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Science and Technology Facilities Council Highlights 2012
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STFC Highlights 2012

Mar 26, 2016

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Securely rooted in thrilling, thought-provoking science that challenges assumptions, changes perceptions and benefits people’s lives, the world-class research, innovation and skills we deliver all contribute to breaking down barriers, releasing potential and fashioning the future, as this small selection of current and recent achievements (set out in the STFC Highlights brochure) demonstrates:
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Page 1: STFC Highlights 2012

Science and Technology Facilities CouncilHighlights 2012

Page 2: STFC Highlights 2012

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY FACILITIES COUNCIL HIGHLIGHTS 2012

Edited by Harriet Dingle, Maddy Henney, Jenny Atter, Emily Pritchard, Andrew Pennington and Jane Binks, STFC Communications.Design and layout by Andrew Collins, STFC Media Services.

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SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY FACILITIES COUNCIL HIGHLIGHTS 2012 1

Contents

It’s a Higgs! ............................................................................4

The Higgs boson - what’s next for the LHC? ........................6

Leading the way in revolutionary research ..........................8

Fathoming the Magic in Stellar Explosions ........................10

A great year for astronomy ................................................12

Astronomy into the future ..................................................14

Watching the weather ........................................................16

Computing leading the way ................................................18

Help feed the World ............................................................20

Improving your aviation experience ..................................22

Towards a cleaner-carbon future ......................................24

Understanding diabetes ......................................................26

Photos ..................................................................................28

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2 SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY FACILITIES COUNCIL HIGHLIGHTS 2012

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Every year, STFC delivers world-classresearch, innovation and skills throughour leading edge scientific facilities, ourpartnerships with UK universities andour international collaborations. Ourtalented scientists and engineers workeffectively with academia, industry andinternational partners to find solutionsto challenges that are facing us all nowand into the future, to support jobs andgrowth through innovation, and tobuild the scientific and technological

base that the country needs in order tocompete effectively in the globalknowledge economy.

This STFC Highlights brochure capturessome of the many successes that ourresearch departments, facilities andfunded programmes have deliveredover the past 12 months, and shows thevariety and excellence of our science.Wherever you look, STFC science ismaking an impact – it is making adifference to our everyday lives – andthis theme is central to everything we do.

Two examples show the breadth thatthis impact can have. Cobalt LightSystems has turned a techniquedeveloped at STFC’s Central LaserFacility into a product for airportsecurity screening that could soon helpto allow us to safely carry liquids onaeroplanes once again. The discoveryearlier this year of a new particleconsistent with the long-sought Higgsboson at the Large Hadron Collider at

CERN (to which STFC pays the UK’scontribution) represented a huge stepforward in particle physics, and as aparticle physicist, I found thisparticularly exciting. But it was farmore than just an important piece offundamental science; the discoverygenerated huge interest among thepublic, with an audience of over tenmillion in the UK alone, and CERN wascelebrated in the opening ceremoniesof the Olympic and Paralympic games.Undergraduate applications for physicsare up, and interest in fundamentalscience is greater than it has been fordecades.

Of course, it is impossible to bring all ofour successes together in the pages ofjust one Highlights document and I amproud that we have achieved so muchin my first year as CEO of thisorganisation. I know that this trajectorywill continue into 2013 and beyond andI am enormously excited to be leadingSTFC at a time when our work is bothso successful and so important.

Welcome to STFC’sHighlights of 2012

3SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY FACILITIES COUNCIL HIGHLIGHTS 2012

John Womersley, Chief Executive

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4 SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY FACILITIES COUNCIL HIGHLIGHTS 2012

That was the moment on 4 July2012 that Professor JohnWomersley, particle physicist andChief Executive of the Science andTechnology Facilities Council (STFC)confirmed that researchers from theLarge Hadron Collider at CERN,including many British physicists,had found a new particle consistentwith the long-sought Higgs boson.

Speaking in Westminster at the UKmedia launch of the discovery,Professor Womersley went on tosay: “Obviously having found a newparticle, there is still much, muchmore to do at the LHC – we need toconfirm that this new particle is thereason some particles have tangiblemass while others are insubstantial,as proposed by Peter Higgs andother scientists, who predicted thata particle like this one must existfor our current understanding of theUniverse to work.”

The London event was heldsimultaneously with a seminar heldat CERN, the European ParticlePhysics Laboratory, that morning, atwhich the ATLAS and CMSexperiments presented their latestresults in the search for the Higgsparticle. Both experiments reportedstrong indications for the presenceof a new particle in the mass regionaround 125-126 GeV.

This highly anticipated discoverycaused a global media sensation,with scientists and the public aliketaking an interest in this elusiveparticle.

CERN operates the world’s largestscience experiment, the LargeHadron Collider (LHC). The LHCaccelerates protons around acircular tunnel at almost the speedof light. By colliding these beams

physicists can recreate theconditions that immediatelyfollowed after the Big Bang. Thehigh speed collisions break up theprotons to create new particles andthese events are studied using hugedetectors such as ATLAS and CMS.The UK is one of the largestinvestors of CERN’s 20 Memberstates. STFC manages the UK’ssubscription of around £100 milliona year, enabling many UK scientistsand engineers to contribute vitalhardware, computing and expertiseto the LHC.

The fundamental particles formedin the LHC make up the StandardModel of particle physics - a ‘theoryof almost everything’. The Higgsboson has been a crucial ingredientin the Standard Model since it wastheorised by Professor Peter Higgsand others in the 1960s. In theStandard Model it is required thatthe fundamental particles have nointrinsic mass; they only gain massthrough their interaction with theHiggs field. When particles interactwith the Higgs field they feel ’drag‘and this gives them mass. The moreparticles interact with the field, themore mass they have.

For months before the July 2012announcement, two experiments atthe LHC that were looking for theHiggs (ATLAS and CMS) worked incomplete isolation from each otherso that their results would bedemonstrably independent. On 4 July 2012 both the ATLAS andCMS experiments reported resultsat five sigma. This is the thresholdfor particle physics discoveries andit describes a 99.99997%confidence that the results did notoccur by chance.

