NAM 2007
We're on the road in Preston at the UK's National Astronomy Meeting. Our first special show describes what NAM is and what happened on the first day. In our second show we catch up with Chris Wareing who announced results about the wakes left by dying sun-like stars as they pass through the interstellar medium. On the third day David Boyce (University of Leicester) and Paul Steele (University of Leicester) join us to chat about the various sessions that took place. We find out about the organisation of the conference from Dr Stewart Eyres, chat to Dr Monica Grady and find out about the International Heliophysical Year from Dr Lucie Green. On day four Neil Phillips (University of Edinburgh) joins us in our attempt to coherently link interviews about the dangers of solar ejections to astronauts, the possibility of making force-fields to protect them, the Hubble Space Telescope repair mission, the Herschel Mission, the fiftieth anniversary of the Sky At Night and exoplanets. The last day of the NAM sees us talking to Dr Chris Davis about the STEREO mission, Dr Helen Walker about Mars Express and Prof Mike Bode about RS Ophiuchi.
- NAM 2007 (Day 5) MP3: Download the whole show (low and high bandwidth versions)
- NAM 2007 (Day 4) MP3: Download the whole show (low and high bandwidth versions)
- NAM 2007 (Day 3) MP3: Download the whole show (low and high bandwidth versions)
- NAM 2007 (Day 2) MP3: Download the whole show (low and high bandwidth versions)
- NAM 2007 (Day 1) MP3: Download the whole show (low and high bandwidth versions)
- NAM 2007
Interview with Dr Chris Wareing (University of Manchester)
Nick Rattenbury talked to Chris Wareing about his numerical simulations of the wakes left by star near the end of their lives moving quickly through the interstellar medium. This research was presented at the UK National Astronomy Meeting on 17th April 2007.
- Interview with Dr Chris Wareing (University of Manchester) MP3: Download this segment individually (low and high bandwidth versions)
- NAM Press Release: Dying Sun-like stars leave whirlpools in their wake
- Images and an animation to illustrate the research
Interview with Dr Lucie Green (Mullard Space Science Laboratory)
Stuart Lowe talked to Lucie Green about the Sun and International Heliophysical Year. Lucie tells us what it is and why there is a big connection between the Sun and Earth.
- Interview with Dr Lucie Green (Mullard Space Science Laboratory) MP3: Download this segment individually (low and high bandwidth versions)
- International Heliophysical Year official site
- Sun-Earth Plan
- Lucie's website
Interview with Dr Monica Grady (Open University)
David Boyce chatted to Monica Grady about astro-biology including summer schools, ALH84001 (the meteorite from Mars), what meteorites can tell us, the possibility of life on Europa, her latest research and what she thinks may be the next big discoveries.
- Interview with Dr Monica Grady (Open University) MP3: Download this segment individually (low and high bandwidth versions)
- Martian meteorite ALH84001 (NSCORT)
Interview with Prof Mike Lockwood (RAL and Southampton University)
David Boyce talked to Mike Lockwood about the highly energetic particles from the Sun that will affect human spaceflight. He talks about the need for shielding, some of the difficulties involved and the possible use of electric fields to repel the particles.
- Interview with Prof Mike Lockwood (RAL and Southampton University) MP3: Download this segment individually (low and high bandwidth versions)
- Abstract for Mike's talk at NAM
Interview with Dr Ruth Bamford (Rutherford Appleton Laboratory)
Stuart talks to Ruth Bamford about a story which made the international news; a plan to build magnetic 'force-fields' to protect astronauts. Ruth tells us that small magnetic bubbles could be used to hold a plasma which might, in turn, hold off the charged particles from solar coronal mass ejections.
- Interview with Dr Ruth Bamford (Rutherford Appleton Laboratory) MP3: Download this segment individually (low and high bandwidth versions)
- RAS press release - Shields for the Starship Enterprise: A reality?
- Description of a Tokamak
- Description of a Tokamak
Interview with Prof Matt Griffin (Cardiff University)
David Boyce talks to Matt Griffin about the future ESA Herschel telescope and what it will study.
