Ros Mist - solar guides

Where do you work?
I used to work at the Mullard Space Science Laboratory (MSSL) in Surrey, but now I work with science centres and school science clubs. I love sharing my interest in science with other people.

How did you get interested in science?
As it happens, I've always been interested in the planets. I remember my dad explaining about the Earth's motion around the Sun, day and night, and the seasons - using a fruit bowl and an apple! I think I was quite young, about 6. I didn't really think about studying space physics until I went to a course in London and we had an outing to an observatory. We met people who were finding out about how planets are formed. I was hooked then. I learnt about the magnetosphere at university and that’s how I ended up at MSSL.

What do you do in your spare time?
I used to dance, like lots of girls, but I gave it up when I was 10. Now I've started again - not ballet this time, but Ceroc. Ceroc is a form of modern jive. I go once a week, meet lots of new people and dance the night away. It beats aerobics as far as I'm concerned (I never did like PE at school). I’m hoping to learn some other dances - salsa and swing too!

No, this is not me, it's a couple of dancing champions from the jive+ competitions.

What would you like to do next?
One day, I'd like to study the atmospheres on other planets (Jupiter, Saturn and maybe Mercury and Mars) and who knows by the time I'm old and grey, we might have found planets in other solar systems that have magnetospheres too!

A spectacular aurora seen on Jupiter with the Hubble Space Telescope.
(credit NASA/ESA, John Clarke, Univ. of Michigan)

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