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Armagh Observatory Annual Report Calendar Year 2003
(Financial Year 2003/2004)
Prepared by the Director M.E. Bailey

5 May 2004


Cover: Pastel drawing by Miruna Popescu showing the great auroral display of 29th October 2003. i


Contents
0 Executive Summary 1 Intro duction 1.1 Organizational Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2 Research Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.3 Staff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Review of Financial Year 2.1 Performance . . . . . . . 2.2 New TSN Action Plan . 2.3 Ob jectives for Financial 2003/2004 ..................................... ..................................... Year 2004/2005 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iii 1 2 3 4 5 5 8 8 8 9 9 9 10 11 12 12 12 13 15 16 19 21 22 23 24 28 30 31 32 32 34 35 37 38 38 38 39 40 42 44 45 49

3 Research 3.1 Highlights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1.1 Solar Physics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1.2 Stellar Astrophysics . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1.3 Solar System Astronomy . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2 Technical Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3 Technical Research Summaries . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3.1 D.J. Asher, Research Fellow . . . . . . . . . 3.3.2 M.E. Bailey, Director . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3.3 C.J. Butler, Research Astronomer . . . . . 3.3.4 A. Christou, Research Astronomer . . . . . 3.3.5 J.G. Doyle, Research Astronomer . . . . . . 3.3.6 C.S. Jeffery, Research Astronomer . . . . . 3.3.7 W.M. Napier, Emeritus Honorary Professor 3.3.8 M.D. Smith, Research Astronomer . . . . . 4 Public Understanding 4.1 Widening Access . 4.2 Light Pollution . . 4.3 Events . . . . . . . of .. .. .. Science, ...... ...... ...... Outreach ...... ...... ...... and ... ... ...

Training ....................... ....................... ....................... ..... ..... ..... Building .... .... .... ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

5 Buildings, Grounds, Library and Archives 5.1 Buildings, Telescopes and Telescope Domes . . . . 5.2 HLF Telescope Domes Pro ject . . . . . . . . . . . 5.3 The Human Orrery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.4 Library, Archive and Historic Scientific Instruments 6 Conclusion

A Board of Governors and Management Committee 2003 A.1 Board of Governors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A.2 Management Committee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B Armagh Observatory Staff 2003 C Refereed Journal Publications 2003 D Presentations by Armagh Observatory Staff 2003 E Armagh Observatory Seminars 2003 F Identified Media Mentions 2003 G New TSN Action Plan

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0

Executive Summary

This report provides background information about the Armagh Observatory and a summary of the Observatory's principal achievements in research and other areas during the reporting period, which is the Calendar Year 2003. For convenience, all financial matters in the report are taken to refer to the corresponding Financial Year 2003/2004, i.e. 1 April 2003 to 31 March 2004. Staff at the Observatory attracted external income totalling �284,000 during this period (�270,000 in external grant receipts), and have again published more than 30 papers in refereed scientific journals during the year. This is a fraction of their total research output. In the same period, staff made 69 presentations at specialist and non-specialist meetings both locally and abroad, and maintained an extremely active programme of seminars and internal colloquia at the Observatory (a record of 38 such talks). They attracted 225 identified media citations in various mass-media including the national and international press, radio and television, significantly above the current target of 200 for the fifth year in a row. The scientific research carried out by Armagh Observatory staff continues to present a positive image of Armagh and Northern Ireland on the world stage, and the Observatory continues to be a significant information resource for the general public. The Observatory's principal web-sites (http://star.arm.ac.uk/, http://climate.arm.ac.uk/ and http://arpc65.arm.ac.uk/spm/) continue to attract strong interest from the public and an exceptional number of page requests (i.e. `hits'), Distinct e-Visitors (DEVs; i.e. the number of distinct hosts served by the Observatory's web-site, not counting repeat visits), and web-traffic (i.e. the total volume of data transferred from Armagh). During calendar year 2003 these indicators of ICT activity were recorded as 5.6 million hits, 335,000 DEVs, and a volume of 284 GB data transferred, respectively. Allowing for loss of recorded figures during an in-year upgrade of the computer system, the annual figures are estimated as approximately 8 million hits, 470,000 DEVs, and 400 GB data transferred. External Grant Income (�000s) Refereed Journal Publications Identified Media Citations � � 11 14 45 108 147 233 233 302 267 225 200 Distinct e-Visitors (DEVs) Total DCAL Grant Income (�000s) 457.3 445.0 425.6 468.5 480.0 473.2 443.0 458.5 538.5 713.5 733.5 781.5 686.5

Calendar Year

RAE Grade

1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 Targets:

4

35 58 172 264 275 195 293 212 221 306 270 250

13 22 19 45 42 43 32 31 32 33 34 32

4 66,000 80,000 134,000 174,000 318,000 354,000 470,000 500,000

4

Table 1: The yearly trend of various performance indicators versus calendar year, including the total DCAL grant income received in respect of the corresponding financial year, including slippage funding, and the total announced budget for 2004/2005, including the recently announced �20,000 for DDA work. The number of Distinct e-Visitors for 2003 has been estimated from recorded information relating only to the period June�December 2003 for the Observatory's principal web-site, owing to loss of earlier data during the year. Targets for calendar year 2004 (financial year 2004/2005) are expressed in round figures.

Table 1 shows the yearly trend of various performance indicators. Whilst continuing to devote considerable effort to the programme of restoration of several historic telescopes and telescope domes, so improving the fabric of the main Grade A listed building, Armagh Observatory staff have maintained a substantial level of research activity, for example increasing their total number of refereed journal publications per year for the fourth year in a row. The Observatory has also maintained an exceptionally high public profile at national and international level, work which reflects not only the strength of public interest in astronomy and space science, but also the activities of the Observatory's staff and those of its core funding agency, the Department of Culture,

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Arts and Leisure (DCAL), presenting both in a very positive light. The Armagh Observatory thus makes a valuable contribution to pro jecting a positive image of Armagh City and District -- and of Northern Ireland -- on the world stage. A notable achievement during 2003 was the Observatory's involvement in arrangements for the National Astronomy Meeting and UK Solar Physics Meeting 2003, held in Dublin Castle and Trinity College Dublin from 7�11 April 2003. With almost 600 participants this was the largest astronomy meeting ever held in Ireland with the exception of the IAU General Assembly in 1955. There were more than 65 formal and less formal scientific sessions (see http://star.arm.ac.uk/nam2003/ for details), many held as part of a four-strand parallel programme of specialist talks and discussion meetings. Apart from the breadth of sub jects covered and the quality of the presentations, the meeting was noteworthy also for the strong interaction and a high level of scientific exchange between participants.

Ob jectives for 2004/2005
The Observatory's principal ob jectives during the coming year 2004/2005 are to: � maintain existing high-quality research programmes; � obtain grants and additional external funding to support new research pro jects; � strengthen the Observatory's research capability in solar system and stellar astrophysics; � strengthen the Observatory's access to and use of necessary research infrastructure, such as CosmoGrid, the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT), and obtain high-bandwidth access to the internet through the Northern Ireland Metropolitan Area Network (NIMAN); � widen access to the heritage material in its possession; and � advance plans for a new Library, Archive and Historic Scientific Instruments Building. The corresponding targets for these ob jectives, which together span the Observatory's principal areas of activity (research, public understanding of science, outreach, student training, and heritage), are indicated in Table 1. In addition to maintaining the level and quality of astronomical research carried out at the Observatory, the key task for the year is to continue to work with the DCAL to widen the Observatory's access to research development funds and to lay a strong foundation for the forthcoming Research Assessment Exercise (2005�2007). This will involve seeking funds specifically for the recruitment of additional research staff. Appended to this report for Calendar Year 2003 (Financial Year 2003/2004) are lists covering (A) Membership of the Management Committee and Board of Governors, (B) Staff Members, (C) Refereed Journal Publications, (D) Presentations made by Observatory Staff, (E) Lectures and Seminars held at the Armagh Observatory, and (F) Identified Media Citations. Following a decision by the DCAL to consolidate the New TSN policies of the agencies, NDPBs and Statutory Bodies that it currently supports, the Armagh Observatory and Armagh Planetarium policies on New Targeting Social Need were incorporated during 2003 into an overarching DCAL joint policy. The Armagh Observatory's component of this New TSN policy (valid from 1 January 2004) is included here for convenience in Appendix G; it can also be viewed at: http://star.arm.ac.uk/TSN.html.

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1

Intro duction

The Armagh Observatory (see http://star.arm.ac.uk/) is the oldest continuously functioning astronomical research institute in the UK and Ireland, having been in existence for more than 210 years. Founded by Archbishop Richard Robinson in 1790 as part of his dream to see a University of Armagh, the Georgian Grade A listed building and nineteenth and twentieth-century telescope domes stand close to the centre of the City of Armagh together with the Armagh Planetarium in approximately 14 acres of attractive, landscaped grounds known as the Armagh Astropark. The Astropark, which is managed by the Observatory, includes two sundials, a number of outdoor exhibits and interpretation panels (see http://star.arm.ac.uk/astropark/), and scale models of the solar system and the larger Universe, constructed to linear and exponential scales respectively. The principal function of the Armagh Observatory, which is a statutory third-level institution funded by the Northern Ireland Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure (DCAL), is to undertake original research of a world-class academic standard that broadens and expands our understanding of astronomy and related sciences. Current key programmes focus on Stellar Astrophysics, the Sun, Solar System astronomy, and Solar System � Earth relationships including climate and the Near-Earth Ob ject (NEO) hazard to civilization. The Observatory also maintains a unique 210-year long meteorological record and data-bank (http://climate.arm.ac.uk/), the longest in the UK and Ireland from a single site, and plays a key role together with the Armagh Planetarium in promoting the public understanding of astronomy and related sciences. Senior research staff at the Observatory are employed as Research Astronomers on a scale equivalent to the NICS Grade 7, which is roughly equivalent to the level of a university senior lecturer, reader or professor. In the past, postgraduate students have been registered at various UK and other European universities, but they are usually registered at the Queen's University of Belfast (QUB), which has recognized the Observatory as an approved institution for the supervision of PhD and MPhil. students. This leads to a fluctuating population of around 20 research staff, including students, supported by a pool of 2 technical (computer-related) staff, 1 librarian, 1 group secretary, 1 finance officer, and a senior administrator shared (50%) with the Armagh Planetarium. The 14 acres of landscaped grounds and the Armagh Astropark are maintained by a grounds/meteorological support officer, who is also responsible for taking the daily meteorological readings, and an assistant groundsman. Research interests of Observatory staff currently focus on (i) Stellar and Galactic Astrophysics (including star formation, astrophysical jets, cool stars, hot stars, helium stars, star-spots, stellar flares, circumstellar dust), (ii) the Sun (the dynamic solar atmosphere, chromosphere and corona), (iii) Solar System Astronomy (including celestial mechanics, planetary science, and the dynamical evolution and interrelationships of comets, asteroids and interplanetary dust), and (iv) Solar System � Terrestrial Relationships (including solar variability, climate, accretion of interplanetary dust and NEOs). In addition, Observatory staff participate in an active programme of education and lifelong learning via lectures, popular astronomy articles and interviews with the press, radio and television. Further details concerning the research interests of the Observatory staff may be obtained from the Observatory web-site at: http://star.arm.ac.uk/. The Armagh Observatory participates in the UK Research Assessment Exercise (RAE), held in 1992, 1996, and 2001. This gives external partners, such as UK charities and the research councils, information upon which to base their funding allocations. The RAE also provides a measure by which the Observatory can gauge its performance against corresponding groups in university departments. Staff at the Observatory achieved a Grade 4 in the Physics Unit of Assessment in each of the 1992, 1996, and 2001 RAEs, corresponding to "Quality that equates to attainable levels of national excellence in virtually all of the research activity submitted, showing some evidence of international excellence." In addition to this primary research role, the Observatory also has an important responsibility to maintain and preserve the fabric of the historic buildings, the library, historic books and archives, and the collection of scientific instruments and other artefacts built up over more than two hundred years of continuous astronomical activity in Armagh. The main historic buildings of the Observatory have unique architectural features and together house one of the most valuable scientific collections, including books, instruments and archives, in Northern Ireland. The scientific and architectural heritage provided by astronomy at Armagh is a highly significant asset, and the entire collection of scientific artefacts, instruments and historic telescopes spans virtually every aspect of modern astronomy. In many cases, the underlying motivation and reasons for the developments of astronomy at a particular time can be explained with reference to discoveries at Armagh, or to artefacts and other items held within the Library and Archives. This gives astronomers at Armagh a unique opportunity to explain both the development of their sub ject over more than two hundred years and the

1


context in which modern research is carried out. In summary, the Armagh Observatory is a modern research institute with a rich heritage. It provides exceptionally strong opportunities to explain the reasons for mankind's long fascination with the celestial sphere, extending from roots more than five thousand years ago to the most recent results of the space age. The Observatory's position, located conveniently close to the centre of the City of Armagh, means that it is well placed to contribute to a greater understanding of the role of scholarship, covering both education and research, in the development of Armagh, and for future economic development of the region. It provides opportunities in education and lifelong learning to people of all ages and from all backgrounds, and has an important role to play in explaining and expanding Northern Ireland's scientific and built heritage for the benefit of present and future generations.

Vision
The Vision of the Armagh Observatory is: "To maintain and build on its position as a thriving astronomical research institute, and to continue to expand our understanding of the Universe and of humanity's place in it." The Mission is: "To advance the knowledge and understanding of astronomy and related sciences through the execution, promotion and dissemination of astronomical research nationally and internationally in order to enrich the intellectual, economic, social and cultural life of the community."

1.1

Organizational Structure

The Armagh Observatory and the Armagh Planetarium are two distinctive organizations, part of a single corporate entity "The Governors of the Armagh Observatory and Planetarium" described in The Armagh Observatory and Planetarium (Northern Ireland) Order 1995, which superseded the original 1791 Act of the Irish Parliament entitled "An Act for Settling and Preserving a Public Observatory and Museum in the City of Armagh For Ever", and an Amendment of 1938 ("The University and Collegiate and Scientific Institutions Act [Northern Ireland], 1938"). The Northern Ireland Order 1995 has recently been amended by the Audit and Accountability (Northern Ireland) Order 2003. Both the Armagh Observatory and the Armagh Planetarium operate independently under separate Directors and receive core funding from the Northern Ireland Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure. The total staff complement is approximately 40: roughly 30 in the Observatory and 10 in the Planetarium. The Observatory Director reports to a Management Committee which meets three times per year, and (annually) to the Board of Governors. The Management Committee (15 members) and Board of Governors (15 members) together comprise representatives from a wide range of involved parties, including the Church of Ireland, the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS), the Queen's University of Belfast (QUB), the UK astronomical community (e.g. members of UK universities and the Astronomer Royal for England), the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC), the DCAL, and other bodies. Core funding is provided by grant-in-aid from the DCAL, while from time to time variable amounts of additional funding are obtained from bodies such as the PPARC, the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), the British Council, the Leverhulme Trust, the European Union (EU), and other grant awarding organizations. The respective memberships of the Management Committee and the Board of Governors are summarized in Appendix A, while the approximately 30 staff members of the Observatory at 31 December 2003 are listed in Appendix B. Armagh Planetarium The Armagh Planetarium (see http://www.armaghplanet.com/) is a multifaceted organization dedicated to astronomy education from nursery-age to retirement. Founded in 1968 by the seventh Director of the Armagh Observatory, Dr Eric Mervyn Lindsay, to complement the research work of Armagh Observatory, its principal function is to disseminate knowledge and understanding of astronomy and related sciences to people of all backgrounds and all ages. Since its inception the Planetarium has operated as an independent institution, the first and perhaps the best known Director being the writer and broadcaster Sir Patrick Moore. The present Director of the Planetarium is Dr Tom Mason. Whereas the Armagh Observatory is primarily an astronomical research institute, with an organization and infrastructure geared to maintaining its position as an internationally recognized centre of research excellence, the Armagh Planetarium is a leading educational establishment, seeking to attract visitors to Armagh and to educate and inform visitors of all age groups. The Planetarium plays an important 2


role in public understanding of science, and as a visitor attraction to promote and enhance tourism within Armagh City and District. It helps to make Armagh one of the best known tourist destinations in Northern Ireland and presents astronomy at Armagh as an important part of the City of Armagh's portfolio. Senior responsibility for managing both branches of the organization, namely the Armagh Observatory and the Armagh Planetarium, rests with the Management Committee and ultimately the Board of Governors. The two organizations share a joint administrator.

1.2

Research Environment

Technical equipment at Armagh, which is used primarily for numerical analysis, computer modelling and data reduction, is funded by the PPARC, PRTLI, and the DCAL. Facilities presently comprise some 30 Linux workstations and a range of peripherals. In addition, an 8-CPU Origin2000 is used for computationally intensive research pro jects (solar system dynamics, stellar atmospheres and numerical magnetohydrodynamics) while access to Grid technology is provided via CosmoGrid (http://www.cosmogrid.ie/). The internal network is a 100 Mbps ethernet linked with switched hubs. The external network, which is currently connected to the Joint Academic Network (JANET) through an arrangement with QUB, has a bandwidth of 1 Mbps. With the establishment of a Northern Ireland Metropolitan Area Network (NIMAN) within the next year, this has the potential to increase to 34 Mbps and therefore to maintain an equivalence with astronomy groups elsewhere in the UK and abroad. The increase in the Observatory's network capacity along with a continuing programme of equipment upgrades will enable the Observatory to participate in important new developments such as the Virtual Observatory, the UK AstroGRID, the European Grid of Solar Observatories, the ESA SpaceGRID, and GRID Ireland. The latter will provide access to three high-performance supercomputer clusters, each comprising 128�1 GHz PCs, one in Galway and two in Dublin (DIAS and UCD). Armagh Observatory staff regularly receive awards of telescope time on national and international facilities, and research grants from various grant awarding bodies. The Observatory is also eligible to receive grants from the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). Within a few years, with the support of the DCAL, the Observatory will obtain access to the Southern African Large Telescope, a large (10-metre class) telescope located at the Sutherland Observatory, on the Karoo Plateau in the Northern Cape Province, South Africa (see http://www.salt.ac.za/), through its membership of the UK Southern African Large Telescope Consortium (see http://star.arm.ac.uk/SALT/). Renovation of the historic telescopes and telescope domes at Armagh is also in progress and will be completed during 2004 with support from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and the DCAL, bringing the Observatory's own telescopes (an 18-inch reflector and a 10-inch refractor) back into use for research and student training. The SALT pro ject is an international collaboration between the following parties: � The National Research Council of South Africa; � The Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Center of the Polish Academy of Sciences; � The Hobby-Eberly Telescope (HET) Founding Institutions (The University of Texas at Austin, The Pennsylvania State University; Stanford University; The Ludwig-Maximilians-Universit� Munchen; at � and The Georg-August-Universit� G� at ottingen); � Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, USA; � The Georg-August-Universit� G� at ottingen, Germany; � The University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA; � The Carnegie Mellon University at Pittsburgh, USA; � The University of Canterbury, New Zealand; � The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA; � Dartmouth College, Hanover, USA; and � The UK SALT Consortium (The Armagh Observatory, The University of Central Lancashire; The University of Keele; The University of Nottingham; The Open University; and The University of Southampton).

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Figure 1: Members of Armagh Observatory staff and visitors, summer 2003. From left to right are: Nigel Addis, Apostolos Christou, Lawrence Young, Agnieszka Drewniak, Roland Gredel, Emma Stephenson, Michael Smith, Mark Bailey, John McFarland, Gustavo Henrique Dopke, Simon Jeffery, Babulakshmanan Ramachandran, Christopher Winter, John Butler, Aileen McKee, Bill Napier, Jonathan McAuliffe, Georgi Pavlovski, Bernard Toner, Barry O'Connell, Martin Murphy, and Ignacio Ugarte Urra. Among those missing from this photograph are: Amir Ahmad, David Asher, Margaret Cherry, Geoff Coxhead, Gerry Doyle, Mart de Groot, Ana Maria Garc� Su� ia arez, Miruna Popescu, and Alex Rosen.

1.3

Staff

The staff position at the Armagh Observatory on 31 December 2003 is shown in Appendix B. Individuals are identified by their 3-letter (sometimes 2 or 4) `Starlink' computer username (full e-mail address: xxx@arm.ac.uk), together with their job-title and an indication of their principal function in the Observatory. It is noteworthy that a very high proportion of Observatory staff are involved in core research and support activities, the entire operation being supported by just three administrative staff (mc, ambn, lfy), one of whom (lfy) is shared equally with the Planetarium. Figure 1 shows members of staff and visitors present for the staff photograph in July 2003. Staff Movements Bernard Toner (Assistant Groundsman) continued to work with Shane Kelly (Grounds and Meteorological Officer) under a placement administered by Wade Training. A final-year TCD Physics student, Mr Anthony Moraghan, arrived in early October 2003 to work with Michael Smith on a three-month undergraduate physics pro ject. Two PhD students arrived during late September and early October 2003, namely Natalie Behara (University of Western Ontario, London, Canada) and Hayati Bebe Ha jra Ishak (University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia), to work with Simon Jeffery and Gerry Doyle respectively. The PDRAs Maria Madjarska and Alex Rosen left at the end of May and June 2003 respectively for new positions at MSSL and Dublin City University, and were replaced on different grants by Dr Youra Taroyan (University of Sheffield) and Dr Chia-Hsien Lin (University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA). During 2003 PhD students David Garc� Alvarez and Georgi Pavlovski successfully passed the oral ia examinations for their PhD theses ("Dynamic Activity in the Outer Atmospheres of Late-Type Stars 4


Including the Sun" and "Numerical Simulations of Molecular Turbulence", respectively), and left the Observatory for postdoctoral positions at Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the University of Southampton.

2

Review of Financial Year 2003/2004
� maintain existing high-quality research programmes; � obtain grants and additional external funding to support new research pro jects; � strengthen the Observatory's research capability in solar system and stellar astrophysics; � restore and widen access to the heritage material in its possession; � progress plans for a new Library, Archive and Historic Scientific Instruments Building; and � improve the Observatory's access to necessary research infrastructure, such as computer facilities and high-bandwidth access to the internet through the Northern Ireland Metropolitan Area Network (NIMAN).

The principal ob jectives for 2003/2004 were to:

The key task for the year was to continue to work with the DCAL with the aim of widening the Observatory's access to research development funds and so strengthening the Observatory's research capability. This would have enabled the Observatory to recruit additional research astronomers, thereby maintaining (or even increasing) the number of active research staff to participate in the next Research Assessment Exercise (RAE). It is unfortunate that no funding could be obtained for new staff positions during the reporting year, but there remains a compelling argument to widen the Observatory's access to general research development funds. Moreover, the Observatory has participated in the RAE for more than a decade, but has never benefited from access to the performance related additional funding enjoyed by comparable research groups in the university sector. Indeed, it is recognized that the Observatory's position in this respect is doubly difficult owing to its small size: unlike larger institutions there are very limited opportunities to transfer resources within the organization. Lack of access to research development funds puts the Armagh Observatory at a considerable disadvantage so far as long-term developments are concerned. The presence of additional research staff would provide the Observatory with an opportunity to play to its strengths and widen the base of its present activity. It would also provide a capacity to respond more flexibly to new research funding opportunities, thereby strengthening its ability to lever additional research income from the UK Research Councils and other grant-awarding bodies, so further increasing its output. Access to research development funds would enhance the Observatory's ability to operate effectively in an extremely competitive third-level research sector. In addition to these high-level ob jectives, the Observatory has continued to play a ma jor community role in astronomy (e.g. its involvement in the Astronomical Science Group of Ireland and in helping to organize the UK National Astronomy Meeting and UK Solar Physics Meeting 2003 in Dublin Castle in April 2003). The Observatory has also played a leading role in promoting the public awareness of astronomy and related sciences, especially through talks and public lectures, the release of media information sheets about its work, the appearance of staff or their work in various mass-media, and the provision of information through web-pages and links displayed on the Observatory's principal website (http://star.arm.ac.uk/). The Observatory's commitment to the Southern African Large Telescope pro ject has continued with the support of the DCAL, and the largely HLF and DCAL-funded pro ject to restore the historic telescopes and telescope domes has progressed satisfactorily, with completion planned during 2004/2005.

2.1

Performance

The principal function of staff at the Armagh Observatory is to advance knowledge and understanding of astronomy and related sciences by pursuing high-quality scientific research and attracting visitors and research assistants (at postgraduate and postdoctoral levels), as well as external grant income, to the City of Armagh. The Observatory's programme of public understanding of science, outreach and student training also makes a significant contribution to government strategies to raise interest in science and technology throughout the community, and especially amongst young people. These activities help to

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counter negative stereotypes about science and technology, and contribute to greater scientific literacy amongst the general population. In these ways, the work of the Armagh Observatory promotes a strong, positive image of Northern Ireland and of Armagh City and District on the world stage, and makes a distinctive contribution to external impressions of the region. The work of the Observatory also attracts a wide range of visitors to Armagh, in particular to the Armagh Astropark, the main Observatory building, its telescopes and surrounding landscaped grounds, and the wealth of resources accessible from its principal astronomical and meteorological web-sites (http://star.arm.ac.uk/ and http://climate.arm.ac.uk/). As proxy indicators of performance in each of the Observatory's principal areas of activity (research, public understanding of science, outreach, student training, and heritage) records are maintained of (A) External Grant Income (per financial year); (B) the number of Refereed Journal Publications (per calendar year); (C) the number of Identified Media Citations (per calendar year); and (D) the number of Distinct e-Visitors (DEVs) to its web-sites (per calendar year). Although other data are recorded for internal management and statistical purposes (e.g. numbers of presentations, seminars and invited talks, grants and telescope time etc.), a detailed annual analysis of such indicators is less informative than a thorough periodic assessment of the Observatory's research performance in the round, making allowance for the available resources and, for example, the Observatory's relatively small size compared to many of the university departments and research institutes with which the Observatory is often compared. The Observatory has participated in the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) since 1992, and during this period has maintained a Quality Research (QR) rating of Grade 4. In the 2001 RAE this grade corresponded to: "Quality that equates to attainable levels of national excellence in virtually all of the research activity submitted, showing some evidence of international excellence." The trends of the Observatory's principal performance indicators, provided in Table 1, are repeated below for convenience and shown graphically in Figure 2. Note that in this table all items refer to calendar year, with the exception of financial matters (e.g. external grant income for 2003 refers to the financial year 2003/2004 and so on).

Calendar Year

External Grant Income (�000s)

Refereed Journal Publications

Identified Media Citations � � 11 14 45 108 147 233 233 302 267 225 200

Distinct e-Visitors (DEVs)

RAE Grade

Total DCAL Grant Income (�000s) 457.3 445.0 425.6 468.5 480.0 473.2 443.0 458.5 538.5 713.5 733.5 781.5 686.5

1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 Targets:

4

35 58 172 264 275 195 293 212 221 306 270 250

13 22 19 45 42 43 32 31 32 33 34 32

4 66,000 80,000 134,000 174,000 318,000 354,000 470,000 500,000

4

Table 2: The yearly trend of various performance indicators versus calendar year, including the total DCAL grant income received in respect of the corresponding financial year, including slippage funding, and the total announced budget for 2004/2005, including the recently announced �20,000 for DDA work. The number of Distinct e-Visitors for 2003 has been estimated from recorded information relating only to the period June�December 2003 for the Observatory's principal web-site, owing to loss of earlier data during the year. Targets for calendar year 2004 (financial year 2004/2005) are expressed in round figures.

So far as the particular indicators are concerned, the Observatory's total non-DCAL income (�284,000) slightly exceeds the value for external grant income alone (�270,000); the number of refereed journal publications is a lower limit to the total number of refereed papers, which is a subset of the Observatory's entire research output; the number of identified media citations is a lower limit to the actual number of mentions of the Observatory or its staff in various mass-media; and the number of Distinct e-Visitors (DEVs) is the number of distinct hosts served by the Observatory's web-site. This too is a lower limit, 6


Figure 2: Histograms showing various performance indicators for the Armagh Observatory during the past decade. Reading clockwise from top-left, the Figure shows respectively the variation of External Grant Income (�000s) per financial year, and the number of Refereed Journal Publications, the number of Identified Media Citations, and the number of Distinct e-Visitors, all per calendar year. The financial year runs from 1 April to 31 March, so external grant income for 2003 corresponds to the period 1 April 2003 to 31 March 2004 and so on. Dotted lines indicate previous Business Plan targets.

owing to caching by big servers and sharing or repeat visits from the same IP number. (For comparison, the number of `hits' on the Observatory's web-sites, defined as the number of successful page requests, was approximately 8 million during calendar year 2003.) Total external grant income during 2003/2004, namely �270,000, was above the target figure of �250,000 set in April 2003, and was again significantly boosted by income associated with the largely HLF-funded telescope domes and historic telescopes restoration pro ject. As a group, the five Research Astronomers at Armagh are together bringing into the Observatory more external funding in terms of non-DCAL grant income than their gross DCAL-funded salary costs, a remarkable achievement. This statistic alone demonstrates the potential for growth with the presence of additional research staff. The target for external grant income for 2004/2005 has again been set at �250,000, the same as the previous year, although with research grants still being extremely hard to obtain this represents an extremely tough target to reach. The number of refereed journal publications in 2003 has been maintained at the levels of recent years, the slight increase in each of the past several years being an encouraging but possibly not statistically significant result. Similarly, the number of identified media citations has remained at a high level, substantially above the target of 200 per year, and the number of DEVs continues to show a healthy year-on-year increase. This demonstrates a satisfactory growth in the profile and external impact of the Armagh Observatory, despite the slight decline in the total number of research-active staff. In summary, the table of performance measures (Table 2 and Figure 2) shows that the Observatory has maintained a high level of research activity during the reporting period, and has maintained an exceptionally high public profile. For such a small research group, the frequency with which members 7


of staff appear in or are quoted in newspapers and other media is probably second to none, and during each of the past five years has exposed reports of astronomy at Armagh to tens of millions of people world-wide.

2.2

New TSN Action Plan

New Targeting Social Need (TSN) is a key part of the Programme for Government. It is a vehicle by which Ministers seek to tackle deprivation and to reduce inequalities in the life experiences of citizens in terms of poverty, health, housing, educational and economic opportunity, and disability. Following a decision by the DCAL during 2003 to consolidate the TSN policies of the agencies, NDPBs and Statutory Bodies that it currently supports, the Armagh Observatory and Armagh Planetarium policies on New Targeting Social Need were incorporated into an overarching DCAL joint policy. For convenience we have continued to make the Armagh Observatory's New TSN policy available on the internet and in hard copy on request to the Observatory. The New TSN Policy for 2004, which was updated most recently in January 2004, is available on the internet at http://star.arm.ac.uk/TSN.html.

2.3

Ob jectives for Financial Year 2004/2005

The announced parliamentary grant-in-aid is �666,500, the same as in 2003/2004. A very significant fraction of the Observatory's overall running costs is related to core items such as salaries and fixed costs such as heat, light, power, insurance etc., and flat funding for 2004/2005 is likely to put severe stress on the Observatory's ability to maintain its planned programmes of research, outreach and public understanding of science. However, it should be emphasized that the announced figure excludes any additional in-year funding for necessary work associated with the Observatory buildings and grounds, and other contingencies, and it is possible that some additional funding might be found in-year to sustain the Observatory's operations. The allocated funds will be directed towards achieving the following ob jectives during 2004/2005, namely to: � maintain existing high-quality research programmes; � obtain grants and additional external funding to support new research pro jects; � strengthen the Observatory's research capability in solar system and stellar astrophysics; � strengthen the Observatory's access to research infrastructure such as CosmoGrid, the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT), and obtain high-bandwidth connections to the internet through the Northern Ireland Metropolitan Area Network (NIMAN); � widen access to the heritage material in its possession; and � advance plans for a new Library, Archive and Historic Scientific Instruments Building. The corresponding targets for these ob jectives, which together span the Observatory's principal areas of activity (research, public understanding of science, outreach, student training, and heritage), are indicated in Table 2. In addition to maintaining the level and quality of astronomical research carried out at the Observatory, the key task for the year is to continue to work with the DCAL to widen the Observatory's access to research development funds and to lay a strong foundation for the forthcoming Research Assessment Exercise (2005�2007). This will involve seeking funds specifically for the recruitment of additional research staff.

3

Research

Research interests of Observatory staff currently focus on (i) Stellar and Galactic Astrophysics (including star formation, astrophysical jets, cool stars, hot stars, helium stars, star-spots, stellar flares, circumstellar dust), (ii) the Sun (the dynamic solar atmosphere, chromosphere and corona), (iii) Solar System Astronomy (including celestial mechanics, planetary science, and the dynamical evolution and interrelationships of comets, asteroids and interplanetary dust), and (iv) Solar System � Terrestrial Relationships (including solar variability, climate, accretion of interplanetary dust and NEOs). In addition, Observatory staff participate in an active programme of education and lifelong learning via lectures, popular astronomy 8


articles and interviews with the press, radio and television, as well as providing advice to the general public and undertaking a range of Observatory tours. Further details concerning the research interests of the Observatory staff may be obtained from the Observatory web-site at: http://star.arm.ac.uk/. A subset of the Armagh Observatory's research activity, namely the list of 34 refereed journal publications during 2003, is given in Appendix C. A related subset, namely the list of 69 public and professional presentations delivered by Observatory staff during 2003, is given in Appendix D, while a third subset -- the list of Observatory seminars -- is given in Appendix E. These examples illustrate some of the routes by which research results are communicated by and to Observatory staff: through presentations or articles in the local, national or international media; at conferences, seminars and workshops; in refereed scientific publications and journals; in books; and in a variety of non-refereed publications. The remainder of this section summarises a few highlights of the Observatory's research during 2003, and then, under the headings of the Observatory's senior research staff, some of the principal research results obtained during 2003 by these staff and their colleagues.

3.1
3.1.1

Highlights
Solar Physics

Small-Scale Dynamic Events in the Solar Atmosphere Over the last decade the uninterrupted, high-resolution coverage of the Sun both from the excellent range of telescopes aboard many spacecraft and from ground-based instruments has led to a wealth of observations of small-scale dynamic events observed from the chromosphere to the transition region and corona. Nowadays, there is a general consensus that the key to understanding how the solar plasma is accelerated and heated may well be found in studies of these small-scale events. SoHO observations have further characterized many transient features, such as bi-directional jets, blinkers, coronal jets, and bright points. Work by Gerry Doyle in collaboration with Maria Madjarska, who left the Observatory during 2003 for a position at MSSL, has revealed for the first time the presence of bi-directional jets and magnetic reconnection occurring at coronal hole boundaries. Additional work was done on investigating the connection between the SoHO satellite's discovery of the new `blinker' phenomenon and bi-directional jets (often called explosive events) and spicules on the surface of the Sun. However, perhaps the most interesting and indeed controversial published work relates to why 3-minute oscillations in sunspots are seen in lines normally associated with coronal temperatures. The idea here is that a non-Maxwellian electron distribution can shift the formation of these lines to lower temperatures (for further details, see Section 3.3.5). 3.1.2 Stellar Astrophysics

Observations of Sub dwarf B Stars Simon Jeffery has used a novel camera attached to the William Herschel Telescope (WHT) to obtain the best light curves ever obtained for pulsating subdwarf B stars. These stars pulsate non-radially in several modes with different frequencies and enable astronomers to establish their overall properties and internal structure with unusual precision. The high speed and multicolour characteristics of ultracam together with the 4.2 m diameter aperture of the WHT meant that it was possible to measure the amplitudes of several modes at different wavelengths to a precision of better than 0.1%. Comparing the observations with calculations by PhD student Babulakshmanan Ramachandran enabled the oscillation mode of each observed frequency to be identified. Several modes with azimuthal wave numbers l = 0, 1 and 2 were identified together with, surprisingly, an l = 4 mode in both of the stars observed. The latter seems to be visible despite cancellation effects, possibly as a consequence of limb-darkening enhancing the relative flux variation in the disk-centre. With these mode identifications, it becomes possible to compare observations directly with models of the stellar interior and to test those models which demand an enhancement of iron-group elements in the layers of the star responsible for driving pulsations.
ULTRACAM

The Chemical Evolution of FG Sge "Old stars don't just fade away, some come back another day." But what happens when they do? A new study by Simon Jeffery has challenged the canonical view of one `born-again' star. Although most white dwarfs do indeed fade away to become stellar cinders, gigantic crystals of carbon and oxygen, a few have just enough hydrogen and helium fuel left on their surface to be re-ignited. When the nuclear reactions restart, the white dwarf expands by a factor of over 1,000,000,000,000 in volume to become a yellow supergiant in an event so rare it has only been seen to occur three times in the last century. One of these, FG Sagittae, has expanded over an interval of about 100 years. According to a 9


series of publications from the 1960's to the 1990's, it has begun to dredge up very rare nuclei which could only have been produced by light elements capturing neutrons deep in the stellar interior in the distant past. Observers have claimed that the surface abundances of these `s-process' elements (including strontium, barium, zirconium, europium, lanthanum, neodymium, praseodymium and samarium) have increased as much as a thousand-fold. Such claims are directly contradicted by theory which argues that the dredge-up of processed material can only occur a considerable time after such a star has completed its expansion (see Figure 7). Simon Jeffery and collaborator Detlef Sch� berner (Astrophysikalisches Institut on Potsdam) have completed a comprehensive review of data covering over half a century of observations and, by reconstructing the results of many different authors, have shown that the chemical composition of the surface of FG Sge probably has not changed at all in the last fifty years -- as theory suggests. Serendipitous Discovery of a Double Helium-rich Sub dwarf Amir Ahmad and Simon Jeffery have been studying some rare stars known, loosely, as helium-rich subdwarfs. The challenge with all rare stars is to understand their evolutionary origin. In this case, our own observations had identified them as being possible products of white dwarf binary mergers. However, another group argued that the stars were less luminous and had an entirely different origin, possibly as single stars. New observations of the prototype (PG 1544+488) obtained with the WHT showed that the strong helium absorption lines in its spectrum were unusual; the line shapes varied and appeared to split into two. Further study showed that PG 1544+488 is in fact a double star with both stars having extremely helium-rich surfaces -- the first case known. This discovery explained why the star had appeared to be completely different when observed in the optical, where both stars have a similar brightness, and when observed in the far ultraviolet, where only the hotter star is seen. The discovery will be very important for understanding what happens to stars which, as they evolve, become so large that for a time they completely engulf their companions. As this phase of `common-envelope' evolution ends, the outer layers of the star are lost revealing the much-reduced cores of the original stars, stripped of their hydrogen-rich outer layers. PG 1544+488 seems to be an extreme case of one of these naked double cores. Star Formation and Stellar Outflows A one-day Star Formation Workshop, organized by Michael Smith, was held at the Observatory on 19 June 2003, to share ideas and expose new results to the critical attention of others in the field. Visitors from New York, Armenia, Heidelberg and Dublin presented a range of talks on observation and theory. Several talks were contributed by Armagh astronomers and the workshop was well attended by students and staff not working in the field. New INTAS Collab oration A new collaboration with astronomers based in Armenia, Russia, Germany and Spain was planned and funding obtained from the European funding body INTAS. The proposal was one of 126 accepted out of 1290 eligible proposals. The partners are the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg, the Special Astrophysical Observatory in Russia, Byurakan Observatory in Armenia and Calar Alto Observatory in Spain. The plan is to investigate the environments of young stars by using sophisticated observing methods to study the causes and effects of protostellar outflows. The three fundamental questions are as follows: what do the jets carry away with them from the protostars; how do they re-process and re-shape the material in their paths; and what local and global influence can they have on the efficiency of star formation? 3.1.3 Solar System Astronomy

Dynamically Stable `Outer' Solar System Ob jects Vacheslav Emel'yanenko (South Ural University, Chelyabinsk, Russia), David Asher and Mark Bailey have shown that a significant fraction of the so-called scattered disc ob jects in the outer solar system cannot be scattered at all, as their orbits are dynamically stable for essentially the age of the solar system, and they never come close enough to Neptune. Such ob jects represent a new, dynamically distinct -- and populous -- class of outer solar system ob ject, and their existence raises important questions as to how they are formed. For example, if planets and Edgeworth-Kuiper belt ob jects (EKOs) formed primarily from low-inclination, low-eccentricity orbits (i.e. according to the conventional view), then there must be some process that scatters many of them onto high-eccentricity orbits. However, this process cannot involve present-day Neptune interactions, and therefore involves other, unknown perturbers, either undiscovered massive ob jects in the outer solar system, or bodies that existed in the early solar system but which have since been ejected or accreted onto the outer planets.

