Editor's Choice Articles
The Editor has selected her choice articles from the latest issues of Astronomy and Geophysics. Click through to read the articles online for FREE.
We hope you will find the articles of interest, and if so, encourage you to sign up for email alerts so we can keep you informed about forthcoming issues.
Volume 65 | Volume 64 | Volume 63 | Volume 62 | Volume 61
Volume 65
Issue 2
Much of this issue is taken up with the new strategy agreed by the RAS Council, providing a framework for current and future activities. We have an outline of strategy itself, and a report form a meeting set up to consult on future outreach work, as well as our regular column from the Committee on Diversity in Astronomy and Geophysics, setting out how the new emphasis on partnerships will inform the committee’s work to boost the diversity of our society.
But that’s not all. First and foremost, we have news of an observing challenge for the 8 April total eclipse of the Sun. If you – or people you know – are going to be in the path of totality, then you could be part of an experiment to measure the shape of the Sun using your smartphone. All you need to do is to download an app, open it up and point your phone towards the eclipse. The software does the rest and adds your data to that of many others, in turn supporting research on the Sun’s oblateness. Find out more from Hugh Hudson and Gordon Emslie here.
Like the Sun, other stars too are not static bodies; their pulsations have proved a powerful tool for investigating stellar interiors. In his RAS George Darwin Lecture, Dominic Bowman gave an intriguing overview of how asteroseismology has uncovered the inner workings of massive stars. The primary aim of the NASA mission TESS is to find Earth-like exoplanets as they cross the disc of their host stars, but stellar pulsations also give rise to regular variations in brightness. Combining asteroseismology with magnetic field data is proving a very fruitful field of study. Find out more from Dominic Bowman here.
And finally, we hear a lot about the potential downsides of artificial intelligence, but could it be helpful for scientific publishing? That’s what Helen Klus, Assistant Editor on the RAS journal Monthly Notices, has been exploring here. She’s looked at the issues around the use of Large Language Models such as ChatGPT in writing and reviewing research papers, and found that they don’t measure up in terms of ethics, accountability and trust. So far, the humans are winning, but everyone who writes, reviews and reads research journals needs to be aware that this could very easily change.
Issue 1
The February issue of A&G has an earthy flavour, with a Harold Jeffreys Lecture article revealing the surprisingly patchy nature of the core-mantle boundary, a Specialist Discussion Meeting report on a new satellite mission to explore the nature of the geomagnetic field and an interview with a scientist who has shaped UK geophysical research throughout his long career. But we’ve also got our 2024 RAS award-winners, a trip into the radius valley, hints and tips for early career scientists – and their supervisors – to boost and maintain mental health, and the battle for Neptune.
Macau’s Geomagnetic Twin satellites MSS-1, recently launched and MSS-2 set for launch by 2026 offer the enticing prospect of a constellation of four spacecraft in complementary and novel orbits, including polar paths. The data that the new mission will collect will significantly enhance geomagnetic research from the core to the magnetosphere. The discussion meeting addressed both instrument performance on MSS-1 and the prospects for modelling using the new data to come together with data from ESA’s Swarm mission, now ten years old. Discover more here
Solid Earth geophysics was established in the twentieth century, with the invention of instruments to measure properties of our planet beneath the surface. Plate tectonics came to the fore as the paradigm for understanding the evolution of the Earth’s surface over geological time, especially for features such as the African Rift Valley. I spoke to Aftab Khan about his major part in establishing the large multinational research projects that uncovered the workings of the Rift. It was a pleasure to hear about the early days of geophysics, his work to set up undergraduate teaching in this novel subject, and about his contribution to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. You can read more of what Aftab has to say in his interview here
And we have an in-depth look at the Earth with the George Darwin Lecture, given by Sanne Cottaar. She explains what seismology can reveal about the nature of the core-mantle boundary; there are patches of rock down there perhaps 30 kilometres thick – but some may be only 10 kilometres thick – that are distinct from the main mantle rocks. Cottaar and her team have zoomed in on these Ultra Low Velocity Zones using shear waves diffracted through the core, refining estimates of the size and thickness of these patches and allowing glimpses of their shapes. It’s a surprisingly sharp picture of this major planetary boundary, which has a density change greater than that at the surface of the Earth and shows the advances to be expected from this area of big data geophysics. Learn more here
Volume 64
Issue 6
The December issue of A&G has a focus on high energy objects, with a review of the development of pulsar astrophysics by one of the people who played a significant part in that development, Francis Graham Smith. Alongside this is an article looking forward to the next generation of radio observatories, including the Square Kilometre Array Observatory. Rob Fender of the University of Oxford and colleagues in the radio astronomy community worldwide are looking ahead to a future where radio transients will be detected in abundance; they have identified a problem with the longer-term follow-up data needed to understand these many and various objects. Observing time on facilities such as the SKAO will be in great demand and long-term follow-up observations of transients is unlikely to qualify. Their article makes the case for a modest southern hemisphere array telescope to complement the SKAO and other observatories in order to understand time domain radio astronomy. Discover more here.
Observations are also the theme of another article, but this time it’s all about comets, and comet tails in particular. Sarah Watson and Chris Scott of the University of Reading are hoping that a wide range of observers will share with them photographs of comet tails behaving oddly. They are interested in kinks and other structures in comet tails as a way of assessing their interaction with the heliosphere, in order to improve modelling of heliosphere structure. So, if you take pictures of comets – or you know somebody who does – and are happy to share them with these researchers, you could really help this project. Learn more here.
And we have news about RAS activities from the Committee for Diversity in Astronomy and Geophysics. This is the first of what will be regular updates from this committee, to share with readers the steps they are taking to ensure that our sciences – and the RAS in particular, welcomes all groups in our wider society. Read more here.
Check out the new issue of A&G. There’s an overview of what we can do about the risks arising from impacts, some thoughts on the interplay between science and exploration, from the 2023 Wargo Prizewinner, and an introduction to the problem of dome turbulence – and how you might measure and mitigate it. All this and a news digest too!
Issue 5
This issue of A&G has a mix of research reviews – including a wonderful Presidential Address from Emma Bunce, about the current mission to Mercury – a report of an excellent RAS Meeting on planetary atmospheres and a preview of the successor to the Liverpool Telescope as well as a bit of a focus on the RAS journals.
