"They enjoyed the first week but after two they said it got a bit samey"
Dave (Royle Family) talking about his parent's holiday to Jodrell Bank

This is Stuart Lowe's website at Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics. I am a Research Associate working on ESA's Planck spacecraft - launched in May 2009. I am a member of the Planck Core Team and mostly work on instrumentation for the Low Frequency Instrument (LFI) and helping to calibrate and analyse data.

My PhD research (2001-2005) involved commissioning and using the One-Centimetre Receiver Array Prototype (OCRA-p) on the Torun 32m telescope in Poland. During the course of my PhD I visited Torun several times to get data using OCRA-p. I have been involved with the next stage of the OCRA project - OCRA-F - an 8 beam version of OCRA-p.

Tools

I have created various online tools such as LookUP (find details of astronomical objects), Chromoscope (a multiwavelength sky viewer) and the Astronomy Media Player (now defunct).

Outreach

When I'm not doing research I like to contribute towards public engagement with astronomy and science. Over the last few years I have taken an inflatable planetarium to primary schools in the North West of England, helped to run the Jodrell Bank transit of Venus event, coordinated two Harry Potter book launches/astronomy nights, hosted several Ask an Astronomer sessions, created live displays of Jodrell telescopes and maintain profiles for our telescopes on Twitter (I also maintain the Twitter feed for APoD amongst others). I am one of the ring leaders behind the UK's first astronomy podcast. I am a member of the IYA New Media Task Group and am project lead for AstroTwitter (which is in need of a better name and some spare time). I helped Chris North to organise the Planck/Herschel stand at the Royal Society Summer Exhibition 2009 and stood in for him as a Researcher on The Sky At Night: The Great Observatories.

