Planck
-
On not being able to talk about science
·
This week I was in the truly wonderful city of Bologna, home of possibly the oldest university in Europe. Nowadays, Bologna is also the home of IASF-BO, the Italian Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale e Fisica Cosmica, and was hosting this year’s Planck Satellite Consortium meeting. Of course I can’t talk about anything that was actually…
-
Planck’s First Light
·
I’m happy to be able to point to ESA’s first post-launch press release from the Planck Surveyor Satellite. Here is a picture of the area of sky that Planck has observed during its “First Light Survey”, superposed on an optical image of the Milky Way galaxy: (Image credit: ESA, LFI and HFI Consortia (Planck); Background…
-
In the Sky (at Night)
·
Despite my almost eight years in Britain as an astronomer, I suppose I have to be embarrassed to admit I’ve never actually watched “The Sky At Night“, apparently the longest-running show on television (possibly in the whole world, not just the UK). But I’m watching this evening’s episode, mostly because I’m on it. I was…
-
Launch!
·
Cross-posted on Andrew Jaffe’s Blog and the Planck Mission Blog. Planck and Herschel are en route to their orbit at L2! We were about 7.5 km from the launch, at the “Agami” viewing site. Here is my golden ticket: We all milled around for half an hour, snapping pictures of friends, eminent scientists, and at…
-
Launch Blog — Day 2: Rollout
·
Cross-posted on Andrew Jaffe’s Blog and the Planck Mission Blog. Today we saw the rollout of the gargantuan Planck/Herschel Ariane 5 rocket, when they move it from its assembly building to the launchpad. Spectacular! There are plenty more pictures, and some movies, which I’ll try to edit and post shortly. At the end of the…
-
Launch blog — day 1
·
Cross-posted from Andrew Jaffe’s Blog and the Planck Mission Blog Today was spent in Cayenne — the capital of French Guiana, where most of the hotels are located, and Kourou — home of ESA’a Centre Spatial Guianaise. We climbed up a nearby peak for a look over the Spaceport, but mostly we saw hand-sized spiders…
-
Pre-launch blitz
·
With less than a week to go before its planned launch, The Planck Surveyor Satellite has been loaded into the fairing of its Ariane 5 rocket along with its sister satellite, Herschel. It is scheduled to be rolled out to the pad on May 13, and the launch window opens on May 14 at 13:12…
-
Planck Plonk
One of the perks of the project. (Don’t worry, not paid for by your tax dollars.)
-
Loading Planck
·
The Planck Surveyor Satellite has finished its assembly and testing in Liège, Belgium, and this week was loaded onto a Volga-Dnepr Antonov AN-124 plane, and sent to Kourou, French Guiana, location of the Centre Spatial Guyanais (one of the few places near the Equator politically connected to Europe). It’s due to be launched in tandem…
-
STFC Consultation results
No time for a full blog post, but I wanted to point out the results of the STFC Consultation, now available. Some of my favorite projects like AstroGrid seem to have not fared too well (the consultation panel rated it highly, but PPAN, responsible for the final ranks, disagreed). Nonetheless, Imperial Astrophysics projects like Planck,…
Search
Recent Posts
Categories
- Academia (64)
- Art (57)
- Miscellanea (100)
- Music (71)
- Net (63)
- News (27)
- Politics (109)
- Science (331)
- Uncategorized (4)