A University of Southampton physicist has been named as the Very Early Career Woman Physicist of the Year by the Institute of Physics (IOP).

Kate Sloyan, an EPSRC Doctoral Prize Fellow in the Optoelectronics Research Centre (ORC), was given the honour at a special ceremony in London.

The IOP award, sponsored by Shell, is a celebration of the achievements of female physicists at a very early stage in their physics careers. It is awarded annually to a woman who is within five years of completing her undergraduate degree in physics and who is either working as a physicist or is engaged in postgraduate study.

Kate beat off competition from other shortlisted candidates to be selected for her research into optical crystal engineering using pulsed laser deposition.

She has developed a simple but powerful tool that allows quick automated growth of multilayer crystal stacks that has already attracted interest from industrial partners.

Kate has also been involved in extensive outreach work encouraging other people, particularly young people, to make a life in science.

Professor Paul Hardaker, Chief Executive at the Institute of Physics (IOP), said: “This year's award was particularly competitive so Kate can be a very proud winner. It is very inspirational to other early career physicists to see Kate already achieving so much at the beginning of a career, with, I'm certain, greater things to follow.â€?

Kate recently completed her PhD investigating growing crystals with lasers and has now gained EPSRC Doctoral Prize funding to allow her to continue her research in the field.

“I am absolutely delighted and honoured to have received this award. It is recognition for all the hard work I have put in and all the support and encouragement I have been given by my supervisors,â€? said Kate.

“I am particularly pleased that it reflects the outreach work and other such activities that are not directly related to the project I am working on, things that are ultimately vital but are perhaps not always seen as necessary,â€? she added.

The judging panel of three distinguished female physicists - Professor Gillian Gehring (University of Sheffield), Professor Averil MacDonald (University of Reading) and Professor Elaine Seddon (University of Manchester) - were impressed with Kate’s achievements. Professor Gehring said: “The judging panel singled her out for her excellent scientific track record and also her initiatives for enthusing others, particularly female students and school children, to enjoy science as much as she does.â€?

Kate was presented with her £1,000 prize by Sally Martin, chair of the Shell Women's Network UK.

The University of Southampton’s Soton Astrodome has a packed diary of events helping local schoolchildren and members of the public to marvel at the wonders of the starry skies.

Every week the inflatable mobile planetarium visits Hampshire schools inviting pupils to discover the secrets of the universe.

The youngsters, from primary to A-Levels age, get the chance to experience free interactive planetarium shows and be fascinated by the planets, galaxies and stars that can be seen from the dome.

The mobile dome also visits public places such as Southampton City Art Gallery entertaining visiting space enthusiasts of all ages with space-themed arts and craft activities called Step into Outer Space.

The Soton Astrodome is run by academics from Physics and Astronomy and is based in Physical and Applied Sciences.

Dr Sadie Jones, Outreach Leader in Astronomy at the University, said: “It is great to see so many people enjoying the wonderful and inspiring activities Southampton Astrodome has to offer. It is a great opportunity for people to investigate our night skies and for us to encourage more children and adults to become interested in the wonders of our universe.â€?

For more information on the Soton Astrodome and its activities visit www.astrodome.soton.ac.uk

Watch the Soton Astrodome video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9E7Rt6okEM

A remarkable observation by astronomers from Physics and Astronomy at the University of Southampton has been published in one of the world’s foremost astrophysics research journals.

The research by Professor Phil Charles, Professor Malcolm Coe and postgraduate student Liz Bartlett has appeared in The Astrophysical Journal that is devoted to recent developments, discoveries, and theories in astronomy and astrophysics.

The Southampton team are part of a global collaboration – with colleagues in Taiwan, South Africa, Poland, Australia and Italy - that has revealed that bright X-ray flares in nearby galaxies, once assumed to indicate the presence of black holes, can in fact be produced by white dwarfs.

They made the discovery by detecting a dramatic, short-lived X-ray flare that was picked up by an X-ray telescope on the International Space Station.

Using optical telescopes in South Africa and Chile, the Southampton astronomers showed that the flare, called XRF111111 as it happened on 11 November, 2011, was located in the Small Magellanic Cloud. These Magellanic Clouds are between 160,000 and 200,000 light years away and are the nearest satellite galaxies to the Milky Way. They are visible to the naked eye from the Southern Hemisphere.