Publications/Talks

  1. "Modelling the Galactic Magnetic Field on the Plane in two dimensions"
    T. R. Jaffe, J. P. Leahy, A. J. Banday, S. M. Leach, S. R. Lowe, A. Wilkinson
    2010, MNRAS
    [2010MNRAS.401.1013J, astro-ph/0907.3994]
    (Tess did the vast majority of the work for this paper.)
  2. Planck pre-launch status: the Planck-LFI programme
    Mandolesi, N. et al
    01/2010, A&A (in press)
    [to be published in A&A, astro-ph/1001.2657]
  3. Planck pre-launch status: Design and description of the Low Frequency Instrument
    Bersanelli, M. et al.
    01/2010, A&A (in press)
    [to be published in A&A, astro-ph/1001.3321]
  4. "A systematic approach to the Planck LFI end-to-end test and its application to the DPC Level 1 pipeline"
    M Frailis, M Maris, A Zacchei, N Morisset, R Rohlfs, M Meharga, P Binko, M Trler, S Galeotta, F Gasparo, E Franceschi, R C Butler, O D'Arcangelo, S Fogliani, A Gregorio, S R Lowe, G Maggio, M Malaspina, N Mandolesi, P Manzato, F Pasian, F Perrotta, M Sandri, L Terenzi, M Tomasi and A Zonca
    2009 JINST 4 T12021
    [paper]
  5. "Off-line radiometric analysis of Planck-LFI data"
    M Tomasi, A Mennella, S Galeotta, S R Lowe, L Mendes, R Leonardi, F Villa, B Cappellini, A Gregorio, P Meinhold, M Sandri, F Cuttaia, L Terenzi, M Maris, L Valenziano, M J Salmon, M Bersanelli, P Binko, R C Butler, O D'Arcangelo, S Fogliani, M Frailis, E Franceschi, F Gasparo, G Maggio, D Maino, M Malaspina, N Mandolesi, P Manzato, M Meharga, G Morgante, N Morisset, F Pasian, F Perrotta, R Rohlfs, M Trler, A Zacchei and A Zonca
    2009 JINST 4 T12020
    [paper]
  6. "Level 1 on-ground telemetry handling in Planck-LFI"
    A Zacchei, M Frailis, M Maris, N Morisset, R Rohlfs, M Meharga, P Binko, M Turler, S Galeotta, F Gasparo, E Franceschi, R C Butler, F Cuttaia, O D'Arcangelo, S Fogliani, A Gregorio, R Leonardi, S R Lowe, D Maino, G Maggio, M Malaspina, N Mandolesi, P Manzato, P Meinhold, L Mendes, A Mennella, G Morgante, F Pasian, F Perrotta, M Sandri, L Stringhetti, L Terenzi, M Tomasi and A Zonca.
    2009 JINST 4 T12019
    [paper]
  7. "Planck-LFI radiometers tuning"
    F Cuttaia, A Mennella, L Stringhetti, M Maris, L Terenzi, M Tomasi, F Villa, M Bersanelli, R C Butler, B Cappellini, L P Cuevas, O D'Arcangelo, R Davis, M Frailis, C Franceschet, E Franceschi, A Gregorio, R Hoyland, R Leonardi, S Lowe, N Mandolesi, P Meinhold, L Mendes, N Roddis, M Sandri, L Valenziano, A Wilkinson, A Zacchei, A Zonca, P Battaglia, S De Nardo, S Grassi, M Lapolla, P Leutenegger, M Miccolis and R Silvestri
    2009 JINST 4 T12013
    [paper]
  8. "The linearity response of the Planck-LFI flight model receivers"
    A Mennella, F Villa, L Terenzi, F Cuttaia, P Battaglia, M Bersanelli, R C Butler, O D'Arcangelo, E Artal, R Davis, M Frailis, C Franceschet, S Galeotta, A Gregorio, N Hughes, P Jukkala, D Kettle, V-H Kilpi, M Laaninen, P M Lapolla, R Leonardi, P Leutenegger, S Lowe, N Mandolesi, M Maris, P Meinhold, L Mendes, M Miccolis, G Morgante, N Roddis, M Sandri, R Silvestri, L Stringhetti, M Tomasi, J Tuovinen, L Valenziano, A Zacchei, J Varis, A Wilkinson and A Zonca
    2009 JINST 4 T12011
    [paper]
  9. "Noise properties of the Planck-LFI receivers"
    P Meinhold, R Leonardi, B Aja, E Artal, P Battaglia, M Bersanelli, E Blackhurst, C R Butler, L P Cuevas, F Cuttaia, O D'Arcangelo, R Davis, M L de la Fuente, M Frailis, C Franceschet, E Franceschi, T Gaier, S Galeotta, A Gregorio, R Hoyland, N Hughes, P Jukkala, D Kettle, M Laaninen, P Leutenegger, S R Lowe, M Malaspina, R Mandolesi, M Maris, E Martnez-Gonzlez, L Mendes, A Mennella, M Miccolis, G Morgante, N Roddis, M Sandri, M Seiffert, M Salmn, L Stringhetti, T Poutanen, L Terenzi, M Tomasi, J Tuovinen, J Varis, L Valenziano, F Villa, A Wilkinson, F Winder, A Zacchei and A Zonca
    2009 JINST 4 T12009
