Äîêóìåíò âçÿò èç êýøà ïîèñêîâîé ìàøèíû. Àäðåñ îðèãèíàëüíîãî äîêóìåíòà : http://star.arm.ac.uk/annrep/annrep2003/annrep2003.pdf Äàòà èçìåíåíèÿ: Tue May 18 18:30:39 2004 Äàòà èíäåêñèðîâàíèÿ: Tue Oct 2 05:51:02 2012 Êîäèðîâêà: IBM-866 Ïîèñêîâûå ñëîâà: ï ï ï ï ï ï ï ï ï ï ï ï ï ï ð ï ð ï ð ï ð ï ð ï ð ï ð ï ð ï ð ï ð ï ð ï ð ï ð ï ð ï ð ï ð ï ð ï ð ï ð ï ð ï ð ï ð ð ï ï ð ï ï ð ï

Armagh Observatory Annual Report Calendar Year 2003
(Financial Year 2003/2004)
Prepared by the Director M.E. Bailey

5 May 2004


Cover: Pastel drawing by Miruna Popescu showing the great auroral display of 29th October 2003. i


Contents
0 Executive Summary 1 Intro duction 1.1 Organizational Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2 Research Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.3 Staff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Review of Financial Year 2.1 Performance . . . . . . . 2.2 New TSN Action Plan . 2.3 Ob jectives for Financial 2003/2004 ..................................... ..................................... Year 2004/2005 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iii 1 2 3 4 5 5 8 8 8 9 9 9 10 11 12 12 12 13 15 16 19 21 22 23 24 28 30 31 32 32 34 35 37 38 38 38 39 40 42 44 45 49

3 Research 3.1 Highlights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1.1 Solar Physics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1.2 Stellar Astrophysics . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1.3 Solar System Astronomy . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2 Technical Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3 Technical Research Summaries . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3.1 D.J. Asher, Research Fellow . . . . . . . . . 3.3.2 M.E. Bailey, Director . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3.3 C.J. Butler, Research Astronomer . . . . . 3.3.4 A. Christou, Research Astronomer . . . . . 3.3.5 J.G. Doyle, Research Astronomer . . . . . . 3.3.6 C.S. Jeffery, Research Astronomer . . . . . 3.3.7 W.M. Napier, Emeritus Honorary Professor 3.3.8 M.D. Smith, Research Astronomer . . . . . 4 Public Understanding 4.1 Widening Access . 4.2 Light Pollution . . 4.3 Events . . . . . . . of .. .. .. Science, ...... ...... ...... Outreach ...... ...... ...... and ... ... ...

Training ....................... ....................... ....................... ..... ..... ..... Building .... .... .... ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

5 Buildings, Grounds, Library and Archives 5.1 Buildings, Telescopes and Telescope Domes . . . . 5.2 HLF Telescope Domes Pro ject . . . . . . . . . . . 5.3 The Human Orrery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.4 Library, Archive and Historic Scientific Instruments 6 Conclusion

A Board of Governors and Management Committee 2003 A.1 Board of Governors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A.2 Management Committee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B Armagh Observatory Staff 2003 C Refereed Journal Publications 2003 D Presentations by Armagh Observatory Staff 2003 E Armagh Observatory Seminars 2003 F Identified Media Mentions 2003 G New TSN Action Plan

