Type | Astronomy and Astrophysics |
---|---|
Established | 1992 |
Director | Phil James |
Location | , |
Colours | university colours Navy blue Contents |
Affiliations | Liverpool John Moores University Liverpool Telescope (LT) |
Website | www.astro.ljmu.ac.uk |
The Astrophysics Research Institute (ARI) is an astronomy and astrophysics research institute in Merseyside, UK. Formed in 1992, it stood on the Twelve Quays site in Birkenhead from 1998 until June 2013 when it relocated to the Liverpool Science Park in Liverpool. [1] [2] It is [update] in the top 1% of institutions in the field of space science as measured by total citations. [3]
Currently [update] there are over 90 staff members and research students working at the institute, [4] which lies within the administration of the Liverpool John Moores University's Faculty of Engineering and Technology. [5]
The research conducted at the Institute covers many areas of astronomy and astrophysics, such as supernovae, star formation and galaxy clusters. This work is funded by external organisations, such as the Science and Technology Facilities Council, [6] and the Higher Education Funding Council for England. [7] The institute also maintains the Liverpool Telescope which is located on the island of La Palma in the Canary Islands. [8]
The institute currently [update] offers two undergraduate courses: a 3-year BSc (Hons) in Physics and Astronomy, as well as a 4-year MPhys (Hons) in Astrophysics. Both the undergraduate courses are taught as a joint degree by the Astrophysics Research Institute of Liverpool John Moores University and the Department of Physics at the University of Liverpool. The courses are accredited by the Institute of Physics.
Postgraduate courses are made available at PhD and Master's level, with two MSc courses taught via distance learning. [9]
Unaccredited short courses are also made available to those who do not have a scientific or mathematical background. The Astronomy by Distance Learning courses are taught by CD-ROM, DVD and website material without the need for classroom sessions. Each of the courses provides an introduction to astronomy as well as to specialist areas such as supernovae. [10]
In 2006, the institute received the " Queen's Anniversary Prize " for higher education in recognition for its development of the robotic telescope. [11] In 2007, the " Times Higher Education Supplement Award " for 'project of the year' was given for the use of the RINGO optical polarimeter at the Liverpool Telescope in measuring gamma-ray bursts. RINGO has since been decommissioned and an updated polarimeter named MOPTOP has since entered operation. [12]
Term | Director |
---|---|
1992–2005 | Prof. Mike Bode |
2005–2008 | Prof. Chris Collins (interim) |
2008–2014 | Prof. Mike Bode |
2014–2019 | Prof. Chris Collins |
2019–2020 | Prof. Phil James |
2020–2021 | Prof. Ian McCarthy (interim) |
2021–2022 | Prof. Phil James |
2022-present | Prof. Ian McCarthy |
Liverpool John Moores University is a public research university in the city of Liverpool, England. The university can trace its origins to the Liverpool Mechanics' School of Arts, established in 1823. This later merged to become Liverpool Polytechnic. In 1992, following an Act of Parliament, the Liverpool Polytechnic became what is now Liverpool John Moores University. It is named after Sir John Moores, a local businessman and philanthropist, who donated to the university's precursor institutions.
The Liverpool Telescope (LT) is a two-metre-aperture robotic Ritchey–Chrétien telescope that observes autonomously. However professional astronomers, school groups and other credible registered users submit specifications to be considered by its robotic control system (RCS) at any time using an online graphical user interface. Each night the RCS decides among these choices, and among any notified or glimpsed transient events, what to observe, based on target visibility and weather conditions.
Andreja Gomboc, is a Slovenian astrophysicist.
The Institute of Astronomy (IoA) is the largest of the three astronomy departments in the University of Cambridge, and one of the largest astronomy sites in the United Kingdom. Around 180 academics, postdocs, visitors and assistant staff work at the department.
Robert P. Kirshner is an American astronomer, Chief Program Officer for Science for the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, and the Clownes Research Professor of Science at Harvard University. Kirshner has worked in several areas of astronomy including the physics of supernovae, supernova remnants, the large-scale structure of the cosmos, and the use of supernovae to measure the expansion of the universe.
The Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) is a United Kingdom government agency that carries out research in science and engineering, and funds UK research in areas including particle physics, nuclear physics, space science and astronomy.
Roger David Blandford, FRS, FRAS is a British theoretical astrophysicist, best known for his work on black holes.
RoboNet-1.0 was a prototype global network of UK-built 2-metre robotic telescopes, the largest of their kind in the world, comprising the Liverpool Telescope on La Palma, the Faulkes Telescope North on Maui (Hawaii), and the Faulkes Telescope South in Australia, managed by a consortium of ten UK universities under the lead of Liverpool John Moores University. For the technological aims of integrating a global network to act effectively as a single instrument, and maximizing the scientific return by applying the newest developments in e-Science, RoboNet adopted the intelligent-agent architecture devised and maintained by the eSTAR project.
Marek Janusz Kukula is a British astronomer and an author of works on popular science. After gaining a PhD in radio astronomy from the University of Manchester in 1994, he specialised in studying distant galaxies. As his research reached the limits of telescopes, he moved into the field of public engagement. In 2008 he was appointed Public Astronomer at the Royal Observatory Greenwich.
The Astronomy and Astrophysics Decadal Survey is a review of astronomy and astrophysics literature produced approximately every ten years by the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences in the United States. The report surveys the current state of the field, identifies research priorities, and makes recommendations for the coming decade. The decadal survey represents the recommendations of the research community to governmental agencies on how to prioritize scientific funding within astronomy and astrophysics. The editing committee is informed by topical panels and subcommittees, dedicated conferences, and direct community input in the form of white papers summarizing the state of the art in each subdiscipline. The most recent report, Astro2020, was released in 2021.
The Avril Robarts Library (formerly the Avril Robarts Learning Resource Centre (LRC)) is one of the two designated libraries belonging to Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) in Liverpool, England. It stands at 79 Tithebarn Street and serves the City Campus located mostly on Byrom Street.
The "Knowledge Quarter" is an area of Liverpool city centre covering 450 acres, incorporating the vicinity around London Road, Islington, the so called 'Fabric District', Paddington Village and part of Canning.
Professor Nigel Peter Weatherill, BSc, PhD, DSc, FIMA, C.Math, FRAeS, C.Eng, C.Sci, FREng, FRSA, DL is the former Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive of Liverpool John Moores University (2011-2018).
James Scott Dunlop is a Scottish astronomer and academic. He is Professor of Extragalactic Astronomy at the Institute for Astronomy, an institute within the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Edinburgh.
Hiranya Vajramani Peiris is a British astrophysicist at the University of Cambridge, where she holds the Professorship of Astrophysics (1909). She is best known for her work on the cosmic microwave background radiation, and interdisciplinary links between cosmology and high-energy physics. She was one of 27 scientists who received the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics in 2018 for their "detailed maps of the early universe."
Carole Mundell is an observational astrophysicist who researches cosmic black holes and gamma ray bursts.
Paul Geoffrey Murdin is a British astronomer. He identified the first clear candidate for a black hole, Cygnus X-1, with his colleague Louise Webster.
Jan Smit is a Dutch paleontologist. He was affiliated with the Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam from 2003 to 2013 as a professor of event stratigraphy, studying rapid changes in the geological record related to mass extinctions.
Ken'ichi Nomoto is a Japanese astrophysicist and astronomer, known for his research on stellar evolution, supernovae, and the origin of heavy elements.
Erminia Calabrese, FLSW, is a Professor of Astronomy and the Director of Research at Cardiff University School of Physics and Astronomy. She works in observational cosmology using the cosmic microwave background radiation to understand the origins and evolution of the universe. In 2024 she became a Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales, and in 2022 she was awarded the Institute of Physics Fred Hoyle medal and the Learned Society of Wales Dillwyn medal.