Space

3 cheers for Jodrell Bank – the UK’s newest UNESCO site
To mark Jodrell Bank being awarded UNESCO World Heritage status, read the first in our three-part series celebrating this much-loved observatory and its place in scientific history.

We’re flying to the Moon – and it’ll be sooner than you think
After almost half a century, we’re heading back to the Moon. In an international effort led by NASA, the return will provide scientists with clues to Earth’s past and hope for its future, as Dr Jim Green, NASA’s Chief Scientist, explains.

When the stars align – and smash into each other
Research impact and institutes
A global effort including astronomers at Jodrell Bank has helped to answer a question scientists have debated for decades – what exactly happens in the aftermath of two stars colliding.

Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell – our science superstar
This United Nations’ Day of Women and Girls in Science, we celebrate one of the brightest stars in physics – Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell, the world-renowned physicist who discovered pulsars.

When Doctor Who came to Jodrell (and UoM’s other sci-fi hits)
Did you know that without mathematicians, the entire Universe would crumble and decay into nothing? At least, that’s according to a classic episode of Doctor Who (our School of Mathematics colleagues are good, but even they’re not holding-together-the-very-fabric-of-the-Universe good). Logopolis is the final instalment in the adventures of the Fourth Doctor, played by the legendary […]

How X Files studies give students the X Factor
How long will it take to find a job after graduating university – and are we alone in the universe? Two huge questions that no doubt every student asks – and we may have the answers! The University College for Interdisciplinary Learning (UCIL) is offering undergraduates the chance to learn different skills and disciplines to […]

Great balls of fire
Goodness gracious – two great balls of fire have been spotted in the skies over Manchester. But there’s no need to run for higher ground quite yet – while fireball events aren’t always caught on camera, they are fairly common. In the last month alone, a brand new meteor camera located here on The University […]

Unicorns, pulsars and graphene – just a typical day at Bluedot
Fiona Porter, Postgraduate at the School of Chemistry, and Sebastian Leaper, Postgraduate at the School of Chemical Engineering, are both Outreach Representatives for the Graphene NOWNANO Centre for Doctoral Training. Bluedot 2018 was their final event. They share their experiences of working at the festival below: Fiona Porter: “For the 2018 Bluedot Festival, a team of […]

One small step for man, one giant leap for Manchester
Like the plot of a movie, a team of students from across the Faculty of Science and Engineering have overcome some serious odds to claim victory at an international space probe competition in Texas. The fourth annual American Astronautical Society CanSat Competition took place at Tarleton State University; with a team from The University of […]

Like a diamond in the sky
‘Twinkle twinkle little star’ could prove itself more science lesson than nursery rhyme thanks to a new discovery. For the first time, diamonds far smaller than grains of sand have been observed shimmering around stars. But this discovery is more a case of A Touch of Frost than Frost of London, as it’s allowed a […]