Finally some clarity on the #STFC budget: it's falling in real terms as UKRI spending rises. A conscious decision has been made to decrease UK funding for fundamental physics, despite all the evidence that our blue skies research is key for economic growth.
Thank you @resprofnews.bsky.social!
The glow on the lower right is sunlight reflecting off of dust from comets and asteroids in our solar system--our version of a debris disk. @nasaromantelescope.bsky.social will have a camera on board that might find the same dust around nearby stars also in their habitable zone. 🔭🧪
Don't give them ideas... xkcd.com/3225/
If you really feel that "it is not right that other Councils (and disciplinary areas), EPSRC most notably, are called upon to make cuts towards the end of the financial year to meet overruns from STFC." then ponder the impact on EPSRC if STFC balanced its books by cutting funding to DIAMOND or ISIS.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Minutes of STFC's governing council, which are not publicly available, talk of the Council's head of strategy describing "a major shift of funding from curiosity-driven research to priority areas and targeted programmes".
Wow. @pallabg.bsky.social has a obtained leaked document from STFC Council suggesting the origin of the STFC funding crisis was a deliberate decision (by?) 🧪🔭 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
The future of Uk scientific research. Several research projects face funding cuts. Here are some projects under threat. Words over a picture of the extremely large telescope (ELT) under construction in Chile
Scotland's Astronomer Royal, Catherine Heymans, speaking for the UK community of astronomers, told the science select committee that the proposed cuts were "genuinely catastrophic and will be devastating for the UK." She, along with a particle physicist, told MPs most of the potential cuts would lead to British scientists having to greatly reduce their involvement or withdraw altogether from some of the world's most important international astronomy and particle physics experiments. Those experiments seek to answer some of the biggest questions in science. These include learning how the Universe began and how it will end, finding the first ever signs of life on planets orbiting distant stars, detecting black holes that ripple space time, mapping newborn planets around distant stars and analysing their atmospheres for signs of life. All of these are experiments in which, historically, the UK played a leading role. But now, British scientists could be largely locked out of them in the future, if the STFC does not pay its way.
The future of UK Astronomy & Particle Physics is at risk from proposed 30% funding cuts that, if implemented, will be "genuinely catastrophic".
Great to see this detailed BBC report on the issue by @pallabg.bsky.social 🔭🧪⚛️
#STFCcuts #SaveUKAstronomy
🗞️: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
[2603.13081] Felipe Alarcón et al.: exoALMA. XXIV. Formaldehyde Emission in Protoplanetary Disks of exoALMA Compared with Their Properties and Dynamical State. link
[2603.12861] Myriam Benisty et al.: exoALMA XXI: The Morphology and Dynamics of Vertical Flows. link
[2603.13157] Andres F. Izquierdo et al.: exoALMA XX: Tomographic Detection of Embedded Planets in Protoplanetary Disks. link
[2603.13149] Alessandro Ruzza et al.: exoALMA XXIII. Estimating Disk and Planet Properties from Dust Morphologies with DBNets2.0. link
[2603.13015] Misato Fukagawa et al.: exoALMA XXII: A Two-dimensional Atlas of Deviations from Keplerian Disks. link
👏👏👏
Here is a copy of the open letter from the heads of physics departments across the UK- worth reading as it makes a lot of excellent points
www.iop.org/about/news/o...
📢 @astroroyalscot.bsky.social, Prof. Jon Butterworth, & our rep for Early-Career Researchers, Simon Williams @si-wills.bsky.social will meet the SITC Committee next week to talk about the STFC funding!
Let's all attend the hearing in person and online!🙎💻
committees.parliament.uk/event/26683/...
A large bi-polar nebula with the left side being brighter. Mostly blue nebula.
Cha IR nebula with #JWST 🔭 NIRCam (F300M, F460M).
program: www.stsci.edu/jwst-program...
#nebula #astronomy #starformation
STFC CEO responds to @jonbutterworth.bsky.social
"it is important for all of our ... programmes ... to contribute to us making savings across our entire portfolio"
No mention that *all* is disproportionately falling on the particle-astro-nuclear programme 🤷♀️😡
www.theguardian.com/science/2026...
Are you interested in protoplanetary disk substructures and their role in planet formation? Come to our session at the EAS meeting this year! Abstract submission is open until March 2nd! More info: eas.unige.ch/EAS_meeting/...
🤨
For anyone in London next weekend - get yourself down to this absolutely wonderful combination of art & astronomy. It’s a really special place.
The future of fundamental physics research in the UK is under serious threat because of the massive government cuts to STFC funding. Please read this open letter by advanced fellows.
advancedfellows-openletter-stfc.github.io/index.html
Very interesting to see this laid out by someone who was, until very recently, on STFC's Science Board.
Listeners to Radio 4’s Inside Science today get an essay from me in defence of astronomy as pure research. Please listen in and let me know what you think.
Show starts 4.30pm GMT here: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b...
Read our full response here: www.iop.org/about/news/v...
The IOP have set up a mechanism to measure the impact of this news, and ask that anyone impacted to please complete this form and provide as much information as they can along with any evidence: www.iop.org/feedback-fol...
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Another positive is that the community response to the planned cuts 16 years ago actually had an effect. Some extra funding was found at the last minute. So, it is worth speaking out and pointing out these planned cuts will do a lot of damage to very active, and successful, research areas. 4/4
The Royal Astronomical Society is gravely concerned at the drastic cuts to support for UK astronomy outlined by the Science and Technology Facilities Council.
Read our statement 👉 ras.ac.uk/news-and-pre...
We're so excited to share the results of the ALMA large program ARKS that studied the distribution of dust and gas in a sample of 24 exoKuiper belts. With @lucaroundtheworld.bsky.social, Meredith Hughes and a large collaboration, we just published 10 papers presenting our first results arkslp.org
Well this is worrying. NASA has maintained funding for ADS but not SciX (a broader database). In response, management is planning to *close* ADS in Feb 2026, forcing all users to switch to SciX. ☄️🔭
Funding info: ads.harvard.edu/adsug/2025/0...
Transition plan: ads.harvard.edu/adsug/2025/0...
YEMS is hiring a postdoc to work on planet formation, exoplanet detection, high contrast imaging, and/or related topics.
🫸https://aas.org/jobregister/ad/811cf8bb
