KES Physics Newsletter Summer Term 2021 Some parts of the newsletter have moved online. To access links referenced in the newsletter, download it as a PDF from CosmicConundra.com CosmicConundra.com Figure: The Spiral Planetary Nebula (NGC 5189) Note from the Editor Hello all! Thank you for reading each of this year’s newsletters. It’s been a challenging year for everyone, and I’m sure you’ve all been working very hard. As this is the last newsletter of the year, I’d like to thank Albert, Alex, Bradley, Callum, Fin, Paul, Tim, and Zak for the various contrbitutions they have made this year. I know their efforts are appreciated, and personally give me a lot of joy to read! Wishing you all a very happy (and restful!) summer break! - Rob - 2 - 3 4 5 - 9 10 - 12 Alumni-Student Tribute to Miss Heggie Termly Updates Questions & Answers Astrophotography Alumni-Student Astrophotography Alumni-Student Astrophotography This section shows off some of the wonderful astrophotographs taken by former KES students - If you are a current student, and would like to submit a picture of the night sky for the next issue you can speak to Miss Heggie. In this section, we see two kinds of object. Galaxies, and Nebulae. Galaxies are large clumps of stars, some containing more than Bradley Holloway 100 billion stars. Nebulae are the whisps of gas and dust, left behind when stars die. These nebulae also act as birthing grounds At KES 2012 - 2019 for new stars, formed from the ashes of those that came before. I have always been fascinated by the Universe. Last year I started taking photos of the night sky, and since upgrading my equipment I have been able to look deep into space. My proudest achievement so far is imaging a galaxy 150 million light-years away. The Andromeda Galaxy - The nearest galaxy to our own, at a distance of 2.5 million light-years – Best seen in winter months. Photo by Callum Shingleton-Smith Callum Shingleton-Smith At KES 2012 - 2019 I’ve been doing astro- photography for around a year now and it’s been a fun journey - you can get some great images whatever the equipment you have (I started out with my phone camera). I recommend giving it a try - winter nights are good The Whirlpool Galaxy - A spiral galaxy located 31 million for clear skies providing the light-years from Earth. NGC 5195 is a galaxy passing be- weather holds! hind M51 tugging on its arm. Photo by Bradley Holloway 2 KES Physics Newsletter Alumni-Student Astrophotography The Veil Nebula - A supernova remnant 2,100 light-years from Earth, left by a star about 20x the size of the sun which exploded over 10,000 years ago. Photo by Bradley Holloway The Milky Way Galaxy – The outer edge of our own galaxy, home to our solar system and 100 bilion others. Best seen in summer months. Photo by Callum Shingleton-Smith KES Physics Newsletter 3 Tribute to Miss Heggie Goodbye Miss Heggie! Without any shadow of a doubt, teachers play the most crucial role in science. Without them, the best scientists in the world would never have the interest to go forwards, and discover new and exciting things about the Universe. Miss Heggie has played such a big part in inspiring, motivating, and supporting all of us in this newsletter (and countless others!) that overlapped with her time at KES. Miss H, from all of us writing this newsletter, we wish you the very best for the future, and thank you for your patience, kindness, and most of all for sharing your love of science! Wherever you go next, we know you will bring your Positive Physics Attitude with you! - The Newsletter Team - 4 KES Physics Newsletter Termly Updates were always interesting special functions, ordinary (with the exception of differential equations (ODEs) labs). Astronomy gave me and complex analysis. insight into stella structure This culminated in two and evolution as well as coursework style exams that a grasp of cosmological were assessed recently. calculation, the progression of the universe as well Looking to final year I have as its beginnings and a begun researching and variety of different atomical finalising my proposal for my tools and techniques that final year project. We are can be used to deduce expected to complete a Fin Cooney things about the universe 300-hour project on a topic and objects in it. We from a given list of projects. completed a portfolio that One really stood out to Studied Physics, demonstrated the skills we me; a project centred Maths, History, Further learned over the course of around a field known as Maths (AS) the year as well as a report astrodynamics. This involves on a topic that we found the study of how objects interesting, mine was on the move through the universe Reading Physics observation of pulsars. and how we, as humans, at