SCIENTISTS funded by a Swindon-based research council have just opened a new window on the universe.
The experts, based at the universities of Sheffield and Southampton in collaboration with the UK Astronomy Technology Centre at the Royal Observatory Edinburgh, have commissioned Ultracam an ultra-fast camera which can take up to 1,000 pictures a second of objects in space in three different colours simultaneously.
The camera, which is mounted on the largest optical telescope in Europe the 4.2m William Herschel Telescope in the Canary Islands has been designed to study some of the most rapid astronomical events.
The project has been funded by the North Star-based Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council to the tune of £300,000.
Work started on the instrument during the summer of 1999, when the project was awarded the funding by PPARC. The project was completed on-budget and ahead of schedule in May 2002, when the instrument saw 'first light' on the 4.2m William Herschel Telescope on La Palma. The project team acquired the first scientific data on white dwarf stars, showing that the instrument is working to specification.
The project team expect to obtain the first scientific results on the more demanding neutron stars and black holes during a second visit to the telescope in September.
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