Having visted many times and known people that have worked there I do hope it isnt just left to fall apart.
Along with the telescope there is also the arboretum which isnt mentioned but stands on the same site as the telescope.
I’m hoping that some kind of plan will be put forward that includes the preservation of the Lovell telescope but the addition of a smaller telescope that is part of some larger array similar to e-Merlin.
Hopefully it won’t just be sold off to become new housing.
It’s a World Heritage Site, the telescopes are grade 1 listed and many of the buildings are grade 2 listed. It’s about 25 miles from the Prime Minister’s constituency. So I hope it will be preserved. Even if it is no longer used for scientific research it should be preserved as a heritage site.
I visited it for the first time in 1968 when I was 7. I’d seen it on a TV program (maybe Tomorrow’s World) and pestered my parents to take me. Neither of them were in any way technical and couldn’t understand the techno-geekiness in their son. The staff in the visitor centre made a huge fuss of me because I was interested and probably helped foster more interest in space stuff, the ongoing Apollo project helped too! For that reason alone I feel sad.
When you consider the huge amount of money squandered on companies like Fujitsu and Crapita and the terrible services they provide, the lack of funding for places like Jodrell Bank and UK science is terrible.
There were a lot of glum-looking young people on our staff call yesterday.
It makes no sense even from a bean-counting perspective. It’s also surprising that so many of the cuts (not just us) are in the north west of England, given who just became Prime Minister.
Over the last few months there’s been some hideous axe-swinging going on in academic budgets, some of it allegedly justified by drops in foreign student numbers, and much of it hitting research hard. All seems so short-sighted…
Back in 2011 I remember the UOM spending vast sums on buildings and decorative granite blockwork. Whitworth hall had extensive work done to it. Building service staff everywhere…
That boom period has gone for universities now clearly it wasn’t going to last.
Home students on my EE course were a tiny fraction of the year group.
There’s not much “alleged” about it, my institution have been very clear that our entire operating budget depends on how many paying customers they get through the door this coming semester. Well-to-do overseas students were really nothing more than a sticking plaster covering how badly-funded universities in the UK have been over the last number of years, and unfortunately it now looks like the bottom’s falling out the basket with all the eggs in it!
It will be a very sad day for humanity if education and research are distilled down to the point that only those things that can potentially result in short -term monetary gain are supported.
That said, research needs funding if it’s to get done. There’s no way income from students’ fees is ever going to come close to matching that need. A government that doesn’t put money directly into research can expect to fall behind. Sure, astronomy’s quite an expensive subject from the research point of view, especially where big telescopes are concerned, but cutting funding to established facilities and thus effectively shutting them down seems remarkably short-sighted…
Unfortunately this is the way universities are heading at the moment - arts subjects in particular are being heavily targeted with even world-leading, high-performing departments across the country being shut down or merged out of existence.
No, but they’re by far the biggest paying customers - overseas fees vary between universities, but are generally at around 3-4x what an English/Welsh/Northern Irish student would pay. Tuition in Scotland is essentially “free” for Scottish students, with the fee being paid by the Scottish Government, but there is a limit on how many funded places are available.
Coincidentally I just watched this video last night - he was very excited about visiting the telescope!
Speaking of coincidences, the site of a large radio telescope in West Virginia is called Green Bank It’s worth a visit and there are SOTA summits nearby.
Whilst activating summits nearby to Greenbank, be aware it’s not optical. It’s radio, and you might interfere if you run too much power. The following is from the ARM in that State:
Many summits in West Virginia and Virginia are near the National Radio Astronomy Observatory at Greenbank, WV. To minimize the observatory’s noise floor, there is a National Radio Quiet Zone (NRQZ). It includes all land with latitudes between 37.5°N and 39.25°N and longitudes between 78.5°W and 80.5°W. • United States National Radio Quiet Zone - Wikipedia • http://www.gb.nrao.edu/nrqz/ Coordination of any radio transmission within the NRQZ is the responsibility of the radio operator. • http://www.gb.nrao.edu/nrqz/#CoordReq Amateur Radio is not exempt from the coordination process and the operator is responsible for proper coordination. The good news is most amateur activities are approved. We encourage all SOTA activators and chasers to know when they are within the NRQZ and coordinate with the proper authorities before they transmit
Yes, I didn’t want to get into that rabbit hole but, in brief, most SOTA operations near Green Bank are not impacted by the National Radio Quiet Zone there because we are portable stations
But apparently there is a WV state law that relates to radio activity within 10 miles of the observatory which includes a few summits (and then, going even further down the hole,we have potential issues of federal preemption and that some of those summits are in VA not WV). W4GO produced this map
Of course we want to be considerate of their research and this was discussed on the SOTA Appalachia group (membership required but here’s the discussion https://groups.io/g/SOTAppalachia/topic/107121258). I don’t think N4LXP will mind me quoting him here:
After talking with the Greenbank folks many times, both for events and SOTA, I am of the understanding that HF makes little to no difference at all. VHF and even more UHF might be seen by the researchers but ususally we are there for such a short time that it would make very little difference to someones work. If you were transmitting on 446.000 with a 150 watts and had a yagi pointed at the facility someone would probably complain. But with the amount of power that we typically use, if you avoid pointing a yagi at the Greenbank antenna you should be fine.
If I was going to be on Reddish or Hightop or some of the others that are line of sight using VHF or UHF for hours on end or setting up a temporary repeater for an event, I would probably coordinate.
I remember there being a difference even when I was a student half a century ago. My possibly flaky memory has it at something like 15-20% back then, and even that seemed a mite excessive. Political choices at play again.
It’s worth a visit and there are SOTA summits nearby.