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0

Executive Summary

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 2003. For convenience, all financial matters in the report are taken to refer to the corresponding Financial Year 2003/2004, i.e. 1 April 2003 to 31 March 2004. Staff at the Observatory attracted external income totalling ã284,000 during this period (ã270,000 in external grant receipts), and have again 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 69 presentations at specialist and non-specialist meetings both locally and abroad, and maintained an extremely active programme of seminars and internal colloquia at the Observatory (a record of 38 such talks). They attracted 225 identified media citations in various mass-media including the national and international press, radio and television, significantly above the current target of 200 for the fifth year in a row. The scientific research carried out by Armagh Observatory staff continues to present a positive image of Armagh and Northern Ireland on the world stage, and the Observatory continues to be a significant information resource for the general public. The Observatory's principal web-sites (http://star.arm.ac.uk/, http://climate.arm.ac.uk/ and http://arpc65.arm.ac.uk/spm/) continue to attract strong interest from the public and an exceptional number of page requests (i.e. `hits'), Distinct e-Visitors (DEVs; i.e. the number of distinct hosts served by the Observatory's web-site, not counting repeat visits), and web-traffic (i.e. the total volume of data transferred from Armagh). During calendar year 2003 these indicators of ICT activity were recorded as 5.6 million hits, 335,000 DEVs, and a volume of 284 GB data transferred, respectively. Allowing for loss of recorded figures during an in-year upgrade of the computer system, the annual figures are estimated as approximately 8 million hits, 470,000 DEVs, and 400 GB data transferred. External Grant Income (ã000s) Refereed Journal Publications Identified Media Citations í í 11 14 45 108 147 233 233 302 267 225 200 Distinct e-Visitors (DEVs) Total DCAL Grant Income (ã000s) 457.3 445.0 425.6 468.5 480.0 473.2 443.0 458.5 538.5 713.5 733.5 781.5 686.5

Calendar Year

RAE Grade

1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 Targets:

4

35 58 172 264 275 195 293 212 221 306 270 250

13 22 19 45 42 43 32 31 32 33 34 32

4 66,000 80,000 134,000 174,000 318,000 354,000 470,000 500,000

4

Table 1: The yearly trend of various performance indicators versus calendar year, including the total DCAL grant income received in respect of the corresponding financial year, including slippage funding, and the total announced budget for 2004/2005, including the recently announced ã20,000 for DDA work. The number of Distinct e-Visitors for 2003 has been estimated from recorded information relating only to the period JuneíDecember 2003 for the Observatory's principal web-site, owing to loss of earlier data during the year. Targets for calendar year 2004 (financial year 2004/2005) are expressed in round figures.

Table 1 shows the yearly trend of various performance indicators. Whilst continuing to devote considerable effort to the programme of restoration of several historic telescopes and telescope domes, so improving the fabric of the main Grade A listed building, Armagh Observatory staff have maintained a substantial level of research activity, for example increasing their total number of refereed journal publications per year for the fourth year in a row. The Observatory has also maintained an exceptionally high public profile at national and international level, work which reflects not only the strength of public interest in astronomy and space science, but also the activities of the Observatory's staff and those of its core funding agency, the Department of Culture,

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Arts and Leisure (DCAL), presenting both in a very positive light. The Armagh Observatory thus makes a valuable contribution to pro jecting a positive image of Armagh City and District -- and of Northern Ireland -- on the world stage. A notable achievement during 2003 was the Observatory's involvement in arrangements for the National Astronomy Meeting and UK Solar Physics Meeting 2003, held in Dublin Castle and Trinity College Dublin from 7í11 April 2003. With almost 600 participants this was the largest astronomy meeting ever held in Ireland with the exception of the IAU General Assembly in 1955. There were more than 65 formal and less formal scientific sessions (see http://star.arm.ac.uk/nam2003/ for details), many held as part of a four-strand parallel programme of specialist talks and discussion meetings. Apart from the breadth of sub jects covered and the quality of the presentations, the meeting was noteworthy also for the strong interaction and a high level of scientific exchange between participants.

Ob jectives for 2004/2005
The Observatory's principal ob jectives during the coming year 2004/2005 are to: § maintain existing high-quality research programmes; § obtain grants and additional external funding to support new research pro jects; § strengthen the Observatory's research capability in solar system and stellar astrophysics; § strengthen the Observatory's access to and use of necessary research infrastructure, such as CosmoGrid, the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT), and obtain high-bandwidth access to the internet through the Northern Ireland Metropolitan Area Network (NIMAN); § widen access to the heritage material in its possession; and § advance plans for a new Library, Archive and Historic Scientific Instruments Building. The corresponding targets for these ob jectives, which together span the Observatory's principal areas of activity (research, public understanding of science, outreach, student training, and heritage), are indicated in Table 1. In addition to maintaining the level and quality of astronomical research carried out at the Observatory, the key task for the year is to continue to work with the DCAL to widen the Observatory's access to research development funds and to lay a strong foundation for the forthcoming Research Assessment Exercise (2005í2007). This will involve seeking funds specifically for the recruitment of additional research staff. Appended to this report for Calendar Year 2003 (Financial Year 2003/2004) are lists covering (A) Membership of the Management Committee and Board of Governors, (B) Staff Members, (C) Refereed Journal Publications, (D) Presentations made by Observatory Staff, (E) Lectures and Seminars held at the Armagh Observatory, and (F) Identified Media Citations. Following a decision by the DCAL to consolidate the New TSN policies of the agencies, NDPBs and Statutory Bodies that it currently supports, the Armagh Observatory and Armagh Planetarium policies on New Targeting Social Need were incorporated during 2003 into an overarching DCAL joint policy. The Armagh Observatory's component of this New TSN policy (valid from 1 January 2004) is included here for convenience in Appendix G; it can also be viewed at: http://star.arm.ac.uk/TSN.html.

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1

Intro duction

The Armagh Observatory (see http://star.arm.ac.uk/) is the oldest continuously functioning astronomical research institute in the UK and Ireland, having been in existence for more than 210 years. Founded by Archbishop Richard Robinson in 1790 as part of his dream to see a University of Armagh, the Georgian Grade A listed building and nineteenth and twentieth-century telescope domes stand close to the centre of the City of Armagh together with the Armagh Planetarium in approximately 14 acres of attractive, landscaped grounds known as the Armagh Astropark. The Astropark, which is managed by the Observatory, includes two sundials, a number of outdoor exhibits and interpretation panels (see http://star.arm.ac.uk/astropark/), and scale models of the solar system and the larger Universe, constructed to linear and exponential scales respectively. The principal function of the Armagh Observatory, which is a statutory third-level institution funded by the Northern Ireland Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure (DCAL), is to undertake original research of a world-class academic standard that broadens and expands our understanding of astronomy and related sciences. Current key programmes focus on Stellar Astrophysics, the Sun, Solar System astronomy, and Solar System í Earth relationships including climate and the Near-Earth Ob ject (NEO) hazard to civilization. The Observatory also maintains a unique 210-year long meteorological record and data-bank (http://climate.arm.ac.uk/), the longest in the UK and Ireland from a single site, and plays a key role together with the Armagh Planetarium in promoting the public understanding of astronomy and related sciences. Senior research staff at the Observatory are employed as Research Astronomers on a scale equivalent to the NICS Grade 7, which is roughly equivalent to the level of a university senior lecturer, reader or professor. In the past, postgraduate students have been registered at various UK and other European universities, but they are usually registered at the Queen's University of Belfast (QUB), which has recognized the Observatory as an approved institution for the supervision of PhD and MPhil. students. This leads to a fluctuating population of around 20 research staff, including students, supported by a pool of 2 technical (computer-related) staff, 1 librarian, 1 group secretary, 1 finance officer, and a senior administrator shared (50%) with the Armagh Planetarium. The 14 acres of landscaped grounds and the Armagh Astropark are maintained by a grounds/meteorological support officer, who is also responsible for taking the daily meteorological readings, and an assistant groundsman. Research interests of Observatory staff currently focus on (i) Stellar and Galactic Astrophysics (including star formation, astrophysical jets, cool stars, hot stars, helium stars, star-spots, stellar flares, circumstellar dust), (ii) the Sun (the dynamic solar atmosphere, chromosphere and corona), (iii) Solar System Astronomy (including celestial mechanics, planetary science, and the dynamical evolution and interrelationships of comets, asteroids and interplanetary dust), and (iv) Solar System í Terrestrial Relationships (including solar variability, climate, accretion of interplanetary dust and NEOs). In addition, Observatory staff participate in an active programme of education and lifelong learning via lectures, popular astronomy articles and interviews with the press, radio and television. Further details concerning the research interests of the Observatory staff may be obtained from the Observatory web-site at: http://star.arm.ac.uk/. The Armagh Observatory participates in the UK Research Assessment Exercise (RAE), held in 1992, 1996, and 2001. This gives external partners, such as UK charities and the research councils, information upon which to base their funding allocations. The RAE also provides a measure by which the Observatory can gauge its performance against corresponding groups in university departments. Staff at the Observatory achieved a Grade 4 in the Physics Unit of Assessment in each of the 1992, 1996, and 2001 RAEs, corresponding to "Quality that equates to attainable levels of national excellence in virtually all of the research activity submitted, showing some evidence of international excellence." In addition to this primary research role, the Observatory also has an important responsibility to maintain and preserve the fabric of the historic buildings, the library, historic books and archives, and the collection of scientific instruments and other artefacts built up over more than two hundred years of continuous astronomical activity in Armagh. The main historic buildings of the Observatory have unique architectural features and together house one of the most valuable scientific collections, including books, instruments and archives, in Northern Ireland. The scientific and architectural heritage provided by astronomy at Armagh is a highly significant asset, and the entire collection of scientific artefacts, instruments and historic telescopes spans virtually every aspect of modern astronomy. In many cases, the underlying motivation and reasons for the developments of astronomy at a particular time can be explained with reference to discoveries at Armagh, or to artefacts and other items held within the Library and Archives. This gives astronomers at Armagh a unique opportunity to explain both the development of their sub ject over more than two hundred years and the

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context in which modern research is carried out. In summary, the Armagh Observatory is a modern research institute with a rich heritage. It provides exceptionally strong opportunities to explain the reasons for mankind's long fascination with the celestial sphere, extending from roots more than five thousand years ago to the most recent results of the space age. The Observatory's position, located conveniently close to the centre of the City of Armagh, means that it is well placed to contribute to a greater understanding of the role of scholarship, covering both education and research, in the development of Armagh, and for future economic development of the region. It provides opportunities in education and lifelong learning to people of all ages and from all backgrounds, and has an important role to play in explaining and expanding Northern Ireland's scientific and built heritage for the benefit of present and future generations.

Vision
The Vision of the Armagh Observatory is: "To maintain and build on its position as a thriving astronomical research institute, and to continue to expand our understanding of the Universe and of humanity's place in it." The Mission is: "To advance the knowledge and understanding of astronomy and related sciences through the execution, promotion and dissemination of astronomical research nationally and internationally in order to enrich the intellectual, economic, social and cultural life of the community."

1.1

Organizational Structure

The Armagh Observatory and the Armagh Planetarium are two distinctive organizations, part of a single corporate entity "The Governors of the Armagh Observatory and Planetarium" described in The Armagh Observatory and Planetarium (Northern Ireland) Order 1995, which superseded the original 1791 Act of the Irish Parliament entitled "An Act for Settling and Preserving a Public Observatory and Museum in the City of Armagh For Ever", and an Amendment of 1938 ("The University and Collegiate and Scientific Institutions Act [Northern Ireland], 1938"). The Northern Ireland Order 1995 has recently been amended by the Audit and Accountability (Northern Ireland) Order 2003. Both the Armagh Observatory and the Armagh Planetarium operate independently under separate Directors and receive core funding from the Northern Ireland Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure. The total staff complement is approximately 40: roughly 30 in the Observatory and 10 in the Planetarium. The Observatory Director reports to a Management Committee which meets three times per year, and (annually) to the Board of Governors. The Management Committee (15 members) and Board of Governors (15 members) together comprise representatives from a wide range of involved parties, including the Church of Ireland, the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS), the Queen's University of Belfast (QUB), the UK astronomical community (e.g. members of UK universities and the Astronomer Royal for England), the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC), the DCAL, and other bodies. Core funding is provided by grant-in-aid from the DCAL, while from time to time variable amounts of additional funding are obtained from bodies such as the PPARC, the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), the British Council, the Leverhulme Trust, the European Union (EU), and other grant awarding organizations. The respective memberships of the Management Committee and the Board of Governors are summarized in Appendix A, while the approximately 30 staff members of the Observatory at 31 December 2003 are listed in Appendix B. Armagh Planetarium The Armagh Planetarium (see http://www.armaghplanet.com/) is a multifaceted organization dedicated to astronomy education from nursery-age to retirement. Founded in 1968 by the seventh Director of the Armagh Observatory, Dr Eric Mervyn Lindsay, to complement the research work of Armagh Observatory, its principal function is to disseminate knowledge and understanding of astronomy and related sciences to people of all backgrounds and all ages. Since its inception the Planetarium has operated as an independent institution, the first and perhaps the best known Director being the writer and broadcaster Sir Patrick Moore. The present Director of the Planetarium is Dr Tom Mason. Whereas the Armagh Observatory is primarily an astronomical research institute, with an organization and infrastructure geared to maintaining its position as an internationally recognized centre of research excellence, the Armagh Planetarium is a leading educational establishment, seeking to attract visitors to Armagh and to educate and inform visitors of all age groups. The Planetarium plays an important 2


