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Дата изменения: Tue Aug 19 19:18:19 2003 Дата индексирования: Tue Oct 2 04:33:09 2012 Кодировка: Поисковые слова: meteor shower |
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 2002. For convenience, all financial matters in the report are taken to refer to the corresponding Financial Year 2002/2003, i.e. 1 April 2002 to 31 March 2003.
Staff at the Observatory attracted external income totalling £ 315,000 during this period (a record £306,000 in external grant receipts), and 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 71 presentations at specialist and non-specialist meetings, arranged some 30 seminars at the Observatory, and attracted 267 identified citations in various mass-media including the national and international press, radio and television. The Observatory is a significant information resource, its principal web-sites (http://star.arm.ac.uk/, http://climate.arm.ac.uk/ and http://arpc65.arm.ac.uk/ ) together attracting in excess of 354,000 distinct e-visitors during the same period. The number of `hits' (i.e. successful page requests) on the Observatory's web-sites during this period was in excess of 5.5 million.
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Table 1 shows the yearly trend of various performance indicators. Whilst devoting considerable effort to restoring several historic telescopes and telescope domes, and so improving the fabric of the main Grade A listed building, Armagh Observatory staff have maintained a substantial level of research activity. The Observatory has also maintained an exceptionally high public profile at national and international level. For a group that currently comprises only 5 Research Astronomers, the frequency with which it or members of staff appear in or are quoted in newspapers and other types of mass-media is probably second to none. During each of the past five years tens of millions of people have probably been exposed to reports of astronomy at Armagh.
The significant interest shown by the mass media in the Observatory's work is an indication of the wider public interest in astronomy and space science, and reflects well the activities of both the Armagh Observatory and its core funding agency, the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure (DCAL), presenting them both in a very positive light. The Armagh Observatory thus makes a valuable contribution to projecting a positive image of Armagh City and District -- and of Northern Ireland -- on the world stage.
Efforts continued throughout 2002 to widen the Observatory's access to third-level research funding opportunities similar in character, if not identical, to those available to university and other third-level research groups against which the Observatory's research output is frequently compared, for example through the quality of published work or in the periodic Research Assessment Exercise. The Observatory's senior management, leading members of the UK astronomical community and the DCAL have been extremely supportive in assisting efforts to widen the Observatory's access to research development funds so as to increase the Observatory's capacity for scientific research and strengthen its research infrastructure, but these efforts have so far been to no avail.
The Observatory's principal objectives during the coming year 2003/2004 are to:
Appended to this report for Calendar Year 2002 (Financial Year 2002/2003) are lists covering (A) Membership of the Management Committee and Board of Governors, (B) Staff Members, (C) Refereed Journal Publications, (D) Lectures and Seminars presented by Observatory Staff, (E) Seminars held at the Armagh Observatory, and (F) Identified Media Citations. The Observatory's New TSN Action Plan for 2002 is included as Appendix G.