In the months since July, theresearchers have been analysingmore and more data from theexperiments and in December 2012the latest research findings fromthe LHC at CERN were reported,showing that the CMS and ATLASexperiments are now showing thatthe significance of their observationof the Higgs-like particle is standingclose to the seven sigma level, wellbeyond the five required for adiscovery, and that the newparticle’s properties appear to beconsistent with those of a StandardModel Higgs boson.

It’s a Higgs!

“It’s a boson - These results mark a significant breakthrough in ourunderstanding of the fundamental laws that govern the Universe.”

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SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY FACILITIES COUNCIL HIGHLIGHTS 2012 5

A simulation of a Higgs boson decay inthe CMS experiment.(Credit: CERN)

The Large Hadron Collider

100m below ground27km in circumferenceTunnel interior is an ultra-high vacuum as empty asinterplanetary spaceColliding lead particles produce temperatures 100,000times hotter than the heart of the sun concentrated in aminiscule spaceMagnets are cooled by 10,080 tonnes of liquid nitrogen and120 tonnes of liquid helium down to -271.3OC (1.9K) –even colder than outer space600 million proton collisions per secondTrillions of protons travel around the accelerator ring11,245 times a second

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6 SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY FACILITIES COUNCIL HIGHLIGHTS 2012

So, now that we’ve discovered aHiggs-like particle, what’s next forthe Large Hadron Collider, the Higgsboson and particle physics ingeneral? A number of leading UKparticle physicists offer theirthoughts on some of the next stepsthat will need to be taken in thecomplicated world of studying thebuilding blocks of the Universe.

Tom Kibble, Emeritus Professor ofTheoretical Physics and SeniorResearch Fellow at Imperial CollegeLondon was one of the handful ofscientists in the 1960s, along withPeter Higgs, to propose that aparticle needed to exist tocomplete the Standard Model.

"It is very exciting to find that workI was involved in nearly fifty yearsago is once more at the centre ofattention. At thetime,the

Higgs boson did not seem a verysignificant feature of the theory,but it has become so as the lastmissing piece of the 'StandardModel'. Its discovery will completea chapter, but not the story – themodel is amazingly successful, butmany features remain to beexplained."

The fact that so much more stillneeds to be understood or provenwith regards to the Standard Modelis a challenge that particlephysicists are relishing.

Professor Themis Bowcock, Head ofParticle Physics at the University ofLiverpool reiterates that this resultcame on the back of many decadeswork by many people but there isstill much to do:

“Half a century after it was firstproposed, and after a monumental

effort by generations ofphysicists around the

world, the discovery ofthe Higgs represents

a majorbreakthrough inour fundamentalunderstanding ofnature. Forphysicists, thisis theequivalent ofColumbusdiscoveringAmerica.

“Physicists havelaboured for

decades to reachthis goal but a huge

task still awaits them. Mapping outthe properties of this new particle isthe next step, it opens a new era inParticle Physics and will take yearsmore painstaking work. But thestakes could not be higher. TheHiggs offers humanity, for the firsttime, a unique glimpse into whynature is the way it is.”

This view is echoed by ProfessorValentin Khoze, Director of DurhamUniversity’s Institute for ParticlePhysics Phenomenology (IPPP).Professor Khoze described thediscovery as ‘…a triumph forparticle physics.’

However he goes on to say that,“The second part of the story aboutthe Higgs particle is even moreexciting as it provides us with awindow to new Physics - a tool forthe exploration of the trulyunknown.

The next stage will be a detailedand careful study of its properties.Successful completion of thissecond stage will bring us closer touncovering new physics, explainingdark matter and other mysteries ofthe Universe.”

The potential secondaryapplications that may be derived inthe future from the work of theteams at the LHC is one of the mostexciting aspects of what ishappening at CERN according toDan Tovey, Professor of ParticlePhysics at the University ofSheffield and head of their teamworking on the ATLAS collaborationat CERN.

“It is a tremendously exciting time to be a particle physicist – it’s a realprivilege to be involved in experiments which are shaping mankind’sfundamental understanding of the Universe”

Professor Dan Tovey, University of Sheffield

The Higgs bosonwhat’s next for the LHC?

Simulated Higgs event to four muons(Credit: CERN)

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SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY FACILITIES COUNCIL HIGHLIGHTS 2012 7

UK Media coverage

Broadcast media:12 million viewers watched coverage of the announcement ontelevisionKey news story on BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Newsround (CBBC) andNewsnight 14 million listened to local and national radio coverage

Print coverage:Front page coverage from The Guardian, The Independent, ‘I’,The Times, The Wall Street Journal and Financial TimesOver 1000 articles in three days

Social MediaMentioned approximately every second at height of excitement8 out of 10 Twitter trending topics Higgs relatedOver 7.5 million Facebook mentions

Professor Tovey believes that “The main reason we do this pureresearch is because we want tounderstand how the Universeworks. Nevertheless this work willinevitably lead to more tangiblebenefits for society. It’s just thesame as when JJ Thomsondiscovered the electron in 1897,heralding the development of thefield of electronics and a myriad ofapplications.”

“We can’t say yet what directapplications the Higgs boson willhave, however it has always beenthe case that fundamental researchgenerates spin-off applications.Examples include the web, gridcomputing and advanced sensorsfor medical imaging.”

The latest results from the CMS andATLAS teams were published inDecember 2012 and report thatfurther analysis of the data, and aprobable combination of bothexperiments’ data in 2013, will berequired before some keyproperties of the new Higgs-likeparticle, such as its spin, can bedetermined conclusively. The focusof the analysis has now moved fromdiscovery to measurement of thenew particle in its individual decaychannels.

Meanwhile, in addition to thespectacular discovery of a Higgs-like particle in July, the LHCexperiments have led to many otherstudies improving ourunderstanding of fundamentalmatter.

In Spring 2013, the LHC will go intoa long maintenance stop until theend of 2014. Running will resume in2015 with increased collisionenergy of 13 TeV and anotherincrease in luminosity. These moreintense beams will mean a greaternumber of collisions than can becurrently produced and a betterchance of observing rarephenomena.

