Science

Hubble gives us further insight into distant galaxies

18 years after the famous Deep Field image, a series of photographs from the Hubble space telescope are giving us a new insight into extremely distant galaxies that formed soon after the big bang.

18 years after the famous Deep Field image, a series of photographs from the Hubble space telescope are giving us a new insight into extremely distant galaxies that formed soon after the big bang. This new deep image is centred on a large galaxy cluster, Abell 2744, which acts as a gravitational lens, focussing light from extremely distant galaxies towards the earth. Some of these galaxies could be up to 12 billion light years away, making them amongst the most distant ever seen. An exposure time of 50 hours was needed to collect enough light for around 3000 of these incredibly faint galaxies to become visible. A series of images (the Frontier Fields) are being taken in areas of the sky known to contain a large number of gravitational lenses. This first image will be taken again in May, using a different set of equipment, and another five locations will be investigated over the next three years.

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Environment

College Fossil Fuel partners explore options in Venezuela

Since the removal of Venezuela’s autocratic leader, Nicolas Maduro, by an American task force in January, President Donald Trump has vociferously called for oil companies to rekindle their commercial ties with the embattled petrostate. Although many have been reluctant to “take the oil”, baulking at high upfront investments to

By Guillaume Felix
Lobbying by Stove Industry undermines Council Public Health Campaigns and Housing Plans

Environment

Lobbying by Stove Industry undermines Council Public Health Campaigns and Housing Plans

An investigation published by The BMJ in March reveals councils in England face legal pressure from the Stove Industry Association (SIA) as public health campaigns urge homeowners to limit the use of wood-burners. Findings from freedom of information requests, sent to local authority areas identified as having the highest density

By Ushika Kidd