International Year Of Astronomy
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On this week's stellar Naked Scientists we're staring out into space. We find out how technology developed to see inside your body can give a whole new dimension to pictures of deep space, we celebrate the launch of the International Year of Astronomy and discover a new type of dwarf galaxy formed from ancient primordial gas clouds. Also in the mix, overcoming peanut allergies, fat dinosaurs and disguised meningitis bacteria. Plus, we answer Sir David Attenborough's Question of the Week and Ben and Dave build a telescope!
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The bacterium Neisseria meningitidis, which is behind the most common form of meningitis, actually wears a disguise to stop itself from being detected by our immune system. Professor Susan Lea explains more...
Dave builds a makeshift telescope from a pair of magnifying glasses - but be careful not to get dizzy - the image it produces is upside down!
How long does it take for heat to reach us from the sun? It’s about 8 minutes, the distance between the sun and the Earth because light travels at about 1 billion km/h and the sun is about 150 million km away from the Earth.
We're celebrating the International Year of Astronomy - 400 years since Galileo first made his astronomical observations - but what's going on, and what should we expect to see in the night sky?
Often, technology designed for space travel gives us benefits down here on Earth. This is one example of the opposite - technology developed for interpreting MRI scans gives a whole new dimension to astronomical observations...
The universe surprised us recently when NASA's GALEX (Galaxy Evolution Explorer) discovered a new dwarf galaxy forming in the Leo ring, without the usual dark matter that would precipitate it's creation...
After Dave had built a rudimentary telescope from a pair of magnifying lenses, we asked Dr Carolin Crawford for her opinion, and how it compares to real telescopes...
If you look at trees, often closely-related trees, growing in exactly the same ground in exactly the same climate they have different-shaped leaves. Why? People will say, “it’s the airflow over it in different particular circumstances or the way that the water drips off it,” th...
How do we know that another planet collided with the Earth?
I saw a TV programme that said during the Earth’s evolution another planet called Thea smashed into it. How do we know this when it doesn’t exist anymore?
How do we measure distances across the universe?
How fast would a bullet need to leave a gun in order to get into space?
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