But perhaps the strangest thing in this issue is a maritime mystery in the form of a strange instrument in the collections of Lancaster Museum. It is a kludonometer – an instrument for forecasting the tides based on astronomical observations. It was the property of Captain William Nelson Greenwood, and Maria-Theresia Walach of Lancaster University and her co-authors have found out more about the Captain – a correspondent of Charles Dickens – and his intriguing instrument, which will be on display in Lancaster Museum from September. Clues to the kludonometer | Astronomy & Geophysics | Oxford Academic (oup.com)
The volcanic eruption near Tonga in the south Pacific Ocean took the world by surprise. This large and destructive event was recorded worldwide and many of the research findings were published in a special themed issue of the RAS journal Geophysical Journal International. Pam Rowden from the RAS Editorial Office spoke to the authors of one of the papers on Hunga Tonga, who found the event a useful test case for new nuclear monitoring technology. Hunga Tonga's test-ban test | Astronomy & Geophysics | Oxford Academic (oup.com)
Academic publishing is also operating in an evolving landscape right now. Open Access publishing – through which research papers are freely available for anyone to read – is being demanded by principal research funders such as UK Research and Innovation. Sue Bowler found out more from the RAS Publishing Managers, our Senior Publisher at Oxford University and the RAS President about the benefits of open science, as the RAS journals Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society and Geophysical Journal International prepare to switch at the end of the year. Open door policy | Astronomy & Geophysics | Oxford Academic (oup.com)
Issue 4
Explosions – literal and metaphorical – in the publishing world and a maritime mystery mark the August A&G
This issue of A&G has a mix of research reviews – including a wonderful Presidential Address from Emma Bunce, about the current mission to Mercury – a report of an excellent RAS Meeting on planetary atmospheres and a preview of the successor to the Liverpool Telescope as well as a bit of a focus on the RAS journals.
But perhaps the strangest thing in this issue is a maritime mystery in the form of a strange instrument in the collections of Lancaster Museum. It is a kludonometer – an instrument for forecasting the tides based on astronomical observations. It was the property of Captain William Nelson Greenwood, and Maria-Theresia Walach of Lancaster University and her co-authors have found out more about the Captain – a correspondent of Charles Dickens – and his intriguing instrument, which will be on display in Lancaster Museum from September. Discover more here
The volcanic eruption near Tonga in the south Pacific Ocean took the world by surprise. This large and destructive event was recorded worldwide and many of the research findings were published in a special themed issue of the RAS journal Geophysical Journal International. Pam Rowden from the RAS Editorial Office spoke to the authors of one of the papers on Hunga Tonga, who found the event a useful test case for new nuclear monitoring technology. Read more here
Academic publishing is also operating in an evolving landscape right now. Open Access publishing – through which research papers are freely available for anyone to read – is being demanded by principal research funders such as UK Research and Innovation. Sue Bowler found out more from the RAS Publishing Managers, our Senior Publisher at Oxford University and the RAS President about the benefits of open science, as the RAS journals Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society and Geophysical Journal International prepare to switch at the end of the year. Learn more here
Issue 3
This issue of A&G includes something of an experiment. We have one in-depth article focusing on a single, albeit rather large, subject: Betelgeuse. This giant red star has been examined in great detail over the decades, with astronomers even able to discern features of its photosphere. And in recent years, startling short-term fluctuations in its brightness brought renewed attention. We’re lucky enough to have an article by authors from The Betelgeuse Project, whose focus is the astrophysics of this intriguing object. I hope you relish the opportunity to get to grips with the latest astrophysical explorations of this well-known star. Betelgeuse: a review | Astronomy & Geophysics | Oxford Academic (oup.com)
But that’s not all there is to read in this issue. We have articles on how the Sun could hold up your train, how researchers are exploring the atmospheres of exoplanets and how to ensure that your outreach event or exhibition is welcoming for autistic people. We’re also looking to the future health of our disciplines, with an article on the new Roadmap for Solar System Research in the UK. Here the Solar System Advisory Panel of the Science and Technology Facilities Council present their assessment of priorities and requirements for research from the Sun to the outer planets. More than this, they also set out the ways that they sought information from the community and assessed those priorities. It’s a window into the decision-making process that shows the way that active researchers can drive the development of infrastructure – such as high performance computing facilities – necessary for future success. Future UK solar system science | Astronomy & Geophysics | Oxford Academic (oup.com)
There’s also a short article highlighting the many and various threats to the near-Earth environment. From space junk to satellite megaconstellations, it is getting ever harder to observe the night sky, to conduct sensitive radio telescope operations and to manage the increasingly crowded surroundings of our planet. Max Alexander uses his powerful photographs to highlight the issues, in an exhibition – Our Fragile Space – that’s well worth a visit! Our fragile space | Astronomy & Geophysics | Oxford Academic (oup.com)
Issue 2
Space law, space war, space opera – and more of our sustainable travel diary.
This issue of A&G is all about rules and regulations – with a little light relief in the planetarium. We also have some excellent astrophysical reasons to be part of the return to the Moon, the significance of starquakes, how magnetic fields might drive solar flux ropes and lots more.
It’s the law
Joanne Wheeler and her team set out why we need to act now to regulate space and the near-Earth environment. This has been an issue since the start of the Space Age, but it is now a matter of urgency: the amount of space debris is growing – it’s now estimated at around a million pieces more than a centimetre across – in turn raising the risk of collisions for the satellite infrastructure on which we all rely. Satellites and debris that fall to the ground at the ends of their lives are another hazard; if they burn up as they descend, they also produce atmospheric pollution. We need to clean up our backyard; this article sets out policy solutions that could help. Read more here
Space forces?
Space is a new frontier for science and technology – and something of a wild frontier for the military. This is nothing new, as James Smith recounts, but the ‘second space age’ we may be entering means that we are at a pivotal moment. Many countries are developing tactical and strategic approaches to space power – and some are already using space warfare. Add to this that the laws and treaties that regulate military activities off Earth need upgrading or redrafting and there’s a clear message for scientists – watch this space! Read more here
Singing in the planetarium
Opera takes place in something of a parallel universe, where space and time pass differently and people do unlikely things. The Flowering Desert, an opera inspired by exoplanet research, uses the suspension of disbelief needed to enjoy opera to explore space. Infinite Opera presented this story of planetary transformation in the immersive environment of the Thinktank Planetarium, Birmingham. Find out how this innovative approach to outreach came about and what the team hope to do next. Read more here
Let the train take the strain
Research student Cameron Patterson is taking the train to AGU in San Francisco. By flying to Ottawa rather than California, he’s cutting the carbon footprint of the journey by 40%, and he’s out to show that slow sustainable travel brings big benefits. In this article, he sets out the timetable he’ll be following, as he mixes business with travel on the railways of North America. Read more here
Issue 1
The February issue of A&G looks both forwards and backwards. The illustrious history of Irish observatories features, alongside articles pinpointing remarkable observations in history – of the Sun and Betelgeuse. But with these comes an overview of current cosmology from a 2022 RAS Gold Medallist, a review of the role cosmic rays play in galaxy evolution and, of course, the winners of the RAS Awards for 2023.
