Jodrell bank, in the North West (Cheshire, UK) is being faced with closure …..In the Times online (posted 6th march,2008) “World leading telescopes face being shut down to save £2.5m” .
It mentions “Merlin’s strength comes from having seven telescope dishes, including the Lovell telescope at Jodrell Bank, linked to receive signals from space simultaneously. Because they operate in tandem up to 135 miles apart they offer unrivalled detail on distant gallaxies” (extract from article).
This is a disgrace, and i urge you to sign the 10 downing street petition (closing date september 6th,2008). see here . Last time i looked here, there were over 3000 signatures.
There is also an interesting article by the telegraph.co.uk (posted 7th march,2008) “UK astronomers to broadcast adverts to aliens“.
It says “The cosmic stunt marks a small step for man, a giant leap for advertising hype and underlines the desperation of British astronomers to find new sources of funding as they struggle to cope with swingeing cuts that now threaten institutions such as Jodrell Bank, the world famous observatory in Cheshire” (extract from article).
And “Alongside the risks to these and other projects is a 25 per cent cut in the STFC research grants to universities that will see numbers of postdoctoral researchers in space science and astronomy fall to their lowest level for seven years” (extract from article).
