FORGET Star Wars, Star Trek and the X Files, reporter STEWART PIMBLEY talks to astro-physicist Dr Barbara Bromage about her job, which really is out of this world

AS soon as the much-hyped Star Wars bursts on to cinema screens, there are guaranteed to be hordes of fans queuing to see a few hours of pure science fiction.

And a top Ribble Valley astro-physicist will be among the crowds flocking to see the blockbuster.

But the world of Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader is light years away from the universe of stars and planets seen every day by Dr Barbara Bromage.

Rather than dealing with science fiction, she has to deal in science fact in her job.

Dr Bromage, 48, of West Bradford, has just returned from America where she and 100 of the world's leading scientists have been working on ground-breaking research into our universe's most important star - the sun.

She is part of the joint NASA and European Space Agency team analysing data being beamed down to earth from the SOHO satellite.

Revolutionary telescopes on the satellite have revealed views of the sun never before seen and have opened up doorways to a greater understanding about how the star works. Dr Bromage, who works in the astro-physics department at the University of Central Lancashire, said: "The big difference with the SOHO satellite is that we are able to watch the sun continually changing whereas, before, satellite observations were a matter of grabbing the opportunity and just hoping you would be able to see what you wanted.

"It is the difference between looking at a snap shot and seeing a whole film. The satellite pictures represent a great leap forward."

The SOHO satellite is basically a floating observatory which is being used to carry out 12 different experiments about the sun.

Its technologically advanced telescopes focus on the sun's outer atmosphere, the corona, and already some interesting phenomena have been filmed for the first time.

Dr Bromage said: "The pictures have shown eruptions which occur as the sun's magnetic fields move around. Every now and then, a magnetic bubble of gas separates from the surface and explodes out from the sun. "It is possible that this causes problems with communications back on earth and can induce power surges in cables and blackout."

Dr Bromage has visited the Goddard Space Flight Centre in America on several occasions for updates on the latest satellite data, but also receives information on a daily basis at the university via the internet.

Her particular field is studying holes which develop in the corona and any findings could be the key to unlocking a greater understanding of the earth's weather patterns.

Electrified particles from the sun are soaked up by the earth's atmosphere, heating it and affecting our planet's magnetic field.

She said: "People have tried to find out how the sun affects the climate. Apart from the obvious effects from the sun shining brighter, there could be other effects. The effect is probably more localised, such as making cyclones more violent or shifting weather patterns.

"If we can work on the link between the climate and the sun, then we also need to understand how the sun changes in its 11-year cycle which is what we are looking at with SOHO. This could allow us to predict what effect the sun will have on the earth." Dr Bromage is just one half of a relationship with a life-long interest in star gazing. Her husband, Gordon, is head of the astro physics department at the university and has travelled the world to different observatories to view the stars.

But do the science fiction movies and television series still hold an appeal when your job involves finding the truth about space?

Dr Bromage is a self-confessed 'Trekkie' and admits to enjoying seeing how film producers view space.

"Something like the 'Asteroid' mini series on television pretends to be serious, but it is really quite funny. However, it has serious message because there is no reason why there should not be a shower of asteroids hitting the earth.

"Not wanting to to be scaremonger, a repeat of what happened to the dinosaurs could be possible."

And will she be booking a cinema seat for Star Wars?

"Yes, of course," Dr Bromage replied. "Films are about people exercising their imagination and creativity and, as a scientist, you need to have imagination and creativity. We have to be able to open up our minds to all possibilities."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.