University College London

British-led exoplanet mission selected as ESA’s next space science probe

22 March 2018 Stephen Clark

A mission proposed by a British-led science team to investigate the atmospheres of planets around other stars has been selected by the European Space Agency for launch in the late 2020s, officials announced this week.

First evidence of rocky planet formation in Tatooine system

27 February 2017 Astronomy Now

Evidence of planetary debris surrounding a double sun, ‘Tatooine-like’ system has been found for the first time by a UCL-led team of researchers.

Cosmologists show that universe is expanding uniformly

24 September 2016 Astronomy Now

The universe is expanding uniformly according to research led by University College London (UCL). The researchers studied the cosmic microwave background (CMB) which is the remnant radiation from the Big Bang. It shows the universe expands the same way in all directions, supporting the assumptions made in cosmologists’ standard model of the universe.

Fossilised rivers suggest warm, wet ancient Mars

24 August 2016 Astronomy Now

Extensive systems of fossilised riverbeds have been discovered on an ancient region of the Martian surface on a northern plain called Arabia Terra, supporting the idea that the now cold and dry Red Planet had a warm and wet climate about 4 billion years ago, according to University College London-led research.

Astronomers release spectacular infrared survey of the distant universe

28 June 2016 Astronomy Now

Astronomers today (28 June) released spectacular new infrared images of the distant universe, providing the deepest view ever obtained over a large area of sky. The release of the Ultra-Deep Survey (UDS) represents the culmination of a project using the 3.8-metre United Kingdom Infrared Telescope (UKIRT) on Hawaii, building up more than 1,000 hours of exposure time.

“Electric wind” can strip Earth-like planets of oceans and atmospheres

21 June 2016 Astronomy Now

The space environment around a planet plays a key role in determining what molecules exist in the atmosphere – and whether the planet is habitable for life. New research shows that Venus has an “electric wind” strong enough to remove the components of water from its upper atmosphere, which may have played a significant role in stripping Earth’s twin planet of its oceans.

Martian surface revealed in unprecedented detail

26 April 2016 Astronomy Now

The surface of Mars — including the location of Beagle-2 — has been shown in unprecedented detail by University College London scientists using a revolutionary image stacking and matching technique. The UCL researchers used the Super-Resolution Restoration (SRR) process to reveal objects at a resolution up to five times greater than previously achieved.

First-ever evidence of exoplanetary system found on 1917 photograph

13 April 2016 Astronomy Now

You can never predict what treasure might be hiding in your own basement. A researcher looking for a spectrum of a white dwarf known as van Maanen’s star found a 1917 image on an astronomical glass plate from the Carnegie Observatories’ collection that shows the first-ever evidence of a planetary system beyond our own Sun.

First detection of a super-Earth exoplanet’s atmosphere

17 February 2016 Astronomy Now

For the first time astronomers were able to analyse the atmosphere of a super-Earth exoplanet. Using data gathered with the Hubble Space Telescope and new analysis techniques, the exoplanet 55 Cancri e some 40 light-years away is revealed to have an atmosphere consists mainly of hydrogen and helium without any indications of water vapour.

A new record: Keck Observatory measures most distant galaxy

6 August 2015 Astronomy Now

EGSY8p7 is the most distant confirmed galaxy whose spectrum obtained with the W. M. Keck Observatory places it at a redshift of 8.68, at a time when the universe was less than 600 million years old. Hydrogen emission from EGSY8p7 may indicate it is the first known example of an early generation of young galaxies emitting unusually strong radiation.