Thursday, May 06, 2010

The fascination of dust



With remarkable timing, given our sudden interest in the role of dust in our earthly atmosphere, In Our Time today was about the way in which infrared astronomy is being used to reveal the mysteries of a universe of dust.
Three stellar guests, Carolin Crawford, Paul Murdin & Michael Rowan-Robinson were able to explain all this with enthusiasm to a lay audience.
And, to my very great delight, Paul Murdin explained the difference between what we see with our eyes as light & what is revealed through infrared by reference to Orion, where we can observe tens of millions of newly formed stars.

We have been having some fantastically clear nights recently, making it possible for the first time in ages to stand in the backyard last thing at night making reacquaintance with the stars. Unfortunately it looks like being overcast tonight, but at the first chance I get ...
"The telescope collects buckets of light; the spectrograph makes rainbows" said Maggie Aderin-Pocock on a recent Desert Island Discs. Buckets of dust can be just as enlightening it seems.