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I will try to keep a blog of my current trip to the European Southern Observatory in Chile.

I kept a similar blog for my telescope trip to La Palma in 2011 - see it here.

The purpose of this trip is to make loads of videos for two of my video projects - Deep Sky Videos and Sixty Symbols.

I previewed the trip in this video:



As you'll note in the film, I was to be joined by Professor Mike Merrifield and Pete Lawrence.

But unfortunately things started on a sour note... Mike was struck down by illness the day before departure.

He was too sick to travel and had to stay behind.

This was especially unfortunate because Mike was the driving force behind the trip - it was his idea and he arranged it with ESO.

But with flights booked and plans afoot, Pete and I went ahead and flew from London to Santiago (via Madrid).

Mike agreed to stay in touch from the UK with suggestions and advice, and he will record many of his interviews when I get back.

(More than anything, I think he really wanted to se the VLT and ALMA (right) with his own eyes)

Mike's a big loss - but we can improvise and there's still plenty to be done. And both Pete and I are still very excited by what lays ahead.

As I type, Pete and I have checked into ESO's Guest House in Santiago, which seems a very quiet and charming place.

Lovely old-fashioned rooms, but amazing astronomical images hanging on the walls!

I am guessing the guest house acts mainly as a holding pen for astronomers as they prepare for the short hop to the observatories themselves.

Here are some pictures:

Santiago itself seems a dramatic location, snow-covered mountains overlooking the sprawling city.

Unfortunately I won't see much of it - we head straight out to Paranal early tomorrow.

Now it's time to check all the cameras are ready, batteries charged and SD cards emptied!

I might write more about the equipment we have brought at a later date!



Chile Diary - Day Four
Chile Diary - Day Five
Chile Diary - Day Six

Today I put up six videos for the "Brainiac Day" of YouTube's Geek Week... (I don't name these things)

Apparently I had to put them up at 7am (I also don't make the rules), so I woke up early and had a busy and bleary-eyed half hour!

The videos are (in the order I would suggest watching!?)

1. The Scale of the Universe - an epic song featuring Dave Lens and ViHart



2. What if the Death Star was real?



3. What if the Universe is just a Computer Simulation?



4. What if ice did not float?



5. The Making of the Scale of the Universe (behind the scenes at CERN, etc)



6. Extra footage from Phil Moriarty on the Universe Simulation stuff!



Still going? Here is Dave's spoken word version of that song!



Here you can get it on iTunes.

Oh and a couple of our guys (Professors Poliakoff and Merrifield) had cameos here.



When you're done with them (?!), I see the always amazing yet truthful Veritasium just put up a cool Geek Week video too!

A while back I filmed two interviews with Professor Mike Merrifield and Professor Phil Moriarty on the topic of refraction.

Rather than cut them down and splice them together, I tried something different - uploading the interviews essentially uncut.

Here is the interview with Mike.


Wen it came to Phil's interview, I decided to upload it as an unlisted video.

The reason being that it made a bit less sense without context. I thought some Sixty Symbols subscribers might be baffled by it as a stand-alone video.

I think it is good nonetheless and Phil raises some interesting stuff.

With Northern Ireland school teacher Mr McMullan retiring after 35 years, his pupils contacted The Professor (Martyn Poliakoff) about a customised photo gift.

We were told he was a "huge fan" of periodicvideos and shows them to his class every day!

Here's the photo...

Happy retirement Mr McMullan - it's no gold watch, but it is still nice!

The latest Numberphile video reveals a number I had never heard of - Mills' Constant.

It by plugging it into a simple equation, it generates an infinite number prime numbers.

But there's a catch:



After posting the video, a lot of people asked for the proof.

Dr James Grime - who stars in the video - has since sent me a link to the proof.

HERE IT IS.

Want more prime number videos? Here is our prime playlist.

It is not viewing figures or subscriber counts that make my day - it is emails like this!

The full citation from the IoP reads:

Professor Edmund Copeland, University of Nottingham. 

For his work on particle/string cosmology from the evolution of cosmic superstrings, to the determination of the nature of Inflation in string cosmology and to constraining dynamical models of dark energy and modified gravity. 

Copeland has made pivotal contributions to the field of particle cosmology. He leads the quest to obtain successful particle physics-inspired models of inflation, to predict the properties of cosmic strings, and to determine the nature of dark energy. Copeland works at the junction between fundamental physics and cosmological observation. He has made contributions in three areas: inflationary models, cosmic strings and superstrings, and dark energy phenomenology.

Copeland's work spurred the resurgence of interest cosmic strings as a signature of superstring theory. In particular, he observed that superstring theories often contain multiple kinds of string, as well as junctions between them, and so lead to distinctive network properties and signatures. 

If cosmic strings are discovered, this idea will be influential in determining their microscopic nature. 

Copeland also has a large body of work on the construction of inflationary models, using dynamical ingredients motivated by string theory. His early work on two-field models of inflation has been highly influential, in addition to many other significant works.

I'll try to do a video about the medal in the near future.

Ed gets a medal, certificate and £1,000.

He must be very happy - but not as happy as when he first saw the Large Hadron Collider!