Mysteries of the Universe Weekender

Mind-blowing. Those are the two words I'd use to describe the "Mysteries of the Universe" weekender discovery tour, hosted by New Scientist. Over two days in the Cheshire countryside, a group of space enthusiasts, myself included, were treated to fascinating talks from some of the UK's top astrophysicists, plus a guided tour around the world's third largest radio telescope. We were even lucky enough to get clear skies for stargazing. At a time when our planetary problems can seem insurmountable, this trip was a welcome reminder that the universe is vast and full of wonder beyond my imagination.

My home for the weekend was the De Vere Cranage Estate Hotel, a Grade II listed property located roughly halfway between Manchester and Stoke-on-Trent and large enough to host around 150 attendees. After checking in on Friday evening, we filed into the property's conference room to be greeted by the event's host: Stuart Clark, a renowned science communicator, a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, and a cosmology writer for New Scientist. Aside from being our point of contact for the weekend, Clark had the herculean task of providing us with a brief "introduction to the universe".

"Let's start with some mind-blowers," Clark said to my delight. An image – a large sphere covered in orange and blue dots, and smudges – flashed on the screen. This, Clark explained, was the cosmic microwave background – a snapshot, taken by the European Space Agency's now-defunct Planck telescope, of radiation left over from the Big Bang. It captures light emitted when the universe was just a newborn, some 13.8 billion years ago. The different colours represent temperature variations, with colder areas blue, warmer areas red. Over billions of years the colder, denser areas would go on to nurture stars, galaxies and planets, one of which would eventually be home to mankind. In other words, the blueprint for the cosmos we live in today, made up mostly of dark matter and energy that scientists haven't yet figured out how to measure, was drawn up very, very early. "That's what the universe looks like," Clark said. "Now we just have to understand what it's telling us."

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Indeed. This quandary carried us through drinks and dinner. My randomly selected tablemates included a tech CEO, a biologist and the head of a charity foundation – a fantastic mix of characters, all science nerds with big questions about the origins of the universe. I felt right at home. The evening ended with stargazing on the hotel's front lawn, led by Clark and made all the more interesting by his deep knowledge of the night sky and all its main characters.

The next morning we boarded coaches and made the 15-minute journey to Jodrell Bank, a 35-acre UNESCO World Heritage Site and home to the Lovell Telescope, the UK's largest radio telescope – I could see the Lovell looming in the distance, before we got there, its enormous white bowl rising 90 meters above the ground. We arrived before the centre officially opened to visitors and were treated to a detailed tour of the compound, where researchers have been using radio and radar to map the unseen cosmos since the 1940s – from supermassive black holes to rotating pulsar stars. It was the highlight of the trip, an immersion in British scientific history and an outing I'll never forget.

The rest of the weekend did not disappoint with captivating talks about the hunt for Earth's twin planet and how artificial intelligence is transforming astrophysics for the better. There were seven lecturers, my personal favourite was Dr. Emma Curtis Lake, an astrophysicist at the University of Hertfordshire, who is using the James Webb Space Telescope to study how galaxies behaved in the early universe. This telescope "can see further back in time than any other," Curtis Lake said. "What the Hubble Telescope could do in hundreds of years, Webb can do in tens of years." For example, since its launch in 2021, it has found the most distant black hole in the known universe and captured images of ancient galaxies that shocked scientists with their inexplicable brightness.

Despite the advanced nature of these topics, the talks were neither too complicated nor pedestrian. I was challenged, but never felt I was in over my head, and was certainly never bored. I returned to London bursting with questions but oddly reassured. Knowing so many phenomena remain unexplained filled me with a strange sense of hope: we haven't figured it all out yet and there are still puzzles to be solved and secrets to be uncovered. How very exciting.

Jessica Hullinger was a guest of New Scientist Discovery Tours Mysteries of the Universe: Cheshire, England weekender, price from £859. The next one, scheduled for summer 2025, costs £999.