10


Taxonomy of Centaurs and Outer Solar System Ob jects Jonathan Horner (University of Oxford), Wyn Evans (University of Cambridge), David Asher and Mark Bailey have presented a new classification scheme to describe the great diversity of outer solar system orbits, particularly the planet-crossing ob jects called `Centaurs'. Up to now, it has been difficult to understand the behaviour of Centaurs as a group, as many of their orbits are extremely unstable by astronomical standards, close approaches to the ma jor planets leading to large changes of their orbits and perhaps even ejection from the solar system on time-scales of millions to tens of millions of years. Gravitational interactions of Centaurs with planets, especially Jupiter and Saturn, also cause them to migrate into the inner solar system, even onto Earth-crossing orbits. The new classification scheme, which is primarily designed to describe the diverse orbits of Centaurs, is intended to improve understanding of the dynamical properties of this class of ob ject, many of which eventually evolve onto short-period cometary orbits, perhaps even Earth-crossing orbits. Owing to the large sizes of the known Centaurs, these ob jects are also occasionally described as `giant comets'. The passage of such an ob ject through the inner solar system would produce a variable amount of interplanetary dust, such `dustings' occurring on time-scales on the order of 100,000 years or so, comparable to the mean interval between impacts of kilometre-size asteroids on the Earth. The accretion of dust and larger meteoroids contained within the cometary dust trail could pose a serious environmental hazard to Earth, possibly affecting the Earth's climate. The work on Centaurs therefore contributes to a better understanding of the long-term Near-Earth Ob ject (NEO) hazard to civilization. Mutual Events Apostolos Christou, Jonathan McAuliffe, Ignacio Ugarte Urra, Babulakshmanan Ramachandran, and others have participated in the international Mutual Events observing campaign, in ol� askyl� Finland), to observe and reduce the a, collaboration with Arto Oksanen (Nyr� a Observatory, Jyv� lightcurves of so-called `Mutual Events' of the Galilean satellites of Jupiter (see Figure 4). These phenomena, which involve passages of one satellite directly in front of or behind another, or into the shadow of another satellite, are visible from Earth during a mutual event `season' lasting for a period of approximately one year roughly every six years, and provide unique astrometric information on the Jovian system. For example, the timing of an event provides an accurate measurement of the relative position of the two satellites in space, and the detailed light curve gives information on the albedo distribution across the two satellites, improving knowledge of the photometric centre of the satellite and so improving the reduction of regular astrometric observations. Accurate measurements of the positions of the Galilean satellites will allow their respective tidal accelerations to be determined, which in turn provides a clue to the nature of the planetary and satellite interiors, information which is not otherwise accessible (`photometric geophysics'). All this work has been carried out from Armagh using relatively small telescopes, including the Planetarium 10-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain. A total of 17 eclipse or occultation events involving Jupiter's Galilean satellites were fully observed and calibrated. Final reduction of the Armagh and Nyr� a data will be carried out in-house. ol� Interstellar Pansp ermia Bill Napier has discovered a probable mechanism for interstellar panspermia, based on the earlier result by Melosh and others that fecund, metre-sized boulders will be ejected from Earth into interplanetary space by large impacts. In the presence of a dense zodiacal cloud (e.g. due to the break-up and decay of a large comet), these boulders are very rapidly eroded to beta-meteoroids which are then ejected from the solar system by solar radiation pressure, surrounding the solar system with an expanding 'biodisc'. During passages of the solar system through cold molecular clouds, these life-bearing meteoroids may be incorporated into new protoplanetary systems. The time-scales for all these processes are comfortably less than those for destruction of micro-organisms by cosmic rays. The work, which was published in 2004, attracted a significant amount of attention from the press, including a note in Nature Science Update and a CBC radio interview.

3.2

Technical Equipment

Martin Murphy and Geoff Coxhead implemented a number of important changes and upgrades to the Observatory's technical equipment during 2003, a few of which are summarized below. � Installation of a new main server to replace the Alpha-based system. This was completed with much less down-time than originally expected and with relatively few glitches from the users' perspective. The new system is based on the relatively inexpensive PC architecture and offers a much more favourable price/performance ratio than the old system. The change was originally planned to coincide with the Observatory's connection to the NIMAN but that has been delayed by approximately 1�2 years. 11


� Installation of improved data storage and backup systems. All Observatory staff are now almost entirely dependent on their individual PC-based desktop workstations, but their files must continue to be securely backed up on a regular basis. The old tape technology did not have the capacity or speed to back up the data stored on all the Observatory PCs, so this has now been superseded by a new disk-based backup system. Staff can access these backups directly to recover accidentally deleted files without the intervention of the system administrator. Locating the new system outside the main Observatory building provides added security in the event of a catastrophe affecting the whole building. � Installation of new SPAM filtering software. This is able to diagnose approximately one third of incoming e-mails as SPAM. It marks them as such, and staff have the option to configure their e-mail interface to delete such files automatically or to file the e-mails, as appropriate. A web based e-mail interface has also been installed to enable staff to access e-mail more easily when off-site (home or elsewhere), and all staff have the ability to access their e-mail remotely, for example when working abroad. � Installation of an `800.11g' (54 Mbps) standard wireless network. This will eliminate the danger of trailing wires when laptops are connected to the network and will facilitate the use of telescopes in the Observatory grounds. Usage of this system will increase when the refurbished historic telescopes become operational, and it is expected to be the main communication mode in the new Library, Archive and Historic Scientific Instruments building.

3.3
3.3.1

Technical Research Summaries
D.J. Asher, Research Fellow

David Asher continued to work part time at Armagh Observatory and part time at the Bisei Spaceguard Center in Japan. At Bisei his main contribution was to develop and improve the software for the automatic detection and position measurement of asteroids and comets, as part of the system that surveys the sky to find such ob jects. Among his research at Armagh was work in collaboration with Sandra Jeffers (University of St. Andrews) on long term cratering rates on asteroids (Jeffers & Asher 2003). The study focused on calculating, from theory, the crater distributions expected on asteroids that have been imaged by spacecraft and for which observational data are therefore available for comparison. It was shown how cratering timescales vary depending on asteroids' dynamical history and the part of the terrestrial planet region that they occupy. With the most spectacular Leonid meteor displays of recent years now over, the Leonid meteor shower still continued to hold people's interest, with a modestly enhanced display visible in 2003 from parts of the world. Asher continued to provide detailed information on meteor predictions to professional and amateur astronomers, the media, and others requesting it. The paper by Vaubaillon et al. (2003) analysed the similarities and differences among the three main meteor stream modelling techniques to have emerged in recent years, and provided models for the 2003 shower. Asher also wrote an article on meteor storms for the 2003 McGraw-Hill Yearbook of Science & Technology. David Asher continued on the Scientific Organising Committee of IAU Commission 22 (Meteors, Meteorites and Interplanetary Dust) and as a member of the IAU Working Group on Near-Earth Ob jects. He remained a Council Member of the IMO (International Meteor Organization) and on the Editorial Board of WGN, the IMO's journal. 3.3.2 M.E. Bailey, Director

Research Mark Bailey has continued to work with Vacheslav Emel'yanenko (South Ural University) and David Asher, and also with Jonathan Horner (University of Oxford) and Wyn Evans (University of Cambridge), to investigate the dynamics of ob jects with moderate to high-eccentricity orbits in the outer planetary system. The work involves theoretical research on the dynamics of these ob jects, either Centaurs or Trans-Neptunian Ob jects (TNOs) over time-scales comparable to the age of the solar system or until they evolve into the Jupiter-family comet system. The first study (Emel'yanenko et al. 2003) showed that there exist bodies which represent a new population of TNO in the outer solar system, denoted Class O for `outer' TNO. They cannot originate from Centaurs or so-called scattered-disc ob jects perturbed by close encounters with Neptune because their dynamical lifetime in non-Neptune approaching orbits exceeds the age of the Solar system. Such `outer' orbits are also well separated from those representing the `classical' Edgeworth-Kuiper Belt (EKB), 12


with a gap (considering the ob jects with perihelion distances q greater than q > 38 AU) of about 5 AU centred at approximately 50 AU, i.e. between the semi-ma jor axes of classical Edgeworth-Kuiper belt ob jects (EKOs) and those of O-types. This work, which shows that the outer ob jects are predominantly characterized by extremely long dynamical lifetimes under the influence of known planetary perturbations rather than close approaches to Neptune, highlights the importance of understanding the origin of these outer ob jects. Unless they are affected by hitherto unidentified perturbations their present distribution provides important `fossil' evidence concerning the conditions in the protoplanetary disc since the initial period of planet formation. How the ob jects in this population were initially formed and placed on their present orbits is thus a key issue for understanding the early history and evolution of the Solar system. The second study (Horner et al. 2003) introduced a new classification scheme for comet-like bodies in the outer solar system which encompasses the traditional comets as well as the Centaurs and EKOs. The new scheme is based on the observation that, at low inclinations, close encounters with planets often result in near-constant perihelion or aphelion distances, or in perihelion-aphelion interchanges, the minor bodies can be labelled according to the planets predominantly controlling them at perihelion and aphelion. This provides 20 dynamically distinct categories of outer solar system ob ject in the Jovian and trans-Jovian regions, each of which can be further subdivided according to the Tisserand parameter of the orbit with respect to the `controlling' planet. The Tisserand-parameter subdivisions are based on the corresponding values for comets with perihelion distances close to or within the orbit of Jupiter, so the new scheme provides a description for any comet-like body in the solar system. Given the aphelion and perihelion distances, together with the Tisserand parameter with respect to the planet controlling the perihelion, it is straightforward to find the instantaneous dynamical classification of any solar system ob ject according to the new scheme. The usefulness of the system, which extends the existing taxonomy for comets to cover all comet-like bodies in the solar system, was illustrated with examples from numerical simulations and from the present-day solar system. Scientific Administration Mark Bailey continued to serve as a member of the Royal Irish Academy National Committee of Astronomy and Space Research, the Royal Astronomical Society Education Committee, the Governing Board of the DIAS School of Cosmic Physics, and scientific working groups of IAU Commissions 15 and 20 (both concerning comets and minor planets). He also continued as a member of the Editorial Board of the journal New Astronomy Reviews, and as Editor-in-Chief of Earth, Moon, and Planets. 3.3.3 C.J. Butler, Research Astronomer

Climate Series The three long temperature series from Armagh, namely the maximum and minimum temperatures (1843�present), the twice-daily outside temperatures (1795�1882) and the twice-daily drybulb temperatures (1844�1965) have been recalibrated and averaged to form a single long temperature series from 1796 to 2003. A gap of nine years, from 1825�1833, was largely filled by data from the Dunsink Observatory (DIAS) and the Phoenix Park (Dublin), leaving only a few months in the 208 years duration of the series with no data. There is a good correspondence between the three series for years in common. The results indicate that there were two periods in the 19th century lasting a decade or more when annual mean temperatures in Armagh were similar to those in the mid-to-late 20th century. Comparison with temperature series from other sites in NW Europe shows that similar conditions prevailed elsewhere in Europe. It is suggested that the choice of the late 19th century as the base line for 20th century global warming may be misleading as temperatures at this time were abnormally low. The data also show a gradual reduction in the daily temperature range over the period since 1844 which may be connected with the increasing trend in cloudiness in Ireland mentioned in previous annual reports. In addition, the soil temperatures recorded at Armagh from 1904 at depths of one foot (subsequently 30 cm) and four feet (subsequently 1 metre) have been calibrated with corrections applied for the change from imperial to metric units and for changes in the location of the instruments. Comparison with data from two other sites in Ireland, namely Birr and Valentia, shows consistent trends at all three sites. Although there has been a general upward trend in soil temperatures over the 20th century, the trend does not closely follow air temperature. Other series that have been recently standardised include the humidity series from 1838 and the pressure series from 1795. The latter will, with similar data from other sites in the UK and Europe, help to establish the phase of the North Atlantic Oscillation back to the late 18th century. The standardization of the various Armagh Meteorological Series has resulted in a higher profile for the Observatory's long involvement in climate monitoring. As a result, several studies of long time series

13


Figure 3: Annual mean temperatures at Armagh Observatory from three independently calibrated values of the maximum and minimum temperatures (1843�present) are shown in black; the means daily outside temperatures (1795�1882) are shown in blue; and the means of the twice-daily dry-bulb (1844�1965) are shown in red. The upper part of the figure illustrates the linkage between the data in the lower part.

series. Mean of the twicetemperatures points shown

from Europe and the UK now include data from Armagh Observatory. Proxy Climate Indicators Using Tree Ring Widths Ana Maria Garc� Su� ia arez has continued her research pro ject with Professor Mike Baillie (Department of Archaeology and Palaeoecology, QUB) studying the relationship between the growth rate of trees of different species and climatological parameters. From about ten specimens of each, she has established `chronologies' for four species growing within ten miles of the Observatory, namely: Ash, Beech, Oak and Scots Pine. A preliminary principal component analysis using a technique developed by Dr Ed Cook has given very promising results with about 30% of the variance for Ash and Beech explained by sunshine and temperature and a similar variance for Pine and Oak explained by rainfall. Phenology Over recent years, the importance of phenological data concerning leaf opening, flowering and leaf fall of plants, as proxy climate indicators has become established. This type of material can help to provide, not only proxy climate data for periods during which no instrumental records were kept, but also valuable knowledge of how our changing climate is affecting the natural world today. In the mid-20th century, a number of phenological gardens were set up in Europe with the intention of employing observations of certain common species of plants as indicators of climate change. They used genetically identical material provided by a central coordinating laboratory in Germany. Though there are many such gardens on mainland Europe, only a handful were set up England and the Republic of Ireland and none in Northern Ireland. Armagh Observatory, with its long meteorological series would be a prime location for such a garden. An area lying in the western corner of the Astropark has been identified and cleared in preparation for planting in Spring 2004. Restoration of Three Telescop es and Asso ciated Domes The HLF, DCAL and EHS-funded telescopes and telescope domes restoration pro ject has been in progress throughout 2003. Work was 14


completed on the main building, the 1827 Dome, and the Robinson Dome. The 15-inch Grubb Reflector has been restored with a new tube and mirror, and a new dome for the Calver Telescope has been constructed. This work is ongoing, and should be completed during 2004. 3.3.4 A. Christou, Research Astronomer

Conclusion of the Beagle 2 Phob os Eclipse Exp eriment Work was concluded on the Phobos eclipse experiment, which was to have taken place in February 2004 on the Beagle 2 lander. The lander reached Mars on Christmas Day 2003, but subsequent attempts to contact it were not successful. The aim of the experiment was to use the shadow of one of the Martian moons, Phobos, to locate the lander on the surface. The last portion of the preparatory work, namely the estimation software, was completed in October 2003. A collaborative paper with researchers at the Open University on modelling the eclipse lightcurve was accepted for publication in the journal Icarus at the end of the year. Whilst it now appears that Beagle 2 has failed, the support work carried out and resulting software products have put Apostolos Christou in a strong position to participate in future planetary missions. Meteors in Planetary Atmospheres A significant amount of effort was devoted to the question of the properties and observability of meteors in the atmospheres of Venus and Mars. This included the first investigation into the possibility of observable meteors in the atmosphere of Venus, such meteors being at least as bright as their counterparts on Earth. Although it would not be possible to observe these from the surface of that planet, owing to the perennial cloud cover surrounding Venus, it was established that they would be readily detectable from a spacecraft orbiting the planet. This work is now also in press. The work on meteors in the atmosphere of Venus complements earlier work by Christou (Planetary & Space Science, 47, 1475, 1999) which investigated the possibility of meteor showers on Mars. In support of a longer term, more comprehensive investigation of the phenomenon, a collaboration has been initiated between Apostolos Christou and Jonathan McAuliffe (Armagh Observatory) and Christopher Trayner (University of Leeds), following a visit of the latter to Armagh in the autumn. The pro ject is directed towards constructing an accurate thermophysical model of the meteor phenomenon. Combined with expectations of the meteoroid flux and speed, based on detailed numerical modelling of possible meteoroid stream orbits, it should then be possible to predict meteor properties such as brightness, duration and speed, characteristics which are particularly relevant to in situ spacecraft detection strategies. Reduction of Mutual Event Data The process of reducing observations from both Armagh Observatory and Nyr� a Observatory, Jyv� ol� askyl� Finland, as part of a worldwide campaign to record mutual a, eclipses and occultations of the four Galilean satellites of Jupiter in 2002�2003 was started. 14 lightcurves were obtained from data obtained at Nyr� a Observatory, using a modification of an IDL script provided ol� by Amir Ahmad as a prelude to reducing the Armagh data itself. The latter dataset consists of observations of approximately 17 discrete events, each covered by 1000 frames on average together with calibration frames. The first Armagh lightcurves, taken at 15, 18 and 25 March 2003, were generated at the end of the year. One of these events coincided with an event observed also at Nyr� a Observatory, ol� which provided an opportunity to establish the quality of the Armagh data in terms of noise, systematic errors and so on. The results are shown in Figure 4, which demonstrates the fidelity of the Armagh data, the feasibility of observing phenomena of this type from the Armagh site, and the potential increase in data quality given a larger aperture and suitable upgrades in instrumentation. Reduction of these data will be completed in 2004, when the final dataset will be sent to the central mutual event data repository � emerides (IMCCE), the former Bureau des at the Institut de M� ecanique C� eleste et de Calcul des Eph� � Longitudes in Paris, as has already been done for the Nyr� a Observatory data. ol� Dynamics of Co-orbital Satellites In the Spring of 2003 we were visited by Dr Fathi Namouni, formerly at Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, Colorado, USA, and presently at Observatoire de C^ d'Azur, Nice, France. The visit stimulated a new research collaboration between Apostolos Christou, ote Fathi Namouni (Nice, France), and Maria Helena Moreira Morais (Observat� Astron� orio omico de Coimbra, Santa Clara, Portugal), aimed at understanding the stability properties of the co-orbital satellites of Saturn using large-scale numerical integrations with the mercury code. An expressed ob jective of this effort is to place constraints on, or to predict the existence of, such ob jects sharing the orbits of the classical satellites (Mimas, Enceladus, Tethys, Dione, Rhea, Titan) in advance of the Cassini orbiter's arrival at the Saturn system in the summer of 2004.

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Ganymede eclipses Callisto -- 15/03/2003 0.5

Armagh 10-inch/AV2000 Nyrola 16-inch/ST-8

Flux IV / III

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1 21.9

22

22.1

Time (UT)

22.2

22.3

22.4

22.5

22.6

Figure 4: Comparison of Mutual Events Data obtained from Armagh Observatory (red dots) and Nyr� a Observaol� tory, Finland (green dots), on 15 March 2003. The Armagh results, obtained with a small-aperture telescope and a relatively cheap, commercially available imaging system, demonstrate the high fidelity of the Armagh data, the feasibility of observing phenomena of this type from the Armagh site, and the potential increase in data quality which can be expected, given a larger telescope (such as the newly restored 18-inch Calver reflector) and suitable upgrades in instrumentation. Time is shown in hours.

3.3.5

J.G. Doyle, Research Astronomer

Discovery of Bi-directional Jets at Coronal Hole Boundaries Gerry Doyle reports that collaborative research with Maria Madjarska has revealed for the first time the presence of bi-directional jets and magnetic reconnection occurring at coronal hole boundaries. The SUMER observations obtained in � A Ne viii 770.42 A (6 � 105 K) and N iv 765.15 � (1.3 � 105 K) show small regions of a few arcsec size with strong blue- and red-shifted emission reaching Doppler shifts up to 150 km s-1 which are associated with bi-directional jets. The jets occur at coronal hole boundaries where evolving loop systems are present. Data from quiet-Sun regions obtained a few hours later on the same day with the same observing programme were used to compare the occurrence rate of bi-directional jets in such regions to those along coronal hole boundaries. We found that the number density of jets at the coronal hole boundaries is one order of magnitude higher than in the quiet Sun region. The role of such events in the evolution of the coronal hole boundaries is an important topic for further research. Blinkers and Bi-directional Jets on the Sun Gerry Doyle and Maria Madjarska have investigated the connection between the SoHO satellite's discovery of the new `blinker' phenomenon and bi-directional (BD) jets (often called explosive events) and spicules on the surface of the Sun. The study was performed using a specially planned joint observing program involving the Coronal Diagnostic Spectrometer (CDS), Solar Ultraviolet Measurements of Emitted Radiation spectrograph (SUMER) and Big Bear Solar Observatory (BBSO) magnetograph. Within each blinker, SUMER data revealed the presence of small-scale (3�5 arcsec), short-lived (2�3 min) bright features not seen in the CDS data, that have sometimes being interpreted as oscillations in SUMER data. Using these data, we have clearly identified UV bi-directional jets in CDS data. The BD jets show a size close to the small-scale brightenings forming the blinker core. However, they appear in the SUMER data with their typical strong blue and red wings whilst the blinker shows at best only a small increase in the emission of the blue and red wings and in most instances shows the typical transition region red-shift in the centre of the line. In all cases the BD jets cover one pixel in CDS, corresponding to a size of 4 arcsec � 4�6 arcsec. All identified BD jets were located at the border 16


Figure 5: The triangles show the positions of the bi-directional jets: reversed colour intensity image in N iv 765.15 � (left panel); Doppler shift map obtained by applying a single Gaussian fit from -30 to +30 km A A s-1 (middle panel); and reversed colour EIT Fe xii 195 � image (right panel).

of the bright network, i.e. the blinker, in the network or even in the inter-network. From these data, we believe that blinkers and bi-directional jets are two separate phenomena not directly related or triggering each other. In this study, the Doppler shift was derived in a blinker phenomenon for the first time. It ranges from -5 to 25 km s-1 and is predominantly red-shifted. The observed increase of magnetic flux during the blinker phenomena seems to play a crucial role in the development of the event. We suggest that `blinkers' may be the on-disk signature of spicules. The Electron Pressure Differential b etween the Sunsp ot Plume and the Surrounding Region It was shown in the early 1980's that spectral lines formed around 1�2.5 �10 5 K were enhanced in radiance by factors up to 15�25 over the normal quiet Sun. From the dynamical viewpoint, this would suggest a pressure imbalance between the sunspot and the surrounding region. In another collaborative pro ject, Maria Madjarska and Gerry Doyle have thrown some light on this topic. Here, the electron density was evaluated over a bright sunspot plume region using lines within the O v 760 � multiplet. The plume showed an intensity enhancement factor of 9 in the O v lines compared A to regions outside the sunspot umbra. Internal agreement between the various ratios is excellent, which would suggest that the O v lines do not suffer from blending problems. The derived mean electron densities for the sunspot plume is log(Ne /cm-3 ) 9.9 compared to log(Ne /cm-3 ) 10.20�10.45 in the surrounding area. The derived gas pressure in the plume compared to that outside lends weight to the suggestion that it is plasma flowing from outside the spot into the umbra at transition region temperatures that is the main cause of the down-flows. The plume non-thermal velocities are 5 to 10 km s -1 smaller than those measured in regions external to the spot, suggesting significantly less turbulence within the umbra. Coronal Bright Points: Another Oscillating Environment Ignacio Ugarte Urra's PhD thesis topic is the investigation of coronal bright points. In his first paper (in collaboration with Gerry Doyle and Maria Madjarska) he investigated the formation, evolution and decay of a coronal bright point via a spectroscopic analysis of its transition region counterpart and the evolution of the underlying magnetic bipole during 3 days of almost continuous observations. The data were obtained with various instruments 17


� Figure 6: A trace 1600 A image of the sunspot and surrounding region (taken at 21:14 UT on 18 March 1999) with the position of the sumer slit and trace white light contours over-plotted (left panel) outlining the umbra and penumbra. The middle panel shows Si iv 1402.77 � (at 20:13 UT) plus the 10 arcsec regions centred around A 40 arcsec along the slit known as QS1 , while QS2 is the region centred around 100 arcsec. S S1 and S S2 are centred around 70 arcsec and 80 arcsec respectively along the slit. The right panel shows the three electron density diagnostic line ratios from within the O v 760 � multiplet, i.e. R1 = 761.13/758.68, R2 = 761.13/759.43 A and R3 = 761.13/761.99, plotted assuming the temperature of formation is log(Te /K ) = 5.4. The derived densities in all four regions are indicated.

� on-board SoHO, including the SUMER spectrograph in the transition region line S vi 933.40 A, CDS in the He i 584.33 � O v 629.73 � and Mg ix 368.0 � lines, plus MDI and EIT. The existence of the coronal A, A A feature is strongly correlated with the evolution of the underlying bipolar region. The lifetime of the bright point from the moment when it was first visible in the EIT images until its complete disappearance was 18 hours. Furthermore, the bright point only became visible at coronal temperatures when the two converging opposite magnetic polarities were 7000 km apart. As far as the temporal coverage of the data permits, we found that the bright point disappeared at coronal temperatures after a full cancellation of one of the magnetic polarities. The spectroscopic analysis reveals the presence of small-scale (6 arcsec) transient brightenings within the bright point with a periodicity of 6 minutes. The Doppler shift in the bright point was found to be in the range of -10 to 10 km s-1 although it is dominated by a red-shifted emission which is associated with regions characterized by stronger `quiet' Sun photospheric magnetic flux. Small-scale brightenings within the bright point show velocity variations in the range 3�6 km s -1 . In general the bright point has a radiance 4 times higher than that of the network. No relation was found between the bright point and the UV bi-directional jet phenomena. Doppler Imaging and Flare Activity on HR 1099 In collaborative work with David Garc� Alvarez ia (an Observatory PhD student now at Harvard) and John Butler, an extensive study of the RS CVn binary HR 1099 was completed leading to two papers; the first on Doppler imaging and the second on flare activity. Spectra for the Doppler imaging were taken at two different sites, Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO), Arizona, and Mount Stromlo Observatory (MSO), Australia, during the 1998 MUltiSIte COntinuous Spectroscopic (MUSICOS) campaign. Contemporaneous photometry from the WolfgangAmadeus Automatic Photoelectric Telescope (APT) at the Fairborn Observatory, Tucson, Arizona, was used to constrain the Doppler images. The resulting maximum entropy reconstructions based on the

18


least-squares deconvolved profiles, derived from 2000 photospheric absorption lines, reveal the presence of starspots at medium-high latitudes. We have obtained maps for both components of the binary system for the first time. The predominant structure in the primary component is an off-centred polar spot, confirming previous work on the same target by using independent codes. The result is verified by using both data sets independently. The lower spectral resolution data set gives a less detailed map for the MSO data set. The images obtained for the secondary component show a low-latitude spot around orbital phase 0.7. This spot seems to mirror the structure seen on the primary. It might suggest that tidal forces may influence the spot distribution on this binary system. In the flare paper, simultaneous and continuous observations in H, H , He i D3 , the Na i D1 D2 doublet and the Ca ii H & K lines were obtained. As above, the spectroscopic observations were obtained during the MUSICOS 1998 campaign involving several observatories and instruments, both echelle and long-slit spectrographs. During this campaign, HR 1099 was observed almost continuously for more than 8 orbits of 2.8 days. Two large optical flares were observed, both showing an increase in the emission of H, Ca ii H & K, H and He i D3 and a strong filling-in of the Na i D1 ,D2 doublet. Contemporary photometric observations were carried out with the robotic telescopes APT-80 of Catania and Phoenix-25 of Fairborn Observatories. Maps of the distribution of the spotted regions on the photosphere of the binary components were derived using the Maximum Entropy and Tikhonov photometric regularization criteria. Rotational modulation was observed in H and He i D 3 in anti-correlation with the photometric light curves. Both flares occurred at the same binary phase (0.85), suggesting that these events took place in the same active region. Simultaneous X-ray observations, performed by ASM on board RXTE, show several flare-like events, some of which correlate well with the observed optical flares. Rotational modulation in the X-ray light curve has been detected with minimum flux when the less active G5V star was in front. A possible periodicity in the X-ray flare-like events was also found. Coronal Oscillations ab ove Sunsp ots: Why? Data from various satellite missions concerning emission lines formed at temperatures of 7 � 104 K to 1.3 � 105 K show oscillations in sunspots with frequencies in the range of 5.8�7.8 mHz. With the launch of SoHO there has been renewed interest in the study of umbral oscillations. All the observational data clearly indicate the presence of 3-minute oscillations in sunspots in spectral lines covering a vast temperature range from the low chromosphere to those lines normally associated with coronal temperatures. The question we address here is whether these `coronal lines' are actually formed around the temperature indicated by ionization equilibrium calculations. We show that after folding in the sunspot plume emission measure distribution and a non-Maxwellian electron distribution, the contribution functions for lines normally formed just below 1 � 106 K are shifted to lower temperatures. For example, the Fe ix 171 � line is shifted to less than 5 � 105 K. Other lines such A as Mg ix 368 � will also be affected. These results question some previous work regarding the suggested A detection of 3-minute oscillations in the corona above sunspots. Scientific Administration During the year, Gerry Doyle was involving in reviewing one Rolling Grant proposal, two PPARC Fellowships proposals, one PPARC Senior Fellowship proposal, two Solar System proposals, two Grid proposals and several PATT proposals. In addition, he was the external examiner for a PhD thesis in Cambridge plus another one in Manchester. He also attended several PPARC grant reviews, in particular, the CLRC Astronomy Rolling Grant Visiting Panel at RAL, the CLRC Technology Studies Rolling Grant Visiting Panel at RAL, the CRCL SoHO Post-Launch Review Panel in London and the MSSL SoHO Post-Launch Review Panel in London. 3.3.6 C.S. Jeffery, Research Astronomer

Simon Jeffery leads a research group which, during 2003, included PhD students Amir Ahmad, Chris Winter, Babulakshmanan Ramachandran and Natalie Behara. Professor John Drilling (Louisiana State University) and Dr Simon O'Toole (Dr Remeis-Sternwarte, Universit� Erlangen-Nurnberg) were PPARCat � funded visiting fellows. British Council sponsored exchange student Gustavo Dopcke (UNICAMP: Universidade Estadual de Campinas, S~ Paulo, Brazil) and Nuffield Foundation sponsored summer student ao Emma Stephenson also spent time with the group. Subluminous B Stars Hot subluminous stars (or subdwarfs) are low-mass stars that are less luminous than massive main-sequence stars of a similar temperature. They are all evolved stars, most being about 0.5 M with helium-burning cores. We are concerned with questions about their origin and to study the physics of their interior.

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Drilling and Jeffery worked towards completing a spectral classification scheme for hot subdwarfs. By describing ob jects phenomenologically, classification can provide a model-independent description which may be used repeatedly in large-scale surveys to identify targets of interest. For stars, detailed classification schemes have been developed for the main-sequence and above, but with insufficient precision for hot stars below the main sequence. The problem is compounded by additional parameters, so that spectral-type, hydrogen line strength, hydrogen/helium ratio and carbon-line strength must be included in the classification. Roughly speaking, these are proxies for effective temperature, luminosity and chemical composition. In the first instance, it is necessary to establish manually a network of `standard' stars against which all others may be measured. As a result of our collaboration, this network of standards has now been established. It will enable (see below), automatic procedures trained using these standards to establish spectral types from large-scale surveys. Ahmad and Jeffery completed a study of the temperature distribution of helium-rich subdwarf B (He-sdB) stars using ultraviolet and ground-based spectrophotometry. The results supported a previous spectroscopic study, and these studies together showed that the ma jority of helium-rich sdB stars lay on the evolutionary track for the merger of helium white dwarfs. However, the subsequent serendipitous discovery that the prototype He-sdB is a short-period double-lined spectroscopic binary contradicts such a hypothesis (see highlight). Ahmad and Jeffery also made a preliminary exploration of the pulsational stability of He-sdBs. Two possible variables were identified during a week of photometry at the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) 1.0 m telescope; follow-up observations will be made in 2004. Substantial work was also carried out on observations and theory related to other aspects of subluminous B stars, including pulsations (with Ramachandran and O'Toole) and binaries. Some is reported elsewhere, other work is ongoing. Post-AGB Stars Following core helium burning, a low-mass star expands first to become a giant, as it consumes its final reserves of nuclear fuel, and then a white dwarf. A final pulse of nuclear burning, or a merger between two white dwarfs can cause the star to expand as a giant. Our research on extreme helium stars and other post-AGB stars is directed towards understanding these processes and towards developing models of stellar evolution that fit the observations. Working with Pandey, Lambert (University of Texas) and Rao (Indian Institute of Astrophysics), Simon Jeffery has used observations with the Hubble Space Telescope to make the first measurements of s-process elements in extreme helium stars. s-process elements are produced while a star is a red giant and when light elements in the region between hydrogen and helium-burning shells capture neutrons released in other nuclear reactions. The importance of these observations is that it reinforces the phenomenological and probable evolutionary connections between the cool and strongly-variable R Coronae Borealis stars and the extreme helium stars. Jeffery continues to work with Woolf (University of Washington) on long-term evolutionary changes in extreme helium stars. A new study of abundances in the born-again star FG Sge (see Figure 7) is reported elsewhere. Main-sequence Stars After formation, stars spend the ma jor part of their lives converting hydrogen to helium in their cores. Since the colours and brightnesses of such stars follow a simple relation, the vast ma jority of stars are known as `main sequence' stars. Their surfaces are frequently seen to vibrate, a property which enables astronomers to deduce information about their interiors. Simon Jeffery and Myron Smith (Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, USA) have continued to study the physics of surface oscillations in the Cepheid star BW Vul. They are investigating empirically how a shock wave can affect the temperature and density structure of a stellar atmosphere as it passes through. e-Science COSMOGRID is an Irish pro ject to develop and exploit e-science technology for research in cosmic physics. Under this scheme, Simon Jeffery leads a pro ject to develop tools for the automated analysis of stellar spectra. During 2003, Christopher Winter and Gustavo Dopcke were engaged on this pro ject. In the case of low-resolution spectra, we use a neural network to classify and parameterise a given set of observations. Preliminary results were presented at conferences during 2003. We have also developed fitting software to measure precise chemical abundances from stellar spectra, using our stateof-the-art stellar atmosphere modelling software. Ultimately, we aim to offer a tool to astronomers worldwide so that, using a computing grid, remote users can obtain a detailed analysis of their latest spectrum `online'. Some of the prototype JAVA interfaces necessary to carry out these analyses interactively were developed during the year.

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Figure 7: A prediction of the future evolution of the blue spectrum of FG Sge. Over the next thousand years, its temperature (left-hand axis) will increase from 5500 K to over 15000 K (bottom to top). The characteristic spectrum of a cool star, rich in metal lines will be replaced by that of a hot star, dominated by hydrogen and helium. Helium, carbon (right-hand axis) and other products of nucleosynthesis will be dredged towards the surface, producing the strong C ii line in the top left of the figure. The spectrum is overlaid on a false-colour image of the planetary nebula around FG Sge obtained with the Keck 1 10-m telescope on Mauna Kea (see http://www.aloha.net/ joel/keckphot.htm). Light from FG Sge itself has been masked out (black bar).

Scientific Administration In the first quarter of the year, Simon Jeffery played a significant role in the organisation of the National Astronomy Meeting held in Dublin, both as a member of the Scientific Organizing Committee and with responsibility for the conference web site, on-line registrations and programme publication. He served as a member of the scientific organizing committee for the first ever workshop on "Extreme Horizontal Branch Stars" (June 2003, Keele, England). He is currently the Observatory's representative on the Court of the University of Ulster. 3.3.7 W.M. Napier, Emeritus Honorary Professor

New Approaches to Risk Assessment from Near-Earth Ob jects Recent years have seen a downgrading of the threat assessment due to impacts from comets and asteroids. Data on the mass distribution of fireballs entering the Earth's atmosphere, coupled with the discovery rates of bodies from Near Earth Ob ject surveys, have been used to estimate that Tunguska-like impacts (with energies greater than 10 megatons or so), caused by bodies in the 10�30 m diameter range, occur on time-scales of order 1,000 years. Bodies of km size or greater strike the Earth, according to current estimates, on time-scales of order 600,000 years or more. Bill Napier, however, has been using new approaches to the problem and finds that the celestial hazard due to impacts may be a factor 5 higher these estimates. First, the rate at which meteorites strike the Moon can be inferred from the number and age distribution of lunar meteorites found in Antarctica and elsewhere. Coupled with hydrodynamic code simulations of crater-forming impacts on the Moon, Napier finds that the small-body impact rate on the Earth is substantially higher than most current estimates, with a Tunguska-like impact expected roughly once every 100�200 years. One or more impacts in the thousand-megaton range may occur over time-scales 1,000�5,000 years. These impacts would eject a considerable mass of dust into the stratosphere and so be accompanied by brief, global coolings. They may constitute the greatest short-term celestial hazard to civilization. Secondly, the case of multi-km bodies has been studied building on work by Bailey & Emel'yanenko, and Wickramasinghe & Hoyle. Dynamical models by Bailey & Emel'yanenko had previously shown that the population of comets captured from the Oort cloud and thrown into short-period orbits (orbital 21


periods 20�200 years) should be about 100 times greater than is actually observed. They suggested that the missing comets may comprise a large, dormant population. If so, this population would constitute a significant hazard. However these hypothetical bodies would still be detected through ground-based telescopic surveys 50�100 times more often than they actually are: at least 400 should by now have been discovered, as against the handful actually found. Thus it has been argued that these dormant comets do not exist in significant numbers, and that the active comets have not become extinct but have instead simply disintegrated. However Napier, in collaboration with Chandra and Janaki Wickramasinghe at Cardiff University, has shown that the surfaces of inactive comets, if comprised of loose, fluffy organic material like the comet dust which enters the Earth's atmosphere, may developed reflectivities which are effectively zero in visible light. The NEO population may therefore include a substantial population of `stealth comets': multi-km bodies, undetectable with current surveys. These bodies may constitute the dominant impact hazard in the 100,000 megaton range. 3.3.8 M.D. Smith, Research Astronomer

The evolution of stars after leaving both the main sequence and the asymptotic giant branch involves the transition into a proto-planetary nebula (PPN) before developing into a planetary nebula (PN). Whilst the central stars are still cool, winds are driven which impinge and shape the envelope. Michael Smith has been analysing new infrared data collected from 11 PPN and PN by Chris Davis (Joint Astronomy Centre, Hawaii) to search for clues as to how the ob jects evolve. The infrared spectra display emission lines from excited molecules of hydrogen which can be separated into components excited by ultraviolet fluorescence and collisional shock waves. We conclude that shock excitation is dominant in the early PPN phase and the late phase of the PN, with fluorescence critical at intermediate phases. However, molecular hydrogen emission is recorded at all stages and represents a useful probe of the evolutionary status of PPN and PN alike. Theoretical analysis of shocks in different astronomical environments has continued in collaboration with both Georgi Pavlovski (PhD student) and Alex Rosen (PDRA). Recent advances in submillimetre astronomy and molecular astrophysics prompted Rosen and Smith to simulate fast shocks in which molecules are destroyed. This was intended to be a test problem for a new version of the MHD ZEUS code. However, in most cases comparison with steady-state models was found not to be possible because the reformation of molecules in the post-shock cooling flow causes the shock to become unstable, leading to high-amplitude oscillations (i.e. an overstability). The ma jor cause of this phenomenon, however, was the assumed equilibrium oxygen and carbon chemistry. A subsequent non-equilibrium analysis displayed a much narrower instability regime. Therefore, we require new techniques to simulate flows containing such shocks. Georgi Pavlovski studied the properties of supersonic turbulence in molecular clouds and its effect on the molecular cloud properties and their chemical evolution. In recent years the traditional picture of molecular clouds as quasi-static ob jects which form stars slowly over a long lifetime has begun to give way to a new picture of clouds as dynamical entities whose formation and evolution are dominated by the effects of supersonic turbulence. In his thesis, he explored the significant consequences of turbulence both for our understanding of molecular cloud chemistry and for our interpretation of molecular line observations. In particular, he aimed to test the extent to which isothermal simulations correctly model the behaviour of molecular turbulence and to investigate the impact of turbulence on molecular dynamics. In order to achieve these ob jectives, a numerical scheme which accounts for the most important shockinduced chemical reactions and the resulting cooling functions has been coupled with the general purpose hydrodynamical code ZEUS-3D. A number of simulations of molecular turbulence, in which collisional dissociation and reformation on dust grains, were carried out. The results of this work provide insight into how molecular chemistry and gas dynamics combine. The main conclusion is that isothermal simulations adequately model molecular turbulence. We have discovered, however, that the molecular chemistry can be significantly accelerated due to the strong compression and advection associated with supersonic turbulence. Therefore, through the chemistry, turbulence can enhance the rate at which stars form. Thus, molecular clouds may be undergoing rapid dynamical and chemical changes, driven by sources of supersonic turbulence, yet they can appear to be "chemically old" due to the increased rate of chemical reactions. Computer simulations of jets were executed and analysed by Alex Rosen (in Armagh until July 2003) and Michael Smith. These three-dimensional hydrodynamic calculations apply to protostellar jets dominated by flows of molecules. The series of papers exploring the influence of the density, evolution in injection energy, and fast precession, were accepted for publication and a web page constructed to present all the relevant movies (see http://star.arm.ac.uk/mds/Jets/jets.html). In particular, predicted images

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Figure 8: The appearance of a variable nebula at various epochs in the optical I-band, atomic [S ii] and nearinfrared K-band emission, probably illuminated by radiation from an outbursting protostar. A jet has probably cleared away the channel, allowing radiation to reach the cavity walls and to produce a curving structure reminiscent of a helix pro jected on to the sky plane.

and spectroscopy for infrared and submillimetre molecular emission lines were presented, in anticipation of upcoming telescope pro jects such as Herschel, ALMA and JWST. Anthony Moraghan (TCD) joined the Armagh student population for three months to investigate the spinning of young stars. Under the guidance of Michael Smith, he gathered data on the variation of the brightness of stars and, independently, their speed of rotation (the Doppler shift giving the component of velocity along our line of sight). On comparison, systematic variations were shown to yield anomalies which can be resolved if the standard distances to the star-forming regions are erroneous. Outflows in star formation regions were explored through infrared and optical observations by Michael Smith and many co-workers. Pro jects completed included detailed descriptions of individual outflows such as Cepheus E, a study of the driving protostars with the ISO satellite, and the exploration of a new star formation field uncovered by the HELIX group. Details of the latter collaboration can be found at the webpage: http://star.arm.ac.uk/tig/helix/details.html. In these papers, many new methods of interpreting and modelling the data are introduced, as well as the discovery of new ob jects and structures. In particular, one conspicuously brightened ob ject, which illuminates a variable reflection nebula (see Figure 8), is examined. Follow-up observations are planned which it is believed will confirm that the driving source is one of a special class of outbursting protostars called FuOrs, after the prototype FU Orionis. Finally, a manuscript entitled "The Origin of Stars" was submitted for publication. It is the first monograph on star formation, apart from collective works based on conference proceedings, for fifteen years. It illustrates the recent revolution in our knowledge associated with star birth on many scales.

