* Astronomy

A University of Leicester astrophysicist is playing a pivotal role in a mission that seeks to study the origins of the universe.
Professor Martin Turner of the Department of Physics and Astronomy is Co-Principal Investigator on XEUS - a next-generation X-ray space observatory.
XEUS, which stands for X-ray Evolving Universe Spectroscopy, aims to study the fundamental laws of the Universe. With unprecedented sensitivity to the hot, million-degree universe, XEUS will explore key areas of contemporary astrophysics: growth of supermassive black holes, cosmic feedback and galaxy evolution, evolution of large-scale structures, extreme gravity and matter under extreme conditions, the dynamical evolution of cosmic plasmas and cosmic chemistry.
Professor Turner is also Chair of the XEUS International Steering committee. He said: XEUS is an X-ray observatory 30-50 times more sensitive than XMM-Newton, which will be placed 1.5 million km from Earth, beyond the Moon, at the second Lagrangian point, a quiet stable location where the instruments can observe the universe undisturbed.

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