Episode22: Interstellar Dust

As episode 21 indicated, the power of science fiction to motivate
the imagination is perhaps as strong as science itself. 1957 is
known for the launch of Sputnik but it was also the year that the
scientist Fred Hoyle published a science fiction novel called The
Black Cloud. One of its readers in Italy would be inspired by it
to  become an astronomer and embark on a career which involves
the scientific study such clouds. Professor Paola Caselli was that
reader and since the autumn of 2007 has been the professor of
Astronomy at the University of Leeds where Fred Hoyle had been a
student. Her area of interest is the study of those regions of
space of dust and gas (“dark clouds”) from which stars and planet
eventually form. Dust comes in many forms – cosmic, cometery and
interplanetary dust which is responsible for the zodiacal dust we
can see from Earth. Professor Caselli investigates cosmic dust
grains (atoms or molecules of Silicon, Magnesium, Carbon and
others) which act like magnets and help suck out the volatiles from
a dust cloud in the early stages of star formation. Some of these
process are probably taking place right now in the recently
announced discovery of HL Tau and its associated proto planet HL
Tau b. She will be speaking on "From Interstellar Clouds to
Planets: the Universal Factory"at the now famous, Leeds Astromeet
on Saturday 15th November at the University of Leeds.