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Tackling the puzzle of dark matter

Our astronomers are part of an international team that has taken another step towards solving the puzzle of what dark matter might be made of.
The research compared the 'gravitational lensing', or bending of light rays by gravity, by galaxies of different types. Image credit: Bart Delsaert

Astronomers apply their skills to cancer research

You might not think that studying the universe could benefit research into serious illnesses like cancer, but Durham’s astronomers have joined forces with cancer researchers to improve the diagnosis and treatment of patients.
Cancer and astronomy

Physicists and students from the Physics Department use data modelling to fight the spread of Covid-19

A team led by Prof. Frank Krauss and including Prof. Richard Bower and 8 of our Ph.D. students from the Centre for Doctoral Training in Data-Intensive Science (CDT) have created a simulation in the form of an agent-based model, which describes the spread of an epidemic such as COVID-19 through a virtual population.
Image manipulation of the coronavirus inside the globe

Answering the question of Supergalactic Plane’s missing spiral galaxies

Our cosmologists have found an answer to why spiral galaxies like our Milky Way are largely missing from part of our Local Universe called the Supergalactic Plane.
An elliptical and spiral galaxy sit side by side against a backdrop of space and stars

Skyrmions spinning off the track!

Many possible spintronic applications of skyrmions involve their motion along pre-determined race tracks. Skyrmions can be moved with much lower energy than ferromagnetic domain walls, but there is a problem. Among the many unusual properties of skyrmions is the tendency of their direction of motion to deviate from that of a driving force; the angle by which they diverge is known as the skyrmion Hall angle and is a result of the topology giving rise to a Magnus force in its equation of motion.

Dr Jurgen Schmoll, Astronomer and Instrument Scientist at Durham, captures superb images of partial solar eclipse

Dr Jurgen Schmoll, Astronomer and Instrument Scientist within CfAI and the Department of Physics here at Durham, has captured superb images and timelapse video of today's partial solar eclipse.

Light-bending gravity reveals one of the biggest black holes ever found

A team of astronomers, led by Dr James Nightingale from our Department of Physics, has discovered one of the biggest black holes ever found by taking advantage of a phenomenon called gravitational lensing.
biggest black hole ever found

Light-bending gravity reveals one of the biggest black holes ever found

A team of astronomers, led by Dr James Nightingale from our Department of Physics, has discovered one of the biggest black holes ever found by taking advantage of a phenomenon called gravitational lensing.
biggest black hole ever found

A world leader in Astronomy and Cosmology

We’re a world leader in Astronomy and Cosmology and our students are taught by some of the best researchers in their field.
Cosmic Ray Cosmo Simulation

CfAI helps NASA develop Lunar Thermal Mapper to detect and map water on the lunar surface

The Centre for Advanced Instrumentation (CfAI) at Durham University will participate in the development of the Lunar Thermal Mapper (LTM) infrared multispectral image
Montage of three pictures: Main image is of a mock-up of the lunar trailblazer in orbit above the moon, and 2 images of a mirror prototype (front and back) made in 2020 for the Atmospheric Physics group at Oxford. A complete prototype was assembled and tested and this led to the successful proposal of this design for the Lunar Traiblazer.

Durham quasar physicist Vicky takes Silver Medal in parliamentary scientific research competition

Durham quasar physicist Vicky takes Silver Medal in parliamentary scientific research competition. Victoria Fawcett, a postgraduate research student at Durham University has won Silver for the excellence of her physics research in a national competition, receiving a £750 prize and a medal.
Photograph of Vicky Fawcett
Cosmic Ray Cosmo Simulation

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