The flare from XRF111111 was so luminous that astronomers initially thought it was likely to be a black hole producing X-rays but further research by Phil and his team revealed that its X-ray temperature was so low that it had to be a white dwarf instead.

White dwarfs are very common, burnt-out cinders of normal stars like the Sun that are typically about one solar mass but are contained in a volume no bigger than the Earth.

However, white dwarfs were not considered capable of producing such a huge X-ray flash but the optical observations in South Africa and Chile showed that the white dwarf was orbiting a hot B star - a normal star about 10 times the mass of our Sun that is much hotter and brighter. This was something that had only been seen twice previously and both times with much lower X-ray luminosities.

Research by Phil and his team revealed that material was probably collecting on the surface of the white dwarf from the B star and eventually underwent runaway thermonuclear burning that was seen on Earth as a nova explosion.

Phil said: “Our observations show that the thermonuclear burning probably caused a shell of matter to be ejected from around the white dwarf and when the shell hit the hot wind of the B star it produced a huge shock leading to the X-ray flash that was seen on the International Space Station.

“We think that this incredible X-ray flash was not due to accretion onto a black hole but was instead due to a nova explosion on a white dwarf that took place close to a hot massive star. This was something that we, as astronomers, have never seen before.

"This surprising result shows that, in the right circumstances, white dwarfs are capable of mimicking black holes, the most luminous objects we know of," he added.

A paper led by Ray Li, from the National Tsing Hua University, in Taiwan, describing these new results will appear in the 20 December issue of The Astrophysical Journal. To read the full paper, go to http://stacks.iop.org/0004-637X/761/99

Southampton astronomers have been involved in the discovery of a black hole on a massive binge in our nearest neighbour galaxy, Andromeda, which has revealed a new side to the mysterious class of “ultraluminous X-ray sourcesâ€?. When black holes feast, they generally emit copious X-ray emissions, but ultraluminous X-ray sources can be bright enough in the X-ray band to outshine their entire galaxy.

Astronomers have spent years debating between two main scenarios: either these are unusually massive black holes feeding at a relatively modest level off gas from an orbiting companion star, or else they are rather run-of-the-mill black holes being somehow force fed from the same source. Using a suite of Earth-orbiting X-ray telescopes, including NASA’s Swift and the European Space Agency’s XMM-Newton satellites, a large international team of astronomers including Professors Rob Fender, Phil Charles and Doctor Anna Scaife, from the University of Southampton Astronomy Group, watched as the X-ray emission from a black hole in the Andromeda galaxy – over two million light years away – brightened and faded dramatically over the course of six months.

This type of cycle, while still rare, is also seen when “ordinaryâ€? black holes in our Milky Way galaxy are suddenly provided with a free meal. In the process, black holes also launch powerful beams of magnetized plasma called jets, which blast outwards at speeds near that of light, and which emit radio waves.

The discovery of such radio waves indicate that this ultraluminous X-ray source, and by extension, many others, is just a normal, everyday black hole about ten times the mass of the sun, swallowing as much material as it possibly can.

Professor Rob Fender, Head of the Astronomy Research Group at the University of Southampton and a co-author on the paper, says: “For the first time, these observations have shown that a bright transient black hole in another galaxy is behaving just like those we see closer to home in our own galaxy. The radio-emitting jets carry away an enormous amount of kinetic energy, re-energising the environment around the black hole even as matter is swallowed up across the event horizon.â€?

The team trained the US National Science Foundation’s Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array on the black hole, and detected extremely luminous radio emission that dropped by a factor of two in just half an hour. This surprising finding was confirmed by zooming in using the world’s most eagle-eyed radio telescope, the Very Long Baseline Array and was monitored extensively by the UK’s own radio array, AMI-LA in Cambridgeshire. This is the first time that radio jets have been detected from a stellar-mass black hole outside our own galaxy.

Despite the large distance to Andromeda, the absence of dust and gas in that direction allows an unhindered view of the feast, giving scientists key new insights into how jets are produced by a ravenous black hole.

The research, which was published in today’s edition of the scientific journal Nature, was funded in the UK by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC).

