Dear AuroraWatch subscriber,
You may remember that in spring 2006 we contacted you to raise
awareness of damaging funding cuts to the sub-auroral magnetometer
network (SAMNET) - the scientific experiment on which the AuroraWatch
service depends. We received over 2,500 emails of support which were
forwarded to the research council who fund activities in this area.
Unquestionably, this had the desired impact as we were able to secure
additional funding to keep SAMNET and AuroraWatch running until April
2008. A big "thank you" to everyone who took part! AuroraWatch is
alive and well, but alerts are currently quite rare since the Sun is
currently at it's lowest point in the 11 year solar cycle.
Having survived a critical period, we were confident that we would
secure additional resources to keep the system operating over the
coming years (towards solar maximum and more disturbed geomagnetic
conditions) and we were expecting a funding announcement before
Christmas. Unfortunately, the Science and Technology Facilities
Council (the agency who now fund Physics and Astronomy research in the
UK) have recently announced an 80 million pound hole in their budget.
This surprise announcement is going to result in massive cut-backs to
the grants available to universities to carry out astronomy research
and the closure of many astronomical and solar-terrestrial physics
facilities. Indeed, you may have seen stories in the media about the
cuts (typing "STFC funding cuts" into google gives a sample of some of
the uproar).
One of the sweeping cuts announced is the withdrawal of support for
ground-based facilities for solar-terrestrial physics - the area of
astronomy concerned with our planet's connection to the Sun. As a
result SAMNET faces closure and along with it, the AuroraWatch
service. Other victims include the British ionospheric radars used to
study the aurora and the UK's involvement in the Gemini telescopes.
In order to register the tide of anger at these cuts (in part brought
about by cost over-runs elsewhere in the council's portfolio), an
online petition has been started on the Prime Minister's website. We
would encourage AuroraWatch subscribers to visit the site at
http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Physics-Funding/ and support the motion
urging "the Prime Minister to reverse the decision to cut vital UK
contributions to Particle Physics and Astronomy".
Also, if you are a member of an Astronomy Society, perhaps you could
spread the word locally? Petitions with more than 200 signatories
have to be responded to by the government. In the first day, the
petition attracted over 2,000 signatories so we are guaranteed a
response, but imagine how high that number could be if only a fraction
of the 25,000 AuroraWatchers added their voice to the protests!
Thanks once again for your continuing support.
The AuroraWatch Team at Lancaster University
