Dark days ahead? December 16, 2009
Posted by sarah in: astronomy, politics . 4commentsThe British astronomy community is bracing itself for bad news due to arrive tomorrow from its funding council, the Science and Technology Facilities Council, or STFC. Since its creation in 2007, STFC appears to have stumbled from one crisis to the next. An announcement will be made by the council tomorrow about deep cuts in the astronomy budget to fill a 70 million pound hole that has resulted from increased contributions to ESA on the one hand, and a debt that needs to be repayed to the government dating back to the merger that created STFC in 2007.
The Lay Scientist: Scapegoat Science November 7, 2009
Posted by sarah in: politics, science . Add a commentThe financial crisis of 2008 was heralded as the end of the West’s love affair with free-market capitalism. The combined crashes of banking industry and real estate market should have been the final nail in the coffin for the unbridled power of corporations, who for decades have flaunted all social responsibility in search of profit. Why is it then, as we see the dust slowly settling, that nothing appears to have changed?
Earlier this week I signed up to write some guest posts on another science blog, The Lay Scientist. Edited by Martin Robbins, this blog has some excellent writing around all aspects of science, health, policy, environment, religion and much more. From Twitter I gather that Martin et al got a big nod from The Times this week, so I’m extra chuffed that I get to post there.
So if you want to read the rest of this post, follow the jump! And yes, it does go on to talk about science.
IAU: The singular future of astronomy August 18, 2009
Posted by sarah in: astro 2.0, astronomy, dotastronomy, science . Add a comment
The Hubble Deep Field
For many centuries, astronomy has been a powerful inspirational force driving people to look further, build bigger, go deeper. Indeed, other physical sciences, mathematics and engineering have benefited greatly, and continue to benefit, from astronomical research. At the IAU general assembly I heard many speakers comment on the “Golden Age” of astronomy we currently finding ourselves in. But as one speaker argued, when was astronomy not in a Golden Age? An entire 4-day session at the GA was devoted to the topic “Accelerating the rate of astronomical discovery”, which had some fascinating talks about the way astronomical discoveries are made and how technological changes underpin progress in astronomy.
An important theme running through many talks in the session was the power of the individual in astronomy. The balance between the individual and the crowd has always been a delicate one. Many early scientists faced disbelief or even wrath from peers and society for their discoveries, from Copernicus‘ “heretic” claims of a heliocentric universe to the initial rejection of Saha‘s equation of ionisation equilibrium by the 1920′s scientific establishment. Several talks were love stories to the mavericks whose doggedness, eccentricity and creativity changed the face of astronomy, culminating in Dame Jocelyn Bell-Burnell‘s wonderful own account of her discovery of the first pulsars in the 1960s.
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Aloha TMT July 22, 2009
Posted by sarah in: new astronomy, politics . 1 comment so farIn a long awaited announcement, America’s largest optical telescope project unveiled the chosen site for its new observatory. After a long and extensive campaign of site testing and comparison, and, more importantly perhaps, much politicking, the Thirty Meter Telescope board have reached an agreement to build their telescope on the Mauna Kea in Hawaii.
The TMT, a collaboration of US, Canadian and Japanese institutes, is one of three projects in the so-called class of extremely large telescopes, or ELTs. In the last year, two potenial sites were studied in a final run-off: the well known Hawaiian mountain Mauna Kea, and Cerro Armazones, an as yet undeveloped site in the Chilean Andes. As both sites are excellent from the astroclimatological perspective, it is rumoured that the Japanese involvement was at least partly responsible for the final choice. All three of the partner countries already have telescopes and infastructure on Mauna Kea.
With the smallest of the ELTs, the 24-m
Giant Magellan Telescope confirmed to be sited at Las Campanas, also in Chile, and ESO’s strong ties with the country, TMT will ensure that an ELT will also be watching the Northern skies. In addition seems sensible to question the sanity of locating three of the world’s most powerful telescopes in a relatively small area – and one with substantial seismic activity at that.
All eyes are now on ESO, whose 42-m ELT project, the imaginatively named European ELT, is the last in the trio to be found a home. While ESO are running an extensive testing campaign at 5 sites around the world, there is much speculation that TMT’s second-choice site, Armazones, could now be in the running for the E-ELT. An announcement from ESO is expected in the next year.
Decision time for UK ground-based astronomy June 3, 2009
Posted by sarah in: politics, science . 6commentsBy the end of this year, UK astronomers are likely to know what ground-based observational facilities they will have access to in the next decade. Today, the Science and Technology Facilities Council or STFC, the body that administrates funds for UK astronomy and particle physics, has published a (long-rumoured) consultation document inviting the community to discuss priorities in ground-based astronomy in the next 10 years. The document was prepared by STFC’s recently formed Ground-based Facilities Review Panel, made up of 6 UK-based senior astronomers (incidentally all men). An electronic questionnaire will be available in the near future for astronomers to express their views, and “facility directors and interested groups” are invited to submit paper contributions. (more…)