So as Peter Higgs said at theannouncement earlier this year: “Inone sense, it is the end of the road,but in another it’s the beginning ofwhere machines like the LHC gonext.”

www.cern.ch

www.particlephysics.ac.uk

Professor Peter Higgs atCERN. (Credit: CERN)

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8 SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY FACILITIES COUNCIL HIGHLIGHTS 2012

A particle accelerator that could revolutionise cancer treatment and makesafer nuclear power might sound like a pipe dream, but STFC’s AcceleratorScience and Technology Centre (ASTeC) are striving to achieve just that.

Leading the way inrevolutionary research

The Electron Model of Many Applications.

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SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY FACILITIES COUNCIL HIGHLIGHTS 2012 9

The Electron Model for ManyApplications (EMMA) is the firstaccelerator of its kind anywhere inthe world. EMMA manipulates anelectron beam trajectory such thatthe particle orbit is compressedinside a doughnut shaped vacuumchamber: this means that itsphysical footprint can be muchsmaller than a conventionalcyclotron. EMMA utilises aninnovative Non-Scaling Fixed FieldAlternating Gradient (NS-FFAG)acceleration process, which for thevery first time has shown that sucha compact machine actually works.

Charged-particle accelerators arevital for many cutting-edgeresearch projects, from large scale,multinational research facilities,such as the 26 km circumferenceLarge Hadron Collider at CERN inSwitzerland, to the few centimetreslong accelerators used forradiotherapy cancer treatment andcargo scanning applications.

EMMA has caused a stir in thescientific community, primarily

because of its potential torevolutionise cancer treatment. By utilising the same NS-FFAGacceleration process, proton andcarbon versions of the samecompact accelerator will make itmuch easier to target hard to reachtumours through a more flexiblebeam delivery process, making itideally suited for installation in ahospital environment.

As well as therapeutic applications,it is hoped that the technologydeveloped to build EMMA can beharnessed for use in future nuclearreactors. Such reactors would beinherently much safer, as the fissionreaction mechanism can beimmediately stopped, simply byswitching off the drive accelerator.

EMMA isn’t the only researchaccelerator at DaresburyLaboratory: in August 2011, PrimeMinister David Cameron announceda £10 m investment for theLaboratory for scientific computingand accelerator technologydevelopments. With this part

funding, researchers have designeda linear electron accelerator - theElectron Beam Test Facility (EBTF).

Linear electron accelerators areused to achieve high energyacceleration in a short length. EBTFis one of the leading accelerators ofthis type, as it has a high beamflexibility and tunability, making it aunique facility for applicationsdevelopment. EBTF’s goal is tobridge the gap between prototypesand market ready products bypromoting faster and more efficientcommercialised demonstration.Linear accelerators are used in anumber of research areas, frommedical therapy to security imagingand nuclear waste disposal.

Cutting edge research tools such asEMMA and EBTF help to keep theUK at the forefront of world leadingscience and allow research intoareas previously inaccessible,opening up new doors to theunknown.

www.stfc.ac.uk/astec

EBTF at Daresbury Laboratory. Prime Minister David Cameron. EMMA at Daresbury Laboratory.

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10 SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY FACILITIES COUNCIL HIGHLIGHTS 2012

Stars are extraordinary placeswhere extraordinary things happen.Take ‘X-ray bursters’, binarysystems typically consisting of a redgiant and a neutron star that sucksmatter from its companion. Theaccumulation of matter on thesurface of the neutron star resultsin explosions which are thought toproduce highly unstable nucleipassing even beyond the highlyexotic doubly magic nucleus 100-Snin extreme conditions. Theproperties of these unstable nucleigovern how the nuclear reactionsthat happen during the explosionoccur.

Understanding this process of decaywill therefore provide a bettergrasp not just of the internalstructure of atomic nuclei but alsoof how elements are processed instars. So when, in June, aninternational team working at theGSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion

Research in Darmstadt, Germany,announced that they hadsuccessfully performed the firstever experiment to study theradioactive decay of tin-100, itrepresented an important stepforward for nuclear physics. Neverbefore has such a heavy elementwith a nucleus comprising equalnumbers of protons and neutronsbeen studied in this way.

The UK has been at the forefront ofthis pioneering work. In addition toSTFC support for the participationof scientists from the Universities ofEdinburgh and Surrey, the NuclearPhysics Group at DaresburyLaboratory collaborated with theUniversity of Liverpool on thedesign and development of RISING,the ground-breaking gamma-raydetector used in the experiment.

“RISING delivers much higherefficiency and greater precision

than any other gamma detector,”says Professor Paddy Regan of theUniversity of Surrey. “Without it wesimply couldn’t have conducted theexperiment, which revealed thattin-100’s speed of decay is thefastest of its kind yet observed.”

This finding has importantimplications. According to thenuclear shell model of atomicnuclei, protons and neutrons arearranged in concentric ‘shells’.Some elements have a ‘magicnumber’ of particles that gives thema complete outer shell. One ofthese magic numbers is 50 – andtin-100 has 50 protons and 50neutrons, making it doubly magicand extremely rare.

“The results of our experimentshowed that tin-100’s ‘magic’nucleus actually has a very simpleunderlying shell structure,”Professor Regan explains. “It’sprovided new insights into nuclearphysics that will help to shape ourview of the Universe.”

Building on the breakthrough, theupcoming NuSTAR (NuclearStructure, Astrophysics andReactions) collaboration, which ispart of the FAIR (Facility forAntiproton and Ion Research)accelerator initiative, will nowtackle some very big questions suchas ‘what are the limits of nuclearmatter’? In parallel, RISINGtechnology could have potential tobe adapted for use in fields rangingfrom healthcare to security.

In every sense, it really is a questionof watch this space.

www.gsi.de

Fathoming the Magic in Stellar Explosions

UK expertise was at the heart of a major milestone in our understanding of thestructure and behaviour of rare atomic nuclei.

