Funding cuts
This (also here) is not good news.
It's kind of understandable as the UK has access to the VLT in the south through ESO - 4 telescopes of the same kind of size as the two Gemini ones (Gemini has two telescopes, Gemini North and Gemini South), but they can't see the northern sky whereas Gemini North... well... you don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that it can.
It's most worrying if this is going to be a general trend I guess - we've recently pulled out of the AAO (a partnership with the Australians covering, mainly, the 4m AAT telescope). It doesn't take that much more of a cut to do huge amounts more damage to UK astronomy.
And in the grand scheme of things the money isn't that much. We paid £4 million in 2005/2006 for a 23% share. Not the kind of money to be wasted, for sure, but we're not talking a major drain on the nation's economy.
It's kind of understandable as the UK has access to the VLT in the south through ESO - 4 telescopes of the same kind of size as the two Gemini ones (Gemini has two telescopes, Gemini North and Gemini South), but they can't see the northern sky whereas Gemini North... well... you don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that it can.
It's most worrying if this is going to be a general trend I guess - we've recently pulled out of the AAO (a partnership with the Australians covering, mainly, the 4m AAT telescope). It doesn't take that much more of a cut to do huge amounts more damage to UK astronomy.
And in the grand scheme of things the money isn't that much. We paid £4 million in 2005/2006 for a 23% share. Not the kind of money to be wasted, for sure, but we're not talking a major drain on the nation's economy.