Interferometry is a technique used by scientists and engineers. Tools called interferometers add together 2 or more waves of light. When they do this, the waves of light interact (or interfere) with each other. This can add the waves together, making them brighter. It can also cancel the waves out. Interference only takes place if the waves come from the same object or have the same frequency. We call these types of wave coherent.
Occupation: Astrophysicist & Professor of Astronomy
Year born: 1977
Research Areas: Exoplanets
Occupation: Director of Office of Astronomy for Development
Year born: c. 1981
Research Areas: Nuclear Physics, Astronomy, Sustainable Development
Occupation: Historian
Year born: 1946
Research Areas: History of Science, History of Astronomy, Broadcasting
"Historians of astronomy…are… people with a broad and open-minded curiosity about those forces which drove human endeavour in the past."
Occupation: Astronomer, Mathematician, Engineer
Year born: 1564
Research Areas: speed, velocity, motion, astronomy, tides
The island of La Palma is a mix of sandy beaches, deserts, tropical forests, pine forests and volcanic mountains. All these on an island only around 100 km (60 miles) long and just over 30 km (20 miles) wide. It is one of the best places on Earth to put a telescope, for the following reasons:
