Astrophysicists win facility time

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Posted on 13 January 2012

Keele astronomer Dr Joana Oliveira, with Dr Jacco van Loon, has been awarded three nights of observing time with the 8.2m Very Large Telescope at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) at Cerro Paranal near Antofagasta, Chile. She will use the near-infrared adaptive optics facility NACO to cancel the blurring effects of the Earth's atmosphere and obtain spectra of protostars in the nearby Magellanic Cloud galaxies to study water ice and carbon monoxide ice.

Keele PhD student Mandy Bailey, with her supervisor Dr Van Loon was awarded three nights of time with the 3.5m New Technology Telescope at ESO at La Silla, Chile, to continue a successful survey of diffuse interstellar band absorption in the spectra of nearby stars. The goal of the survey is to map the three-dimensional distribution of cool gas in the Sun's neighbourhood.

Keele astronomer Dr John Southworth, with Dr Barry Smally, has been awarded seven nights with the 4.2m William Herschel Telescope at the Canary Island of La Palma, to perform follow-up phase-resolved spectroscopy of pulsating eclipsing binary stars observed by the Kepler satellite, for the Kepler Asteroseismic Science Consortium.

The total monetary value of these allocations for the purpose of the REF is £260,000.

 

 

 

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