- Interview with Prof Matt Griffin (Cardiff University) MP3: Download this segment individually (low and high bandwidth versions)
- Abstracts for the Future Facilities session at NAM
Interview with Prof Martin Barstow (University of Leicester)
David Boyce talked to Martin Barstow about the future of UV astronomy focussing on the Hubble Space Telescope and the upcoming repair mission. He also talks about the future, Russian-led, World Space Observatory and his latest research using FUSE to look at the local interstellar gas.
- Interview with Prof Martin Barstow (University of Leicester) MP3: Download this segment individually (low and high bandwidth versions)
- Abstracts for the Future Facilities session at NAM
- NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope
- Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS)
- Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS)
- Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS)
- Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE)
- World Space Observatory/UV
- Soft X-ray Diffuse Background
Interview with Dr Chris Lintott (Oxford University)
Stuart talked to Chris Lintott about his research into astro-chemistry. They also chatted about the fiftieth anniversary of the BBC's Sky At Night television programme and the special episodes that have been recorded.
- Interview with Dr Chris Lintott (Oxford University) MP3: Download this segment individually (low and high bandwidth versions)
- BBC's Sky At Night
- The Sky At Night online archive
Interview with Dr Peter Wheatley (University of Warwick)
David Boyce talked to Peter Wheatley about planets around stars other than the Sun; exoplanets. He has used measurements with SuperWASP and the Spitzer Space Telescope to investigate the atmosphere of a planet passing in front of the face of its star.
- Interview with Dr Peter Wheatley (University of Warwick) MP3: Download this segment individually (low and high bandwidth versions)
- NAM session on exoplanets
- SuperWASP - Wide Angle Search for Planets
- NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope
- NASA's Kepler Mission
- NASA's James Webb Space Telescope
- The Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia
Interview with Dr Chris Davis (Rutherford Appleton Laboratories)
Stuart caught up with Chris Davis to find out the latest news from NASA's STEREO mission.
- Interview with Dr Chris Davis (Rutherford Appleton Laboratories) MP3: Download this segment individually (low and high bandwidth versions)
- NASA's STEREO mission
- UK STEREO site
Interview with Dr Helen Walker (Rutherford Appleton Laboratories)
Stuart talked to Helen Walker about the current status of ESA's Mars Express mission.
- Interview with Dr Helen Walker (Rutherford Appleton Laboratories) MP3: Download this segment individually (low and high bandwidth versions)
- ESA's Mars Express
Interview with Prof Mike Bode (Liverpool John Moores University)
Stuart asked Mike Bode for an update on the re-current nova star RS Ophiuchi which had an outburst during 2006.
- Interview with Prof Mike Bode (Liverpool John Moores University) MP3: Download this segment individually (low and high bandwidth versions)
- RS Ophiuchi outburst in 2006
- Papers on RS Ophiuchi (2006)
Show Credits
| Interview: | Nick Rattenbury talked to Dr Chris Wareing |
| Interview: | Stuart Lowe talked to Dr Lucie Green |
| Interview: | David Boyce talked to Dr Monica Grady |
| Interview: | David Boyce talked to Prof Mike Lockwood |
| Interview: | Stuart Lowe talked to Dr Ruth Bamford |
| Interview: | David Boyce talked to Dr Monica Grady |
| Interview: | David Boyce talked to Prof Martin Barstow |
| Interview: | Stuart Lowe talked to Dr Chris Lintott |
| Interview: | David Boyce talked to Dr Peter Wheatley |
| Interview: | Stuart Lowe talked to Dr Chris Davis |
| Interview: | Stuart Lowe talked to Dr Helen Walker |
| Interview: | Stuart Lowe talked to Prof Mike Bode |
| Presenters: | Nick Rattenbury, Stuart Lowe, Megan Argo, David Boyce, Paul Steele and Neil Phillips |
| Editors: | Stuart Lowe and Megan Argo |
| Cover Art: | Planetary Nebula Sh 2-188; N Wright, University College London |
| Website: | Stuart Lowe |