4

Public Understanding of Science, Outreach and Training

The Observatory actively contributes to lifelong learning and promotes amongst the general public a deeper understanding of astronomy and related sciences through a programme of talks and public lectures, and by encouraging visits and tours of the Observatory by members of the public and small groups. The Observatory also issues press information sheets on recent developments in astronomy and research carried out at Armagh, the list for 2003 numbering 40 separate press releases on various meteorological or astronomical topics, slightly higher than the previous year. Contacts with the press are largely the responsibility of the Librarian, and it is remarkable that 95%

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of these media releases were published in one form or another, demonstrating a very high level of public and media interest in astronomy, and an exceptionally high `hit' rate for stories about astronomy and related sciences. The Librarian, together with other staff, also frequently answers queries from members of the public on different aspects of astronomy and what is visible or has been seen in the night sky. The recorded list of public enquiries for 2003, which is undoubtedly incomplete, encompassed more than 181 separate responses, significantly higher than the previous year. It is noteworthy that many such requests (especially those that are answered by students or other research staff ) are received during holidays or outside normal working hours.

4.1

Widening Access

Web-Site Content and Internet Access The Armagh Observatory web-sites now include a substantial amount of weather and related meteorological information. This provides e-access to a variety of meteorological and climate data, including the Observatory's 210-year archive of weather records at Armagh. The Observatory web-site is also increasingly making available the results of astronomical observations carried out at Armagh, for example images of meteorological or space-weather events such as aurorae (see http://star.arm.ac.uk/images/aurora-2003-Oct/), and of transient astronomical events such as occultations, eclipses and transits. Three experimental web-casts involving transits and eclipses were carried out in 2003 by Apostolos Christou and Martin Murphy, and were judged to be successful as a proof of concept. It is intended that these will become a regular, widely advertised activity when the additional bandwidth promised by the NIMAN becomes available and when it will also be possible to make use of the newly refurbished telescopes. An example of the Transit of Mercury, on 7 May 2003, can be seen at http://arpc65.arm.ac.uk/transit/. Measuring Internet Access A measure of the success of the web-site is the annual number of distinct e-Visitors (DEVs) to Armagh, in fact the number of distinct hosts served by the Observatory's web-site. This is a lower limit to the number of e-Visitors, owing to caching by big servers and sharing or repeat visits from the same IP number. (For comparison, the number of `hits' on the Armagh web-site, defined as the number of successful page requests, is typically 5�10 times greater than the DEV statistic.) During 2003, the numbers of successful page requests (i.e. `hits') to files of all types on each of the three web-sites listed were 3,983,000 (7-month's data), 890,000, and 675,000 respectively, whilst an estimated 470,000 Distinct e-Visitors visited the three web-sites during the year. DEV-statistics for the whole Armagh Observatory web-site are given in Table 3. A third, and arguably more useful, statistic for the `value' of a web-site is the amount of data transferred to other users. A single hit or DEV simply demonstrates that someone looked at the Observatory web-site, but it does not indicate how long they stayed or what they thought of the information provided. The amount of data transferred from the Armagh web-site, however, provides an indication of its value as a provider of information. For the three Observatory web-sites noted above, the figures for data transferred during 2003 are 210 GB (7 month's data), 31 GB and 42 GB, corresponding to a pro jected figure for the year totalling approximately 400 GB. Media Coverage The Observatory is a principal point of contact for astronomy amongst the mass media (press, radio and television), and plays a ma jor role in the promotion of astronomy and public understanding of science both locally (i.e. within Armagh City and District and Northern Ireland) and abroad. Astronomers at Armagh receive (and deal with) numerous questions from the general public, and are often invited by the national and international media to comment on recent research results or discoveries. These contacts lead to articles or citations in the national and international press, and to sound-bites and media clips on radio and television. The number of identified mentions of the Armagh Observatory and its staff in various mass-media has increased rapidly during the past few years, from about 10 in 1994 to more than 230 in 1999 and 2000. During 2000, the Observatory was noted in one or another of these mass media at least 234 times, and from this point in time it was decided not to attempt to improve this figure arbitrarily. In other words, the target for media citations involving the Armagh Observatory or Armagh Observatory staff has been fixed at 200 media citations per year. This, it must be emphasized, has been achieved with extremely limited resources: the Observatory does not employ a press officer or public relations agency, nor does it have access to a cuttings service. The good results under this aspect of the Observatory's programme of public outreach have been obtained merely by encouraging staff to be proactive in presenting their work to the general public and by being available to the press and others on request for comment or questions.

24


Year star 1998 1999 2000 Average 2001 2002 2003 New Average 80,000 134,000 174,000 129,000 317,000 322,000 190,000 321,000

Number of Distinct e-Visitors (DEVs)
http://star.arm.ac.uk/ http://climate.arm.ac.uk/ http://arp c65.arm.ac.uk/spm/

Total

climate -- -- -- -- 1,000 5,000 49,000 18,000

arpc35 -- -- -- -- 80,000 134,000 174,000 129,000 318,000 354,000 335,000 390,000

27,000 96,000 75,000

Table 3: Distinct e-Visitors to the Armagh Observatory web-site. Note that the 2002 figure for arpc65 represents only 6-months data and the 2003 figure for star represents only 7-months data. Correcting the latter for incompleteness (data loss during a change of the main web-server) the corrected annual DEV for star would be approximately 325,000, making a grand total for the year of approximately 470,000. These corrections have been applied in computing revised baseline figures for the period 2001�2003 inclusive.

Programme or Medium 1999 UK and Republic of Ireland local newspapers UK national newspapers excluding Northern Ireland Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland national newspapers Popular astronomy and specialist magazines UK local radio and Republic of Ireland radio UK national radio UK and Republic of Ireland national television Northern Ireland and UK local television Foreign newspapers Foreign radio Foreign television Miscellaneous items Total 72 31 18 34 25 9 11 6 9 3 2 18 238

Identified Citations 2000 2001 2002 82 12 26 31 22 4 14 9 3 6 1 24 234 82 16 18 63 17 3 17 6 17 5 7 51 302 92 8 18 52 26 0 4 11 1 0 2 53 267

2003 80 3 21 38 19 1 5 13 1 1 2 41 225

Table 4: Breakdown of known media citations for 1999�2003. The 225 identified citations for 2003 include 17 reports in Astronomy Now and Astronomy & Space , the two leading commercial amateur astronomy magazines in the UK and Ireland respectively; 19 in Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland national newspapers (e.g. Belfast Telegraph, Irish News, Newsletter, Irish Times); and 19 in UK and Ireland local radio stations (e.g. Radio Ulster, Radio Foyle, Downtown Radio etc.). The Observatory was also featured 18 times on UK and Republic of Ireland national or regional television news and documentary programmes (e.g. BBC1, BBC2, Sky, RTE, BBC Northern Ireland, UTV). The known citations in foreign newspapers and on foreign television are obviously extreme lower limits due to under-reporting, but are known to include virtually every country in the world, for example reports on the BBC World Service and on BBC World TV News.

25


It is noteworthy that many of these identified citations (some 25�30%) are in the local press (e.g. the Ulster Gazette, Armagh Observer etc.), some of which have among the highest local impact factors in the UK. However, a substantial number of citations are also in mass-media such as radio and television, and the national and international press, while others are in specialist or technical magazines, and on the internet. The breakdown of known media citations versus type of publication is shown in Table 4. Many of the newspapers and radio or television programmes that mention astronomy at Armagh reach millions of people simultaneously, and it is clear that every year many tens of millions of people are being exposed to Armagh Observatory or its research. In summary, the Observatory appears to be successfully reaching a huge number of people, certainly as many as can be reasonably expected for an astronomical research institute of its relatively small size, and there are no immediate plans to alter what it is currently doing in this area of activity. The number of known media citations in 2003, namely 225, comfortably exceeded -- for the third year running -- the target of 200. The list of identified media citations for 2003 is provided in Appendix F. Tours and Visits by Memb ers of the Public Visits by groups to the Armagh Observatory Grounds and Astropark have continued to be encouraged. During 2003 these have included visits by young people from schools within Northern Ireland, for example 40�50 children associated with the Steering Committee for the Proposed Integrated College in Armagh, who organized an Easter Egg hunt in the Astropark on 12 April 2003; approximately 50 pupils from the Armstrong Primary School, who used the Observatory Grounds and Astropark for a summer walk programme and picnic on 20 June 2003; and a group of approximately 20�30 children with Special Needs and some 20 adults, namely the Fair Play Group, who used the Astropark for a picnic on the morning of 21 June 2003. In addition, others have come from farther afield, for example the Niels Steensen secondary school, Denmark, primarily on a visit to the Armagh Planetarium; and a group organized by the Rotary TABU (`Towards a Better Understanding') programme, aimed at promoting greater understanding between students in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland and corresponding groups in the USA. During the year the Observatory also contributed to the UK and Ireland-wide Archive Awareness Month and the EU-wide European Heritage Open Days (see http://star.arm.ac.uk/publicevents/), activities which together attracted more than 100 visitors to the Observatory. The first of these, during the period 15�18 September, was a joint venture in partnership with the Armagh Public Library. Both the Observatory and the Public Library were founded by Archbishop Richard Robinson (in 1790 and 1771 respectively), and the event involved the display of relevant papers, archives and other items of historic interest held by both institutions. This partnership helped to demonstrate the historical links between the City of Armagh and Archbishop Robinson and highlighted the strength of the archival heritage of the City. The exhibition attracted some good publicity for Archive Awareness Month, and a number of visitors were accompanied on tours around the Observatory by the Librarian, John McFarland. The European Heritage Open Days event took place on 20 September, and was organized in collaboration with six other specialist library and archive collections in Armagh: The Armagh County Museum; The Royal Irish Fusiliers Museum; the Cardinal Tom� O Fiaich Memorial Library and Archive; The as � Armagh Public Library; the Queen's University of Belfast Armagh Campus, Cardinal Daly Archive; and The Irish and Local Studies Library. This event also highlighted the value of developing collaborative links in this area with other institutions within Armagh. Six guided tours, each lasting about one hour, were arranged between 10:00 and 17:30, during which approximately 90 visitors took the opportunity to look around the Observatory and its historic telescopes and telescope domes. The tours were accompanied by John McFarland and PhD students Babulakshmanan Ramachandran, Miruna Popescu, and Ignatio Ugarte Urra, who used the opportunity also to explain some of their research to the visitors. A selection from the list of group visits to the Observatory during 2003 is provided in Table 5. In addition, 481 people signed the Visitors Book, suggesting that at least 500 people were accompanied on tours of the Observatory during 2003. It is noteworthy that those making such visits originated from more than 20 separate countries. Official Visits Mr Ian Pearson MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State with responsibility for the Department of Finance and Personnel (DFP), the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment (DETI), the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD), and the Economic Policy and Europe, visited the Observatory on the afternoon of 26 March 2003. The VIP was accompanied, among others, by Dr F.N. Byrne (Management Committee) and Mr David Gray (DCAL). Subsequently, Ms Angela Smith MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State with responsibility for the Department of the Environment (DOE), the Department for Regional Development (DRD), and the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure (DCAL), visited the Observatory, on 3 April 2003. 26


Group Terry Moseley Asteroid Event (All Ireland) NHS Retirement Fellowship (Northern Ireland) QUB Extramural Group Rotary TABU Group (Ireland and USA) Niels Steensen Gymnasium (Denmark) Royal Society of Ulster Architects Londonderry Field Naturalists Club IAA Summer Solstice Event Astro2 Maynooth (Students) Primary School Teachers European Heritage Day tours Faulkes Telescope Day tours Armagh Elim Church tour QUB Extramural Group

Date 15 Jan 5 Mar 10 Mar 2 Apr 7 Apr 7 May 8 May 21 Jun 11 Aug 26 Aug 20 Sep 17 Oct 24 Oct 27 Nov 2003 2003 2003 2003 2003 2003 2003 2003 2003 2003 2003 2003 2003 2003

Approximate Number 40 20 20 15 35 6 10 25 8 20 90 20 15 30

Table 5: Group visits and tours around the Armagh Observatory during 2003.

Senior DCAL visitors included Ms Marie Garvey (27 May 2003), Mr David Gray and Ms Kerry Savage (25 June 2003), Mr Mark Crockard (3 October 2003), and Helen Adamson and others (17 November 2003). Research and Other Visitors During the year, more than 20 external research staff visited the Armagh Observatory for discussions and collaboration on joint research pro jects. These included Katalin Olah (Konkoly Observatory, Budapest), Vacheslav Emel'yanenko (South Ural University, Chelyabinsk, Russia), Stan Owocki (Bartol Research Institute, University of Delaware, USA), Fathi Namouni (Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, Colorado, USA), Ramon Brasser (Turku, Finland), Stefan Dreizler (University of Tubingen, Germany), Youra Taroyan (University of Sheffield), Tigran Khanzadyan (MPIA, Hei�

Figure 9: Professors Geoffrey and Margaret Burbidge, in the Library of the Armagh Observatory, 28 July 2003, following Margaret's seminar on the problem of quasars in fields around low-redshift galaxies.

27


delberg, Germany), Tigran Movsessian (Byurakan Observatory, Armenia), Tigran Magakian (Byurakan Observatory, Armenia), Simon Glover (American Museum of Natural History, New York, USA), Roland Gredel (MPIA, Heidelberg, Germany), John Drilling (Louisiana State University, USA), Alex Rosen (DIAS and DCU, Dublin), Dirk Froebrich (DIAS, Dublin), Julio Fern� andez (Montevideo, Uruguay), Janacki Wickramasinghe (Cardiff ), Chris Trayner (University of Leeds), Simon O'Toole (Nurnberg, Ger� many), Carl Foley (MSSL), Ioannis Giannikakis (Athens, Greece), Maria Madjarska (MSSL, Surrey), and David Garc� Alvarez (Harvard-Smithsonian Observatory, USA). ia Amongst the external visitors, perhaps the most well known in the academic community were Professors Geoffrey and Margaret Burbidge, famous for their pioneering work on the origin of the chemical elements (Burbidge, Burbidge, Fowler and Hoyle, Reviews of Modern Physics, 29, 547�650, 1957). The Burbidges (see Figure 9, who have a research collaboration with Bill Napier on the analysis of apparent periodicities in the frequency distribution of redshifts associated with quasars, visited the Observatory on 28 July 2003 (see http://www.arm.ac.uk/press/Burbidge.html). Margaret Burbidge, a former Director of the Royal Greenwich Observatory, presented a seminar on her discovery of further puzzles relating to the redshift distribution and clustering of quasars apparently associated with nearby spiral galaxies undergoing starburst and related kinds of energetic nuclear activity. Work-Exp erience Students, Summer Students and Third-Level Training During 2003 the Observatory was for the first time able to supervise two undergraduates on the British Council supported International Association for the Exchange of Students for Technical Experience (IAESTE) programme, namely Gustavo Henrique Dopke (Brazil) and Agnieszka Drewniak (Poland). In principle, a student from Northern Ireland has the opportunity to study in a country of their choice for every student placed in a business or academic institution in Northern Ireland under this programme. A range of secondary and third-level students were supervised under the Observatory's work-experience and summer student training programmes, including the Nuffield-Sentinus scheme. These included Steven Hutchinson (Banbridge Academy, Banbridge), Carol Courtney (Glenola Collegiate School, Bangor), Carrie McLarnon (Newbridge Integrated College, Loughbrickland), Tania Hendron (Coleraine High School, Coleraine), Dylan Cochrane (Portadown College, Portadown), Thomas McKiernan (St Malachy's College, Belfast), Sorcha Pollak and Maeve O'Sullivan (Muckcross Park College, Dublin), Emma Stephenson (Strathearn Grammar School, Belfast), Lindsay Magill (Wallace High School, Belfast), David Holsgrove (Abbey Grammar School, Newry), Nigel Addis (QUB), Brendan Owens (Our Lady's Secondary School, Castleblaney, Ireland), Fergus Whiteside (Lorretto School, Musselborough, Scotland), Michael McGee (Methodist College, Belfast), Victoria Ridley (Tonbridge Grammar School for Girls, Tonbridge, England), and Anthony Moraghan (Trinity College, Dublin). As can be seen from this list, the Observatory attracts to Armagh young people not just from Northern Ireland but from Britain and Ireland and farther afield. Astropark Visits The number of visitors using the Armagh Astropark has been sampled on a regular basis for a number of years, and recorded systematically from April 2003. During 2003 (9 months data only) the counter recorded approximately 15,000 visitors to the Astropark. This undoubtedly includes many repeat visits by regular users of the facility, but the annual figure (approaching 20,000 visits) demonstrates the importance of the Astropark to people of all ages and from all sections of the community, both local residents and general visitors alike.

4.2

Light Pollution

Following the Observatory's initiative in 2002, drawing attention locally to the issue of light pollution and the problems it produces both for astronomy and awareness of the night sky, and for saving energy and improving the natural environment, Mark Bailey made a presentation on light pollution, on 7 May 2003, to the Armagh City and District Council Environment, Health and Recreation Committee. This focused specifically on the growing problem of light pollution in the City of Armagh. With the support of Councillors and Officers a motion to minimise light pollution in and around Armagh was adopted by the Committee, and subsequently (on 27 May 2003) by the whole Council. It is believed that Armagh is the first Council on the island of Ireland to have adopted such a motion. In essence, the policy recommends that all external lights, including streetlights, floodlights, security and perimeter lights should be fit for purpose and minimalistic; and that such lighting should be powerefficient, downward directed and shielded, in order to avoid light pollution and minimize cost, energy waste and other adverse environmental consequences. A short article on the Observatory's success in attracting Council support for the policy on light pollution subsequently appeared in a number of local newspapers. 28


Figure 10: Mark Bailey, Terry Moseley (President, IAA), Moira Moseley, Andy McCrea (Vice-President, IAA), David Asher and John McConnell (Chairman, East Antrim Astronomical Society) at the Armagh Observatory on the occasion of the reception to mark the naming of minor planet (16693) Moseley.

In addition, the Director of Environmental Services, Mr John Briggs, has advised that the Council has issued a directive that on all Council properties the use of up-lighters and other unnecessary forms of exterior illumination should be avoided where possible. Guidance on new commercial and residential constructions from Building Control also encourages developers to opt for more environmentally sensitive lighting wherever possible. The problem how best to overcome light pollution is of course a long-term issue, involving a balance between the requirements of an Observatory (essentially no external lights) and the health and safety of citizens who seek to enjoy the natural and built environment of the City after dark, and who expect at least a minimum amount of lighting to enable them to do so. Many of these questions were addressed in detail during 2003 by the influential Science and Technology Committee, which published an extensive report on the issue in two volumes (see HC 747-I and HC 747-II, available from http://www.parliament.uk/parliamentary committees/science and technology committee/science and technology committee reports and publications.cfm. The subsequent Government response (HC 127) is available from the same web-site. The Science and Technology Committee held a public debate on the sub ject in Westminster Hall on 12 February 2004, noting that:
"In its report, the Committee concluded that the ma jority of professional astronomy now takes place outside of the United Kingdom due to the poor and unpredictable weather conditions of the British Isles, their hemispherical position and to the continuing encroachment of light pollution on British skies. However, astronomy remains a growth sub ject of academic study, as demonstrated by the increase in the number of students at GCSE, undergraduate and postgraduate level. The Committee emphasised the importance of the amateur astronomy community in the UK, which provides important observational data to professional astronomers. Amateur astronomical societies, along with professional astronomers based in the UK, are also instrumental in introducing young and future scientists to astronomy and physics through open days at observatories and by bringing mobile planetaria to schools and groups. The Report criticised the defeatist attitude and inconsistent approach shown by the Government toward light pollution and astronomy in the UK. It found that the response from local authorities to those seeking protection from light nuisance was uneven and usually unhelpful. The Report provided recommendations on how light pollution can be controlled without reducing the levels of light needed for safe illumination of urban and rural environments. In particular, the Committee called for a clear policy on the use of street lighting and for new planning guidance to cover light pollution. The

29


Figure 11: The Science in the Gravity Bar Event, one of the evening sessions at the National Astronomy Meeting, Dublin. Image courtesy of the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies.

