Clues to a Cosmic Crime

Not so long ago, I travelled to the picturesque town of Tergensee. Nestled beside the Alps, it is home to the recording studio used by the European Southern Observatory (ESO) to film the video podcast series - ESOcast and Hubblecast. 

These videos tell the stories from the frontline of astronomy from both ESO and  NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope perspectives — using spectacular graphics, witty metaphors and awe-inspiring scientific information.

We spent the day with Dr. Joe Liske, otherwise known as 'Dr J' the narrator of both podcasts as he narrated scenes against the studio's green screen. 

I co-wrote the script for Hubblecast Episode 72: Clues to a Cosmic Crime and was lucky enough to make a cameo appearance in the video!

This episode of Hubblecast witnesses a cosmic crime in action, as a spiral galaxy moves through the heart of galaxy cluster named Abell 3627. The cluster has no mercy on its galactic visitor as it rips the spiral's entrails out into space, leaving bright blue streaks as telltale clues to this cosmic crime.

 As someone that watched these videos online before joining ESO, it was a great behind-the-scenes insight into the production work that goes into creating these magnificent pieces of science communication. 

The Hubblecast is out today, you'll understand why Dr. J looks so windswept in the photo above when you watch Hubblecast Episode 72: Clues to a Cosmic Crime below or on YouTube here. My cameo appearance is at 2:42 :)

- This is Nikita, signing off for Making Apple Pie From Scratch, 'once again nature has surprised us beyond our wildest imaginations'.

München

It's been a month and a half since I moved from London to Munich on New Years Day. Time has flown past and I'm already finding myself giving people (wrong) directions around town! 

Occasionally, I look back to my first few days at work when everything that seems so clear to me now was all new information and realise how much I've already learnt in this short time. The European Southern Observatory (ESO) is a wonderful place to grow professionally and I can only imagine the perspective I'll have on my last day — leaving as a better writer than before. 

Sitting at the forefront of cutting-edge astronomical research of the Southern skies— incredible new discoveries, exciting projects and magical images of the Universe are ESO's forté. One such project that I'm working on is the ESO Ultra HD Expedition, which is the journey of four world renowned astrophotographers to Chile in order to capture the magnificent ESO sites in all their grandeur . A week or so ago, Christoph Malin, one of the talented ESO Photo Ambassadors embarking upon the trip paid a visit to the office where he took some photos of us hard at work :) 

Living in a sleepy village outside Munich city centre means that I am always a tourist whenever I visit town. The weather has been unusually warm, but I'm not complaining!

I thought I'd share these snippets of my daily life as a short glimpse into working and living in Munich :)

-Nikita

Lost In Space

January has been a flurry of snow, early nights, getting lost, astronomy, writing and most of all learning.

 From learning how to write succinct yet compelling European Southern Observatory (ESO) press releases to navigating the U-Bahn, using Euros and recalling my GCSE German lessons— I'm getting more settled into life in Munich and will be posting more regularly in February. For now, here's a photo of what is getting me through these icy winter months:

 Hi, my name is Nikita and I'm a Nutella-holic.

-Nikita

New Year, New City

Happy New Year!

I hope that your first few days of 2014 have been wonderful and full of keeping those new resolutions. The New Year is usually a time for new beginnings, outlooks and fresh starts and I began 2014 with a flight to my new home for the next few months, Munich! 

On New Years Day, I flew 1 hour and a half away from my home city of London to Munich, the capital of the German state of Bavaria. It is also home to the world's most productive intergovernmental astronomy organisation and my new work place, the European Southern Observatory (ESO). Comprised of 15 member states, ESO operates a suite of the world's most advanced telescopes in the world which scan the Southern skies and probe the Universe for untold stories waiting to be discovered. With telescopes in three sites in Chile - La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor, ESO is working on painting an ever growing picture of the cosmos. 

It is vital that the findings revealed from the hidden universe are communicated to the public and this is where my department comes in. I am a Science Communication Intern within the education & Public Outreach Department (ePOD) of ESO. You can read biographies of the department members, including myself on the ESO website here. It is within ePOD that I am learning more about the science communication process and working with the team to produce press releases, popular articles, image/video captions and scripts in order to effectively communicate scientific information to a broader audience.

I'm very happy that I'm working in a field that I've pursued since a young age and I hope I can inspire others who have similar aspirations to continue to strive to achieve them. 

Auf Wiedersehen!

-Nikita