Proving that it does take brains to play in magnificent rock bands, Queen guitarist Brian May is to submit his doctoral thesis this week. What is the subject you ask? Why, the formation of zodiacal dust clouds, of course.

Although we cannot imagine why anyone would chose a life of big-haired Rock'n'Roll glamour over dusty astronomy texts and the solitude of the night skies, May ditched the books in favour of playing guitar with the band.

But it seems that his interest in astronomy did not wane, and 36 years later, he's finished his research. According to the Beeb, May was in Tenerife recently, at the Observatory of the Roque de Los Muchachos in La Palma, making his final observations. He made the first observations in 1971.

He is due to present his thesis, entitled Radial Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust Cloud, before the examining board at Imperial College, London, on 23 August.

May has also published a book on astronomy with arguably misogynistic boffin Sir Patrick Moore. ®

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