Fast-spinning neutron star (Credit: NASA/Dana Berry)

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Artists’s impression of a gamma-ray burst(Credit: ESA, illustration by ESA/ECF)

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12 SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY FACILITIES COUNCIL HIGHLIGHTS 2012

2012 has been a great year for UK astronomy. From a picture of 84 millionstars, to the delivery of an advanced instrument for a huge space telescope,STFC projects are changing the way we look at our Universe. UK astronomersare looking to answer some of the key questions about the beginnings of theUniverse and the formation of its first stars and galaxies.

Looking at the past is one way tolearn about the future. This is whyastrophysicists search relentlesslythrough space; to uncover thesecrets of the evolution of theUniverse in the hope that one daywe will be able to fully understandwhy it is the way it is today.

Professor Gillian Wright, Head ofSTFC’s UK Astronomy TechnologyCentre (UK ATC) at the RoyalObservatory Edinburgh said:

“These achievements, enablingworld class science via state of theart hardware and softwaredelivered to major internationalorganisations, are a tribute to thehard work and expertise of staffacross STFC and the UK astronomycommunity.”

VISTAThe Visible and Infrared SurveyTelescope for Astronomy (VISTA) isa 4m telescope that formed part ofthe UK’s ‘joining fee’ to theEuropean Southern Observatory(ESO). VISTA is carrying out severallarge surveys of the Southern Sky,creating a vast collection of datawhich will support research inmany astronomical topics for atleast the next decade. UK ATCmanaged the design andconstruction of VISTA, while STFC’sRAL Space built its huge infraredcamera.

Earlier this year astronomers usingVISTA released a nine-gigapixelimage of 84 million stars:

"This gigantic image is animpressive testament to the qualityof the images being taken at theVISTA telescope which UKastronomers and engineersconceived, designed and built", saidProfessor Jim Emerson from QueenMary, University of London wholeads the VISTA consortium.

KMOSA team at UK ATC have justdelivered an instrument, the K-BandMulti Object Spectrometer (KMOS)to ESO’s Very Large Telescope inChile. The 2.5 tonne, 2 metrediameter KMOS instrument, whosecentral optical system operatesbelow 140K (-130OC) , can positionrobotic arms with incredibleprecision inside the telescope’s fieldof view. Each of the arms carries amirror which deflects light from aselected target to spectrometersclustered around the edge of thefield of view. KMOS will be used tostudy galaxy clusters and starformation regions, with its multiplearms making observations morequickly than any previousinstrument of this type.

Dr Michele Cirasuolo, the UK ATCinstrument scientist for KMOS,explains:

“KMOS represents a pivotal step inour quest to scrutinise the distantUniverse. The ability to observe inthe near-infrared up to 24 galaxiessimultaneously is an enormous leapforward.”

A collaboration between six Britishand German institutions, KMOS willbe used to build a 3D picture ofgalaxies to help understand howthey were assembled from the veryfirst galaxies more than 13 billionyears ago.

MIRIIn May 2012 the Mid InfraRedInstrument (MIRI) was handed overto NASA, the first of fourinstruments for the James WebbSpace Telescope (JWST) to bedelivered. The product of 10 yearsof hard work by over 200 engineersand scientists, MIRI is an amazinglycapable spectrometer.

From its orbit 1.5 million milesabove the Earth it will be able tostudy everything from theformation of planets in our localgalaxy to objects close to the edgeof the observable Universe. Theassembly, mechanical and thermaltesting of the instrument wasundertaken at STFC’s RAL Space,utilising Britain’s world-classexpertise in space science. Now atNASA’s Goddard Space FlightCenter in Maryland, MIRI is beingintegrated in to the James WebbSpace Telescope which is set tolaunch in 2018.

ALMASTFC has been involved withdeveloping both hardware andsoftware for the Atacama LargeMillimetre Array (ALMA) project formore than a decade. This year sawseveral major milestones, including

A great year for Astronomy

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SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY FACILITIES COUNCIL HIGHLIGHTS 2012SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY FACILITIES COUNCIL HIGHLIGHTS 2012 13

the first call for proposals andexciting discoveries from earlyscience observations. The 70thcryostat, to be used on thetelescope’s antennas, wasdelivered.

STFC’s Applied Science Division atRAL designed, manufactured andtested the cryostats for the 66antennas. RAL Space has beenresponsible for integrating theultra-sensitive receivers.Constructed at over 5000m abovesea level, ALMA will probe the coldUniverse and investigate the firststars, galaxies and planetformation. In parallel to thedelivery of the hardware, UK ATCstaff led the international effort to

provide user friendly software toolsto enable astronomers to proposeobservations to be made with thecomplex ALMA system and examinethe data afterwards.

Island TelescopesThis year the UK Infrared Telescope(UKIRT) on Hawaii discoveredseveral pairs of stars that orbitedeach other in four hours – this wasconsidered impossible because ofthe required proximity of thesebinary stars for this short an orbit.This discovery challenges the beliefthat such binary stars would fuse toform a single, larger star if theywere so close together. No previousbinaries had been found with anorbit of less than five hours.

STFC were pleased to be able toextend the operation of the Hawaiitelescopes for at least another yearto enable further excellent researchto be conducted, ProfessorWomersley said:

“However, we also had tocommence negotiations with theUniversity of Hawaii as theleaseholder of the Mauna Kea sites,and with other potential operatorsof each of the Hawaii telescopes. If a suitable alternative operator isnot identified for either Hawaiiantelescope, STFC will decommissionthat telescope and restore the siteas required by the lease.”

VISTA (Credit: ESO)

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14 SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY FACILITIES COUNCIL HIGHLIGHTS 2012

STFC strives to uphold the UK’s expertise in astronomical research throughcontinuing involvement in ground-breaking projects. Space, to the untrainedeye, looks mind-blowing in its immensity. The stars, planets and galaxies thatmake up our Universe are incomprehensible specks of light in the sky.However to those who make a study of space, each of those lights could bethe key to unlocking the history of the Universe, a clue in understanding howthe Universe began.