Our cover feature highlights a challenge that the RAS is addressing through their newest journal, RAS Techniques and Instruments. There has been tremendous progress in development and construction of new radio interferometers over past decades – our cover features ALMA, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array. But those working in the field are concerned that there has not been comparable progress in developing the software and algorithms necessary for interferometric imaging. It’s not quite that we have ‘all the kit and none of the IT’, but there’s a challenge to those involved in computational imaging in order to realise the full potential of these facilities. And that’s the challenge that RASTI Editors and Guest Editors have set, in the form of a Special Issue focusing on these areas. I spoke to some of the editorial team to find out more about what they hope to achieve. Find out more from RAS progress in development and construction of new radio interferometers
Making the most of the instruments available is something of a feature of astronomy, in the past as well as today. In the eighteenth century, much of that effort lay in building observatories that allowed collection of the best possible data. And the island of Ireland is home to three great observatories both preserve that history and remain active in astrophysical research and outreach today: Birr, Dunsink and Armagh. Director of Armagh Observatory, Michael Burton, sets out the remarkable record preserved at these sites, tracing the development of the modern scientific observatory from its classical roots, and outlines the plans afoot to seek UNESCO World Heritage listing for these sites. Find more about Michael Burton examination about the deep astronomical heritage.
And finally, I’d like to introduce Cameron Patterson, a research student working on space weather at Lancaster University, who will be travelling to the Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union this year by train, mainly. Cameron is out to show that choosing a shorter transatlantic flight, to the east coast rather than the west, offers an opportunity to work, network and engage in outreach, as well as significantly cut his carbon footprint for attending the meeting. And it’s fun, but, as Cameron is finding out, there’s a lot to organise – and a lot of things that institutions could do better to support sustainable travel. Discover Cameron Patterson reserach
Volume 63
Issue 6
We’re looking back as well as forward in the December issue of A&G, with some new perspectives on the first RAS president William Herschel, a successful professional musician before he discovered astronomy. There’s an overview of research presented at a meeting to celebrate the bicentenary of his death, plus a fascinating examination of whether composer Josef Haydn ever did meet Herschel. And we have articles on boosting the UK magnetometer network, and an overview of an RAS meeting on the remarkable structure of the flare chromosphere.
Looking back just 50 years, to Apollo 17, the final Apollo mission to the Moon, you can read about the adventures of a Preston schoolboy, selected to represent the UK on the International Youth Science Tour in December 1972. Dermot Gethings was just 16 when he was whisked off to the USA and given a VIP tour of NASA facilities, including at Mission Control. He and the other 80 young people from United Nations members worldwide met leading figures in NASA programmes, and each was presented with a fragment of Moon rock – the Friendship Moon Rock – for their nation. Dermot’s recollections of this amazing experience – including quite literally bumping into Neil Armstrong – bring to life the last time humans walked on the Moon, at a time when NASA’s Artemis mission is taking steps to return.
There is also progress in the UK’ space launch capacity, with Spaceport Cornwall getting its operating licence, making possible the first satellite launch from the UK. Heidi Thiemann has been working to increase access to careers in space for the people of Cornwall, building on the widespread public interest in the development of the spaceport at New Quay airport. Her work to develop support for apprenticeships chimes well with her current role exploring access to space industries across Europe. Find out more about her work and interests in our interview.
Access to space makes possible research across a wide range of disciplines; space telescopes open up astrophysical data in many ways, but satellites have also revolutionized Earth observation. Shaun Quegan discusses the ESA BIOMASS mission to quantify our planet’s vegetation, quite literally weighing forests from space with synthetic aperture radar and more. It’s the shape, or at least, the mass of things to come.
Issue 5
October’s issue of A&G marks the release of the first images from the JWST – an event that coincided with the National Astronomy Meeting 2022 at Warwick University. The first science to come from this game-changing observatory is also a fitting marker for the first in-person NAM for 3 years. While the meeting was buzzing with the new capabilities, it was also just buzzing with the sheer pleasure of getting together in person. You can read about the headline-grabbing news presented at the meeting and meet RAS prize-winners and poster-makers, alongside special sessions on using art to promote science, allyship at work, outreach and more. In addition, this issue of A&G focuses on a novel approach to outreach, a seismic blast from the past and a very modern observer.
Visitors to NAM2022 were impressed with the SUN installation: a 7 metre diameter ball showing solar activity as it happened. This is a stunning presentation of the often-violent activity of our star, but it’s not something that anyone could bring along to an outreach event, for its scale and cost. But if you have access to a 3D printer and some modest funds, you could build yourself a projection system that brings Jupiter to a table top, or the stars to a scout hut. Planets in a Room is a project based in Italy that –- for a modest fee – provides both instructions for building the projection system, but also access to a community using the set-up for outreach about everything from exoplanets to the origin of the universe. The Planets in a Room team would love you to join in.
The most familiar of planets is of course the Earth; geophysics provides a template for understanding the workings of other planets based on the one beneath our feet. 100 years ago, the RAS began publishing dedicated papers on geophysics, starting with a paper from H H Turner setting out his deduction that some earthquakes originate deep within our planet. This was a novel concept in 1922, but now the study of deep earthquakes is an established probe of the workings of our planet and the RAS publishes cutting edge seismological research in Geophysical Journal International (academic.oup.com/gji).
Another activity that is both widely accessible and rewarding is astrophotography. Seeing planets, stars and astronomical phenomena with your own eyes is another aspect of astronomy that inspires and engages people within and outside the academic community. Damian Peach is an experienced and dedicated astrophotographer, and someone who shares his expertise and glorious images of planets and comets widely and generously on social media. Read his interview in this issue to discover more about what drives him outside in the UK winter – and how his archive is now providing valuable information to space missions.
