On My Radio (Telescope) …
A piece of news I should have passed on sooner than this is the announcement that the Headquarters for the Square Kilometre Array will be based at the Jodrell Bank Observatory which, as you all know, is situated in the English Midlands.
The Square Kilometre Array (known to the astronomical community as SKA) will be, when it’s built, the largest radio telescope, and in fact the largest telescope of any kind, ever constructed. Building it will be a huge technical challenge, and it involves teams from all around the world. Although it hasn’t yet been decided where the actual kit will be sited – Australia and South Africa are two strong contenders – it’s definitely a coup for the UK to be hosting the Project Office. So congratulations to Jodrell Bank and to John Womersley, Director of Science Programmes at the Science and Technology Facilities Council who will be heading up the operation.
I think that the SKA is by far the most exciting project in ground-based astronomy on the STFC books: it has a significantly stronger science case than its competitor in the optical part of the spectrum, the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT), although it is admittedly more of a challenge to build it from a technological point of view. Over the last few years I’ve feared on many occasions that STFC would have to pull out of one of these two very expensive projects and that E-ELT would be the one that survived because it is within the remit of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) to which we pay a hefty subscription. Fortunately the clouds seem to have lifted a bit and it looks like we’re going to remain in both, which is excellent news for UK astronomy.
I was thinking of putting up a bit of music to celebrate the good news. Hmmm….Ska….radio. No brainer really. I wonder who was The Selecter for the location of the SKA Project Office?
P.S. I just looked at the date when On My Radio was in the charts. October 1979, when I was 16. I have to confess that in those days I had a massive crush on lead singer Pauline Black …
In the Dark 
April 7, 2011 at 11:40 am
Phillip,
in fact the proposed SKA Project Office location is at the observatory itself, and not in town on the University campus. A new, purpose-built building is planned for the SPO.
John
PS the “selecter” who chose this location was actually an international review panel chaired by Gary Sanders from Caltech (the TMT project manager)
April 7, 2011 at 12:25 pm
John,
Thanks for the clarifications. I noticed that the press release specifically said “Jodrell Bank Observatory” so I assumed that was the case.
How about getting Pauline Black to open the new building?
Peter
April 7, 2011 at 1:37 pm
peter – is it SKA-phase 1, phase 2 or phase 3 which you feel has a better science case than E-ELT? ian
April 7, 2011 at 2:16 pm
Ian: Yes.
April 8, 2011 at 4:25 am
I am pleased to read that the office will be at the Observatory itself. I worked for 6 years at Yerkes Observatory, which falls into the category Phillip describes above of a once-important observatory whose staff have almost entirely relocated to the university’s campus. In Yerkes’ case this happened in the late 60s/early 70s, and I have read it was mainly due to Chandrasekhar deciding to base himself on campus to be closer to the theoretical physicists. His move precipitated most of the rest of the staff following.
What is ironic about this is that, when he first arrived at Yerkes in the 1930s, the Dean of Faculty expressly forbade Chandrasekhar from going to campus because of the colour of his skin.
I adored Yerkes as a place to live and work, and would not have traded it for living in the Hyde Park area of Chicago for anything. But, great as it was, I sometimes wonder what it would have been like to have been there in its heyday.
April 8, 2011 at 4:26 am
Isn’t Pauline Black female Peter? 🙂
April 8, 2011 at 9:04 am
She is indeed. So are the other women I fancy.
April 8, 2011 at 11:52 am
Is it common for gay men to fancy women too? I don’t think many straight men fancy other men. You’re just being greedy.
April 8, 2011 at 1:11 pm
I don’t know what’s common and what isn’t, but I know many gay men who have relationships with women from time to time. Branding people as “straight” or “gay” is a considerable oversimplification of sexual identity, in my opinion.
April 8, 2011 at 4:46 pm
I prefer Shirley Bassey.
April 9, 2011 at 10:56 am
Peter –
as a radio astronomer, i share your excitement about SKA, and your happiness that the HQ will be be in the, ahem, midlands. however, until lessons from the pathfinders have become clear, the feasibility/risk, cost and timescale of its last phase (where the genuinely transformational science case lies) will not be well constrained. until then, i don’t think it’s helpful or fair to compare its science case with that of the oft-reviewed, oft-descoped and apparently feasible E-ELT.
is there a less glib answer to Ian’s question?
April 9, 2011 at 11:01 am
Rob
I was referring purely to the science case, not the technical feasibility or cost which I agree are much more problematic for SKA than for E-ELT.
Peter