Institute of Astronomy

News and Press Releases

Chandra Finds Fastest Wind from Stellar-Mass Black Hole

Published on 22/02/2012 

Astronomers (including members of the Institute of Astronomy) using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory have clocked the fastest wind blowing off a disk around a stellar-mass black hole yet discovered. This result has important implications for understanding how this type of black hole behaves.

The record-breaking wind is moving about twenty million miles per hour, or about three percent the speed of light. This is nearly ten times faster than had ever been seen from a stellar-mass black hole.

Royal Astronomical Society honours leading astronomers

Published on 17/01/2012 

The Royal Astronomical Society has recently announced the recipients of its annual prizes and medals. While the quality of the Institute's research leads to numerous prizes and awards, the RAS announcement is notable for the inclusion of three Institute members as well as a project with substantial Institute participation.

 Andy Fabian was awarded the Society's highest honour, the Gold Medal, in recognition of a lifetime's achievement in astrophysics.

Mike Irwin received the premier award for a researcher in observational astrophysics, the Herschel Medal.
Paul Murdin's many contributions to astronomy in the United Kingdom and Europe were recognised through the award of the RAS Service Award.
The UKIRT Infrared Deep Sky Survey (UKIDSS) received the RAS Project Award.  CASU is responsible for the processing of all UKIDSS data, numerous members of the Institute are members of the Consortium and a senior member of the Institute is a member of the UKIDSS Council.

 

Isolating the stellar discs of Andromeda

Published on 15/02/2011 

A team of astronomers from the UK, the US and Europe have identified a thick stellar disc in the nearby Andromeda galaxy for the first time. The discovery and properties of the thick disc will constrain the dominant physical processes involved in the formation and evolution of large spiral galaxies like our own Milky Way.

By analysing precise measurements of the velocities of individual bright stars within the Andromeda galaxy using the Keck telescope in Hawaii, the team have managed to separate out stars tracing out a thick disc from those comprising the thin disc, and assess how they differ in height, width and chemistry.

New light shed on cosmic dark ages

Published on 05/01/2011 

Remnants of the first stars have helped astronomers get closer to unlocking the "dark ages" of the cosmos.

Starbursts in the Distant Universe

Published on 16/12/2010 

A team of Cambridge and international astronomers has presented the first conclusive evidence for a dramatic surge in star birth in a recently discovered population of massive galaxies in the early Universe.

Astronomers Find Evidence of Cosmic Climate Change

Published on 02/11/2010 

A team of astronomers has found evidence that the Universe may have gone through a warming trend early in its history. They measured the temperature of the gas that lies in between galaxies, and found a clear indication that it had increased steadily over the period from when the Universe was one tenth to one quarter of its current age. This cosmic climate change is most likely caused by the huge amount of energy output by young, active galaxies during this epoch.