Issue 4
It’s an electric issue this time, featuring the RAS’s James Dungey Lecturer writing about atmospheric electricity on Earth and other planets. Alongside this treat, we eavesdrop on historians of astronomy discussing the challenge of preserving the heritage of the subject, explore Jodrell Bank’s new heritage centre and have a quick look at the wonders of Gaia Data Release 3.
Karen Aplin’s Dungey Lecture ‘The Charge of the Spheres’ provides an insight into the processes behind Earth-based lightning, and how they may operate in the very different environments of the planets and their moons. A necessary part of this is understanding what instruments have explored those planets and what we might need in order to find out more. Aplin also highlights the significant contributions made to the field by the Scottish Nobel Prize winner CTR Wilson – and what they might mean for Uranus and Neptune.
Space has long been recognised as a source of national prestige, inspiration for technological careers and as a driver for economic success. One nation developing its space industry is India, and on pages 27-29, Ritesh Singh sets out the goals and acheivements of the nation’s first astronomical satellite. He outlines the progress from detectors on missions such as Spacelab through to the Chandrayaan Moon missions, with a focus on the success of the multiwavelength AstroSat.
Astronomy also plays an inspirational role closer to home. As part of the RAS200 bicentenary outreach project RAS200, Bounce Back have been using astronomy as a way to open doors for prisoners. Working with RAS Fellows, the team have offered workshops and activities around astronomy and geophysics in prisons, expanding horizons in ways that support positive futures after prison. You can read about their work before and after lockdown on pages 36-37. And a former prisoner who benefitted from Bounce Back’s sessions addressed MPs and others attending an RAS reception at the Palace of Westminster; her powerful speech is worth a read.
Issue 3
Alongside the usual overviews of meetings and our pick of the news, in this issue of A&G you will find several articles produced by the RAS Early Career Network. This is a new network within the Society, formed in 2020 in order to speak for and support researchers starting their careers in astronomy and geophysics. A pandemic is not perhaps the best time to begin such a venture, but the pressures of lockdown highlighted the value of sharing experience with those at other institutions.
The ECN has gone from strength to strength and in this issue you can find out about research by early career network members and read about a panel event focused on postgraduate research. And in ‘Generation Covid’ you can discover the results of their survey on the impact of Covid-19 – and it’s not been good news. Early career researchers tend to have less space to work at home, and short-term contracts can mean weaker local support networks. The results, as the survey demonstrates, are greater project delays and worse mental health. The data together with the experiences of individuals give a clear picture of the impact of the pandemic on the next generation of researchers.
This issue also includes ‘Going to Ganymede’, our 2021 Presidential Address. The annual address by the RAS President is a long-standing tradition that allows each president to share their research, areas of interest or commentary. Prof. Emma Bunce of the University of Leicester has written about her work on Jupiter, with an eye on the forthcoming European Space Agency mission JUICE: the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, lined up for launch in 2023. She outlines the intriguing plasma environment of this gas giant and its many moons, and why one of them, Ganymede, is quite such an exciting target for JUICE.
And if you are hankering after a little open-air astronomy, you could do worse that heading to a Dark Sky Park. Kielder Observatory lies within the Northumberland Dark Sky Park and has built a reputation as a great place to visit for beginners and enthusiasts alike. Now the observatory team is expanding into new forms of outreach – and new parts of the electromagnetic spectrum. Dan Pye explains what the observatory is hoping to achieve in the coming years.
Issue 2
Litter, light and listening to the universe
The April issue of A&G looks at planets near and far, a treasure in the RAS library, a who’s who of those who celebrated the RAS centenary in 1922, and the astronomical heritage of a Midlands city that will host the National Astronomy Meeting this summer. But I would especially like to share with you two articles about a growing problem in near-Earth space, as well as a chance to get to discover the audible universe.
We have a litter problem, and it’s getting worse. Low Earth orbit, the home of the satellites that we have come to rely on in science and in our everyday lives, is a messy place. Space junk is made up of defunct satellites, rocket bodies, lost objects and bits of spacecraft that have exploded, collided or just fallen to bits. And all the bits – 20,000 and counting – are a threat to existing and future satellites and space missions. Space Situational Awareness is the umbrella term for the growing effort to track and monitor this horrible halo around our planet. You may have attended a session discussing this at last year’s National Astronomy Meeting, but you can find out more in James Blake’s article in this issue.
The problem of space junk looks likely to get a lot worse with the growth of megaconstellations of small satellites: thousands more objects in low Earth orbit will inevitably bring more collisions and more junk. But alongside their effect on an increasingly crowded patch of space, there is also the problem they bring observing at optical and radio frequencies. They can reflect light at dusk and dawn, disfiguring astrophotographs with prominent trails and impinge on survey images – a big problem for photometry in large automated surveys, for example. And their communications with the ground are a source of radio frequency interference for the new generation of radio telescopes. Robert Massey writes about the international effort to find a solution – and asks for help from RAS Fellows.
A clear dark sky is a delight to the senses, but it doesn’t have to come solely from the sense of sight. With the help of an RAS grant, a team of researchers have developed an outreach show that represents astronomical objects and phenomena through sound as well as sight. Sonification is used in research to represent a wide frequency range, beyond that of our eyes. In making The Audible Universe, the team have put blind and visually impaired people at the centre of a journey through space that can also be experienced by the fully-sighted. They developed new code to represent the sounds of space and worked with a composer and teachers of blind and visually impaired children to develop meaningful music. They also learned a lot along the way. Find out more from Chris Harrison, James Trayford, Leigh Harrison and Nicolas Bonne.
Issue 1
It’s a new year and a new volume of A&G for 2022! We have a packed issue with features on the UK’s role in examining the Luna Moon samples, 50 years on, a network for academics working in the burgeoning UK space sector and a look back at an eclipse observed in India in 1871 that one RAS Fellow used as an opportunity for outreach. And, last but most definitely not least, we celebrate the winners of the 2022 RAS awards and medals, nominated by the community of astronomers and geophysicists and representing achievement and excellence in our disciplines.