Astronomy into the future

SKA Dish.

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SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY FACILITIES COUNCIL HIGHLIGHTS 2012 15

An artist’s impression of the EuropeanExtremely Large Telescope (E-ELT).(Credit: ESO/L. Calçada)

SKA Apeture Array. SKA Dish.

SKAThe Square Kilometre Array (SKA)will be one of the most complexscientific instruments ever built.

Unlike most radio telescopes,which consist of one large dish orantenna, the SKA will combine4,000 dishes which will acttogether. With a total collectingarea of one square kilometre itwill be 50 times more sensitivethan the best of today’s radiotelescopes, with all-sky imagingenabling astronomers to glimpsethe formation and evolution ofthe very first galaxies and, muchcloser to home, probe the cloudsof gas and dust around nearbystars in which new planets areforming.

The vast nature of thisinternational project requires aworldwide consortium includingEurope, North and SouthAmerican and Japan, to providethe required resources andexpertise. STFC is funding theUK’s involvement in the designand prototyping activities andacting as coordinator for theproject. The decision in May2012 to construct the SKA acrosstwo sites in South Africa andAustralia, which both have vastopen spaces with minimal radiofrequency interference, marked a

crucial step forwards. Work cannow progress on the design andpreparations for the constructionphase which is expected to beginin 2015/2016.

E-ELT3000m above sea level, in one ofthe driest places on Earth, is amountain that is planned tobecome home to the World’sbiggest ‘eye on the sky’. With its39m primary mirror, theEuropean Extremely LargeTelescope (E-ELT) is set to‘revolutionise optical andinfrared astronomy’, saysProfessor Isobel Hook of theUniversity of Oxford.

The E-ELT, a European SouthernObservatory (ESO) project, isexpected to see first light in 2020and will produce images 15 timessharper than the Hubble SpaceTelescope. Its primary mirror willbe made of 800, 1.4m widesegments that together willcollect more than 100 milliontimes more light than a humaneye.

This huge telescope will be ableto carry out a huge range ofscientific programmes. Itsimpressive imaging technologymeans that it will be able todirectly image some exoplanets

for the first time, making itpossible to study the “habitablezones” of other solar systems todiscover whether life bearingplanets could indeed exist there.It will study the black hole in thecentre of our Milky Way, andthose in other galaxies, todetermine whether the theoriesof gravity and general relativityremain applicable at their edgesand how they grow and influencethe formation of galaxies.

By studying the light from distantsupernovae, and perhapsmeasuring the global dynamics ofthe Universe itself, the E-ELT willthrow new light onto themystery of ‘dark energy.’Approval for construction of theE-ELT has been granted inprinciple, but will not commenceuntil provisional votes by fourESO member states, including theUK, have been confirmed and90% of the funding required hasbeen secured. In the meantime,STFC’s UK ATC is coordinating theUK contributions to the project incollaboration with industry anduniversities. The objective is toensure both considerableindustrial involvement, andultimately scientific exploitation,of this ground-breaking telescopeby the UK.

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16 SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY FACILITIES COUNCIL HIGHLIGHTS 2012

34 minutes after launching from theEuropean Space Port in FrenchGuiana, the Meteosat SecondGeneration 3 (MSG-3) satelliteseparated from the launch vehicleand started on its journey intogeostationary orbit above theequator at 3.4 degrees west.

The satellite will be moved to beover the Greenwich Meridian inJanuary 2013. MSG-3 carries aninstrument that will improveweather forecasting and help withthe rapid detection of extremeweather situations.

Right on the edge of the satellitesits a small instrument called GERB-3. Measuring 45x20x15cm andweighing in (on Earth) at just 40kg,GERB-3 might seem like a small partof the MSG-3 but, in reality, theGeostationary Earth RadiationBudget (GERB) instruments areproviding data that is vital for ourunderstanding of climate change.

GERB-3 marked a significantmilestone for STFC’s RAL

Space – it was their200th instrument in

50 years. RAL Spaceled the internationalconsortium thatwas involved withthe overall GERBproject, includingthe design and

building of theinstruments, followed

by the processing anddistribution of the data.

GERB-3 studies the Earth’sRadiation Budget (ERB). The ERB isthe difference between the amountof energy coming in from the sunand the amount going out, whichconsists of the solar energy theEarth reflects back into space andthe energy it radiates as heat(infrared). GERB-3 takes globalmeasurements every 15 minutes. A despin mirror (that stabilises theimage of the Earth) reflectsradiation towards a line ofdetectors. A full disc of the Earth issampled in five minutes. Threemeasurements are taken andaveraged to minimise the effect ofbackground ‘noise’ on the data.

Part of GERB’s role is to studyvarious factors that may berelevant in climate changeincluding the greenhouse effect ofwater vapour, the impact of cloudsand aerosols on the ERB and thedaily cycle of air movement andland surface temperatures.Understanding these interactions isimportant because it helps us to

identify the processes whichcontrol natural stability andvariability in climate andunderstand how the human activityaffects the climate balance.

As the name suggests, there weretwo other GERB instruments beforeGERB-3. GERB-1 launched as part ofthe MSG-1 satellite in 2002 andGERB-2 aboard MSG-2 in 2005. The launch of GERB-3 on 5 July2012 means that the last 10 yearsof study have now been extendedto at least 2016. Researchers willhave a continuous 15 year data setthat will test and improve ourunderstanding of climate systemsand modelling.

The Meteosat Second Generation 4 (MSG-4) satellite is due to belaunched in 2015. The EuropeanSpace Agency and the owners ofthe MSG satellites – the EuropeanOrganisation for the Exploitation ofMeteorological Satellites(EUMETSAT) – are working todevelop Meteosat Third Generation,the next generation of weather andclimate satellites that will furtherimprove our capabilities.

With Climate Change posing agrowing challenge to the globalcommunity, the importance ofclimate monitoring usinginstruments like GERB-3 has neverbeen clearer. GERB-3 will start tomake regular measurements of theEarth in 2013.

