The Star Garden

01/10/2018

The planet Neptune: http://www.thestargarden.co.uk/Neptune.html

Neptune is the furthest planet from the Sun. It was discovered by Johann Galle in 1846, following calculations made by Urbain Le Verrier.

28/09/2018

X-ray emissions, detectors, and telescopes: A brief history of X-ray astronomy http://www.thestargarden.co.uk/History-of-X-ray-astronomy.html

June 2012 marks half a century since the race began to map the X-ray sky, leading to the discovery of the most extreme objects in the universe.

26/09/2018

The planet Uranus: http://www.thestargarden.co.uk/Uranus.html

Uranus is the seventh closest planet to the Sun and, unlike the first six planets, it was not discovered until the invention of the telescope.

24/09/2018

Famous female scientists: A timeline of pioneering women in science http://www.thestargarden.co.uk/Women-in-science.html

Women are massively under-represented in physics and other STEM subjects at all levels. Girls made up only 20% of all those studying A-level physics in 2011.

21/09/2018

From the first particle accelerators to the discovery of the Higgs boson: A brief history of CERN http://www.thestargarden.co.uk/History-of-CERN.html

Before construction began on CERN in 1954, the atom was known to be composed of electrons (elementary particles), and a nucleus containing neutrons and protons.

21/09/2018

The planet Saturn: http://www.thestargarden.co.uk/Saturn.html

18/09/2018

The planet Jupiter: http://www.thestargarden.co.uk/Jupiter.html

Jupiter is the fifth closest planet to the Sun, it takes over 4000 days to orbit, and it is over twice as massive as all the other planets combined.

17/09/2018

Neutron stars, magnetars, and X-ray binaries: The most magnetic objects in the universe http://www.thestargarden.co.uk/Be-X-ray-binaries-and-the-super-magnetic-universe.html

Neutron stars are the most magnetic objects in the universe, with some having magnetic fields so high that quantum behaviour comes into effect.

14/09/2018

The Asteroid Belt: http://www.thestargarden.co.uk/Asteroid-Belt.html

The asteroid belt is composed of boulders made of carbon, silicon, iron, and semi-precious stones, which orbit in the space between Mars and Jupiter.

12/09/2018

The planet Mars: http://www.thestargarden.co.uk/Mars.html

Mars is the fourth closest planet to the Sun and takes about 687 days to orbit. A day on Mars is less than an hour longer than a day on Earth.

10/09/2018

From mammoths to people: A brief history of cloning http://www.thestargarden.co.uk/History-of-cloning.html

In April 2014, scientists in South Korea and the US cloned a human embryo, which could have developed into a foetus had it been implanted into a surrogate.

09/09/2018

The Earth's Moon: http://www.thestargarden.co.uk/Moon.html

Both NASA and the Soviet Union made multiple attempts to send spacecraft to the Moon in 1958, NASA with Pioneer 0-3, and the Soviet Union with Luna 1958A-1958C.

07/09/2018

Pseudoscience, ethics, and meaning: The relationship between philosophy and science http://www.thestargarden.co.uk/Why-science-needs-philosophy.html

Science has a massive impact on everyone. How we teach it, and what we decide to fund, can literally have life and death consequences for millions of people.

05/09/2018

The planet Earth: http://www.thestargarden.co.uk/Earth.html

Earth is the third closest planet to the Sun, and completes one orbit every 365 days. Earth is larger, denser, and more massive than Mercury, Venus, and Mars.

03/09/2018

From Salvador Dali to Monty Python: Artists inspired by science http://www.thestargarden.co.uk/Science-in-art.html

Artists don't have to disregard their bias, and so can use art to evoke emotional responses to scientific ideas, forcing us to consider how we feel about them.

01/09/2018

The planet Venus: http://www.thestargarden.co.uk/Venus.html

Venus is the second closest planet to the Sun. It takes about 225 days to orbit the Sun, and less than a single day passes on Venus during this time.

30/08/2018

Gravity, weight, and mass: How to weigh objects in space http://www.thestargarden.co.uk/How-to-weigh-objects-in-space.html

Everything with mass produces a gravitational field, which causes things to accelerate towards it. The gravity on the surface of the Earth is about 9.8 ms-2.

28/08/2018

The planet Mercury: http://www.thestargarden.co.uk/Mercury.html

Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun. Mercury takes about 88 days to orbit the Sun, and only about 1.5 days go by on Mercury during this time.

26/08/2018

Robot Dreams: Artificial neural networks and Google's Deep Dream http://www.thestargarden.co.uk/Robot-dreams.html

In order to gain a better understanding of how Google's artificial neural network works, software engineers got it to draw what it thought a banana looks like.

25/08/2018

Black Holes: http://www.thestargarden.co.uk/Black-holes.html

After a supernova, the most massive stars can’t even be held together by neutron degeneracy and collapse in on themselves, becoming black holes.

23/08/2018

S*x and gender: Pioneering transgender and genderqueer scientists http://www.thestargarden.co.uk/Trans-and-genderqueer-scientists.html

Many scientists used to think there are only two genders, and that a person's gender is determined from their ge****ls. We now know that this is not the case.

21/08/2018

Supergiants, Supernova, and Neutron Stars: http://www.thestargarden.co.uk/Neutron-stars.html

Yesterday, NASA announced that they've found evidence of liquid water flowing on Mars. This began with the discovery of streaks on the side of craters.

19/08/2018

Red Giants and White Dwarfs: http://www.thestargarden.co.uk/Red-giants-and-white-dwarfs.html

Our understanding of planets has increased dramatically since the launch of Kepler in 2009. This has led to the detection of thousands of exoplanets.

17/08/2018

Planetary formation patterns and the probability of alien civilisations existing in the universe http://www.thestargarden.co.uk/The-probability-of-alien-civilisations.html

Our understanding of planets has increased dramatically since the launch of Kepler in 2009. This has led to the detection of thousands of exoplanets.

15/08/2018

Stars: http://www.thestargarden.co.uk/Stars.html

Before stars existed, there were only four elements in the universe, hydrogen, helium, lithium and beryllium. Heavier elements are created in stars.

13/08/2018

Devouring stars: The science of supermassive black holes http://www.thestargarden.co.uk/Supermassive-black-holes.html

In November 2015, a team of scientists discovered what happens when a supermassive black hole devours a star. Black holes form from ordinary stars.

09/08/2018

Galaxies: http://www.thestargarden.co.uk/Galaxies.html

Galaxies are massive collections of stars and other matter that are bound together by gravity. Al-Sufi made the first recorded observation of Andromeda in 964.

09/08/2018

Cycles of destruction: The link between comet and asteroid impacts and mass extinctions on Earth http://www.thestargarden.co.uk/Cycles-of-destruction.html

Mass extinctions appear to occur in cycles, caused by comets hitting Earth. This may be due to Planet X or a disc of Galactic dark matter.

07/08/2018

The Origin of the Universe: http://www.thestargarden.co.uk/Big-bang.html

It is currently accepted that the universe came into existence about 14 billion years ago, in the big bang. This was proven in the 20th century.

05/08/2018

Carl Sagan and space exploration: The effects of popularising science http://www.thestargarden.co.uk/Carl-Sagan-and-space-exploration.html

In the 1960s, science was perceived as minimising the need for pseudoscience, but didn't fill the spiritual void this left. This was challenged by Carl Sagan.