Our cover this issue takes inspiration from the work of a group of artists and scientists taking scientific data transposed into sound and representing it through music and art. Celestial Incantations is the second album from this collaboration and our cover highlights artwork by Diana Scarborough inspired by different planets and astronomical objects, including Earth. Read about it for yourself – and listen online at soundsofspaceproject.bandcamp.com/album/celestial-incantations
On the night of 28 February last year, with the UK under stringent pandemic restrictions, a fireball in the night sky led to a fingertip search of muddy Chilterns fields, where meteorite fragments had probably fallen. You can read the story of how the UK meteoriticists led by UKFAll mobilised in order to pin-point the likely location of any space rocks and alert the news media. A team of mud-tolerant searchers assembled and members of the public (who also feature in our awards this year) provided crucial information. The search found valuable samples of a rare class of meteorite, including impacts sites. The other good news is no guinea pigs were harmed in the meteorite fall, but it was a close-run thing!
It’s not every day you launch a new journal – and, in the case of the RAS, it’s something we do only every hundred years or so. But 2021 was that year and the Royal Astronomical Society has launched RAS Techniques and Instruments, a fully Open Access journal bringing together research in the fields of data science, instrument development and software, across all areas of science within the RAS. I spoke to Editor-in-Chief Jonathan Tennyson and Deputy Editor-in-Chief Anna Scaife about their hopes for the new journal. “We’ve started well,” said Tennyson. “I’ve been heartened by the positive feedback; people are actually saying “this is a journal I need because I want to publish these results”. “This journal is going to be able to represent the instrument builders, the technique developers, the algorithm developers…”, agrees Scaife. “It’s providing visibility to a large part of the research community that has had to publish in non-ideal places, in a much more diverse range of journals that don’t necessarily hit their target audience.”
Volume 62
Issue 6
This issue of A&G is celebrating a belated RAS bicentenary project along with our usual round-up of research, news and reviews. We’re also celebrating ten years of the enormous – and enormously successful – ExoMol project designed to measure, calculate and document the spectroscopic fingerprints of molecules that could be found in the atmosphere of exoplanets. The ExoMol databases are now a valuable tool that contributes to an understanding of potential biosignatures, an example of the cross-disciplinary challenges identified in this area in another review in this issue. And we even have an interview with a teacher challenging the next generation through the use of astronomy and – especially – Python.
But let’s start with the RAS Timeline, a combination art installation at Burlington House and on-line resource developed as a part of the bicentenary celebrations. The intention was to look back at 200 years of the RAS, from its foundation by a group of gentlemen astronomers in 1820 to the modern multidisciplinary learned society it is today. Pandemic challenges mean that the online Timeline is only now going live (at ras.ac.uk/Timeline) and the installation in Burlington House is in the last stages of preparation. The people involved in the project spoke to Sue Bowler about how they see the finished project. It is striking that RAS activities remain true to the goals envisaged by the founders, boosted by unimaginable technological, scientific and societal changes.
One astronomer who was ahead of his time in many ways was Fritz Zwicky, whose name is now attached to a prize for astronomy and cosmology awarded biennially by the European Astronomical Society. The inaugural award was to Martin Rees in 2020 and in this issue of A&G he reflects on Zwicky’s achievements and approach to science, based on his address on acceptance of the prize. As well as the legendary curmudgeon, Zwicky was also an assiduous observer, a versatile polymath and a friend to early career scientists. Rees concludes that we need more of his type of scientist to tackle today’s scientific challenges.
Space exploration is one of those challenges that demands both interdisciplinary and international collaboration. Ben Fernando and a large team describe how they overcame the barriers to working collectively on Mars when the teams behind NASA’s InSight seismology mission worked with China’s Tianwen mission to try to detect the arrival of the Chinese Zhurong Rover. The goal was to see if the touchdown produced detectable seismic signals, a plan demanding careful coordination between NASA and the Chinese National Space Administration as well as scientists across many nations and even amateur radio observers. In the end, no identifiable seismic signal was found from the landing, but this teamwork has laid the groundwork for future international collaborations in deep space.
Issue 5
October brings an issue with a mix of news about our community and our research. We have some ideas from terrestrial meteorology about how we might measure the weather on Venus and we look back at ten years of superluminous supernovae and what it is going to tell us about the universe in future. And, last but not least, we also look back at the summer, in particular at the first virtual National Astronomy Meeting. This time last year, I think we all hoped that, having postponed NAM2020, we might be able to meet in person in Bath this year, but it soon became apparent that this was not to be. The team at the University of Bath swung into action and NAM went virtual. And it worked, right down to the spookily realistic fire for the fireside chat! NAM2021 had the research presentations, the discussions, the community lunches, the plenaries, the posters… You can read all about it in the October A&G.
The growth of light pollution and the loss of dark skies is a matter of concern for astronomers, but also now for a wider group interested in the natural world. A workshop following the National Astronomy Meeting brought valuable discussions of the issues involved and strategies for preserving dark skies, providing useful sources of information and examples of successful mitigation of poor illumination. You can read their conclusions and find out more in Hannah Dalgleish’s article.
Another issue of importance to our community is the lack of diversity among our members. Now a group of space physicists have come together to suggest a way to tackle one aspect of the problem: that of ineffective letters of recommendation. The team noticed that letters of support for scientists – while meaning well – did not always give a positive focus on a researcher’s skills and attributes. They have set up a website, Equitable Letters for Space Physics, that follows the model for refereeing of research, and offers an anonymous check of your letter or reference. Find out more in “Bypassing the Bias” by Angeline Burrell and team.
Time domain astronomy is a very active research area, and one that will be getting a flood of new data when new facilities such as the Square Kilometre Array Observatory and the Vera Rubin Observatory come on stream. In the issue, Núria Jordana-Mitjans reviews her research on jets from gamma ray bursts, using linear polarization to shine light on the strong magnetic fields within the jets. Núria’s poster on this theme was one of the winning entries in the poster competition organised in 2020 by the RAS Early Career Network. The competition was a big success and offered an opportunity to share research at a time when lockdown and lack of access to labs had cut off many normal channels of communication.
Issue 4
The August issue of A&G brings our regular mix of news and reviews across astronomy, astrophysics cosmology and planetary, solar-terrestrial and solid-Earth geophysics. As well as congratulating the RAS Thesis Prize-winners – and new Astronomer Royal for Scotland Catherine Heymans – we’ve got a celebration of the forensic seismology undertaken at AWE Blacknest over the past 60 years and overviews of recent RAS Specialist Discussion Meetings.
The cover of this issue shows an artist’s impression of a collision between binary neutron stars, an event that produces both gravitational and electromagnetic waves. Our cover feature written by Laura Nuttall and Christopher Berry explores the synergy that comes with these two independent sources of information about such cosmic collisions and what the growing catalogue of neutron star mergers may be able to tell us.
