Published • loading... • Updated
UK's iconic Jodrell Bank telescope faces axe in science cuts
UKRI cut the observatory’s £2.8 million annual budget, putting 28 jobs at risk and ending scientific observations unless new funding is found.
- The Jodrell Bank Observatory, which has housed the UK's largest telescope for nearly 70 years, has lost its funding and could close, BBC News understands, threatening the iconic Lovell Telescope.
- Budgetary constraints forced the UKRI, which manages under £10bn annually, to cut the observatory's £2.8m budget due to escalating research costs in physics and laboratory operations.
- Twenty-Eight jobs are at risk at the Cheshire site, while closure would affect nearly 3,000 scientists using the network; Prof Simon Garrington told BBC News staff are "devastated."
- Scotland's Astronomer Royal, Prof Catherine Heymans, described the decision as "a real act of national self-harm," while Prof Michael Kramer of the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy called it "scientifically, technologically as well as economically short-sighted."
- All scientific observations at Jodrell are expected to cease on April 1, 2028, unless alternative funding is secured, as the Square Kilometre Array in South Africa and Australia prepares to come online.
Insights by Ground AI
24 Articles
24 Articles
Britain’s largest telescope faces closure in science cuts
The famous Joddrell Bank Observatory is reported to be facing closure. The scientific funding body that supports the eight-decade-old site in Cheshire hosting radio telescopes, is said to be considering cutting its funding.
·London, United Kingdom
Read Full Article
Britain's Largest Telescope Faces Axe as Scientists Warn Jodrell Bank Cuts Are 'National Self-Harm'
Britain's biggest radio telescope is set to lose its core funding in 2028, with scientists warning that shutting the Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire would be 'national self-harm'. The UK's £2.8 million annual support for the site's e-MERLIN radio telescope network is to be withdrawn, threatening to end almost 80 years of work at what is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has told astronomers it will stop fun…
·United Kingdom
Read Full Article
Coverage Details
Total News Sources24
Leaning Left3Leaning Right3Center12Last UpdatedBias Distribution67% Center
Bias Distribution
- 67% of the sources are Center
67% Center
L 17%
C 67%
R 16%
Factuality
To view factuality data please Upgrade to Premium
