronomical images taken live and an astronomer live at work!