The first step on a career as an independent researcher is to secure that first post-doctoral position – and that can look like a very big step from the perspective of a research student. The RAS Early Career Network recently hosted a workshop at which a panel of more experienced researchers shared their tips and suggestions for those contemplating such a step. The ECN have summarised the points in an article in A&G and it makes very encouraging reading.
Outreach is a major interest of the RAS and its Fellows. As part of celebrating our bicentenary in 2020, the Society established partnerships with a range of charities and organisations who have been using our sciences to support their goals, whether that’s supporting carers through respite breaks or getting girl guides into space. I spoke to two young people who have attended virtual workshops organised by The Prince’s Trust. Saying that Harley and Joel are astronomy enthusiasts underplays the breadth and depth of their knowledge of the subject and its potential wider significance for wellbeing – something that’s come into sharp focus over the past 18 months. See for yourself what they have to say.
Issue 3
We’ve got a bit of a solar theme going in this issue, with reports from a meeting on coronal seismology and the annual meeting the magnetosphere, ionosphere and solar terrestrial communities, plus a review examining how observations from historical eclipses can support today’s science.
We’ve chosen a wonderful image published by the RAS in 1879 for our cover. The image shows the solar corona during the total eclipse of 18 July 1860, in an engraving by William Henry Wesley based on the drawing of observer Ernst Wilhelm Leberecht Tempel. There’s something happening in the lower right quadrant – what we now recognise and a coronal mass ejection in progress. In their article 'Cosmic meteorology', Mike Lockwood and Mathew Owens show how drawings and early photographs of the solar corona during historical eclipses can be combined to give a better understanding the solar cycle – space climatology rather than just space weather.
At A&G we rely heavily on the primary literature and the teams of people involved in publishing research: from the authors sharing their research – and reviewing the work of their peers – to the editors running the journals and the publishers, copy-editors and web gurus who get the work out for us to read. It is a great pleasure to find out more about the Editor-in-Chief of Monthly Notices of the RAS, Prof. David Flower in his Q&A. He talks about his research on the chemistry of star-forming regions, the move from paper to digital in science publishing, and his personal journey into physics.
There are also some insights into how we do research, based on an assessment of what we know about the nature of the body that hit Earth 66 million years ago. Whether this was a comet or an asteroid matters both for understanding what happened to the dinosaurs and other life on Earth then, but also for our models of the populations of these bodies in near-Earth space. But, as Steve Desch and his colleagues argue, there are also lessons for how we carry out interdisciplinary science. Understanding these issues draws together Earth sciences, geophysics, geochemistry, astronomy and more…
And, last but by no means least, there’s a National Astronomy Meeting this year and is going to be a good one! It’s also going to be online, but, in the words of one of the organising team “Clear the week for the meeting. Tell everybody that you’re away and come and explore NAM2021.” I spoke to the organisers of this long-delayed meeting – NAM2020 was cancelled and NAM 2021 became fully virtual – about the challenges and opportunities of meeting on screen. One of the most appealing is the levelling effect of everybody being online. It is so much easier for those starting their careers to approach big names and talk about their research; conversely, it is easy for those involved in moving the field forward to see the new ideas and directions coming from the early career sector. Find out for yourselves at NAM2021!
Issue 2
One year after COVID-19 resulted in rigorous restrictions on our home, work, and social lives across much of the world, it is encouraging to see that science has continued under lockdown. In this April issue of A&G, we have some insights into how researchers in our field have coped with the coronavirus pandemic, alongside an overview of modelling the clouds that precede star formation, how Vera Rubin documented the effects of dark matter and the intriguing possibility that a photograph of Richard Carrington exists.
Science happens because scientists make it happen and for the past year those scientists have been working either under lockdown or under lighter restrictions. The RAS explored these pressures through an online meeting in January where researchers shared their experiences. While all acknowledge that many scientific jobs can be maintained from home and that incomes did not suffer, the continuing restrictions took their toll. Lack of access to the lab, the pressure to teach children, abrupt reconfiguring of university teaching and support for students... find out more from Robert Massey's overview of COVID-19 impact.
Outreach under pandemic restrictions is another challenge, one managed impressively by a team in Exeter taking advantage of the Great Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in December 2020. The team led from the University of Exeter combined a live stream of the conjunction with an imaginative--and COVID-safe--interactive display in an Exeter shopfront. The project spotlights the benefits of considered community engagement, and integration with local groups and arts practitioners; any outreach including Space Cats is going to be a winner! Claire Davies describes this successful, socially-distanced project.
One of the things I have missed while working from home is attending meetings with real people, coffee and biscuits. While those teatime chats in person are still some way of, we are all making the most of online meetings--and a recent RAS Specialist Discussion Meeting was flooded with contributions. The meetings on the chromosphere--described by the meeting organisers as "the idiosyncratic, difficult child of the Sun's atmosphere"--attracted many excellent talks from across the world and a bumper audience. Find out more about this successful RAS meeting from organisers Malcom Druett and Ben Snow.
Issue 1
The February issue of A&G looks back and looks forward, covering a catastrophic collapse and the curse of clouds on exoplanets, asteroid adventures and amazing artworks.
But first of all, this year – and this issue – marks 25 years of publishing in this form; A&G took over the role of informing RAS Fellows about topical science progress and Society activities from Quarterly Journal in 1997. Science and our society has moved on apace since then and I look back at that first issue as a snapshot of astronomy and geophysics a quarter of a century ago. While A&G now does pretty much the same as A&G did then – research reviews, overviews of RAS meetings, fretting about funding and the visibility of comets – the scope of the science we can now do has expanded immeasurably, thanks in large part to the far greater spatial and wavelength range of the tools available to researchers on the ground and in space. And that applies to research across the spectrum of science activities, from cosmology and extragalactic astronomy to star and planet formation, solar science, our own solar system and planet Earth from core to space environment.
A measure of the advances made over the past quarter century comes in our article on the mystery of Fast Radio Bursts: short bursts of radio emission from distant but unknown sources. Shami Chatterjee reviews these recent detections, the evidence for their distant origins and the astrophysical objects that may produce them. It’s a great story of astrophysical detective work – and something that would have been impossible 25 years ago, when A&G began.
And as we turn our backs on 2020 – many of us with relief – and move into 2021, we should not forget that the RAS was celebrating its bicentenary last year. Many of the events planned to mark the anniversary had to be postponed, while others moved online for the duration. The production of a modern solar system quilt was one project that successfully made the transition from sewing sessions in Burlington House to on-line meetings making patchwork pieces. Find out more from RAS Membership Officer Annie Hogan.
