Material falling into a black hole casts X-rays out into space – and now astronomers have used the echoes of this radiation to map the dynamic behaviour and surroundings of a black hole itself.
The most extensive survey of atmospheric chemical compositions of exoplanets to date has revealed trends that challenge current theories of planet formation and has implications for the search for water in the solar system and beyond.
Amy Rankine is a PhD candidate in the Institute of Astronomy and a member of Clare Hall. Here, she tells us about being the first in her family to go to university, why she decided to pursue an academic career, and how the brightest things in the universe affect the formation of galaxies.
Verity Allan is a graduate of Cambridge, Oxford, and The Open University. She is a PhD candidate at the Cavendish Laboratory and works as a project manager and programmer on the software for the Square Kilometre Array, the world's largest radio telescope.
An international group of scientists led by the University of Cambridge has finished designing the ‘brain’ of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), the world’s largest radio telescope. When complete, the SKA will enable astronomers to monitor the sky in unprecedented detail and survey the entire sky much faster than any system currently in existence.
Large differences in the ‘fogginess’ of the early universe were caused by islands of cold gas left behind when the universe heated up after the big bang, according to an international team of astronomers.
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