A Southampton PhD student has just had her first research paper published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Helen Klus, a second year PhD student in Astrophysics, wrote the paper about her discovery of a rare space object that could have one of the highest magnetic fields in the Universe.

Her paper describes how she investigated the magnetic field of the neutron star Swift J045106.8-694803 after it had been shown to be continually emitting X-rays for the last five years.

Swift J045106.8-694803 is part of a binary system and X-rays are emitted when its magnetic field pulls matter away from its companion. Matter falls onto the neutron star like water falling down a drain and this circular motion transfers to the neutron star, usually causing it to spin faster. This means that the magnetic field could be calculated by looking at how many X-rays were produced and whether the star is speeding up.

Her research revealed that the star had millions of billions of times the magnetic field strength of Earth and was a hundred times more magnetic than the average neutron star.

“I am very pleased to have my first research paper published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. It is a real honour,â€? said Helen.

Her supervisor Professor Malcolm Coe said: “This is great recognition for Helen’s work on her PhD and I am sure she will continue to excel in her research.â€?

Helen is in the second year of her PhD in Astrophysics at the University of Southampton. She publishes a regular blog called The Star Garden. This contains articles on the history and philosophy of science as well as current breakthroughs and her own research.

To read Helen’s blog go to www.thestargarden.co.uk. To read her full paper for free go to http://arxiv.org/abs/1210.7680

To coincide with BBC Two's Stargazing LIVE event, the University of Southampton is hosting a special astronomical event for all the family in the New Year.

On Tuesday 8 January from 5.30 to 9pm, members of the public are invited to see the stars from either from the comfort of the Soton Astrodome - the University’s inflatable mobile planetarium. The Astrodome will be running Planetarium shows during the evening or in the form of roof observatory tours, plus there will also be an Astrophotography talk. These free events require tickets, which can be booked online There are lots of other free activities throughout the evening that do not require tickets. These include hands-on activities from the Astronautics Research Group, who will demonstrate some of the University's research and teaching in spacecraft systems engineering. They’ll have interactive computer games, spacecraft test models, space activity packs and even examples of the damage space debris can do to household objects!

Other activities include ‘Ask the Astronomer’ and ‘Astronomy Know How’ stands, plus lectures on ‘Black holes’ and ‘Rocks from Space and the Death of the Dinosaurs’ from Astronomy Professors and Word Wide Telescope tutorials. There will also be inflatable planets and colouring-in activities for young children, plus the Southampton Astronomical Society (SAS) will also be in the foyer with their telescopes.

Dr Sadie Jones, Outreach Leader in Astronomer at the University of Southampton, says: “This free event provides a great opportunity to investigate our night skies further and encourage more children, families and individuals to get out, about and explore the night sky.â€?

A new multidisciplinary research centre has been created at the University of Southampton.

The Southampton Theory Astrophysics and Gravity (STAG) Research Centre brings together world-leading academics from three research groups - Particle Physics, Astronomy and General Relativity - to explore issues of fundamental physics and astronomy.

The STAG Centre aims to become a world leader in fundamental physics research and its researchers will investigate problems ranging from the ultimate building blocks of matter to dynamics on cosmological scales.

The new research centre will actively engage with high-profile international experiments and observational facilities.

It will also hold regular interdisciplinary seminars, host international visitors and arrange high-profile research seminars.

The new centre will be led by Director Chris Sachrajda, Professor of Theoretical Physics at the University of Southampton, and will be based across Physics and Astronomy and Mathematics.

He said: “This is a very exciting time for the development of fundamental physics at the University of Southampton.

“We are already internationally renowned for our research in Physics and Astronomy and Maths. By bringing together these two areas of research, we hope that STAG will be able to become a global leader in fundamental physics and astronomy.â€?

Professor Dame Wendy Hall, Dean of Physical and Applied Sciences, and Professor Judith Petts, Dean of Social and Human Sciences, welcomed the creation of the STAG Centre and outlined its strategic importance.

To find out more about the STAG Research Centre go to the STAG website

Hundreds of local people flocked through the doors of the University of Southampton to take part in a special astronomical event coinciding with BBC Two’s Stargazing LIVE.

More than 400 people of all ages attended the free family event run by the University’s Physics and Astronomy division.

