#squarekilometrearray — Public Fediverse posts

The STFC Cuts

News came out yesterday of the results of the latest funding prioritization exercise by the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC). The total savings being made by cuts to astronomy and particle physics are less than the funds allocated to just one AI lab! It seems STFC has to bear the brunt of savings needed so that UKRI, the organization under which STFC sits, can gamble much more on Artificial Intelligence and Quantum Technology. It seems to me that these are two bubbles ready to burst and the decision to sink money into them is not only unwise, it places the UK science base at serious risk of collapse.

Anyway, you can find the list of specific cuts here. Radio astronomy is hit particularly hard. The interferometric network e-Merlin is not prioritized and its funding will run out in 2028. That puts Jodrell Bank Observatory in danger of complete closure unless an alternative source of funding can be found. The last time STFC had a financial crisis was in 2009 and e-Merlin might well have been cut then but survived thanks to political intervention at the highest level. I suppose that could happen again, but I wouldn’t bet on it. More bad news is that the UK Square Kilometre Array Regional Centre, with SKA itself already financially troubled, is also earmarked for cuts.

And that’s just radio astronomy and Jodrell Bank is one of the highest-profile casualties. There are cuts and cancellations in many other areas too; see here for a full list.

The Astronomer Royal for Scotland, Catherine Heymans, has used her platform to campaign against these damaging and short-sighted cuts to UK astronomy, including on social media:

https://bsky.app/profile/astroroyalscot.bsky.social/post/3mrmvzyziv22r

The same can’t be said for the Astronomer Royal herself, Prof. Michele Dougherty. The reason for that is Prof. Dougherty is also Executive Chair of STFC and is therefore responsible for implementing the cuts. How it is possible for her to remain in both posts is nothing short of a scandal. Such a glaring conflict of interest cannot be allowed to stand. Indeed, Prof. Dougherty was elected to serve as President of the Institute of Physics from October 2025 but stepped down in January 2026 citing concerns of a conflict of interest with her role at STFC. It’s a slap in the face to the Astronomy community that it is not deemed worthy of such consideration.

#SquareKilometreArray #datacenter needs two #FaradayCages
SKA is an international project that is constructing 131,072 individual antennae with a combined area of around 1km2, making it comfortably the world’s biggest #radiotelescope and hopefully one that gives humanity a tool with which to gain new perspectives on our universe. Two Faraday cages ensure equipment inside the datacenter does not leak radio waves that could harm the operation of the giant radio #telescope.
https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/02/ska_datacenter_construction_progress_report/

A giant telescope was supposed to answer the universe’s big questions. Now the project has been rocked by misconduct claims https://www.theguardian.com/science/2025/aug/22/square-kilometre-array-observatory-skao-western-australia-radio-telescope-misconduct-allegations-ntwnfb #SquareKilometreArray #WesternAustralia #Australianews #Astronomy #Science #Space

Dode satelliet verrast astronomen met een krachtig radiosignaal

Relay-2 stuurde een sterke radio-uitbarsting naar de Aarde die minder dan 30 nanoseconden duurde.

Een afbeelding van de Relay-2 satelliet. Credit: NASA

Iets meer dan een jaar geleden registreerden wetenschappers in Australië een korte uitbarst

https://www.kuuke.nl/dode-satelliet-verrast-astronomen-met-een-krachtig-radiosignaal/

#nasa #pathfinder #radiosignaal #Relay2 #satelliet #SquareKilometreArray #VanAllen

"Using 1,024 of what will eventually be 131,072 radio antennas, the first SKA-Low image shows a tiny sliver of sky dotted with ancient galaxies billions of light-years from Earth.

This first snapshot shows the system works, and will improve dramatically in the coming months and years"

https://theconversation.com/less-than-1-of-the-worlds-biggest-radio-telescope-is-complete-but-its-first-image-reveals-a-sky-dotted-with-ancient-galaxies-252382

#Telescopes #SKA #Cosmology #SquareKilometreArray #Space

This book has triggered some memories on the early involvement of Spain in the SKA development which I documented on LinkedIn, but I will write a thread here about them.

1/11

#SKAO #SKA #SquareKilometreArray #SquareKilometreArrayOrganisation #SquareKilometreArrayObservatory #SPDO #ISPO #RadioAstronomy #HistoryBook #LargeScaleResearchInfrastructures #Spain #SpanishScienceIndustry #ScienceIndustry
https://astrodon.social/@juandesant/112696949499330270

Great book (PDF & EPUB) if you have any interest in the SKA's early history. Really good job from Richard Schilizzi, Ron Ekers, Peter Dewdney, and Phil Crosby on compiling a lot of evidence on the journey to establish the SKA, with what went well, and not so well, with lots of detail and notes.

https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-51374-9

#SKAO #SKA #SquareKilometreArray #SquareKilometreArrayOrganisation #SquareKilometreArrayObservatory #SPDO #ISPO #RadioAstronomy #HistoryBook #LargeScaleResearchInfrastructures

My #SKA papers bot, which posts #arXiv papers about the #SquareKilometerArray #SquareKilometreArray, is now on #Mastodon https://botsin.space/@ska_papers @ska_papers #astrodon

#SKA #Observatory marks a momentous milestone with the formal start of construction at #telescope sites in South Africa and Australia.

🔗 https://www.skao.int/en/explore/construction-journey

We at #Cosylab are excited to be part of the project and work on the SKA telescopes’ observation monitor and controls software.

#SKAO #SKAObservatory #SquareKilometreArray #SquareKilometreArrayObservatory #astronomy

Weihnachtsbäume? Nein, Antennen. Damit sollen künftig aus dem australischen Outback heraus einige der rätselhaftesten Phänomene im All erforscht werden. Der Bau des »Square Kilometre Array« hat begonnen (Spektrum)
@Albert #SquareKilometreArray #dasneueuniversum
https://dasneueuniversum.com
https://www.spektrum.de/news/square-kilometre-array-bau-des-groessten-radioteleskops-hat-begonnen/2084691?utm_term=Autofeed&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1670320443

Construction begins on the world's largest #RadioObservatory

"A highly sensitive, next-generation #radio #observatory has started to come to life, with construction now officially underway on the #SquareKilometreArray (#SKA) in #Australia and #SouthAfrica. The dual-site #science facility is set to become one of the largest on Earth"

https://newatlas.com/space/construction-worlds-largest-radio-observatory-square-kilometre-array/

More than a decade ago, I sat in a small conference room were telescope engineers concerned about how to power the world's largest telescope, the #SquareKilometreArray. In 2019, I finally wrote the story.

Powering the world’s largest telescope
https://physicstoday.scitation.org/do/10.1063/PT.6.2.20190131a/full/

Here's another piece about Irreproducible Astronomy and the algorithms that hide what people are doing to data https://physicstoday.scitation.org/do/10.1063/pt.6.1.20180404a/full/