    [paper]
  10. "Planck-LFI: design and performance of the 4 Kelvin Reference Load Unit"
    L Valenziano, F Cuttaia, A De Rosa, L Terenzi, A Brighenti, G P Cazzola, A Garbesi, S Mariotti, G Orsi, L Pagan, F Cavaliere, M Biggi, R Lapini, E Panagin, P Battaglia, R C Butler, M Bersanelli, O D'Arcangelo, S Levin, N Mandolesi, A Mennella, G Morgante, G Morigi, M Sandri, A Simonetto, M Tomasi, F Villa, M Frailis, S Galeotta, A Gregorio, R Leonardi, S R Lowe, M Maris, P Meinhold, L Mendes, L Stringhetti, A Zonca and A Zacchei
    2009 JINST 4 T12006
    [paper]
  11. "Design, development and verification of the 30 and 44 GHz front-end modules for the Planck Low Frequency Instrument"
    R J Davis, A Wilkinson, R D Davies, W F Winder, N Roddis, E J Blackhurst, D Lawson, S R Lowe, C Baines, M Butlin, A Galtress, D Shepherd, B Aja, E Artal, M Bersanelli, R C Butler, C Castelli, F Cuttaia, O D'Arcangelo, T Gaier, R Hoyland, D Kettle, R Leonardi, N Mandolesi, A Mennella, P Meinhold, M Pospieszalski, L Stringhetti, M Tomasi, L Valenziano and A Zonca
    2009 JINST 4 T12002
    [paper]
  12. "30 GHz observations of sources in the VSA fields"
    M.P. Gawronski, M.W. Peel, K. Lancaster, R.A. Battye, M. Birkinshaw, I.W.A. Browne, M.L. Davies, R.J. Davis, R. Feiler, T.M.O. Franzen, R. Genova-Santos, A.J. Kus, S. R. Lowe, B.M. Pazderska, E. Pazderski, G.G. Pooley, B.F. Roukema, E.M. Waldram, P.N. Wilkinson.
    2009, MNRAS (submitted)
    [astro-ph/0909.1189]
    (Marcin, Mike and Katy did the majority of the work for this specific paper.)
  13. "AstroTwitter"
    Lowe, S.R.
    American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #214, #238.02; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 41, p.741
    [2009AAS...21423802L]
  14. "Survey of Planetary Nebulae at 30 GHz with OCRA-p"
    Pazderska, B.M., Gawronski, M.P., Feiler, R., Birkinshaw, M., Browne, I.W.A., David, R., Kus, A.J., Lancaster, K., Lowe, S.R., Pazderski, E., Peel, M., Wilkinson, P.N.
    2009, Astronomy & Astrophysics (to be published)
    [2009A&A...498..463P, astro-ph/0902.3945]
  15. "AstroTwitter"
    Lowe, S.R.
    2009, ".Astronomy Networked Astronomy and the New Media Cardiff 2008", Editors: Simpson, R.J. & Ward-thompson, D.
    [astro-ph/0907.0193]
  16. "Investigating media stories"
    Lowe, S.
    2008, Astronomy & Geophysics
    [2008A&G....49d..35L]
  17. "30 GHz flux density measurements of the Caltech-Jodrell flat-spectrum sources with OCRA-p"
    Lowe, S. R.; Gawronski, M. P.; Wilkinson, P. N.; Kus, A. J.; Browne, I. W. A.; Pazderski, E.; Feiler, R.; Kettle, D.
    2007, Astronomy & Astrophysics, Volume 474, Issue 3, November II 2007, pp.1093-1100
    [2007A&A...474.1093L, 2007yCat..34741093L, astro-ph/0707.3368]
  18. "Listen to Jodrell"
    Lowe, S.
    2007, Astronomy & Geophysics
    [2007A&G....48d..25L]
  19. "Preliminary Sunyaev-Zel'dovich observations of galaxy clusters with OCRA-p"
    Lancaster, K.; Birkinshaw, M.; Gawronski, M. P.; Browne, I. W. A.; Feiler, R.; Kus, A.; Lowe, S.; Pazderski, E.; Wilkinson, P. N.
    2007, Mon. Not. Roy. Ast. Soc., Volume 378, Issue 2, pp. 673-680.
    [2007MNRAS.378..673L, astro-ph/0705.3336]
  20. "Data analysis and scientific performances of the LFI FM instrument."
    Mennella, A.; Bersanelli, M.; Cappellini, B.; Colin, A.; Cuttaia, F.; D'Arcangelo, O.; Galeotta, S.; Gregorio, A.; Leonardi, R.; Lowe, S.; Maris, M.; Mendes, L.; Meinhold, P.; Salmon, M.; Sandri, M.; Stringhetti, L.; Terenzi, L.; Tomasi, M; Valenziano, L.; Villa, F.
    2006 (11 November) Technical Report PL-LFI-PSTAN-006, LFI Project System Team
  21. "The One Centimetre Receiver Array Prototype: Design, Evaluation and Future Steps"
    Lowe, S. R.
    2005, PhD Thesis

Playing cricket in the 76m Lovell telescope; if the folks at Parkes can do it, so can we! Photograph: PAUL CARR