The Parkes telescope - one of the largest in the world

A group of Cardiff students took control of one of the world’s most powerful radio telescopes this week as part of an innovative Cardiff University astronomy link-up.

AS and A-level students from Cardiff schools including Whitchurch High and Howells visited the University’s School of Physics and Astronomy which is playing host to the Parkes telescope, one of the world’s most powerful radio telescopes.

The 64m radio telescope, situated 400km west of Sydney, Australia was used to receive the television transmission of the Apollo 11 moon walk in 1969 and allows astronomers the chance to observe pulsars, along with a whole host of other astronomical observations.

By remotely accessing the radio telescope and working directly with the telescope’s Australian-based operators, students will be given the chance to view pulsars – which are spinning, magnetised neutron stars, left over from massive star explosions.

Pulsars spin and emit radio waves in beams from their poles. The spinning causes the beams to sweep across the Earth, creating pulses of radio waves. By taking control of the telescopes the students have the chance to witness first-hand some of the most striking images and undertake real-time scientific research.

Mr Chris North, from Cardiff University’s School of Physics and Astronomy, said: “Pulse@Parkes is an innovative project that allows students interested in astronomy a unique opportunity to take control of one of the world’s most powerful radio telescope. We are delighted to be hosting it here in Cardiff for its first visit to the UK.

“The students will have the chance to take part in real science with the measurements adding to an archive which may eventually help scientists detect the elusive gravitational waves predicted by Einstein’s theory of general relativity.”

The event is open to A-level and AS-level students with a keen interest in astronomy. The measurements used by the students will also form part of an archive of data that is used to monitor and record the characteristics of pulsars throughout our galaxy, such their distance, their rate of spin and any unusual characteristics.

Cardiff University’s Astronomy Group carries out research in many areas of astronomy, in particular the formation of stars, the origin and evolution of galaxies and the cosmic microwave background.

The University’s School of Physics and Astronomy has one of the most active Gravitational Physics Groups, and remains one of the largest research groups in the School. The Group’s search for gravitational waves is focused on transient events such as supernovae and binary neutron stars and black holes, and stochastic gravitational waves.

Cardiff University’s Central Biotechnology Services (CBS) which is based in the University’s School of Medicine, has been awarded ISO 9001:2008 and ISO/IEC 17025:2005 Certification – an internationally recognised benchmark for quality.

Following an independent assessment, the ISO was awarded in recognition of the CBS’ commitment to exceptional quality of service. With only 8% of UK businesses holding the certificate, it places CBS at the forefront of quality service and customer care.

CBS Director Professor Nick Topley said: “This is a tremendous achievement for CBS and Cardiff University and recognises all the hard work put in by the CBS staff and demonstrates that quality assurance can be achieved within the University facilities environment. This will provide a springboard to providing quality-driven and sustainable University facilities that support our research strategy.”

CBS offers access to high-tech resources, laboratory facilities, academic expertise and technical support in a variety of biotechnology areas including: state-of-the-art facilities for the identification and analysis of individual proteins; bimolecular analysis; automated technology to produce high quality tissue sections for microscopy.

Cardiff University’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Peter Blood said: “I congratulate CBS on obtaining this Quality Award. The quality of the services provided by CBS is important in the conduct of research in the University which is recognised internationally for its quality and which can be translated into benefits for society.”

One South Wales company who has benefited from the high-tech facilities at CBS is Minton, Treharne & Davies Ltd. The company has used the CBS Sequencing service over the last two years.

Dr Paul Rice who leads on Medical Diagnostics at Minton, Treharne & Davies Ltd said: “CBS provided a quick, efficient and friendly sequencing service that consistently and reliably turned around hundreds of sequences in a short time for the two year duration of my project.

“The sequencing service was also able to provide expert advice when problems arose with sequencing. Overall, an efficient and friendly service.”

Cardiff University Main Building

Innovative research on therapy for tuberous sclerosis has won Cardiff University’s Dr Mark Davies the Welsh Livery Guild’s Merit Award for 2009.

The Guild promotes education, science and fine arts in Wales and its awards are for excellence and innovation by individuals in these fields. Dr Davies, of the University’s Institute of Medical Genetics, received his award at a Cardiff City Hall dinner on Saturday.

The Merit Award citation states: “His burgeoning national and international reputation in his field bring considerable credit to Cardiff University and to Wales.”