Committee was persuaded that light trespass was both measurable and controllable and recommended that obtrusive light be made a statutory nuisance."

In summary, the Armagh Observatory has made a good start within Armagh in addressing some of these questions, and will continue to press for improved, energy efficient `right lights' in all situations in or around Armagh where its ability to sustain its work or to carry out astronomical observations from Armagh might be compromised.

4.3

Events

Terry Moseley Asteroid Event A former resident of Armagh, Mr Terry Moseley, who for many years has played a leading role in the Irish Astronomical Association (IAA), was honoured by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) by having a minor planet named after him. The asteroid, the first to be discovered by David Asher, of the Armagh Observatory, was found at Siding Spring Observatory, Australia, on Boxing Day 1994, and the official announcement of the honour was made on 21 September 2002 in Minor Planet Circular No. 46683 issued by the IAU's Minor Planet Center, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. A reception to mark the event was held at the Armagh Observatory on 15 January 2003. More than 40 members of the IAA and local astronomy clubs from all corners of Ireland, as well as professional astronomers, attended the function to celebrate the naming of the minor planet. More details of the event are provided at http://star.arm.ac.uk/press/TerryMoseley-Asteroid.html. The formal citation reads as follows: (16693) Moseley = 1994 YC2 Discovered 1994 Dec. 26 by D.J. Asher at Siding Spring. Terence J.C.A. Moseley (b. 1946), editor of Stardust, 1992 Aidan P. Fitzgerald Medallist and founding member of the Irish Federation of Astronomical Societies, was the first amateur to use the recently restored six-foot Birr telescope in September 2001. The name was suggested by J.C. McConnell.

National Astronomy Meeting The Dublin National Astronomy Meeting and UK Solar Physics Meeting 2003 was the largest astronomy meeting ever held in Ireland with the exception of the IAU 30


General Assembly in 1955. A record number in excess of 530 participants attended more than 65 formal and less formal sessions from 7�11 April 2003. The meeting was noteworthy not only for the quality of the presentations but the strong interaction between participants. In part this was no doubt due to the excellent venue, Dublin Castle, at which the meeting was held. Not only was a lot of science communicated, but opportunities to network, exchange ideas and collaborate were maximized. The Armagh Observatory played a leading role in the arrangements for the meeting together with the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS) and five universities through the island of Ireland. In determining the programme for the NAM, a conscious effort was made to encompass the interests of the whole UK and Irish astronomical communities, including solar system astronomy, star and planet formation, space science, stellar astrophysics, solar physics and solar-terrestrial relationships, the interstellar medium, galaxies, active galactic nuclei, gamma-ray bursts, particle physics and cosmology. In addition, the meeting provided a forum for an excellent history of astronomy session as well as sessions on astronomy education, archaeoastronomy, and the usual, and some not so usual, lunchtime and evening events. One of these, sponsored by the British Council, was the highly successful `Science in the Gravity Bar' event, in the Guinness Hop Store, Dublin, where upwards of 200 conference participants joined Mark Bailey (Armagh Observatory) and Duncan Steel (University of Salford) to discuss the `asteroid threat' (see Figure 11). Master of ceremony for the evening was the Irish media presenter Eanna Ni Lamhda. A full report and summary of the meeting is available from the Armagh Observatory web-site at: http://www.arm.ac.uk/preprints/AAG44307.pdf and http://www.arm.ac.uk/preprints/AAG44313.pdf. IAA Summer Solstice BBQ The Irish Astronomical Association (IAA) held their annual Summer Solstice BBQ at the Observatory, on the afternoon and evening of 21 June 2003. Approximately 25 IAA members and guests attended the event, as well as Observatory staff and students. Activities included a tour of the main Observatory building and a talk by Mark Bailey on the latest developments at the Observatory and progress with both SALT and the HLF telescopes and telescope domes restoration pro ject. In addition, participants took part in a `treasure hunt' around the Armagh Astropark, with clues provided by work-experience student, Brendan Owens. Time Event The `Time Event', the second of two public events held in partnership with the Armagh Natural History and Philosophical Society and co-funded by the HLF Awards for All scheme, took place in the Studio Theatre, The Market Place, Armagh, on Sunday 26 October 2003. The principal speakers included: � Professor John Barrow FRS (University of Cambridge), a leading cosmologist and author, who reviewed some curious features of time in modern cosmology and physics and looked at the possibilities and consequences of time travel, whether time had a beginning and whether it will have an end; � Professor Iggy McGovern (TCD), a research physicist and poet, who posed the question: "What is the dimension of the present moment?" and looked at the treatment of Time in selected poetry; and � Mr Malachi O'Doherty, Managing Editor of Fortnight magazine, who presented a wide-ranging review of the sub jective experience of Time, drawing on his memoir "I Was A Teenage Catholic". The investigation of `Time' from both the scientific and humanities perspectives attracted an audience of approximately 140, from all parts of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Further details about this event, as well as a public information leaflet and an audio recording of the proceedings, are available at http://star.arm.ac.uk/publicevents/time.html.

5

Buildings, Grounds, Library and Archives

In addition to the Armagh Observatory's primary role to undertake original research of a world-class academic standard that broadens and expands our understanding of astronomy and related sciences, the Observatory also has an important responsibility to maintain and preserve the fabric of the historic buildings and the wealth of the scientific and intellectual heritage in its care. The main historic buildings, which are listed, have unique architectural features, and together with the library, historic books and archives, and the collection of scientific instruments and other artefacts built up over more than two hundred years of continuous astronomical activity in Armagh, contain one of Northern Ireland's most valuable scientific collections. 31


The Observatory also maintains a unique 210-year long meteorological record and data-bank (see http://climate.arm.ac.uk/). This provides it with a further important strand of activity, namely to understand and promote public understanding of environmental change, and particularly the known extraterrestrial causes of such change, for example the variable bolometric output of the Sun, longterm changes in the Earth's orbit, changes in the accretion of interplanetary dust on the Earth, and the implications of such changes (varying temperature and rainfall, incidence of gales and so on) for Northern Ireland in particular. Taken together, the scientific and architectural heritage of astronomy at Armagh is thus a highly significant asset: the entire collection -- books and scientific journals, instruments and scientific artefacts, historic telescopes and clocks, and scientific data -- encompasses virtually every aspect of modern astronomy. In many cases, the underlying motivation and reasons for the developments of astronomy at a particular time can be explained by direct reference to discoveries at Armagh, or to artefacts and other material held within the Library and Archives. This rich cultural heritage gives astronomers at Armagh a unique opportunity to explain the development of their sub ject over past centuries and the context in which modern research is carried out. Heritage Policy The Observatory's heritage policy is to maintain and preserve the historic buildings, telescopes, telescope domes, scientific instruments and other material in its care, to place restored instruments and artefacts in their original locations in the building so far as possible, and to add to and maintain the integrity of the historic Library and Archives as a coherent, growing collection for future generations. In this way, members of the public, researchers and others who visit the Observatory will be able to appreciate more clearly the conjunction of the `old' and the `new' at Armagh, and to comprehend the development of modern astronomy in the context of the historical development of astronomy as a whole.

5.1 5.2

Buildings, Telescop es and Telescop e Domes HLF Telescop e Domes Pro ject

A growing collection of images showing progress with the Telescopes and Telescope Domes restoration pro ject is available on the Armagh Observatory web-site (see http://star.arm.ac.uk/history/Domes/). The pro ject has been progressed satisfactorily and close to its original budget. The work on the main building, especially that necessary to refurbish the windows of the main Observatory and related alterations, caused significant upheaval and disruption for every member of staff working in the Observatory, who are to be commended on the way they maintained a high level of scientific output despite often difficult working conditions and the presence of builders and painters on site. Several key points are: 1. All the windows of the main building have been restored to full working order. The original fabric has been retained where possible, but where replacement was necessary it has been strictly in accordance with the original design. 2. The 1827 Dome has undergone complete restoration. Although the original dome structure had distorted due to decay of some important structural elements, it has now been rebuilt and is again fully operational. The wooden substructure of the 1827 Dome has been completely rebuilt using as much of the original structure as possible. The shutter has been renovated and is now in full working order, thereby allowing the dome to be opened for the first time in many years (probably since the Second World War). The original cast-iron band around the base of the revolving structure has been replaced with stainless steel, and the oak wall plate rebuilt and the castors restored. The outer copper skin of the dome has been replaced with new pre-patinated copper sheeting. The Observatory wishes to use this opportunity to compliment the skilled craftsmen involved, who all took a keen interest in this unusual and demanding pro ject. The Sinden Optical Company has made considerable progress with the restoration of the 1835 Grubb 15-inch reflector. The optics are complete and the new iron tube installed on the original mounting. The original mirror cell posed some problems which have now been overcome without any modification of the original fabric. New brass rack-mounts have been made to hold the Newtonian and Cassegrain eyepieces. and the telescope will be installed in the 1827 Dome early in 2004. 3. The roof of the Robinson Memorial Dome has been coated with a proprietary material `Kemporal', whilst its walls have been reclad with Oregon Pine and a replacement floor laid with pitch pine 32


Figure 12: The Grubb 15-inch Reflector under restoration at the Sinden Optical Company, Newcastle upon Tyne. David Sinden in the foreground. Image courtesy of the Sinden Optical Company.

salvaged from a building in England. A large display window has been inserted in the east wall so that the general public can view the 10-inch Grubb telescope without entering the Dome, and interior lighting has been installed to allow the instrument to be seen through the specially constructed viewing panel. The restoration of the building will be completed by new access steps to the North side. The new lens for the 10-inch Grubb Refractor is largely finished and awaits the manufacture of a new iron cell. Erection of the restored telescope was completed early in 2004, and it is now ready to receive its new optics. 4. The new 6-metre Calver Dome has been completed with a computer-controlled rotating dome constructed in the USA by `Observadome Inc'. The outer skin has been fitted and the windows and doors installed. 5. The Sinden Optical Company has supplied a new primary mirror for the 15-inch Grubb Reflector and a new ob jective lens for the 10-inch Grubb Refractor. The original 18-inch Calver mirror has also had to be replaced. Disp osal of the Schmidt Dome It had been expected that when the old Schmidt dome was demolished at the end of the HLF telescopes pro ject, the dome would simply be disposed of as scrap. However, during the summer of 2003 the Observatory received an enquiry from Mr Paul Ray (a drilling engineer from Aberdeen, Scotland) asking whether the dome might be suitable to house a renovated historic telescope of his own. Mr Ray is restoring an 1870, 7-inch Thomas Cooke & Sons Refractor, which was originally housed in a College that he had attended in the 1980s, but which was subsequently closed down. At this point the telescope was donated to Liverpool Hope University, from whom Mr Ray negotiated the sale of the historic refractor. 33


Figure 13: Location of the Human Orrery, between the Robinson Dome and the new Calver Dome. The position of the proposed new Library, Archive and Historic Scientific Instruments building is shown in outline. Drawing courtesy of Leighton Johnston Associates.

It is intended that this telescope will be installed and put back into action at a renovated farm steading some 25 miles west of Aberdeen. The use of the Schmidt dome for this purpose was an excellent opportunity for the Observatory to contribute to another historic telescope pro ject whilst giving the old dome a new lease of life. Accordingly, arrangements were made for transfer of the dome to Mr Ray, and it was dismantled and packed into crates for transport to Aberdeen during the weekend 12�14 September 2003.

5.3

The Human Orrery

Mark Bailey, Apostolos Christou and David Asher have developed ideas for a new outdoor exhibit in the Observatory grounds, called `The Human Orrery'. This will feature an accurate scale model of the positions and orbits of the six naked-eye planets, two comets, and an asteroid. The ob jective is to engage visitors to Armagh in a thought-provoking and inspiring open-air exhibit, and to use accompanying leaflets and activity sheets to introduce fundamental ideas about the Earth's position in space. The Orrery, which is the first ma jor addition to the Armagh Observatory Grounds and Astropark for more than a decade, will be located in an area roughly 24 metres across located south of the existing Library between the Robinson Dome and the planned new Library, Archive and Historic Scientific Instruments building (see Figures 13 and 14). It will help educators to communicate and explain key ideas in solar system astronomy, particularly orbits and time-dependent phenomena, and will eventually provide pointers to galactic and extragalactic ob jects. The most dynamic feature of the Human Orrery is its capacity to explain Kepler's laws of planetary motion in a fun and interesting way. A leader has simply to clap out time intervals of 16 days, and his or her assistants move around the Orrery tracing out the orbit and speed of each ob ject. For example, little

34


2 1.75 1.5 1.25 1 0.75 0.5 0.25 0 -0.25 -0.5 -0.75 -1 -1.25 -1.5 -1.75 -2 -2 -1.75 -1.5 -1.25 -1 -0.75 -0.5 -0.25 0 0.25 0.5 0.75 1 1.25 1.5 1.75 2

13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 -1 -2 -3 -4 -5 -6 -7 -8 -9 -10 -11 -12 -13 -13 -12 -11 -10 -9 -8 -7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6

7 8 9 10 11 12 13

Figure 14: The orbits of the six naked-eye planets, two comets (1P/Halley and 2P/Encke) and the main-belt asteroid (1) Ceres. Tiles are indicated at 16-day intervals for the terrestrial planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars), at 80-day intervals for Ceres and the two comets, and 160-day intervals for Jupiter and Saturn. The indicated scale is in metres.

Mercury whizzes round, followed by Venus, the Earth and a more sedate Mars, while Jupiter and Saturn creep forward, making just one revolution for every approximately 12 and 29 of the Earth respectively. This is a great way to appreciate the decrease of Keplerian velocity with heliocentric distance, and for the Educator to demonstrate concepts such as parallax and the occasional retrograde motion of Mars. Even a cursory inspection of the model can be used to illustrate the division of the inner planetary system into two principal parts, while the heliocentric ecliptic coordinate system provides an introduction to astronomical frames of reference. The model shows that the planetary orbits (especially those of Mercury and Mars) are distinctly elliptical with the Sun not at the centre but at a focus (Kepler's First Law), whilst detailed measurements of the separation and radial distances of successive tiles will allow investigations of the law of equal areas (Kepler's Second Law). Similarly, measurements can be used to illustrate the fact that the squares of the orbital periods of revolution of the planets are proportional to the cubes of their mean distances from the Sun (Kepler's Third Law). In this way, the Human Orrery can be used by educators as a rich, innovative and dynamic outdoor exhibit. It is intended that these and other concepts will be developed through a series of Human Orrery leaflets and activity sheets. For example, each numbered tile will be labelled with the planet's heliocentric distance, true anomaly and ecliptic longitude, so that a look-up table can be used to locate the positions of the planets `tonight', or when you were born, or at any other potentially interesting date. Visitors to the Observatory grounds will be able to identify planetary alignments, transits of Mercury and Venus, the morning and evening visibility of these and other planets, and indulge in a host of other engaging, interactive pursuits. Although the Human Orrery is primarily a tool to explain astronomy, the questions of distancescales, time-scales, and the dynamics and spatial interrelationships of solar system bodies lead naturally to issues such as the calendar, seasons, the equation of time, and precession of the equinoxes. This leads to a possible extension of the basic model so as to incorporate a circular band, indicated in the Figure beyond Saturn's ellipse as simply a red circular path, which will display ecliptic longitude, the First point of Aries, �, and the boundaries of the 13 zodiacal constellations through which the Sun passes in the course of a year, as well as the directions to various Galactic and extragalactic ob jects. The Human Orrery and its possible extension provides a further important opportunity for the Observatory to reach out to new audiences, and to explain why our modern world-view is so very different from that considered, for example, by the ancient Greeks or during much of recorded history. It is planned that the Human Orrery will be constructed during 2004 towards the end the main work associated with the HLF Telescopes and Telescope Domes restoration pro ject.

5.4

Library, Archive and Historic Scientific Instruments Building

This section briefly summarises work during 2003 in progressing the proposed new Library, Archive and Historic Scientific Instruments Building. 35


Rationale for a New Building Recent years have seen a marked increase in the volume of the Archives and Library holdings, with the result that the Library and Archive rooms are no longer adequate to house the entire collection. The pressure on space is exacerbated by the fact that the present library doubles as a meeting room, lecture theatre, and occasionally even as a reception area. The Library Annex, which is a temporary building, is full; the Library and Stack Room are seriously overcrowded; and the Archives and Historic Scientific Instruments rooms (both located in the Basement of the Main Building) provide no space for inspection of material and conservation work, and are now too small to hold the collection. During 2001, the Observatory entered into discussion with the Observatory architect (Mr Stephen Leighton) and Mr Dick Oram (formerly of the DoE Historic Buildings and Monuments Branch) with a view to developing a proposal that could be brought forward for support. Key constraints were: 1. any recommendation should meet all the requirements for funding by the HLF and other appropriate funding agencies; and 2. the proposed new building or adaptation of the existing library must complement and enhance the existing Grade A listed building and provide an aesthetically pleasing addition to the whole Observatory complex. Furthermore, it was agreed that the proposal should provide a secure exhibition space in which to display on a rotating, temporary basis the instrument collection and valuable books and manuscripts. There would be a self-guided tour facility for visitors, so that the history of the Observatory, the motivation for the development of astronomy in Armagh, and the past, current and future research activities of the astronomers at Armagh could be illustrated and explained in a secure setting with direct reference to the Observatory and its astronomical heritage. Practical Considerations The new building or library extension must also provide: � a long-term solution to the growing and increasingly urgent problem of lack of space in the Library, providing approximately 2,000 shelf-metres of space (roughly double the current amount), storage for manuscripts and other library material, and a modern, fully networked visitors' reading room; � appropriate environmental controls and storage space for the Observatory archives, including the electronic data archive, historic books, scientific instruments and manuscripts; � an appropriate environment for the photographic archive and a means to inspect the material; � space to carry out any necessary restoration and conservation work; � space for visiting academics to access and work with the Observatory's historic material; � space for a well-appointed Colloquium room for use by research staff, students and visiting groups, and large enough to allow the Observatory to host small scientific workshops and conferences on site; � a flexible internal space to accommodate possibly changing requirements during the pro jected longterm life of the building, with the capacity to separate the expected flow people arriving mainly on self-guided tours from the direction of the Planetarium from that of Observatory staff based largely in the main Observatory building, conducting their normal business or needing to use the Library, Archives or Colloquium room for their work; and � an addition to the whole Observatory complex that will complement and enhance the Grade A listed building and its later developments, and fit sensitively into the historic building complex in a way that reflects well the Observatory's principal function and 210-year historical development. The new building, which is estimated to cost approximately �2.5M at 2003 prices, will be located in approximately the same position as the existing Library, but extending further East (i.e. down the slope towards the Planetarium) and further South (i.e. towards the new Calver Dome), as shown in Figure 13. It will enhance the aesthetic of the existing Observatory complex and provide flexibility for future developments.

36


6

Conclusion

During 2003, the The Armagh Observatory has continued to carry out advanced research pro jects, to attract external income and staff into Northern Ireland, and to play an influential role in international astronomy, public understanding of science, and education. In recent years, as shown in Table 1 (p.iii), the Observatory has regularly attracted significant amounts of external (i.e. non-DCAL) funding, and has maintained a high level of research activity and an exceptionally high public profile. For a group that currently comprises only 5 Research Astronomers, the frequency with which members of staff appear in or are quoted in newspapers and other media is probably second to none. The Observatory is a successful research institute, with a scientific heritage reaching back more than 210 years and an image that reflects well both its own ob jectives and those of its core funding agency, the DCAL. With sufficient resources to carry out its work, the Observatory is in a strong position to play an influential role in both UK and international astronomy for years to come. The announcement of flat funding for Financial Year 2004/2005 will undoubtedly place severe constraints on the Observatory's ability to maintain its planned programmes of research, outreach and public understanding of science, and undermines its strategy to lay a strong foundation for the next Research Assessment Exercise. However, it remains well positioned to present a good impression of Armagh City and District Council and of Northern Ireland on the world stage, and to contribute both to departmental and cross-departmental ob jectives of the Northern Ireland government.