Volume 61
Issue 6
Our December issue takes stock of some of our activities as a Society at the end of our bicentenary year, with the work of the Editorial Office publishing our journals and our work to represent community opinions to those who develop science policy in government. But this issue also brings news of initiatives by the RAS to move forward in new ways.
Astronomy has huge potential to support economic growth in line with the United Nations‘ Sustainable Development Goals, particularly those addressing education, employment and infrastructure. But we also need to think about the negative contributions to global climate that we make as scientists, travelling the globe to meetings and facilities. Many of the changes to virtual working that we have made in response to Covid-19 risks could usefully persist in future. And astronomers can also contribute towards future health and well-being, of both people and ecosystems, by working to restore and preserve dark skies. Find out more in Hannah Dalgleish’s article.
Online meetings are now the norm in the scientific world, whether at the RAS or the local astronomy society. And while the partner organisations of RAS in the bicentenary outreach programme RAS200 have had to postpone major events and celebrations, some of them have turned to the virtual world to keep supporting the communities that rely on them. Online meetings, training and support sessions have proved valuable, and some resources are finding wider use online. Online meetings can offer channels of communication that suit people who are not comfortable speaking out in person in a large group, for example, and they do offer opportunities to involve people without the need to travels great distances. Many organisations have found positive aspects to working online and plan to continue them when we return to face-to-face meetings.
Looking back at the development of our sciences shows many occasions when technological advances bring scientific discoveries. The unseen universe of dark matter and dark energy is a focus for contemporary research, but in fact the new radio astronomy technology of the Very Large Array played a key role in determining that dark matter exists. Gene Byrd and Mauri Valtonen outline how radio data demonstrated that the galactic rotation curve remains flat even in the outer reaches of galaxies where there were few or no optical courses.
Issue 5
This issue of A&G has a focus on exploration, with features highlighting new areas of great scientific potential: transient objects at new wavelengths and planets with exoplanetary significance. Our cover features the Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder telescope MeerKAT, an array telescope in the Karoo Desert of South Africa that is already revolutionising radio astronomy – and you can find out about the 200 years of astronomical heritage of South Africa in this issue as well. And there’s also a look at Uranus and Neptune, overdue for exploration given the numbers of similar bodies among the growing exoplanet population. We’ve even got an insider’s view of the appeal of these bodies from a research student, Naomi Rowe-Gurney, in our Q&A.
But this issue we are also shining a spotlight on some of the people in our scientific community – or, in the case of Frank Kameny, people prevented from being part of it as a result of systemic prejudice. Kameny was sacked from a US government job in 1957, because those in power believed he was homosexual (in the language of the time). That’s all it took to remove his livelihood; he never worked as an astronomer again. What he did instead was campaign for civil rights for the rest of his life, changing the employment climate for LGBT+ people. Sixty years on, there’s still a need for more change, but Kameny’s story still has the power to shock.
Another agent of change in the A&G spotlight this issue – and coinciding with Black History Month – is Sam Okoye. This young Nigerian physics graduate was advised to go into radio astronomy and started at the top, arriving in Cambridge in 1962 to start a PhD with Tony Hewish. His work helped to demonstrate that the source of some of the radio emission from the Crab Nebula was surprisingly small, one of the insights that led to the discovery of pulsars. Okoye returned to Nigeria in 1965 but his plans to develop radio astronomy in his country were thwarted by civil war and, later, by lack of funding. Undaunted, Okoye went on to establish astronomy – including radio astronomy – as a research area in Nigeria, in part through the excellent international links he made and kept up throughout his career. He was also an early and persistent advocate of using astronomy for development, something that is now a cornerstone of development across Africa as nations build on initiatives such as the building of the Square Kilometre Array to inspire their technologically savvy workforces.
Inspiration is an important element of building the next generation of scientists, but it has to inspire everyone. Postgraduate students at the University of Oxford were concerned that the students and staff of their department – Earth Sciences – were not a very diverse group; they set about asking why. They worked independently from departmental management, something that perhaps helped them to uncover barriers to participation for black and minority ethnic students. Their report suggested new ways forward – and not just for their own department.
Issue 4
This strange summer continues with A&G authors examining the state of seismology in the UK, a New Year Autumn MIST meeting, innovative geophysics outreach and a landmark publication from 1971.
Astronomy is looking up with the establishment of a new global network of telescopes to support planetary research across Europe. The Europlanet Telescope Network is for professional and amateur observers in planetary or exoplanet research. The goal is to support this area of science across the continent, using these telescopes for coordinated observations and long-term monitoring, for example of atmospheric features on Mars of Jupiter. And the Europlanet Telescope Network hopes for more and better collaborations, especially between professional and amateur observers.
Megaconstellations – communications systems using thousands of small satellites – promise internet access for remote communities, but threaten to limit what ground-based optical and radio astronomy can do. The glitter of light reflecting off the streams of launches is one problem noted so far, but the potential radio frequency interference may be more significant. Robert Massey rounds up what the RAS is doing to coordinate reporting of the problem and working towards a compromise that keeps the data coming in.
Looking downwards to understand our planet’s core and lowermost mantle demands specialist exploration tools and software. But it also takes people and one research group at Cambridge University have set up an exhibition about their work. The Deep Earth Explorers exhibit is currently in the Sedgwick Museum in Cambridge, but also available online. It’s a fascinating exhibition, not only because of the subject matter – how do you explore through thousands of kilometres of rock – but also because it highlights the people who are carrying out the research. Audience research at an early stage of the project highlighted the questions that potential visitors had about who does the research as well as how they go about it. The result is a combination of interactive exhibits and cartoons of the researchers – have a look for yourself!
In the rest of the magazine, you can find out more about the biennial British Seismology Meeting highlighting current research, the annual MIST autumn meeting and the work of one of their Rishbeth prizewinners Affelia Wibisono and one magisterial paper published in Geophysical Journal International that deduced the history of an ocean basin over 100 million years.
Issue 3
Despite the restrictions on our daily lives during the COVID-19 pandemic, science goes on and A&G goes on with it. In the June issue we have a focus on planetary habitability, looking at planets in the solar system as well as the development of new ways to study our star, and the history of astrobiology. You can find out how neural networks can be used to study the Sun, discover a key stage of evolution of binary stars, and get to know our Norman Lockyer Fellow through our Q&A.
