Continuing Exploitation of the UK Investment in the JCMT
Lead Research Organisation:
CARDIFF UNIVERSITY
Department Name: School of Physics and Astronomy
Abstract
We propose that the UK continue to take a significant role in the operation and scientific exploitation of the James Clerk Maxwell telescope (JCMT). We request £200K per annum funding from STFC for a further 3 years from 1st April 2021 to 1st April 2024, which combined with the contributions from the universities will allow us to continue as roughly 20% partners with the East Asian Observatory (EAO), the lead operator, and Canada. The JCMT is the world's largest submm telescope and is likely to remain so until at least 2030. The period for which we now request funding will include the commissioning of new instrumentation, in particular a new camera which will increase the mapping speed of the telescope by at least a factor of 10.
The STFC contribution will allow the UK to continue to play a major role in the Large Programmes currently underway, many of which we are leading, as well as allowing us to initiate new programmes, all at a remarkably low cost. The EAO see the operation of the JCMT as the route to developing the skill base of their own communities via collaboration with the enormous expertise of the UK submm community. It has therefore set aside 50% of the total observing time on the JCMT for large-scale collaborative programmes defined and exploited by joint science teams drawn from all six partner countries. The UK community therefore will gain access to effectively 60% of the total science output of the JCMT at a total cost of £600K over 3 years. As well as producing excellent science, access to the JCMT gives the only direct UK access to the Event Horizon Telescope, with its ability to image the regions immediately around black holes, and the wide-field imaging capability of the JCMT puts UK astronomers in a strong position to leverage time on the Atacama Large Millimetre Array and the James Webb Space Telescope.
The STFC contribution will allow the UK to continue to play a major role in the Large Programmes currently underway, many of which we are leading, as well as allowing us to initiate new programmes, all at a remarkably low cost. The EAO see the operation of the JCMT as the route to developing the skill base of their own communities via collaboration with the enormous expertise of the UK submm community. It has therefore set aside 50% of the total observing time on the JCMT for large-scale collaborative programmes defined and exploited by joint science teams drawn from all six partner countries. The UK community therefore will gain access to effectively 60% of the total science output of the JCMT at a total cost of £600K over 3 years. As well as producing excellent science, access to the JCMT gives the only direct UK access to the Event Horizon Telescope, with its ability to image the regions immediately around black holes, and the wide-field imaging capability of the JCMT puts UK astronomers in a strong position to leverage time on the Atacama Large Millimetre Array and the James Webb Space Telescope.
Planned Impact
The JCMT has a strong history of public outreach, which will continue. The public has a very positive view of astronomy research, and astronomy outreach attracts young people to study STEM subjects at school and university.
Because this is a collaboration with four East Asian countries - China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan - it will enable UK universities and scientists to develop closer ties with scientists and research institutions in these four very strong economies. There are strong opportunities for student exchange, both outward for UK students and inwards for Asian students coming to the UK.
UK PhD students and early-career researchers will have the opportunity of working with cutting-edge technology, both with the hardware at the telescope and with the software used to analyse the data. There is significant opportunity for this training to result in spinout activity in other areas, for example the UK creative industries in the case of software and imaging technology in the case of hardware.
Because this is a collaboration with four East Asian countries - China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan - it will enable UK universities and scientists to develop closer ties with scientists and research institutions in these four very strong economies. There are strong opportunities for student exchange, both outward for UK students and inwards for Asian students coming to the UK.
UK PhD students and early-career researchers will have the opportunity of working with cutting-edge technology, both with the hardware at the telescope and with the software used to analyse the data. There is significant opportunity for this training to result in spinout activity in other areas, for example the UK creative industries in the case of software and imaging technology in the case of hardware.
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
| Stephen Eales (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Greaves Jane
(2022)
Venus mysterious clouds: phosphine and other gases
in American Astronomical Society Meeting #240
Saintonge A
(2022)
The Cold Interstellar Medium of Galaxies in the Local Universe
in Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics
Winiarska Martyna W.
(2025)
Investigating the effects of fresh gas on the Active Galactic Nuclei luminosity of early- and late-type galaxies
in arXiv e-prints
Bains W
(2021)
Phosphine on Venus Cannot Be Explained by Conventional Processes.
in Astrobiology
Paraschos G
(2024)
Ordered magnetic fields around the 3C 84 central black hole
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Arzoumanian D
(2021)
Dust polarized emission observations of NGC 6334 BISTRO reveals the details of the complex but organized magnetic field structure of the high-mass star-forming hub-filament network
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Pattle K
(2024)
Star Formation in the Milky Way and Beyond in the Era of JWST and ALMA
in Astronomy & Geophysics
Pattle Kate
(2024)
Interstellar Magnetic Fields and Our Dynamical ISM: The Future of Dust Polarimetry with AtLAST
in EAS2024, European Astronomical Society Annual Meeting
Greaves J. S.
(2022)
Venus as a Benchmark for Searching for Biosignatures on Extrasolar Planets
in Exoplanets in Our Backyard 2
Bains W
(2024)
Source of phosphine on Venus-An unsolved problem
in Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences
Ruffa I
(2024)
Molecular Gas Kinematics in Local Early-Type Galaxies with ALMA
in Galaxies
Greaves J
(2023)
Comment on "Phosphine in the Venusian Atmosphere: A Strict Upper Limit From SOFIA GREAT Observations" by Cordiner et al.
in Geophysical Research Letters
Urquhart S
(2022)
The bright extragalactic ALMA redshift survey (BEARS) I: redshifts of bright gravitationally lensed galaxies from the Herschel ATLAS
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Könyves V
(2023)
A low-mass hub-filament with double centre revealed in NGC 2071-North
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Rumble D
(2021)
The JCMT Gould Belt Survey: radiative heating by OB stars
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Scicluna P
(2022)
The Nearby Evolved Stars Survey II: Constructing a volume-limited sample and first results from the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Relaño M
(2022)
Dust grain size evolution in local galaxies: a comparison between observations and simulations
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Pattle K
(2023)
The JCMT nearby galaxies legacy survey: SCUBA-2 observations of nearby galaxies
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Scholte D
(2023)
Cold gas mass measurements for the era of large optical spectroscopic surveys
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Lovell C
(2021)
Reproducing submillimetre galaxy number counts with cosmological hydrodynamic simulations
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Ward B
(2022)
Herschel-ATLAS Data Release III: near-infrared counterparts in the South Galactic Pole field - another 100 000 submillimetre galaxies
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Perry J
(2025)
The JCMT BISTRO Survey: the magnetized evolution of star-forming cores in the Ophiuchus molecular cloud interpreted using histograms of relative orientation
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Zhang H
(2025)
WISDOM Project - XXII. A 5 per cent precision CO-dynamical supermassive black hole mass measurement in the galaxy NGC 383
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Chen M
(2024)
Relative alignments between magnetic fields, velocity gradients, and dust emission gradients in NGC 1333
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Smail I
(2021)
An ALMA survey of the S2CLS UDS field: optically invisible submillimetre galaxies
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society