37


A
A.1

Board of Governors and Management Committee 2003
Board of Governors

The Board of Governors comprises the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh (Chairman), the Dean and Chapter of the Church of Ireland Cathedral of Armagh, 1 DCAL nominee, 1 QUB nominee, and up to 3 additional members nominated by the Board of Governors. Nominees normally serve for an initial period of 5 years with the possibility of extension.
� Chairman: His Grace, The Most Reverend Dr R.H.A. Eames, The Lord Archbishop of Armagh � The Very Reverend Dean H. Cassidy, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Armagh � The Venerable Archdeacon R.G. Hoey, Camlough � The Reverend Canon J.M. Barton, Acton � The Reverend Canon W.J.A. Dawson, Pomeroy � The Reverend Canon J.W. McKegney, Armagh � The Reverend Canon C.F. Moore, Newtownhamilton � The Reverend Canon H.J.W. Moore, Ballinderry � The Reverend Canon R.J.N. Porteus, Derryloran � The Reverend Canon F.D. Swann, Drumglass � Councillor W. Gardiner-Watson (DCAL Nominee) � Professor K.L. Bell, Queens University Belfast (QUB Nominee) � Dr E. Haughey, Ballyedmond Castle, Rostrevor (Board of Governors Nominee) � Professor Sir Martin Rees1 , Astronomer Royal, Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge (Board of Governors Nominee) � Professor D. Lynden-Bell2 , Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge (Board of Governors Nominee)

A.2

Management Committee

The Management Committee comprises the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh or his nominee (Chairman), 3 Nominees from the Board of Governors, 4 DCAL nominees, 1 QUB nominee, 1 PPARC nominee, 1 DIAS nominee, and up to 4 additional members co-opted by the Board of Governors. Nominees and those co-opted by the Governors normally serve for an initial period of 3�5 years with the possibility of extension.
� Chairman: His Grace The Most Reverend Dr R.H.A. Eames, The Lord Archbishop of Armagh � Deputy Chairman: Dr F.N. Byrne (Co-opted, Board of Governors) � The Venerable Archdeacon R.G. Hoey, Camlough (Board of Governors Nominee) � Professor K.L. Bell, Queens University Belfast (Board of Governors Nominee) � Professor D. Lynden-Bell3 , Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge (Board of Governors Nominee) � � Dr E.M. (A.) Downey (DCAL Nominee) � Mrs S. Hogg (DCAL Nominee) � Mr T. Nolan4 (DCAL Nominee) � Mrs M. Cruikshank (DCAL Nominee) � Professor P.L. Dufton, Queens University Belfast (QUB Nominee) � Professor M.S. Merrifield, University of Nottingham (PPARC Nominee) � Professor L. Drury, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS Nominee) � Sir Kenneth Bloomfield (Co-opted, Board of Governors) � Professor D.A. Williams, University College London (Co-opted, Board of Governors)

1 2 3 4

Resigned Septemb er 2003 Resigned March 2004 Resigned June 2003 Died Septemb er 2003

38


B

Armagh Observatory Staff 2003
Title, Name and Computer Username Position Notes Base Cost Centre

1 2 3 4 5 6

Professor Mark E. Bailey Dr C. John Butler Dr Apostolos Christou Professor J. Gerry Doyle Dr C. Simon Jeffery Dr Michael D. Smith Professor Bill M. Napier

meb cjb aac jgd csj mds wmn dja hmm gc jmf stk ambn mc lfy yat chl amir ntb amgs bbk jma boc mdp brc iuu cwr

Director Research Research Research Research Research

Astronomer Astronomer Astronomer Astronomer Astronomer

OBS OBS OBS OBS OBS OBS OBS OBS OBS OBS OBS OBS OBS OBS OBS OBS/PLA PPARC CosmoGrid F/T P/T Op F/T P/T F/T F/T F/T F/T F/T P/T Op F/T F/T QUB en Univ. QUB QUB QUB QUB TCD QUB QUB en Univ. QUB QUB OBS OBS OBS Home OBS OBS OBS OBS OBS OBS OBS Home OBS OBS

OBS OBS OBS OBS OBS OBS OBS OBS OBS OBS OBS OBS Rutledge OBS OBS OBS/PLA OBS OBS OBS Self OBS OBS OBS OBS OBS OBS OBS Self OBS OBS

Emeritus Honorary Professor Research Fellow Computer Systems Manager Software/Hardware Support Librarian/PRO/Archivist Grounds/Meteorological Officer Assistant Groundsman Group Secretary/Admin. Support Accounts Officer Joint Administrator Postdoctoral Research Assistant Postdoctoral Research Assistant Research Research Research Research Research Research Research Research Research Research Research Research Student Student Student Student Student Student Student Student Student Student Student Student (PhD) (PhD) (PhD) (PhD) (PhD) (PhD) (PhD) (PhD) (PhD) (PhD) (PhD) (PhD)

7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

Dr David J. Asher Mr H. Martin Murphy Mr Geoff Coxhead Mr John McFarland Mr Shane T. Kelly Mr Bernard Toner Mrs Aileen McKee Mrs Margaret Cherry Mr Lawrence F. Young Dr Youra Taroyan Dr Chia-Hsien Lin Mr Mr Ms Ms Ms Mr Mr Ms Mr Mr Mr Mr Amir Ahmad Eamonn Ansbro Natalie Behara Ana M. Garc� Suarez ia � Hayati Bebe Hajra Ishak Jonathan McAuliffe Barry O'Connell Miruna Popescu Babulakshmanan Ramachandran P. Nick Sleep Ignacio Ugarte Urra Christopher Winter

Armagh Observatory staff position at 2003 December 31. Temporary staff such as summer students are not shown, nor are two PDRAs (Maria Madjarska and Alex Rosen), who left on 31 May and 30 June 2003 respectively, and a PhD student Georgi Pavlovski, who left on 30 November 2003, having completed his PhD.

39


C

Refereed Journal Publications 2003
1. Ahmad, A., Jeffery, C.S., 2003, "Physical parameters of helium-rich subdwarf B stars from medium resolution optical spectroscopy", Astronomy and Astrophysics, 402, 335�342. 2. Christou, A., 2003, "The statistics of flight opportunities to accessible near-Earth asteroids", Planetary and Space Science, 51, 221�231. 3. Club e, S.V.M., 2003, "An exceptional cosmic influence and its bearing on the evolution of human culture as evident in the apparent early development of mathematics and astronomy", Astrophysics & Space Science, 285, 521�532. 4. Davis, C.J., Smith, M.D., Stern, L., Kerr, T.H., Chiar, J.E., 2003, "Near-infrared spectroscopy of (proto)-planetary nebulae: molecular hydrogen excitation as an evolutionary tracer", Monthly Notices Royal Astronomical Society, 344, 262�282. 5. Doyle, J.G., Dzifcakov� E., Madjarska, M.S., 2003, "Coronal oscillations above sunspots", a, Solar Physics, 218, 79�84. 6. Doyle, J.G., Madjarska, M.S., 2003, "Sunspot plume observations in the EUV. The gas pressure differential between the umbra and surrounding region", Astronomy and Astrophysics, 407, L29� L32. 7. Dunkin, S.K., Grande, M., Casanova, I., Fernandes, V., Heather, D.J., Kellett, B., Muinonen, K., Russell, S.S., Browning, R., Waltham, N., Parker, D., Kent, B., Perry, C.H., Swinyard, B., Perry, A., Feraday, J., Howe, C., Phillips, K., McBride, G., Huovelin, J., Muhli, P., Hakala, P.J., Vilhu, O., Thomas, N., Hughes, D., Alleyne, H., Grady, M., Lundin, R., Barabash, S., Baker, D., Clark, P.E., Murray, C.D., Guest, J., D'Uston, L.C., Maurice, S., Foing, B., Christou, A., Owen, C., Charles, P., Laukkanen, J., Koskinen, H., Kato, M., Sipilaa, K., Nenonen, S., Holmstrom, M., Bhandari, N., Elphic, R., Lawrence, D., 2003, "Scientific rationale for the D-CIXS X-ray spectrometer on board ESA's SMART-1 mission to the Moon", Planetary and Space Science, 51, 435�442. 8. Emel'yanenko, V.V., Asher, D.J., Bailey, M.E., 2003, " A new class of trans-Neptunian ob jects in high-eccentricity orbits", Monthly Notices Royal Astronomical Society, 338, 443�451. 9. Erd� elyi, R., Taroyan, Y., 2003, "On resonantly excited MHD waves in the magnetotail", Journal of Geophysical Research, 108, SMP 23 - 1�15.

10. Froebrich, D., Smith, M.D., Eisl� offel, J., 2003, "Shocks in protostellar flows", Astrophysics and Space Science, 287, 217�220. 11. Froebrich, D., Smith, M.D., Hodapp, K.-W., Eisl� offel, J., 2003, "Far-infrared photometry of deeply embedded outflow sources", Monthly Notices Royal Astronomical Society, 346, 163�176. 12. Garc� Alvarez, D., Barnes, J.R., Collier Cameron, A., Doyle, J.G., Messina, S., Lanza, A.F., ia Rodon` M., 2003, "Doppler images of the RS CVn binary HR 1099 (V711 Tau) from the MUSICOS o, 1998 campaign", Astronomy and Astrophysics, 402, 1073�1083. 13. Garc� Alvarez, D., Foing, B.H. Montes, D., Oliveira, J., Doyle, J.G., Messina, S., Lanza, A.F., ia Rodon` M., Abbott, J., Ash, T.D.C., Baldry, I.K., Bedding, T.R., Buckley, D.A.H., Cami, J., Cao, o, H., Catala, C., Cheng, K.P., Domiciano de Souza, A., Donati, J.-F., Hubert, �,-M., Janot-Pacheco, E., Hao, J.X., Kaper, L., Kaufer, A., Leister, N.V., Neff, J.E., Neiner, C., Orlando, S., O'Toole, S.J., Sch� afer, D., Smartt, S.J., Stahl, O., Telting, J., Tubbesing, S., 2003, "Simultaneous optical and X-ray observations of flares and rotational modulation on the RS CVn binary HR 1099 (V711 Tau) from the MUSICOS 1998 campaign", Astronomy and Astrophysics, 397, 285�303. 14. Grande, M., Browning, R., Waltham, N., Parker, D., Dunkin, S.K., Kent, B., Kellett, B., Perry, C.H., Swinyard, B., Perry, A., Feraday, J., Howe, C., McBride, G., Phillips, K., Kuovelin, J., Muhli, P., Hakala, P.J., Vilhu, O., Laukkanen, J., Thomas, N., Hughes, D., Alleyne, H., Grady, M., Lundin, R., Barabash, S., Baker, D., Clark, P.E., Murray, C.D., Guest, J., Casanova, I., D'Uston, L.C., Maurice, S., Foing, B., Heather, D.J., Fernandes, V., Muinonen, K., Russell, S.S., Christou, A., Owen, C., Charles, P., Koskinen, H., Kato, M., Sipila, K., Nenonen, S., Holmstrom, M., Bhandari, N., Elphic, R., Lawrence, D., 2003, "The D-CIXS X-ray mapping spectrometer on SMART-1", Planetary and Space Science, 51, 427�433. 40


15. Horner J., Evans N.W., Bailey M.E., Asher D.J., "The populations of comet-like bodies in the Solar system", Monthly Notices Royal Astronomical Society, 343, 1057�1066. 16. Jones, H.P., Branston, D.D., Jones, P.B., Pop escu, M.D., 2003, "Comparison of total solar irradiance with NASA/National Solar Observatory spectromagnetograph data in solar cycles 22 and 23", Astrophysical Journal, 589, 658�664. 17. Jeffers S.V., Asher D.J., 2003, "Theoretical calculation of the cratering on Ida, Mathilde, Eros and Gaspra", Monthly Notices Royal Astronomical Society, 343, 56�66. 18. Khanzadyan, T., Smith, M.D., Davis, C.J., Gredel, R., Stanke, T., Chrysostomou, A., 2003, "A multi-epoch near-infrared study of the HH 7�77 protostellar outflow", Monthly Notices Royal Astronomical Society, 338, 57�66. 19. Madjarska, M.S., Doyle, J.G., 2003, "Simultaneous observations of solar transition region blinkers and explosive events by SUMER, CDS and BBSO. Are blinkers, explosive events and spicules the same phenomenon?", Astronomy and Astrophysics, 403, 731�741. 20. Madjarska, M.S., Doyle, J.G., Teriaca, L., Banerjee, D., 2003, "An EUV bright point as seen by SUMER, CDS, MDI and EIT on-board SoHO", Astronomy and Astrophysics, 398, 775�784. 21. Movsessian, T., Khanzadyan, T., Magakian, T., Smith, M.D., Nikogosian, E., 2003, "An optical and near-infrared exploration of the star formation region in Cygnus surrounding RNO 127", Astronomy and Astrophysics, 412, 147�156. 22. Napier, W.M., 2003a, "A statistical evaluation of anomalous redshift claims", Astrophysics and Space Science, 285, 419�427. 23. Napier, W.M., 2003b, "Giant comets and human culture", Astrophysics and Space Science, 285, 513�520. 24. Napier, W.M., Burbidge, G., 2003, "The detection of periodicity in QSO data sets", Monthly Notices Royal Astronomical Society, 342, 601�604. 25. Rosen, A., Smith, M.D., 2003, "Simulations of evolving or outbursting molecular protostellar jets", Monthly Notices Royal Astronomical Society, 343, 181�191. 26. Smith, M.A., Jeffery, C.S., 2003, "Spectral response of the pulsationally induced shocks in the atmosphere of BW Vulpeculae", Monthly Notices Royal Astronomical Society, 341, 1141�1150. 27. Smith, M.D., 2003, "Numerical simulations of jet propagation", Astrophysics and Space Science, 287, 195�206. 28. Smith, M.D., Froebrich, D., Eisl� offel, J., 2003, "Multiwavelength spectroscopy of the bipolar outflow from Cepheus E", Astrophysical Journal, 592, 245�254. 29. Smith, M.D., Khanzadyan, T., Davis, C.J., 2003, "Anatomy of the Herbig-Haro ob ject HH7 bow shock", Monthly Notices Royal Astronomical Society, 339, 524�536. 30. Smith, M.D., Rosen, A., 2003, "The instability of fast shocks in molecular clouds", Monthly Notices Royal Astronomical Society, 339, 133�147. 31. Taroyan, Y., Erd� elyi, R., 2003a, "Steady state excitation of field line resonances by global waveguide modes in the magnetosphere", Journal of Geophysical Research, 108, SMP 19 - 1�15. 32. Taroyan, Y., Erd� elyi, R., 2003b, "Resonant surface waves and instabilities in finite plasmas", Physics of Plasmas, 10, 266�276. 33. Vaubaillon J., Lyytinen E., Nissinen M., Asher D.J., "The 2003 Leonid shower from different approaches", WGN, The Journal of the International Meteor Organization, 31, 131�134. 34. Yanagisawa, T., Ohnishi, K., Torii, K., Kohama, M., Naka jima, A., Asher, D., 2003, "Highprecision radiant analysis of the 2001 Leonids using telescopic optics", Publications Astronomical Society of Japan, 55, 553�557.

41


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D

Presentations by Armagh Observatory Staff 2003

42
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Identified Media Mentions 2003
Armagh Observatory Media Mentions: Calendar Year 2003. Observatory-authored items indicated by `
OBS

'.

Running Total

Approximate Date

Main Subject, Author, and Other Details

Newspap er, Radio, TV Programme etc.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

01-Jan-03 01-Jan-03 01-Jan-03 01-Jan-03 01-Jan-03 01-Jan-03 02-Jan-03 02-Jan-03 02-Jan-03 02-Jan-03 02-Jan-03 02-Jan-03 03-Jan-03 03-Jan-03 03-Jan-03 09-Jan-03 09-Jan-03 14-Jan-03 15-Jan-03 15-Jan-03 16-Jan-03 16-Jan-03 16-Jan-03 17-Jan-03 21-Jan-03 23-Jan-03 23-Jan-03 26-Jan-03 27-Jan-03 27-Jan-03 27-Jan-03 29-Jan-03 29-Jan-03 01-Feb-03 01-Feb-03 01-Feb-03 01-Feb-03 01-Feb-03 01-Feb-03 01-Feb-03 01-Feb-03 01-Feb-03 03-Feb-03 05-Feb-03 05-Feb-03 05-Feb-03 06-Feb-03 06-Feb-03 07-Feb-03 12-Feb-03 19-Feb-03 20-Feb-03 01-Mar-03 03-Mar-03 06-Mar-03 06-Mar-03 06-Mar-03 06-Mar-03 15-Mar-03 01-Apr-03

OBS OBS OBS OBS OBS OBS OBS OBS OBS OBS OBS OBS OBS OBS OBS OBS OBS

OBS OBS OBS OBS OBS OBS

OBS

OBS

OBS OBS

A Lo ok Back at Ballyclare -- 2002 Observations by many Armagh Observatory memb ers of staff Leonids Storm! (Dave McCann) The storminess record from Armagh Observatory 1799� 1999 (K. Hickey) 2003 Calendar 2002 wettest year since 1852 (jmf ) Two Comets for the New Year (jmf ) 2002 wettest year since 1852 (jmf ) 2002 wettest year since 1852 (jmf ) Two Comets for the New Year (jmf ) 2002 wettest year since 1852 (jmf ) 2002 wettest year since 1852 (jmf ) 2002 wettest year since 1852 (jmf ) Two Comets for the New Year (jmf ) 2002 wettest year since 1852 (jmf ) 2002 wettest year since 1852 (jmf ) Two Comets for the New Year (jmf ) First Andrew Trimble Memorial Lecture Armagh `Old Boy' receives asteroid (jmf/meb) Armagh `Old Boy' receives asteroid (jmf/meb) Armagh `Old Boy' receives asteroid (jmf/meb) Armagh `Old Boy' receives asteroid (jmf/meb) Armagh `Old Boy' receives asteroid (jmf/meb) Leonid Multi-Instrument Aircraft Campaign Andrew Trimble Memorial Lecture (J. McConnell) Award for Armagh Observatory (jgd) Award for Armagh Observatory (jgd) Asteroid Moseley Armagh has mildest January day in over 150 years (jmf ) Armagh has mildest January day in over 150 years (jmf ) Armagh has mildest January day in over 150 years (jmf ) Armagh has mildest January day in over 150 years (jmf ) So ciety to host Andrew Trimble Memorial Lecture (J. McConnell) Asteroids and Comets Robinson Lecture 2002 (Emmet Mordaunt) The 2002 Leonids kick up a storm (Neil Bone) Giant Comets: Source Regions and Possible Effects on Earth Leonids Leonids The Leonid storms of 2002 (Neil Bone) Giant Comets lecture by Mark Bailey IAA Memb er has asteroid named after him Columbia Space Shuttle disaster January slightly milder than usual (jmf ) Current celestial events International Space Station January slightly milder than usual (jmf ) Weather in 2002 at Armagh Observatory Giant Comets: Sources and Terrestrial Effects EAAS hosts Andrew Trimble Memorial Lecture EAAS hosts Andrew Trimble Memorial Lecture Comedy Night at the Market Place Theatre Erratum Comets and Vesta February Sunnier and Milder than Average (jmf ) Obituary: Mr Carson Davidson February Sunnier and Milder than Average (jmf ) Patrick Mo ore -- 80 Not Out Let's Not Go There! (Gerry Byrne) East Antrim Astronomical So ciety

Ballyclare Gazette Stardust Astronomy & Space Weather Bank of Ireland Downtown Radio The Irish News The Irish News Radio Ulster: Go o d Morning Ulster Radio Ulster: Talkback BBC Newsline UTV Life Daily Mirror Belfast Telegraph Belfast Telegraph Ulster Gazette Ulster Gazette East Antrim Astronomical So ciety Tyrone Courier The Irish News Ulster Gazette Armagh Observer BBC Radio Ulster: Go o d Morning Ulster http://leonid.arc.nasa.gov East Antrim Astronomical So ciety Ulster Gazette Armagh Observer Downtown Radio Radio Ulster Co ol FM UTV Life Tyrone Courier East Antrim Gazette Belfast Telegraph Sp ecial Edition: Space Science Astronomy & Space Astronomy Now Astronomy Now RASC: SkyNews Astronomy & Space Journal of the British Astronomical Asso ciation Astronomy Ireland flyer Orbit Mid 106 FM Tyrone Courier Ireland on Sunday Belfast Cityb eat Radio Ulster Gazette Ian Ripp ey's e-circular LM FM Radio (Eastern Ireland) East Antrim Guardian East Antrim Gazette Ulster Gazette Astronomy & Space EAAS Newsletter Ulster Gazette Ulster Gazette Armagh Observer BBC Radio Ulster: John Bennett programme The Irish Indep endent Weekend Astronomy & Space

45


Armagh Observatory Media Mentions: Calendar Year 2003. Observatory-authored items indicated by `
Running Total Approximate Date Main Subject, Author, and Other Details

OBS

'.