role in public understanding of science, and as a visitor attraction to promote and enhance tourism within Armagh City and District. It helps to make Armagh one of the best known tourist destinations in Northern Ireland and presents astronomy at Armagh as an important part of the City of Armagh's portfolio. Senior responsibility for managing both branches of the organization, namely the Armagh Observatory and the Armagh Planetarium, rests with the Management Committee and ultimately the Board of Governors. The two organizations share a joint administrator.

1.2

Research Environment

Technical equipment at Armagh, which is used primarily for numerical analysis, computer modelling and data reduction, is funded by the PPARC, PRTLI, and the DCAL. Facilities presently comprise some 30 Linux workstations and a range of peripherals. In addition, an 8-CPU Origin2000 is used for computationally intensive research pro jects (solar system dynamics, stellar atmospheres and numerical magnetohydrodynamics) while access to Grid technology is provided via CosmoGrid (http://www.cosmogrid.ie/). The internal network is a 100 Mbps ethernet linked with switched hubs. The external network, which is currently connected to the Joint Academic Network (JANET) through an arrangement with QUB, has a bandwidth of 1 Mbps. With the establishment of a Northern Ireland Metropolitan Area Network (NIMAN) within the next year, this has the potential to increase to 34 Mbps and therefore to maintain an equivalence with astronomy groups elsewhere in the UK and abroad. The increase in the Observatory's network capacity along with a continuing programme of equipment upgrades will enable the Observatory to participate in important new developments such as the Virtual Observatory, the UK AstroGRID, the European Grid of Solar Observatories, the ESA SpaceGRID, and GRID Ireland. The latter will provide access to three high-performance supercomputer clusters, each comprising 128½1 GHz PCs, one in Galway and two in Dublin (DIAS and UCD). Armagh Observatory staff regularly receive awards of telescope time on national and international facilities, and research grants from various grant awarding bodies. The Observatory is also eligible to receive grants from the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). Within a few years, with the support of the DCAL, the Observatory will obtain access to the Southern African Large Telescope, a large (10-metre class) telescope located at the Sutherland Observatory, on the Karoo Plateau in the Northern Cape Province, South Africa (see http://www.salt.ac.za/), through its membership of the UK Southern African Large Telescope Consortium (see http://star.arm.ac.uk/SALT/). Renovation of the historic telescopes and telescope domes at Armagh is also in progress and will be completed during 2004 with support from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and the DCAL, bringing the Observatory's own telescopes (an 18-inch reflector and a 10-inch refractor) back into use for research and student training. The SALT pro ject is an international collaboration between the following parties: § The National Research Council of South Africa; § The Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Center of the Polish Academy of Sciences; § The Hobby-Eberly Telescope (HET) Founding Institutions (The University of Texas at Austin, The Pennsylvania State University; Stanford University; The Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitè Munchen; at è and The Georg-August-Universitè Gè at ottingen); § Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, USA; § The Georg-August-Universitè Gè at ottingen, Germany; § The University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA; § The Carnegie Mellon University at Pittsburgh, USA; § The University of Canterbury, New Zealand; § The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA; § Dartmouth College, Hanover, USA; and § The UK SALT Consortium (The Armagh Observatory, The University of Central Lancashire; The University of Keele; The University of Nottingham; The Open University; and The University of Southampton).