Tuberous sclerosis is an inherited disorder which leads to the development of tumours in many organs including the kidneys. In the 1990s, the Institute of Medical Genetics was first to identify the TSC genes that cause the condition. Dr Davies’ work was undertaken during his PhD Clinical Research Fellowship with the Wales Gene Park, which is funded by the Welsh Assembly Government at Cardiff University to translate genetic knowledge into better healthcare.

He tested whether the drug rapamycin – originally isolated from bacteria in a soil sample from the Easter Islands – might be able to compensate when the TSC genes are not functioning properly. The experimental treatment led to a reduction in the size of kidney tumours in all 16 patients in Mark’s trial. This success generated great interest from the medical community and the commercial pharmaceutical sector and led to the start of a large scale international clinical trial.

The Livery Guild selected Dr Davies for his work in advancing the understanding of inherited disease. The Merit Award citation states: “His burgeoning national and international reputation in his field bring considerable credit to Cardiff University and to Wales.”

Professor Julian Sampson, Head of Department at the Institute of Medical Genetics said: “The recognition of Mark’s work is very well deserved. Understanding the genetic basis of inherited disease is increasingly providing opportunities to develop novel treatments and our team has taken up this exciting challenge.”

The award is the latest in a series for the Institute, which was awarded a Queen’s Anniversary Prize for higher education in 2007.

This is also the second year running that the Livery Guild’s Merit Award has gone to a Cardiff University academic, after Professor Karen Holford of the School of Engineering won in 2008.

In this SPIRE image the blue colour denotes emission at 250 microns, green 350 microns, and red 500 microns. The colour-coding differentiates material that is extremely cold (red) from that which is warmer.

A major European space mission using high-tech equipment developed by University experts has unveiled images of the Milky Way Galaxy, never seen before.

On board the Herschel Space Observatory is the SPIRE instrument, developed by an international consortium of 18 institutes in eight countries, and led by Professor Matt Griffin, School of Physics and Astronomy.

Herschel carries the largest space telescope ever launched. Its 3.5 m-diameter mirror gives astronomers their best view yet of the Universe at far-infrared and sub-millimetre wavelengths.

Professor Matt Griffin, School of Physics and Astronomy and SPIRE Principal Investigator, said: “We had high hopes for this kind of observation with Herschel, using cameras to see the galaxy as never before.

“It’s great to see that the observations work so well from a technical point of view, and that the scientific results are so spectacular. It appears that star formation in the galaxy is a very turbulent process.”

Seeing the galaxy in a new light – SPIRE 2

In this image, cyan denotes 70 micron emission and the red shows emission at 160 microns.

The SPIRE camera responds to light at wavelengths between 250 and 500 microns (millionths of a metre) – 500-1000 times longer than the wavelength of visible light.

In this image, cyan denotes 70 micron emission and the red shows emission at 160 microns.

Together with other cameras on board they provide detailed images in five different far infrared colours, not only revealing new material in the Galaxy, but providing astronomers with a wealth of information about it – such as how much material there is, its mass, temperature and composition, and whether or not some of it is collapsing to form new stars.

Stars form in cold, dense environments, and the composite images locate the star-forming regions that would be very difficult to isolate from a map made at a single far-infrared or submillimetre wavelength.

SPIRE images have been combined into a single composite

SPIRE images have been combined into a single composite; here the blue denotes 70 microns, the green 160 microns, and the red is the combination of the emission from all three SPIRE bands at 250/350/500 microns.

Professor Derek Ward-Thompson, School of Physics and Astronomy, said: “The wealth of detail that is visible in these images is quite simply stunning. We are getting a view of the interstellar medium such as we have never seen before. This will help us to unravel the mysteries of star formation in a way that has never been previously possible. Herschel is certainly living up to all of our expectations.”

SPIRE images have been combined into a single composite; here the blue denotes 70 microns, the green 160 microns, and the red is the combination of the emission from all three SPIRE bands at 250/350/500 microns.

The instruments have imaged an area of about 2 x 2 degrees (about 16 times as big as the size of the Moon as seen from Earth), revealing an extremely rich reservoir of cold material in the Galactic Plane which is seen to be in a previously unsuspected state of turmoil. The interstellar material is condensing in a continuous and interconnected maze of filaments and strings of newly forming stars in all stages of development, unveiling a tireless Galaxy constantly forging new generations of stars.

Dr Pete Hargrave, who led the University team that helped build the SPIRE instrument, said: “I am staggered by the beauty of these images. We can see, in exquisite detail, the material from which stars are born. The fact that SPIRE is working so well is testament to the expertise and years of hard work put in by the instrument teams. We’re all pretty chuffed!”