Newspap er, Radio, TV Programme etc.

61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108

OBS OBS OBS OBS

01-Apr-03 01-Apr-03 01-Apr-03 01-Apr-03 01-Apr-03 01-Apr-03 03-Apr-03 03-Apr-03 03-Apr-03 03-Apr-03 07-Apr-03 07-Apr-03 08-Apr-03 08-Apr-03 08-Apr-03 08-Apr-03 09-Apr-03 09-Apr-03 09-Apr-03 10-Apr-03 10-Apr-03 10-Apr-03 10-Apr-03 10-Apr-03 10-Apr-03 10-Apr-03 13-Apr-03 13-Apr-03 14-Apr-03 15-Apr-03 22-Apr-03 28-Apr-03 28-Apr-03 30-Apr-03 01-May-03 03-May-03 07-May-03 08-May-03 08-May-03 08-May-03 15-May-03 30-May-03 31-May-03 01-Jun-03 01-Jun-03 01-Jun-03 01-Jun-03 01-Jun-03 01-Jun-03 04-Jun-03 04-Jun-03 05-Jun-03 05-Jun-03 05-Jun-03 19-Jun-03

OBS OBS

OBS OBS

OBS OBS OBS OBS OBS OBS OBS

OBS

109 110 OBS 111 OBS 112 OBS 113 OBS 114 115

Cannibals in Space (Simon Jeffery) Irish asteroid honour What's in a name? (Carole Stott) The Leviathan of Kingsland (Mike Foylan) Mild sunny March (jmf ) Meteorological records at the Armagh Observatory Mild sunny March (jmf ) Minister visits Armagh Observatory and Planetarium (meb) Minister visits Armagh Observatory and Planetarium (meb) Pearson fo cuses on Armagh Romantic Forecast is Sunny for Lib Dem MP (Gemma Murray) Brilliant new website Armagh Observatory: there's so much more than meets the eye (Julie Corb ett) Poster at NAM: Science in the Gravity Bar Asteroid Impacts Asteroid Impacts Astronomical So ciety hits the Starry Heights! (Judith Cole) Astronomical So ciety hits the Starry Heights! (Judith Cole) Astronomical So ciety hits the Starry Heights! (Judith Cole) Sky's the limit for Planetarium Easter Treasure Hunt Easter Treasure Hunt Mild sunny March (jmf ) Minister visits Armagh (meb) Armagh Rotary Club President welcomes Chicago to Armagh Near Earth Asteroids b ecome future mining targets Asteroid analysis missions could prevent Armageddon Asteroid analysis missions could prevent Armageddon Asteroid analysis missions could prevent Armageddon Prometheus's Fire: A History of Scientific and Technological Education in Ireland Reaching for the Asteroids Mercury passes in front of Sun (jmf ) Mercury passes in front of Sun (jmf ) Physicists of Ireland: Passion and Precision (McCartney and Whitaker) Mercury passes in front of Sun (jmf ) Asteroid retriever spacecraft blasts off Mercury passes in front of Sun (jmf ) Total Lunar Eclipse (jmf ) Mild sunny April (jmf ) Mild sunny April (jmf ) Total Lunar Eclipse (jmf ) Partial Solar Eclipse (jmf ) Ulster in search for distant planets Reaching for the asteroids National Astronomy Meeting Dublin days: the 2003 NAM (Mark Bailey and Tom Ray) The Leonid meteor shower in 1999 (Neil Bone) The Science and Risk of Near Earth Objects (Mark Bailey) A pint of asteroids please Dull wet May (jmf ) Observatory sheds light on p ollution problem in Armagh Council backs light p ollution reduction (meb and Tanya Fowles) Observatory wins Council supp ort on light p ollution Project up date Light p ollution: increasing complaints

Astronomy & Space Astronomy Now Astronomy Now Astronomy & Space Downtown Radio BBC1 TV Ulster Gazette Ulster Gazette Armagh Observer Armagh Observer News Letter EAAS Newsletter Physics in Ireland (Institute of Physics in Ireland) British Council BBC Radio 4: World Tonight News BBC World Service East Antrim Guardian Antrim Guardian Ballymena Guardian Ulster Gazette Ulster Gazette Armagh Observer Armagh Observer Armagh Observer Armagh Observer NEO Information Centre The Sunday Herald http://www.sundayherald.com/33045 CCNet Tyndall Publications SpaceDaily The Irish News The Irish News Online Institute of Physics Ulster Gazette NewScientist.com The Irish News Armagh Observer Ulster Gazette Tyrone Times Ulster Gazette News Letter News Letter Astronomy Now Astronomy & Space Astronomy and Geophysics Journal of the British Astronomical Asso ciation Phob os: Journal of the West Yorkshire Astronomical So ciety British Council News Tyrone Courier Tyrone Courier Ulster Gazette Armagh Observer Armagh Observer Armagh Observer

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Armagh Observatory Media Mentions: Calendar Year 2003. Observatory-authored items indicated by `
Running Total Approximate Date Main Subject, Author, and Other Details

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116 OBS 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 OBS 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176

26-Jun-03 26-Jun-03 26-Jun-03 01-Jul-03 09-Jul-03 10-Jul-03 10-Jul-03 23-Jul-03 24-Jul-03 24-Jul-03 25-Jul-03 31-Jul-03 01-Aug-03 01-Aug-03 01-Aug-03 01-Aug-03 01-Aug-03 05-Aug-03 05-Aug-03 05-Aug-03 06-Aug-03 06-Aug-03 07-Aug-03 07-Aug-03 07-Aug-03 07-Aug-03 08-Aug-03 08-Aug-03 08-Aug-03 08-Aug-03 08-Aug-03 11-Aug-03 12-Aug-03 12-Aug-03 12-Aug-03 12-Aug-03 13-Aug-03 19-Aug-03 21-Aug-03 22-Aug-03 22-Aug-03 27-Aug-03 28-Aug-03 28-Aug-03 01-Sep-03 02-Sep-03 02-Sep-03 02-Sep-03 04-Sep-03 04-Sep-03 04-Sep-03 10-Sep-03 11-Sep-03 12-Sep-03 13-Sep-03 17-Sep-03 18-Sep-03 18-Sep-03 23-Sep-03 25-Sep-03 06-Oct-03

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New Observatory Dome arrives in Belfast (jmf/meb) Mirror/Mirror (Mark Pendergrast) Possible June Bo otid (Iota-Draconid) Outburst June 27 (Peter Jenniskens) Mercury transit and annular solar eclipse rep orts June wetter than normal (jmf ) June wetter than normal (jmf ) New Observatory Dome arrives in Belfast (jmf/meb) Armagh Observatory: Observatory holds unique records Armagh Observatory as highlight of Armagh Drawing of Armagh Observatory Flo o d fury spills over after storm (Eleanor McGillie) Armagh out on top in new tourist guide New dome for Armagh scop e (John Mo ore) National Astronomy Week Thomas Romney Robinson (Ellis Myers) BAA Ordinary Meeting, 2002 Novemb er 30 Perseids Scorcher! (jmf ) Scorcher! (jmf ) Scorcher! (jmf ) The Perseid Meteor Shower (jmf ) Scorcher! (jmf ) Warm dull July (jmf ) The Perseid Meteor Shower (jmf ) Renowned astrophysicists visit Armagh (jmf ) Scorcher! (jmf ) Warm dull July (jmf ) The Perseid Meteor Shower (jmf ) Warm dull July (jmf ) and Scorcher! (jmf ) Beagle 2 (aac) Perseids set for sky show (Joan Miller) Mars le teacht nios gaire The Perseid Meteor Shower (jmf ) Where am I? (John Bennett) Holiday -- Around the UK -- N. Ireland Crazy Names: The Solar System's Nomenclature Wars (Rob ert Roy Britt) Scorcher! (jmf ) The Armagh Observatory A Postcard from Ireland (David Conner) Restoration Restoration Secrets Mars Summer students show their paces (meb) Mars Summer events a great success (John McConnell) Minor Planet 2003 QQ47 (meb TV Interview) Minor Planet 2003 QQ47 (meb TV Interview) Minor Planet 2003 QQ47 (meb TV Interview) Archives on Display in Armagh (meb/Carol Conlin) Archives on Display in Armagh (meb/Carol Conlin) Archives on Display in Armagh (meb/Carol Conlin) Dry warm August (jmf ) Explore heritage and culture Op en Days 2003 There's something out there . . . (Ben Lowry) Europ ean Heritage Op en Day Armagh Observatory and staff Dry warm August (jmf ) Archives on Display in Armagh (meb/Carol Conlin) Strange sighting (meb interviewed) Europ ean Mo on mission set for blast off (Will Knight) Time Event

Ulster Gazette Basic Bo oks Sky and Telescop e: AstroAlert Stardust Tyrone Courier Ulster Gazette Armagh Observer Green Tourism and Heritage Guide UK BBC TV Northern Ireland News BBC TV Northern Ireland Tyrone Times Ulster Gazette Astronomy Now Astronomy Now Mount Diablo Astronomical So ciety Newsletter Journal of the British Astronomical Asso ciation BBC Radio Ulster Downtown Radio UTV Life BBC TV Newsline Tyrone Courier The Irish News Ulster Gazette Ulster Gazette Ulster Gazette Armagh Observer Portadown Times Tyrone Times Tyrone Times TV3 Republic of Ireland BBC Online La � News Letter http://www.bb c.co.uk/northernireland/jb/ where/2002-147.shtml http://www.bb c.co.uk/holiday/webguide/ sub cat.shtml?aroundtheuk/nireland/0 Space.com Ulster Gazette The Eco-Friendly Review (Northampton Journal) http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.conner/ IRELAND.htm BBC2 TV BBC4 TV The Irish News Ulster Gazette BBC Radio Ulster EAAS Newsletter BBC1 TV National News BBC World TV - India BBC World TV Ulster Gazette Armagh Observer Armagh-Down Observer Tyrone Courier Ulster Gazette Belfast Telegraph BBC Radio Ulster: Your Place and Mine The Encyclopaedia of Ireland Ulster Gazette Armagh Observer UTV Live NewScientist.com EAAS Newsletter

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Armagh Observatory Media Mentions: Calendar Year 2003. Observatory-authored items indicated by `
Running Total Approximate Date Main Subject, Author, and Other Details

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Newspap er, Radio, TV Programme etc.

177 178 OBS 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196
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06-Oct-03 07-Oct-03 07-Oct-03 07-Oct-03 07-Oct-03 10-Oct-03 12-Oct-03 17-Oct-03 22-Oct-03 24-Oct-03 25-Oct-03 25-Oct-03 30-Oct-03 30-Oct-03 30-Oct-03 30-Oct-03 31-Oct-03 01-Nov-03 01-Nov-03 01-Nov-03 01-Nov-03 03-Nov-03 05-Nov-03 05-Nov-03 06-Nov-03 06-Nov-03 07-Nov-03 11-Nov-03 13-Nov-03 16-Nov-03 17-Nov-03 20-Nov-03 21-Nov-03 21-Nov-03 24-Nov-03 28-Nov-03 30-Nov-03 02-Dec-03 01-Dec-03 02-Dec-03 03-Dec-03 04-Dec-03 10-Dec-03 19-Dec-03 22-Dec-03 23-Dec-03 23-Dec-03 31-Dec-03 31-Dec-03

Light Pollution and Astronomy Lose sight of the stars and we lose ourselves (meb) Lunar images Lunar images Lunar images Fair weather Septemb er (jmf ) Armagh Observatory's current and planned activities Stop and Visit What is Time? (meb) British Summer Time Taking time to talk ab out Time (Suzanne McGonagle) What is Time? (meb) Aurora Sup erb Aurora (jmf ) Sup erb Aurora (jmf ) Sup erb Aurora (jmf ) Northern Ireland East Antrim Astro-Day Observatory extension -- West Yorkshire AS A novel approach to the Public Understanding of Science (wmn/meb) Restoring order to the deep sky (Steve Gottlieb) Northern Ireland Trainee of the Year 2003 Eclipses will play an imp ortant role Survey of Visitor Attractions Annual Rep ort 2002 Sup erb Aurora (jmf ) Sup erb Aurora (jmf ) Taurid meteor shower (John Roach) 2003 LEONID PREDICTIONS (Rainer Arlt) Meteors from Comet Temp el-Tuttle (jmf ) Songs of Praise Armagh's stormy sp ells and quiet times (Brendan McWilliams) Posters: Giant Comets: Source Regions and Possible Effects on the Earth (meb) Scientists unveil new life on earth theory Aurora photographs (jmf ) Aurora photographs Flyer: British Council `Hazards from Near Earth Objects' Hazards from Near Earth Objects Mild Novemb er (jmf ) William Herschel's Involvement in Armagh Observatory Sale of Rare Bo oks, MSS, Maps . . . Mild Novemb er (jmf ) Mild Novemb er (jmf ) Inter-world life transp ort argued (David Whitehouse) What I'm Reading (meb) Astronomy and astrophysics to b e the fo cus of Spring Weekend 2004 Quadrantid meteors herald the new year (jmf ) Aurora -- the facts b ehind the myths (jgd) Spread of life through the galaxy (wmn/ChandraW) Quadrantid meteors herald the new year (jmf )

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House of Commons Sci. and Tech Comm., 7th Rep ort, Session 2002�2003 The Times http://www.sstd.rl.ac.uk/SMART-1/index.htm http://www.sstd.rl.ac.uk/SMART1/dcixsimages.htm http://www.pparc.ac.uk/Nw/Press/ smart1imagesmo on.asp Portadown Times Mid 106FM Northern Ireland Tourist Board Tyrone Courier BBC Radio Ulster: Talkback The Irish News BBC Radio Ulster: Your Place and Mine Banbridge Chronicle BBC1 NI Lunchtime News UTV Life BBC1 NI Newsline O.B. Video Pro ductions Astronomy Now Astronomy Now The Irish Scientist Sky and Telescop e IAESTE Event QA Science Northern Ireland Tourist Board Ulster Gazette Strabane Chronicle Nationalgeographic.com CCNet Ulster Gazette BBC 1 TV The Irish Times William Herschel So ciety/University of Bath The Western Mail BBC 1 TV: Newsline East Antrim Astronomical So ciety homepage: www.eaas.co.uk British Council The Messenger (Greek newspap er) The Irish Times Journal Roy. Astron. So c. Canada Mealey's Catalogue Tyrone Courier Ulster Gazette BBC News Online Belfast Telegraph IoP in Ireland Newsletter Ulster Gazette Ulster Gazette Tyrone Courier Tyrone Courier

197 198 199 200 201 OBS 202 OBS 203 204 205 OBS 206 207 208 209 210 OBS 211 212 213 214 OBS 215 216 217 OBS 218 OBS 219 220 221 222 223 224 225
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G

New TSN Action Plan

Armagh Observatory
New Targeting So cial Need (New TSN) Action Plan 2004
The Vision of the Armagh Observatory is: "To maintain and build on its position as a thriving astronomical research institute, and to continue to expand our understanding of the Universe and of humanity's place in it." The Mission is: "To advance the knowledge and understanding of astronomy and related sciences through the execution, promotion and dissemination of astronomical research nationally and internationally in order to enrich the intellectual, economic, social and cultural life of the community."

Who We Are
The Armagh Observatory (see http://star.arm.ac.uk/) is the oldest continuously functioning astronomical research institute in Great Britain and Ireland, founded by Archbishop Richard Robinson in 1790 as part of his dream to see a University in the City of Armagh. It stands close to the centre of the City of Armagh together with the Armagh Planetarium in approximately 14 acres of attractive, landscaped grounds that are managed by the Observatory and which include a scale model of the solar system and the Universe known as the Armagh Astropark. The principal function of the Armagh Observatory, which is a tertiary-level institution funded by the Northern Ireland Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure (DCAL), is to undertake original research of a world-class academic standard that broadens and expands our understanding of astronomy and related sciences. Current key programmes focus on Stellar Astrophysics, the Sun, Solar System astronomy, and Solar System � Earth relationships including the Sun's influence on climate and the impact of interplanetary dust, comets and asteroids on the Earth. The Observatory also maintains a unique 210year long meteorological record and data-bank (http://climate.arm.ac.uk/), the longest in the UK and Ireland from a single site.

What We Do
Astronomy provides a singular perspective on our place in the Universe, addressing fundamental questions such as the origin of the Earth, the origin of Life, and `Are we Alone?'. Research into astronomy plays an increasingly important role in modern society, for example by: � attracting and maintaining the interest of young people in science, and towards a scientific way of thinking; � contributing to a better understanding of global environmental change, for example global warming; � predicting the effects of asteroid impacts, and the effects of space debris and meteoroids on artificial satellites. Research interests of Observatory staff currently focus on (i) Stellar and Galactic Astrophysics (including star formation, astrophysical jets, cool stars, hot stars, helium stars, star-spots, stellar flares, circumstellar dust), (ii) the Sun (the dynamic solar atmosphere, chromosphere and corona), (iii) Solar System Astronomy (including celestial mechanics, planetary science, and the dynamical evolution and interrelationships of comets, asteroids and interplanetary dust), and (iv) Solar System � Terrestrial Relationships (including solar variability, climate, accretion of interplanetary dust and Near Earth Ob jects). In addition, Observatory staff participate in an active programme of education and lifelong learning, via lectures, popular astronomy articles, and interviews with the press, radio and television. Further details concerning the research interests of all the Observatory staff may be obtained from the Observatory web-site at: http://star.arm.ac.uk/. Astronomy is also a creative cultural activity. It enjoys a high public profile in the printed and electronic media, and in books and film, for example in Hollywood classics such as 2001: a Space Odyssey, and through blockbusters such as Armageddon and Deep Impact. The fruits of astronomy have inspired

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artists and musicians, poets and authors, as well as scientists, engineers and philosophers. They have often provided inspiration for works of art, musical compositions, and theatrical performances. Astronomy is also a primary source of images and related information for exhibits in science centres, among them the National Space Science Centre in Leicester, the science centre in the Belfast Odyssey Complex, and the Armagh Planetarium. Astronomical topics provide an invaluable supply of source material for education, entertainment and leisure. The sub ject is frequently featured in books, magazines and television documentaries seen by millions worldwide.

How We Contribute to New TSN
Astronomy is an involving, inspirational activity with the capacity to attract people, towards science, engineering and information technology. The Armagh Observatory interest by promoting wider access to scientific knowledge amongst all sections of disseminating the results of its scientific research through a programme of public understanding of science (PUS). The principal elements of this policy include: especially the young, seeks to develop this the community, and outreach and public

� attracting visitors to Armagh, primarily to the Armagh Astropark and the planned Phenology Garden; � maintaining and preserving the Observatory's unique meteorological record, the longest in the UK and Ireland from a single site; � maintaining and preserving the Observatory's cultural heritage, for example its listed buildings, library, archives and historic scientific instruments, its telescopes and telescope domes, and the landscaped grounds and Astropark; � providing talks and presentations to interested persons and groups which together represent individuals of all ages and from all backgrounds; � partnership with institutions and organizations having similar public education ob jectives to those of the Armagh Observatory, for example the Astronomical Science Group of Ireland, the Armagh Natural History and Philosophical Society, amateur astronomy organizations, and university research groups; � answering technical questions about astronomy from members of the public and disseminating astronomical results to the press, radio and television; � maintaining and developing a web-site to facilitate access to the latest research findings on astronomy and related sciences; The Armagh Observatory is fully committed to implement the New TSN Policy. The Observatory encourages a culture in which resources in appropriate areas of its activities and interactions with the public are targeted so far as possible on individuals, groups, agencies, and geographical areas that have greatest social need. In this way, the Observatory contributes directly to the Northern Ireland Executive's New TSN Policy and Programme for Government, especially in providing enhanced access and choice for those in education, and lifelong learning opportunities for all.

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Armagh Observatory New TSN Action Table 2004

Business Area:
So cial Need to b e Tackled: Desired Outcome:

Astronomy and Related Sciences
Access to scientific knowledge amongst so cially disadvantaged groups Increased access to scientific knowledge, thereby promoting lifelong learning opp ortunities amongst individuals and so cially disadvantaged groups Targets or Actions and Time-Scales:
(a) facilitating an ongoing work experience programme for a person with disabilities; and (b) continuing to monitor participation on student programme placements with reference to New TSN.

New TSN Ob jectives:
Ob jective 1 Improve opportunities among disadvantaged sections of the community to experience scientific research in a hightechnology environment, by: Ob jective 2 Improve access to Northern Ireland's scientific and cultural heritage, by:

(a) continuing to promote e-access to astronomical and meteorological information; and (b) continuing to encourage visits by people from socially disadvantaged areas or scientifically disadvantaged backgrounds.

Armagh Observatory January 2004

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