Watching the weather

35,800 km above the equator a satellite is changing the way we look at our climate.

MSG (Credit: EUMETSAT)

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SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY FACILITIES COUNCIL HIGHLIGHTS 2012 17

The Geostationary Earth Radiation Budget (GERB) instrument.

The first image from the SEVIRI onMSG-3. (Credit: EUMETSAT)

The GERB-3 instrument. (RAL Space) A RAL Space scientist working on theGERB-3 instrument. (RAL Space)

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From a supercomputer that can do 1015 calculations a second, to the 10 tonclusters that can store more data than 6 million CDs – STFC is opening up HighPerformance Computing to industry.

In 2011 the UK Government invested£37.5m into High PerformanceComputing (HPC) and from this theHartree Centre was born. Theleading HPC facility is acollaboration between STFC and theworld’s biggest IT and consultingservices company IBM. This bringstogether the UK’s foremost HPC sitewith world renowned experienceand skills.

HPC at the Hartree Centre isundertaken by two IBMsupercomputers a Blue Gene/Qcalled Blue Joule and an iDataPlexcluster called Blue Wonder. Wheninstalled, Blue Joule was the UK’snumber one supercomputer and theworld’s largest dedicated to softwaredevelopment. Blue Wonder is aworld-class iDataPlex cluster and isideal for getting the best value from‘big data’.

The Hartree Centre’s state of the artfacilities will enable organisationsfrom a variety of backgrounds,

including government and industry,to access cutting edge science andtechnology. Its facilities include asurround wall visualisation suite, aquad wall visualisation suite and acomputer suite where users can getto grips with the available software.The visualisation suites will helpusers to analyse how highly complexsystems, such as the Earth’s climateand weather systems, affect ourlives.

In June 2012, Blue Joule became thefirst UK supercomputer to run anapplication at one thousand trillioncalculations a second (a Petaflop).This is one thousand times fasterthan the last big milestone, theTeraflop, which was achieved in2002.

In March 2012 there were furtherimprovements in computingcapabilities as a new super-data-cluster was installed in the datacentre at STFC’s Rutherford AppletonLaboratory (RAL).

The JASMIN+CEMS cluster is acombination of two machines intoone £4.5 million, 10 ton hardwaresystem.

This installation means thatimportant research areas, such asclimate change, can be studied moreeffectively. The data collected fromspace will also be opened up tobusinesses who will be able to use itto develop new products andservices – this will benefit industry.

The cluster has 4.6 Petabytes ofusable, fast-access parallel filestorage. 4.6 Petabytes is theequivalent of almost 6.5 million CDs.The way that the cluster’s processorsand data storage is configuredmeans that it can switch from beinga data server to number cruncher,depending on demand.

Computing leading the way

Supercomputers at SCD at RAL.

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UK research using STFC’s Central Laser Facility (CLF) has discovered whyproteins in the membrane of plant cells don’t move as much as their animalcounterparts. This is helping us to understand plant immune systems and couldlead to the development of disease resistant crops.

Theoretically, cell membranesshould allow lipids and proteins todiffuse freely. In reality animal cellshave a number of limitations ontheir protein and lipid mobility, oneexample is protein-proteininteraction. Even with theseconstraints, plant cell membranesare relatively immobile comparedto animal cells, so researcherswanted to study the controlmechanisms that limit proteinmobility in plant cells.

Using Biotechnology and BiologicalSciences Research Council (BBSRC)funding for research into themolecular processes underlyingcancer, CLF has developed a newtechnique that can track singlemolecules . Timely transfer of thistechnique from human cells toplant cells has allowed scientists tofollow the movement of individualmolecules in real time and thisallows them to study how the cellwall affects protein mobility.

The project, undertaken byscientists from Oxford BrookesUniversity led by Dr John Runions,and also funded by BBSRC, foundthat the plant cell wall affects boththe speed and the trajectory of thediffusion of membrane proteins.When the plant’s immune responseis triggered, there is an increase inthe synthesis of proteins thatstabilise the cell membrane. Thisrestricts protein mobility and

therefore the cell’s ability to reactto an immune response; this couldleave the plant vulnerable. The newtechnique was used in conjunctionwith another technique called TotalInternal Reflection Fluorescence(TIRF) microscopy, which was usedto remove backgroundfluorescence. A custom-builtmicroscope was developed to allowTIRF microscopy to be used.

Dr Stan Botchway, from CLF’sLasers for Science, said:

“The technique we’ve developedand deployed to solve this mysteryhas helped provide unprecedentedinsights into plants’ defencemechanisms. As a result, we’veplugged a major gap in scientists’understanding of how plantsfunction at a microscopic level.”

Dr Runions, from Oxford BrookesUniversity, said:

“This new technique that, lets uslook directly at single proteinmolecules in a plant cell membrane,has opened many new avenues forus to explore. A new grant from theBBSRC will enable us to continuethis research so that we can studythe interplay of proteins at the cellsurface that helps a plant sense itsenvironment.”

By better understanding themobility of membrane proteins andthe reaction of the cell wall to animmune response we can developplants that are more resistant todisease. This may increase cropyields which could prove vitallyimportant in feeding the world’sgrowing population.

Help feed the World

Studying abiological sample.

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Frustrated by airport security scans? An STFC spin-out may soon safelybe putting the liquids back in your hand luggage thanks to a uniquenon-invasive materials analysis.

Improving youraviation experience

Cobalt Light Systems was set upin 2008 following thedevelopment of Spatially OffsetRaman Spectroscopy (SORS), aninnovative technology that waspioneered at STFC’s CentralLaser Facility (CLF). SORSprovides an analysis system thatcould have applications in manymarket areas. Cobalt LightSystem’s technology uses SORSto quickly and accuratelymeasure the chemical structureof a sample without touching orchanging it, allowing thecontents of a container to beestablished without opening itor damaging its contents. Thisground breaking techniquecould be used in thepharmaceutical sector and forchemicals analysis in securityscreening.

In December 2011, Cobalt LightSystems’ innovativeINSIGHT100 bottle scannerreceived European approval.This means that aircraftpassengers may soon be able totake liquids larger than 100mlon to commercial flights.

