Each year, the Perseids meteor shower graces our night skies as the Earth passes through the debris left behind by the Swift-Tuttle comet. As we approach the peak of this celestial event, we've gathered advice from Neill Sanders, an amateur astronomer enthusiast and founder of Go Stargazing, and Jo Richardson, a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and founder of Space Detectives.
Where?
To observe the Perseids meteor shower, it's crucial to find a suitable location away from bright city lights and light pollution.
Budding astronomers will be given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to witness a truly special celestial event in the run-in to Christmas.
This month, the gas giants Saturn and Jupiter - the two largest planets in our Solar System - will be so close in the sky that they’ll both be visible through a telescope eyepiece at the same time.
The planets will reach their once-every-20-years conjunction on December 21 – which will be their closest alignment since 1623, almost 400 years ago.
To mark the occasion, experts from the University of Exeter are offering...
Astronomers from the University of Exeter have helped shed light on the atmospheres of a group of planets which orbit stars outside our solar system, known as exoplanets.
Exeter academics led an international team of experts in analysing observations from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and the NASA Spitzer Space Telescope.
Their combined power gave a detailed study of the atmospheres of 10 hot-Jupiter exoplanets – the largest number ever collectively studied – in a bid to understand their atmospheres.
Previously, scientists had been puzzled that they had not...
Pioneering new research by the University of Exeter could pave the way for miniaturised optical circuits and increased internet speeds, by helping accelerate the ‘graphene revolution’.
Physicists from the University of Exeter in collaboration with the ICFO Institute in Barcelona have used a ground-breaking new technique to trap light at the surface of the wonder material graphene using only pulses of laser light.
Crucially, the team of scientists have also been able to steer this trapped light across the surface of the graphene, without the need for any nanoscale devices....
Devon Wildlife Trust together with the North Devon Astronomical Society are inviting members of the public to join them for a unique viewing of the solar eclipse followed by star gazing at Meeth Quarry nature reserve. The event will take place on Friday 20 March. Experts will guide visitors through the solar eclipse using professional equipment. From 8am onwards the North Devon Astronomical Society will be at Devon Wildlife Trust’s Meeth Quarry nature reserve with their hydrogen alpha telescope which filters light making it safe to look at the sun. Viewers will be able to see sun spots and...
Astronomers from the University of Exeter using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope along with an international team of researchers have, for the first time, determined the true colour of a planet orbiting another star.
If seen up close this planet, known as HD 189733b, would be a deep cobalt blue, reminiscent of Earth’s colour as seen from space.
But that's where the similarities end. This deep blue dot is a huge gas giant orbiting very close to its host star. The planet's atmosphere is scorching with a temperature of over 1000 degrees Celsius, and it rains glass, sideways...
