Preston university's Centre for Astrophysics wins £1m Science and Technology Facilities Council funding

4:59pm Saturday 10th May 2008

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The Centre for Astrophysics (CfA) at the University of Central Lancashire has won £1m funding from the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC).

The cash will be used to increase the centres capability to undertake pioneering astronomical research.

Professors at the centre, Don Kurtz, Brad Gibson, and Dr Robert Walsh, have been awarded nearly £700,000 between them to support their research in asteroseismology, galactic evolution and solar physics.

The rest of the funding will be used to train postgraduate students to become the leading British astronomers of tomorrow.

Professor Gordon Bromage, head of the CfA, welcomed the support for training astronomer researchers.

He said: "This is a great boost for the Centre for Astrophysics.

"It is yet further evidence of our fast-growing reputation and that we will have an important role in continuing the education of future UK astrophysicists."

Solar physicist Robert Walsh obtained funding to track the flow of energy from outer layers of the sun out into interplanetary space.

He said: "Our sun may appear tranquil and constant but it is in fact a seething ball of million degree electrified gases."

"To say the sun is important to us is an understatement.

"We are here because it is here, providing the light and heat required for our existence on Earth.

"It really is our life-giving star and it is vital that we explore this sun-Earth connection."

Professor Don Kurtz will use the funding to continue a major programme probing the atmospheres of the most peculiar stars known - the A stars.

He said: "We now know that the "music of the spheres" really exists - the stars have sounds in them that we can use to see right to their very cores using a technique we call 'asteroseismology'."

Professor Gibson and his collaborators will use the funding to further develop and deploy high-performance computational simulations of our Milky Way Galaxy's formation and evolution.

He added: "These super-computer simulations are designed to shed more light on the structure and the history of the Universe from its earliest beginnings through to how we see it today."