During 2012 the system wastrialled at several majorEuropean airports. Following thediscovery of a terrorist plotinvolving liquid explosives in2006, passengers are notcurrently allowed to take liquidsabove 100ml past airportsecurity; however, theINSIGHT100 is able to scan theliquid without opening thebottle and determine whetherits contents are safe for travel.

Spatially Offset RamanSpectroscopy (SORS) is avariation of established RamanSpectroscopy that allows highlevel chemical analysis of anobject even if the contentscannot be seen. RamanSpectroscopy shines a beam oflight, usually from a laser, at thesample to be characterised.

The light interacts with themolecules within the sampleand a detector then analyses thelight signatures from theilluminated sample surface. Thisprocess typically identifies whatthe surface of a sample is madeup of.

SORS is used when theillumination zone is spatiallyseparated from the collectionpoint by several millimetres.This allows more effectivecollection of light that interactsdeeper in the sample. Thedetector and computer will thenanalyse the light signature thatis given off from within thesample. This allows thechemical analysis of a sampleseveral millimetres, andsometimes centimetres, belowthe surface as opposed to thehundreds of microns that aretypically achieved with standardRaman Spectroscopy.

SORS has the potential to bedeveloped to detect counterfeitpharmaceuticals, help in cancerdiagnostics and non-invasivelydiagnose bone disease and so,with more and moreapplications for SORS becomingapparent, the future of CobaltLight Systems looks bright.

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The Insight 100 scanner (Credit:Cobalt Light Systems)

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Carbon capture and storage (CCS) isthe most effective approach formitigating the negativeatmospheric and environmentalimpacts of this fossil fueldependence. Perhaps the mostpromising CCS technology is thecapture of greenhouse gases, suchas CO2 and SO2, by molecularentrapment in highly porous solids.

There are many challenges inproducing the ideal CCS material.Clearly it must be able to absorb alarge amount of CO2 – and, ideally,SO2 – but it must, at the same time,also allow other gases to passthrough. The material must, inaddition to being ‘easy-on’, mustalso be ‘easy-off’ to allow reuse ofthe CCS material as well as thestorage and potential use of bothCO2 and SO2. Lastly, synthesisshould be environmentally-friendlyand able to be scaled up, at lowcost, to tonne-sized quantities.Researchers at the University ofNottingham may just havediscovered this ideal material.

Named NOTT-300, the Nottinghamcompound is a metal-organicframework (MOF) material. MOFshave an open skeletal molecularstructure with metal-ion vertices

that are connected by organicmolecule linkers. The choice ofmetal ions and organic ligands notonly determines the spatialproperties of the framework butalso the chemical activity of thematerial. NOTT-300 contains openone-dimensional channels that areextensively decorated withhydroxyl (OH-) groups.

Current CCS processes involve theseparation of CO2 and SO2 usingamine-based solvents. The maindrawbacks of these materials arethe high energy requirementsassociated with the relativelystrong bonding of CO2 and SO2 tothe amine groups and theenvironmental issues associatedwith the potential loss of toxic,volatile side products. MOF-basedCCS research has, to date, beenbased on amine-functionalisedframeworks – however, toxicity andhigh energy requirements are stillan issue. The hydroxyl groupapproach used by Professor MartinSchroder and Dr. Sihai Yang at theUniversity of Nottinghamovercomes both these issues.

Their collaboration with ProfessorBill David and Dr Timmy Ramirez-Cuesta at ISIS has enabled an

understanding to be developed ofthe detailed molecular arrangementand packing within the MOF tunnelsand the host:guest interactionbetween NOTT-300 and CO2 / SO2.Dr Ramirez-Cuesta describes thismechanism as ‘similar to Velcro inthat the material selectivelycaptures the gases from the flue gasusing weak interactions (thesticking) and holds them until theycan be ‘peeled’ off at low pressureand then stored.’ This ease of theremoval is important in terms ofboth energy conservation andviability; simply lowering thepressure is sufficient to release thecaptured gases from the complex.

Importantly, NOTT-300 shows poorselectivity to most gases other thanCO2 and SO2. However, thecollaboration has found that watervapour is also adsorbed into thematerial with the consequentreduction in efficiency of CO2 andSO2 capture; further research isunderway. Nevertheless, NOTT-300shows a very high uptake of bothCO2 and SO2, with SO2 uptakebeing the highest ever reported.This research has recently beenpublished in Nature Chemistry.

Despite the very substantial worldwide development of wind and solarrenewable energy production over the past decade, the ever-increasingrise in global energy requirements leads to the inevitable economicreality that coal- and gas-fired power stations will provide a largeproportion of the world’s energy needs for the next decade and beyond.

Towards a cleaner-carbon future

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A model of the NOTT-300 metal organic framework.(Credit: University of Nottingham)

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New research on Insulin at ISIS has shed light on the proteinaggregates associated with increasingly common conditions like type2 diabetes. Observing the conditions under which these so-calledamyloid fibrils and spherulites form could help to slow or even stopthe progression of these illnesses.

Amyloid fibrils and spherulites areprotein aggregates that form whenproteins undergo self-association.Under certain conditions, proteinslose their shape and expose thehydrophobic core to the watery(aqueous) environment surroundingit. The unfolding triggers initialaggregation as the exposedhydrophobic interiors are drawntogether to avoid contact with theaqueous environment. Once theseinitial aggregates have formed, theinternal structure of the moleculesrearranges to form β-sheet richstructures that subsequently growinto long fibrous structures calledfibrils. Under certain conditionsthese fibrils can grow out radiallyfrom a central core to form asupramolecular pom-pom likestructure called an amyloidspherulite.

ISIS is a pulsed muon and neutronsource based at the RutherfordAppleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire.A unique type of diffraction, small-angle neutron scattering (SANS),was used to study the early stagesof insulin aggregation in real timewith a resolution of minutes. Theprotein concentration was varied inthese experiments and its influenceon the relative abundance of fibrilsand spherulites produced wasdetermined. The aim of the

experiment was to attempt todevelop a better understanding ofthe conditions under which amyloidaggregates form, which may lead toinsights into how to tackle diseasessuch as type 2 diabetes.