They were able to marvel at the wonders of the University’s inflatable mobile planetarium the Soton Astrodome, listen to lectures on Black Holes and Rocks from Space and the Death of the Dinosaurs and for the younger guests there were inflatable planets and colouring in.

Visitors could also play interactive computer games, investigate spacecraft test models and find out the damage space debris can do to household objects in a series of hands-on activities and demonstrations organised by the Astronautics Research Group.

Professor Dame Wendy Hall, Dean of Physical and Applied Sciences, said: “This was a great event that attracted 400 people. It is an excellent example of our outreach work that aims to get more people interested in studying Physics and Astronomy at the University of Southampton.â€?

The event was just one of a number of activities that the Soton Astrodome takes part in every year. The team regularly visit Hampshire schools as well as public places such as Southampton City Art Gallery to help local schoolchildren and members of the public discover the secrets of the universe.

University of Southampton Vice-Chancellor Professor Don Nutbeam attended the event. He said: “This is a wonderful way of engaging people of all ages in the wonders of the universe, help them understand the universe better and inspire the next generation of scientists.â€?

For more information on the Soton Astrodome and its activities visit www.astrodome.soton.ac.uk

Follow Physics and Astronomy at the University of Southampton on Twitter at https://twitter.com/AstroPhysSoton

A new multidisciplinary research centre has been created at the University of Southampton.

The Southampton Theory Astrophysics and Gravity (STAG) Research Centre brings together world-leading academics from three research groups - Particle Physics, Astronomy and General Relativity - to explore issues of fundamental physics and astronomy.

The STAG Centre aims to become a world leader in fundamental physics research and its researchers will investigate problems ranging from the ultimate building blocks of matter to dynamics on cosmological scales.

The new research centre will actively engage with high-profile international experiments and observational facilities.

It will also hold regular interdisciplinary seminars, host international visitors and arrange high-profile research seminars.

The new centre will be led by Director Chris Sachrajda, Professor of Theoretical Physics at the University of Southampton, and will be based across Physics and Astronomy and Mathematics.

He said: “This is a very exciting time for the development of fundamental physics at the University of Southampton.

“We are already internationally renowned for our research in Physics and Astronomy and Maths. By bringing together these two areas of research, we hope that STAG will be able to become a global leader in fundamental physics and astronomy.â€?

Professor Dame Wendy Hall, Dean of Physical and Applied Sciences, and Professor Judith Petts, Dean of Social and Human Sciences, welcomed the creation of the STAG Centre and outlined its strategic importance.

To find out more about the STAG Research Centre go to www.southampton.ac.uk/stag

A Physics and Astronomy researcher is one of the lead authors on a paper published in the latest issue of the scientific journal Nature.

Dr Mark Sullivan was one of a team of international researchers that detected a mass-loss episode in a massive star 40 days before it exploded as a supernova.

Their observations are published in the latest online edition of Nature in a paper entitled A penultimate outburst from a massive star one month prior to terminal explosion.

Mark worked with colleagues in Israel and the USA establishing a connection between a mass-loss episode and the final supernova explosion. The discovery will enable researchers to shed new light on what happens to a pre-supernova (massive star) before it explodes.

Massive stars are between eight and 100 times the mass of the Sun and spend much of their lives fusing the light element hydrogen into increasingly heavier elements such as helium, oxygen and carbon. Eventually there is almost nothing left except an iron core and this core eventually collapses releasing a tremendous amount of energy in a supernova explosion that can be seen from Earth.

Scientists have long suspected that the dying star may shed part of its material shell before it self-destructs but it is only recently that evidence has been discovered to support this.

The research team used supernova explosions detected as part of the Palomar Transient Factory, which uses the Samuel Oschin Telescope in Southern California. Using an algorithm developed by Mark they hunted in archived data for pre-supernova outburst activity.

“Any theory that explains the supernova explosion itself must also explain the presence of the precursor, so our new observations and the results of our ongoing studies will provide valuable constraints on explosion models,â€? said Mark.

Mark is a Royal Society University Research Fellow and has recently moved to the University of Southampton to lead the exploration into the fields of supernovae and dark energy research.

To read the paper in Nature go to http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v494/n7435/full/nature11877.html