Ireland's position on the periphery of the continent could help radio astronomers right across Europe to see further into outer space, writes Dick Ahlstrom
A group of scientists have embarked on an unusual DIY project - drumming up the €10 million needed to build Ireland's first large-scale radio telescope. With its home planned to be the Birr Castle demesne, the instrument would allow Irish researchers to participate in important world-class astronomical research.
The ambitious scheme was launched in Dublin last week, appropriately enough with a fundraising reception at the Royal Irish Academy and later dinner. Dubbed A Radio Telescope for Ireland (ARTI) project, it seeks to bring local researchers into the 21st century of astronomical research using an instrument based at home rather than sharing facilities located abroad.
Surprisingly, ARTI's backers have not targeted the Government as paymasters for the project. "We are going to pursue the ERDF (European Regional Development Fund), SFI (Science Foundation Ireland) and private and corporate donors," says ARTI project co-ordinator, Dr Denise Gabuzda.
"It is a really excellent project and has a lot to offer," she said enthusiastically before the launch. "This is an instrument that would be in demand right around the world."
An astrophysicist at University College Cork, Dr Gabuzda says the ARTI proposal involves raising funds to construct and operate a 32-metre radio telescope at Birr Castle on a site to be provided by the Castle's owner, Lord Rosse. "The estimate is it could be built and outfitted for €10 million," she says. Ongoing maintenance and operation of the dish would then cost about 300,000 a year.
Siting the instrument at Birr has powerful historical resonance given it is the home of the spectacular 72-inch reflector telescope built and installed at the castle in the 1840s by the third Earl of Rosse, William Parsons. The wooden-tubed Leviathan was the largest telescope in the world for 75 years.
The seventh and current Earl of Rosse has actively pursued this scientific heritage, fully restoring the Leviathan, opening a historic science centre and now offering a home for the proposed radio telescope. "Lord Rosse is interested in continuing the family tradition of supporting science and astronomical study here in Ireland," Dr Gabuzda says.
It might seem incongruous to link Ireland with astronomy given our persistent cloud cover, but radio astronomy offers a way around the weather. "It is an instrument we could do very useful work with even with the climate," she believes
These telescopes don't read light, they read radio signals given off by quasars, pulsars and galaxies. Interpretation of the radio signal as it varies over time gives information about the structure and behaviour of these distant bodies, and happily, the radio waves pass through our cloud cover without being impeded
The proposed ARTI dish would be 32 metres across, not exceptional if working on its own but very powerful when paired with other radio telescopes across Europe. The Birr instrument would be used in conjunction with others, greatly multiplying its resolution.
The 32-metre dish would perform like a 3,200 km dish if paired with another that distance away. "At its highest resolution you could get 50 to 100 times the resolution of the Hubble space telescope when networked with others," says Gabuzda. For this reason other radio telescope sites in Europe would be particularly pleased if the Birr instrument was built, she says. Our position on the north-western periphery of Europe greatly extends the distance between us and other European instruments, meaning better resolution and the ability to see further out into the universe. "This is a very innovative project and would have a large impact on the radio astronomy that could be done in Europe," Gabuzda says.
She and project scientist, Dr Aaron Golden of NUI Galway, don't see this as the sole property of astronomers. "We would see this instrument used for educational purposes as well," she says. Second-level school students and university undergraduates should have access to encourage an interest in the sciences and astronomy in particular. The dish would also support tourism in the Birr area, and stimulate jobs in electronic engineering and communications technology, she believes.