New ESA bloggers join the Cosmic Diary
26 February 2009
The Cosmic Diary is one of eleven cornerstone projects that are taking place around the world during the International Year of Astronomy 2009. Each cornerstone project is centred on a specific theme and the Cosmic Diary is all about what it is like to be an astronomer. Two brand new ESA Cosmic Diaries have just been launched.
Professionals from five continents across the globe are contributing to the Cosmic Diary. They are blogging in text and images about their life, families, friends, hobbies and interests, as well as their work. ESA bloggers, Detlef Koschny, Salim Ansari and Giuseppe Racca, continue to make an invaluable contribution and they are now joined at the Cosmic Diary by their colleagues, Mark Kidger and Team INTEGRAL.
The new ESA Cosmic Diary bloggers
Mark Kidger
The astronomy bug bit Mark when he was just five years old, as he gazed into the night sky with wonder. Growing up in the 1960s he lived every minute of NASA’s Apollo programme. He is now part of the team currently preparing for the imminent launch of ESA’s Herschel Space Observatory in April this year. Mark is also heavily involved with outreach activities giving talks and lectures across Spain, the UK and USA. He has appeared on the BBC’s ‘Sky at Night Programme’ four times and has been contributing to two popular astronomy magazines, Tribuna de Astronomia and The Astronomer, for many years. Read Mark’s blog to follow the developments of Herschel, ESA’s next infrared observatory, as he counts down to launch.
Team INTEGRAL
Team INTEGRAL are making a unique contribution to the Cosmic Diary by being the first and only team to contribute as a unit. Each week, as part of their routine work a member of Team INTEGRAL takes on the role of Duty Scientist. Now they will take their turn to blog about themselves and their work on INTEGRAL.
Team INTEGRAL are, clockwise from back left. Dutch born Erik Kuulkers joined the INTEGRAL Team in 2002; his research includes studying nuclear explosions from binary systems containing neutron stars. Marion Cadolle Bel started at ESA as a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in 2006 and examines multi-wavelength observations of accreting compact objects such as black holes and neutron stars. In addition to the role of Duty Scientist, Canadian Guillaume Belanger, researches emissions from a region containing the highest concentration of molecules in the galaxy. Celia Sanchez-Fernandez joined the INTEGRAL team in 2005. Her current research includes the analysis of INTEGRAL data to search for X-ray bursts, thermonuclear explosions on the surface of accreting neutron stars All members of Team INTEGRAL are based at ESA’s European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC) close to Madrid, Spain.
Last Update: 1 September 2019
