Ryan Laird's Universe

Website of graduate MPhys student of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Leicester.

In September 2009 I start a PhD project looking at 'Astronomical Observations of Comets at Optical and Thermal-Infrared Wavelengths' at the Centre for Astrophysics and Planetary Science, School of Physical Sciences, University of Kent at Canterbury.

The central icy cores of comets are remnant material from the original accretion disc of our solar system and preserve, to varying degrees, a record of the conditions that existed during its formation. Understanding the physical, compositional, and dynamical properties of comets is crucial if we are to understand how our solar system formed, its subsequent evolution, and how it will likely evolve in the future. This project will focus on Jupiter-family comets (JFCs), which are a subset of the known cometary population. Dynamical studies have placed their source region within the Kuiper Belt beyond Neptune, a vast reservoir of cometary bodies that formed in-situ some 4.5 billion years ago. Studying JFCs provide valuable insight into the physical and compositional properties of small Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs), much too faint to be observed from Earth (see Lowry et al. 2008, In ‘The Solar System Beyond Neptune’, University of Arizona Space Science Series).

 "The International Year of Astronomy 2009 (IYA2009) is an exciting global celebration of astronomy and its contributions to society and culture. Coinciding with the 400th anniversary of Galileo’s first glimpses through a telescope and the birth of modern astronomy, it gives people all over the world the chance to get involved in this fascinating science and experience the wonders of the night time sky." - IYA UK Node

I asd by the Royal Astronomical Society to represent the UK for the opening ceremony of the IYA in Paris, UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation). A press release can be seen here.

Now see my dedicated page of the event!

Get involved with the International Year of Astronomy! Find out what's happening in your area!

View the IYA trailer (medium resolution). For other resolutions click here.

Hear a welcome video by IAU president, Catherine Cesarsky (medium resolution). For other resolutions click here.