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News
News about our courses, and from the astronomers who teach them. We report on our research results, and let you know about new developments.
Astrofest Quiz - the answers!
28th February 2010
A copy of the Astroquiz we took to Astrofest, with answers.
Applications for 2010 start are now open
2nd February 2010
Applications are now open for new students wishing to apply for one of our Distance Learning courses for October 2010 start.
UCLan Astronomer on the Jodcast
31st January 2010
On a recent research visit to the University of Manchester, Dr Stewart Eyres took some time out to give and interview to Dr Tim O'Brien for inclusion in the January 2010 Extra Jodcast. He spoke to Tim about the fascinating born-again giant star Sakurai's object, ranging over stellar evolution, planetary nebulae, white dwarfs and the contribution amateur astronomers can make to modern science.
Induction for courses starting 2009 October
9th October 2009
Our courses commence during the week beginning the 12th October. We will be releasing materials via WebCT, sending out induction packs and beginning the process of tutoring students. See the Current Students link on this website to check on progress of the induction process for your module, and to troubleshoot any problems you may encounter.
Astrophysics students in South Africa
17th July 2009
Three astrophysics degree students have recently returned from a trip to South Africa, where the University has invested in the Southern African Large Telescope. As well as touring SALT, they carried out observations on research-class telescopes, visited amazing and historic sites around South Africa and spoke to children in a number of schools.
Prize Winners 2009
26th June 2009
Results Day for the Distance Learning Courses is Friday 26th June 2009. Congratulations to all our students who have successfully completed their modules. Special congratulations go to our Prizewinners for 2009.
Part-time PhD bursary at UCLan - new date
26th May 2009
Modelling chemical evolution in Elliptical Galaxies and Spiral Bulges: UCLan is funding a number of Part-Time PhD places through the Arnoux bursary scheme. One of these is available within the Extragalactic Astrophysics group, in the subject area of understanding stellar populations in galaxies. The student will work at UCLan's main campus in Preston.
Jeremiah Horrocks Institute launch
21st February 2009
The Centre for Astrophysics will transform into the Jeremiah Horrocks Institute for Astrophysics and Supercomputing (JHI for short) over the course of 2009. This new institute draws in researchers making use of high-performance computing in areas as diverse as soft matter physics, bioinformatics and the structure of galaxies.
Astronomy research success at UCLan
21st January 2009
The astrophysics research at UCLan has come out well from the recent government assessment, with a large fraction of our work judged to be of international standing.
The Universe is twice as bright as we thought!
21st July 2008
Astronomers from UK Universities, including UCLan, working with colleagues from Germany and Australia have calculated that the Universe is actually twice as bright as previously thought. In the latest Astrophysical Journal Letters (10th May), the astronomers describe how dust is obscuring approximately half of the light that the Universe is currently generating.
Invisible sunspots uncovered with Astrogrid
20th July 2008
A team of scientists led by Silvia Dalla, of the Centre for Astrophysics, have discovered that 44 percent of new sunspots forming in the West of the Sun are invisible to our best telescopes. They analysed nearly 7,000 sunspots that were observed over a 25 year period and found some areas of the Sun's disk are missing new sunspots compared to others.