Thanks to a team of astronomers led by the European Southern Observatory (ESO), the closest black hole to Earth has been discovered. Using the ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile, the black hole was found in a triple system, around 1000 light-years (9,500,000,000,000,000,000 kilometers) away from Earth. Black holes are regions in space where…
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Once in a blue moon…
In the early hours of April 8, 2020, you may have noticed a larger and brighter full moon than usual; this is due to an astronomical phenomenon known as the supermoon. You may have heard it named the pink-supermoon, however, this is not due to its colour. In fact, the full moon in April is…
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Are we made from stardust?
New research, published in ‘Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences’, conducted on a meteorite that struck Australia has found evidence of stardust that formed over five billion years ago, before our solar system formed. It is believed to be the oldest known material found on our planet. At the beginning of the universe only…
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The hunt for dark energy
It is currently widely accepted that both space and time started with the Big Bang. The universe started as a small singularity that was infinitely dense and has continuously expanded since. This can be evidenced by an observed pattern called redshift (a result of the wavelength of electro-magnetic radiation increasing). However, gravity in simple terms…
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The future of human spaceflight
This year marks 50 years since the Apollo 11 mission, but what is the future of human spaceflight over the next ten years? This talk, chaired by journalist Richard Hollingham, included a panel of guests all with different backgrounds in spaceflight: European space agency engineer Vinita Marwaha, science journalist Sue Nelson, extreme medical doctor Beth…