Loughborough can move between these University In our main physics module objects on manned or this term involved solid unmanned vehicles. My state physics. This involved project will likely involve At KES 2011 - 2018 the study of ridged matter a simulation of a ship that This term I have been and expands on the idea leaves earth on a given looking at a variety of quantum mechanics, day and journeys to a of physics, maths and scaling up quantum to have planet or moon (probably astronomy, each posing many small systems being mars). I will also look into the their own unique and modelled as one. The main logistics and feasibility of often challenging trials piece of coursework for sustaining life at the chosen and tribulations. Reflecting this module was a look into destination long term. on the past academic analysis of x-ray diffraction year, I realise that the most (XRD) data. This piece was Next year I’m looking obvious and poignant as interesting as it was forward to my modules difference between first challenging and gave me a such as dynamical systems, year and second, was wider appreciation for XRD. medical physics and thin the increase in workload. My maths module gave us film physics. I did expect this to some a look into things such as extent, since my second year is worth 40% of my overall marks (third year is the other 60%) but was still surprised at how much work the Physics department expected of us especially during the pandemic. Having said this, the baptism of fire that was this year was still certainly enjoyable and the topics covered on the course KES Physics Newsletter 5 Termly Updates A classic example used upward-pointing pendulum to explain the concept is an unstable equilibrium of stability is a pendulum. because, if you displace Imagine a pendulum it, even by a tiny amount, hanging downwards (Figure the displacement keeps 1a). This is an equilibrium growing until the pendulum position because, if no hangs downward. external forces are applied, the pendulum will not So, to wrap up this move. If you displace the example, a stable pendulum by moving the configuration means, if bob to one side, the bob you make a small change, Paul Jarvis will swing back and, after the system will return to its oscillating a few times, original state. Alternatively, return to its original position. if the system is in an Studied Physics, Therefore, not only is the unstable configuration, Chemistry, Maths, original configuration an a small disturbance will Biology equilibrium position, it is keep growing and the also a stable equilibrium system can undergo a because, if you make a dramatic change until it Read BA and MSci small displacement, the reaches a new equilibrium. Natural Sciences at pendulum returns to where Such instabilities are Cambridge University it started. important in many fields in physics. Figure 2 shows Ph.D. in Geology from Now imagine that the an experiment where pendulum is instead a denser fluid has been Bristol University pointing perfectly upwards placed above a lighter (Figure 1b). It may be fluid. A barrier has initially Currently a post- surprising but this too is separated the two layers doctoral research an equilibrium position. and then been removed. A If there were no external denser fluid overlying a light assistant at the forces and the pendulum fluid is unstable and we can University of Geneva was perfectly made, the see the two fluids change pendulum would stay positions through what is At KES 2001 - 2008 still. However, in reality, called the Rayleigh-Taylor Much of my research in small disturbances in the instability. It turns out that volcanoes focuses on air and defects in the this type of instability can the concept of stability pendulum mean it would happen in many different and instability. When the be impossible to position natural environments magma storage region the pendulum like this including volcanic clouds beneath a volcano in practice. In fact, this and magma chambers, becomes unstable, it can demonstrates that the oceans, and stars. cause an eruption. This eruption, if explosive, might generate a volcanic ash plume which itself can become unstable, causing it to collapse and form a pyroclastic density current. However, it is not always obvious what we mean by the terms “stable” and “unstable”. Figure 1 Figure 2 6 KES Physics Newsletter Termly Updates producing dark matter channel, where, instead of from high-energy photon colliding, the initial protons interactions at the LHC’, exchange a pair of photons had me once again delving which fuse into the mediator into particle collision data which, as before, decays from the Large Hadron into the dark matter pair.
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