Stars ‘R’ Us …

(http://www.chem.ucl.ac.uk/cosmicdust/starsrus.html)

It’s a pretty difficult thing to realise that each one of us is just made from the same stuff stars are made of, and even more mind boggling to find out that the regions of space that are rich in molecules just happen to be those same regions where new stars and planets are forming and possibly life itself emerging. But what is the science behind such claims? And how do we even know there are molecules in space when we haven’t travelled that far?

Last weekend (March 12 th & 13 th) over 4000 members of the public, ranging in age from under 1 to over 80!! got the chance to find out the answer to these questions, thanks in part, to one member of the BCP group, who flew off to London, where at the Royal Greenwich Observatory (RGO) and National Maritime Museum (NMM), National Science Week was in full swing…

Stars ‘R’ Us is a team of astrochemists from Chemistry and Physics departments at the Universities of Nottingham, Strathclyde, OU and UCL, and a research scientist from the RGO, who, last summer, won the chance to exhibit their science to the public at the Royal Society Summer Exhibition 2004, to great success… The exhibit leads the public from star birth to star death, via nucleosynthesis, the formation of molecules, the existence of dust and ice in space and the potential for creating molecules such as amino-acids, sugars and complex organic molecules, the building blocks of life, all under the ‘extreme conditions of cold, dark, ‘empty’ space. The public get a chance to understand how we ‘see’ into dark space using ‘heat’ or infrared radiation, and how we can spot the chemicals lurking there using spectroscopy. The exhibit stresses how observations at telescopes by astronomers are combined with work done by scientists in their laboratories, studying chemical reactions under ‘space’ conditions. To this end by far the most popular exhibit was our vacuum chamber – lent to us by VG- and surreptitiously filled with sweets…nevertheless it certainly attracted the crowds, and by the time people realised that it wasn’t a telescope or a carburettor!! we had them hooked !

Stars ‘R’ Us is an ongoing public understanding of science project: in July 2005 it will be travelling to the Great Leighs County Showground in Essex – appearing at an international scout jamboree – and in November we’ll be ‘on tour’ in Scotland and the North West – bring Science to the Shopping Centres of our major cities (including Glasgow). If you would like more information about the exhibit you can read about it on our webpage, or in this document The Making of Stars 'R' Us (PDF, 259kb) summarising the history and building of the project. Alternatively – for future bookings and bringing Astrochemistry to your place of work / learning, please just email Dr. Helen Fraser, Department of Physics, University of Strathclyde.

26 December, 2009 | information | research | study physics | undergrad | postgrad | schools