The neutron data showed that theprotein molecules initially formedsmall, elongated aggregates thatare less than 20nm in size, but thatthese gradually extend to formlonger, fibrous fibrils andspherulites. The next stage ofresearch is to investigate whathappens as amyloid spherulitesgrow; in the intermediate stages,there are complicated changes inthe shape and structure of theaggregates, and it is still notunderstood why these occur.

Dr James Sharp from the Universityof Nottingham, the PrincipalInvestigator for the project said:

“Having access to the SANS2Dbeamline at ISIS has been crucial;without it, we would not have beenable to undertake this importantresearch. Understanding howamyloid aggregates are implicatedin type 2 diabetes and inneurodegenerative diseases is keyto understanding how to reducetheir debilitating effect on people’slives, and the chance to answer anumber of important questions

about how these aggregates formusing neutron scattering has beenincredibly valuable.”

The research undertaken by a teamfrom the Universities ofNottingham, Cambridge andSheffield offers an unprecedentedview on the molecular levelprocesses that cause the formationof these potentially harmfulaggregates. The formation of theseaggregates can also occur duringthe processing of protein baseddrugs such as insulin, thus renderingthem useless. This research couldenable pharmaceutical companiesto overcome these difficulties.Amyloid aggregate formation inother proteins has been implicatedin diseases such as Parkinson’s andAlzheimer’s disease andunderstanding how these processesare involved in the initial stages ofsuch conditions may allow us todevelop ways of reducing thesignificant impact that theseillnesses have on so many people’s lives.

Understanding diabetes

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2012RAL Space 50thThe launch of the Allouette Satellite in 1962 marked thebeginning of RAL Space's involvement with the space industry.

To mark this momentous 50th anniversary a conferencededicated to the last 50 years of RAL Space was held at theRutherford Appleton Laboratory.

www.stfc.ac.uk/RALspace

DL 50October saw 50 years since the establishment of DaresburyLaboratory. Current and former staff members and special guestsgathered to commemorate the world leading science that hasbeen researched at the Laboratory since 1962.

Speakers praised the impressive history of Daresbury, but alsolooked to the future and shared their hopes for many discoveriesyet to come.

LHC on TourIn the wake of the excitement surrounding the discovery of aHiggs-like particle at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC), STFChas taken a full size replica of the LHC tunnel on a UK tour thatincluded the Houses of Parliament, the Welsh Assembly and theBig Bang Fair. The tour is designed to raise awareness of thebenefits to the UK and to celebrate British involvement in theLHC, whilst using hands-on activities to inspire the nextgeneration of physicists.

STFC CERN BICIn October 2012, the STFC CERN Business Incubation Centre(STFC CERN BIC) opened is door to applications for its innovativesupport scheme. The BIC, based at Sci-Tech Daresbury, willprovide financial and business support for small businesses basedon technologies connected to High Energy Physics. Theprogramme aims to improve knowledge transfer between scienceand industry and encourage the innovative use of CERN and STFCintellectual property.

www.stfc-cern-bic.org

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ESA BICThe European Space Agency Business Incubation Centre (ESABIC), based in Harwell, has seen its first tenant graduate from theprogramme. G2Way Limited joined ESA BIC in 2011 with theirelectric Unmanned Arial Vehicle (UAV). G2Way uses the UAVs inLow Level Earth Observation (LLEO) to evaluate crops and advisefarmers on improving yields. G2Way will launch its servicecommercially in 2013.

www.g2way.com

ILL A rise in antibiotic resistant to one of the most commonantifungal drugs prescribed, Amphotericin B (AmB), has led tothe requirement for higher does which has, in some cases,caused lethal side effects such as kidney poisoning.

Neutron scattering at the ILL has been used to identify howAmB reacts with cell membranes at a sub-molecular level tounderstand how it causes the damaging side effects. Thisresearch will enable the drug’s specificity to be improved toensure maximum efficiency towards fungal cells, withminimal side effects.

www.ill.eu

ESRFA scientist who used the STFC supported European SynchrotronRadiation Facility (ESRF) was awarded the 2012 Nobel Prize forChemistry for his work on G Protein Coupled Receptors (GPCRs).GPCRs are found on cell membranes and cause importantphysiological effects. Brian Kobilka used ESRF to solve animportant GPCR structure. He shared the prize with RobertLeftkowitz whose research led to the discovery that all GPCRshave a similar molecular structure.

www.esrf.eu

PhotowalkDuring September amateur and professional photographerswere given ‘behind the scenes’ access to leading sciencelaboratories across the country as part of the 2012 STFCPhotowalk.

The free event allows photography enthusiasts a rare glimpse atthe cutting edge science that takes place at our sites and theopportunity to capture unique images of this ground-breakingresearch. The best UK Photowalk images will qualify for aninternational competition against images from laboratories inthe United States, Germany, Italy and Canada. The winningimage (shown) was announced in December 2012. Having wonthe competition with this picture of the 25 m antenna atChilbolton, Mrs Lisa Ward will now be going on a trip to CERN.

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Science and Technology Facilities Council

Polaris House, North Star Avenue, Swindon SN2 1SZ, UKT: +44 (0)1793 442000 F: +44 (0)1793 442002 E: [email protected]

www.stfc.ac.uk

Head office Science and Technology Facilities Council, Polaris House, North Star Avenue, Swindon SN2 1SZ, UK

Establishments at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Oxfordshire; Daresbury Laboratory, Cheshire;UK Astronomy Technology Centre, Edinburgh; Chilbolton Observatory, Hampshire; Isaac Newton Group, La Palma;Joint Astronomy Centre, Hawaii.

Credit: Lisa Ward/STFC

Credit: Angela Davison/STFC

Credit: Roger Dingley/STFC

Credit: Greg Harding/STFC

Credit: Vince Mo/STFC

Credit: W

illiam Palin/STFC