17/04/2026
It is not just the Artemis II mission launching rockets - the endeavour outreach team has been helping young people do the same! 🚀
Over the last 6 months, the endeavour outreach team has worked with school pupils and youth groups to design, build, and fly rockets for the UK Youth Rocketry Challenge (UKROC).
Every team managed to successfully launch and recover their rockets - with their payloads (eggs!) still intact - which is a tribute to all their hard work, determination and perseverance.
Read the full story via the link in our bio.
Image: year 5 MPhys Astrophysics students Ben Tullett (endeavour mentor), Ella Marshall and Jacob Hunter (both endeavour outreach team).
27/08/2025
👋📢 The School of Physics and Astronomy will no longer be posting updates on this account.
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31/07/2025
Congratulations to postdoctoral research associate Dr Sophia Flury who has been awarded a PhD thesis prize from the International Astronomical Union (IAU). 💫
The IAU PhD Prize recognises the exceptional scientific achievements of astronomy PhD students worldwide. Each of the IAU’s nine Divisions awards a prize to the candidate it identifies as having carried out the most remarkable work in the previous year. Sophia’s prize falls under the Division of ‘Galaxies and Cosmology’.
Sophia is currently working at the School’s Institute for Astronomy on characterising how feedback shapes galaxy evolution and the reionization of the Universe. 🌌
28/07/2025
Our MSc Astrobiology students are featured in the latest Tartan Tardigrade podcast! 🎧
❓Ever wondered what sparks an MSc Astrobiology student’s passion? What projects are they working on? And what inspires them?
Join May, Alejandro, Sev, Carter and Andrew - who come with a range of backgrounds including biology, astrophysics and geology - as they share their thoughts on…
- Why they are interested in astrobiology… 🔭
“Ever since I was young, I was torn between palaeontology, marine biology and physics. Physics only came later when I started asking the big questions about the Universe - the Big Bang, where did life come from - and that has carried me through to astrobiology.”
- What they have gained from the MSc… 📚
“The MSc has shown me that the training we're receiving is highly interdisciplinary.”
- What their projects are about… 🦠🌌
“I am looking at habitability - where in planetary surfaces are the best locations for microbial life.”
“Exoplanets - focusing on the importance of water opacity in stellar atmospheres.”
“The biogenicity of bleached spheroids found within red bedrock on Earth and Mars.”
- Their reflection on the city… 🌇
“You are in this amazing location that's both this perfect blend of new and old and there's an extinct volcano in the middle of it.”
Visit the bio for the podcast link!
21/07/2025
PhD student Larissa Palethorpe shares exoplanet research on national TV. ✨
Larissa appeared on BBC’s The Sky at Night to talk about the mysteries of exoplanets – distant bodies that orbit stars beyond our solar system, and what these worlds could tell us about the potential for life beyond Earth.
🌌🔭🎥
📷Larissa Palethorpe chatting with presenter Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock on The Sky at Night. Credit: BBC
