Queen’s astronomers awarded £1.4m grant

Astronomers at Queen’s University have been awarded a grant of nearly £1.4 million by the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC).

The grant, awarded for a five-year period, will allow Queen's astronomers to undertake world-leading research in a number of high priority areas, including the study of the Sun and other stars, investigations of supernovae (stellar explosions which release enormous amounts of energy), and the study of comets and asteroids.

Professor Francis Keenan, Principal Investigator for the grant and also Head of the School of Mathematics and Physics, said: "This is a great success for the Astrophysics Research Division and also for Queen's University. It is a recognition of the excellence of the astrophysics research performed at Queen's.

“The grant award is for five years and hence will provide major funding for our research programmes up to the next Research Assessment Exercise and beyond."

Funding has also been provided for the operation and exploitation of the SuperWASP telescope at the ING Observatory on La Palma, Canary Islands. SuperWASP is part-funded by Queen's University and is being used for a number of projects, in particular to search for planets orbiting stars other than the Sun.

(MB/KMcA)