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Figure 1: Members of Armagh Observatory staff and visitors, summer 2003. From left to right are: Nigel Addis, Apostolos Christou, Lawrence Young, Agnieszka Drewniak, Roland Gredel, Emma Stephenson, Michael Smith, Mark Bailey, John McFarland, Gustavo Henrique Dopke, Simon Jeffery, Babulakshmanan Ramachandran, Christopher Winter, John Butler, Aileen McKee, Bill Napier, Jonathan McAuliffe, Georgi Pavlovski, Bernard Toner, Barry O'Connell, Martin Murphy, and Ignacio Ugarte Urra. Among those missing from this photograph are: Amir Ahmad, David Asher, Margaret Cherry, Geoff Coxhead, Gerry Doyle, Mart de Groot, Ana Maria Garc‡ Su‡ ia arez, Miruna Popescu, and Alex Rosen.

1.3

Staff

The staff position at the Armagh Observatory on 31 December 2003 is shown in Appendix B. Individuals are identified by their 3-letter (sometimes 2 or 4) `Starlink' computer username (full e-mail address: xxx@arm.ac.uk), together with their job-title and an indication of their principal function in the Observatory. It is noteworthy that a very high proportion of Observatory staff are involved in core research and support activities, the entire operation being supported by just three administrative staff (mc, ambn, lfy), one of whom (lfy) is shared equally with the Planetarium. Figure 1 shows members of staff and visitors present for the staff photograph in July 2003. Staff Movements Bernard Toner (Assistant Groundsman) continued to work with Shane Kelly (Grounds and Meteorological Officer) under a placement administered by Wade Training. A final-year TCD Physics student, Mr Anthony Moraghan, arrived in early October 2003 to work with Michael Smith on a three-month undergraduate physics pro ject. Two PhD students arrived during late September and early October 2003, namely Natalie Behara (University of Western Ontario, London, Canada) and Hayati Bebe Ha jra Ishak (University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia), to work with Simon Jeffery and Gerry Doyle respectively. The PDRAs Maria Madjarska and Alex Rosen left at the end of May and June 2003 respectively for new positions at MSSL and Dublin City University, and were replaced on different grants by Dr Youra Taroyan (University of Sheffield) and Dr Chia-Hsien Lin (University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA). During 2003 PhD students David Garc‡ Alvarez and Georgi Pavlovski successfully passed the oral ia examinations for their PhD theses ("Dynamic Activity in the Outer Atmospheres of Late-Type Stars 4


Including the Sun" and "Numerical Simulations of Molecular Turbulence", respectively), and left the Observatory for postdoctoral positions at Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the University of Southampton.

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Review of Financial Year 2003/2004
§ maintain existing high-quality research programmes; § obtain grants and additional external funding to support new research pro jects; § strengthen the Observatory's research capability in solar system and stellar astrophysics; § restore and widen access to the heritage material in its possession; § progress plans for a new Library, Archive and Historic Scientific Instruments Building; and § improve the Observatory's