As many people’s working lives move online, we have a timely discussion about what works and what doesn’t from the organisers of the 13 March Specialist Discussion Meeting on the quiet Sun. This was the last meeting held at Burlington House before the RAS building closed and it went ahead as a hybrid meeting, with an audience and speakers both present in the room and attending online. Stuart Bale, David Burgess and Tim Horbury spoke about the experience and what lessons they drew from it for the success of future meetings.
Charles Cockell looked at the development of astrobiology from early ideas about civilisations on the Moon and Mars to today’s painstaking searches for biosignatures in the solar system, on exoplanets and in the universe as a whole. Astronomy and biology have been uncomfortable scientific bedfellows at times in the past, but future success in this field demands close and considerate collaboration.
Closer to home, Zach Dickeson and Joel Davis take a close look at Mars and the much-discussed northern hemisphere ocean. Many variations of this ancient martian body of water have been postulated. Here Dickeson and Davis assess the geomorphological data and find a more complex picture and one that will be explored further when the Rosaline Franklin and Perseverance rovers get to work in the next few years.
Issue 2
We are seeing stars in the April issue of A&G, with articles about citizen scientists, the neglected effects of binary stars and an interview with noted astrophotographer Nik Szymanek. But we also look back at some of the successes of the RAS journals over the past 200 years, and we have the RAS equivalent of a night with the stars, as the Society celebrated its bicentenary.
Our celebrations took the form of an evening event addressed by our Executive Director, Prof. Philip Diamond, our President-elect, Prof. Emma Bunce and the Astronomer Royal, Prof. Martin Rees. Prof. Bunce made a point of thanking all those who help the Society whether within the organisation – Fellows, staff and friends – or from companies and organisations we work with, such as our publishing partners OUP. She also formally launched the new RAS logo. The audience heard from recipients of RAS funding, in the form of an undergraduate research bursary and a research fellowship, and from one of our partner organisations in the bicentenary outreach projects RAS200. And we welcomed coin and stamp collector Margaret Morris, who kindly donated to the Society the Gold Medal awarded to John Herschel, one of our Founders, in 1826. We also heard the poem commissioned from the Poet Laureate, Astronomy for Beginners, read by Simon Armitage himself. And, finally, the audience were treated to an address by Martin Rees looking back at the astounding progress made by our sciences in 200 years, and forward to the potential discoveries to come.
Scientific publishing is at the heart of the Society’s work. Articles in A&G this issue include essays discussing the impact of some key papers published in our world-leading journals Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society and Geophysical Journal International. Philip J Armitage looks at the lasting impact of Hermann Bondi’s deceptively simple 1952 paper on spherically symmetrical accretion, a well-used model for stars and galaxies. And Ineke De Moortel, Isobel Falconer and Robert Stack look back at the work of Hannes Alfvén, who swam against the stream of English-speaking, model-driven mathematical physics as he worked to understand energy transfer in the Sun.
Our journals also provide snapshots of what’s current in our sciences in a given year. Steven Phillipps takes 1920 as his example, and paints a picture of the RAS one hundred years ago from the pages of Monthly Notices that year. The Officers and Council are a mixture of the great and good of the time, those who would come to prominence in future and some who remained obscure. Many of the papers were based on observations and most of those observations were optical; there is some historical work and a little theory. But many pages are concerned with reports of discussion at RAS meetings – and what lively, and sometimes robust, debates they were. Find out more in The First Century.
One area of astronomy that has come to prominence over the past few years is the work of citizen scientists on big astronomical data sets through projects such as Galaxy Zoo. But as Chris Lintott writes in this issue, citizen science is not new, and has been a feature of our science for as long as the RAS has been in existence. But now this process of building active communities of interested people is currently yielding research results, discoveries and a democratization of scientific endeavour that is very much a part of the 21st century world. This article, like all those relying on Zooniverse data in RAS journals, is free to read, so find out more – and tell your friends!
Issue 1
The new year has brought a new look for A&G, as we refresh the design of the magazine in line with the major changes made by our parent organisation, the Royal Astronomical Society. A&G is the magazine for Fellows of the RAS and the changes that the RAS have made to their image is a great opportunity to reinforce that connection. But I hope you like the sharper, cleaner look to the magazine and the opportunities we have taken to make the most of the spectacular images and informative diagrams that are now so essential to communicating science well.
In this issue of A&G, we look back at the founding of the RAS and some of the developments in our sciences over the past 100 years. What’s striking to me is the strong commitment to the Society’s fundamental goals, established 200 years ago: supporting science and sharing knowledge. These twin goals thread their way through the founding gentlemen’s dinners and discussions, into the early establishment of scientific publishing, the recognition of excellence through our awards and the steady evolution of the modern learned society.
Allan Chapman gives an evocative and erudite account of how the Astronomical Society came to be, filling in the background of other scientific societies, at home in the UK and abroad. He concludes that the RAS retains its role as a society of scientists, drawn together because of their interest in research, unbeholden to government or royal patrons. And the roster of the first 200 Fellows, ably catalogued by Mike Edmunds, shows the fascination exerted by the RAS sciences of the day on academic astronomers, professional men with an interest in navigation or surveying and gentlemen who formed more than half of them, including those stalwarts of nineteenth-century science, the clergymen.
Nobody would be a member of the RAS if the Society had clung to the areas of interest of those early Fellows, however. Their astronomy was hands-on, although photography was soon to bring a revolution and the start of spectroscopy, survey science and astrophysics in general. The RAS has changed alongside the interests of its members throughout its existence, but the rate of change has certainly accelerated over the past 100 years. Cosmology is one of the disciplines that has changed out of all recognition over the past 100 years, as Malcolm Longair shows in his review of the key developments in the field. Striking here is the expansion of astronomy into an array of novel observations and a testing ground of theory across fundamental physics, especially in the 1960s. And more recently, cosmology has flowered into an observational science, using satellites and surveys to understand the evolution of the large-scale structure of the universe in ways that would astound, but please, the scientists of 200 years ago.
The expansion of the electromagnetic spectrum available to astronomers through space science is another area in which our sciences have grown. Ken Pounds reviews the UK contribution to X-ray astronomy through the Space Age, finding innovative instrumentation and international influence driving the transformation from sounding rockets to satellites. Dr Strangelove played a part, too, if only in one of the photographs he has used to illustrate the article!
