Organisation profile
Organisation profile
We want to offer high-quality observational astrophysics projects to our undergraduate students that are research-led and provide the chance of "hands-on" practical astronomy. Although it is commonplace to expose students to astronomical data, for example, in the form of archival images or catalogues, there is a clear disconnect between lectures on, say, celestial motion and where the objects may be in the sky and how to observe them. With the new Physics with Astrophysics degree, and high-quality "back-garden" astronomy now being relatively inexpensive, it is the ideal time to establish the Bath Physics Observatory. In 2019 four staff members formed a "telescope-group" aiming to provide high-quality and accessible undergraduate observing projects. Dr Vicky Scowcroft is a Lecturer in the Astrophysics group whose research on variable stars is ideally suited to projects with small telescopes. Dr Steve Davies is a Senior Lecturer who has many years of experience in instrumentation and is an expert amateur astronomer. Dr Gary Mathlin is a Senior Teaching Fellow, Director of Teaching for Natural Sciences, and has a background in observational astronomy. Dr Peter Sloan is a Senior Lecturer in Physics who is also a keen amateur astronomer. The Astrophysics group in the Department of Physics at the University of Bath was founded in 2015, coinciding with the establishment of Bath's Physics with Astrophysics degree programs in the same year. Across all years we now have 124 students enrolled on Astrophysics programs. Until 2019, the department had no telescopes to underpin undergraduate project work for either BSc Final Year projects or M-level masters projects. The Bath Physics Observatory, affiliated to the Astrophysics group but a separate entity, is now operational in a purpose built observatory with two fully go-to automated telescope and cooled-camera systems.
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Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
Profiles
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Steven Davies
- Department of Physics - Senior Lecturer
- The Bath Physics Observatory (BPO)
- Astrophysics
Person: Research & Teaching, Core staff, Teaching & Other
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Vicky Scowcroft
- Department of Physics - Senior Lecturer
- The Bath Physics Observatory (BPO)
- Astrophysics
Person: Research & Teaching, Core staff
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Peter Sloan
- Department of Physics - Senior Lecturer
- Condensed Matter Physics CDT
- The Bath Physics Observatory (BPO)
- Condensed Matter and Quantum Materials
Person: Research & Teaching, Core staff
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Faculty Teaching Development Fund 2025: Smart Scopes, Smarter Learning
Davies, S. (PI), Sloan, P. (PI) & Scowcroft, V. (PI)
1/08/25 → 31/07/26
Project: Other
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IRAM - Confirming cyclical variability of CO in Cepheids
Hamer, S. (CoPI) & Scowcroft, V. (CoPI)
1/09/22 → …
Project: Other
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Phase 2 of the Bath Physics Observatory (I): Spectroscopy
Sloan, P. (PI), Mathlin, G. (PI), Davies, S. (PI) & Scowcroft, V. (PI)
1/01/22 → 30/06/22
Project: Other
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Near-IR CO and CN in classical Cepheids
Call, S. G., Griffith, T., Hintz, E. G., Ardern, S., Scowcroft, V., Davidson, J. & Boizelle, B., 28 Feb 2026, In: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 545, 4, staf2216.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open Access -
Changing CO bands in near-IR spectra of CP Cephei
Call, S. G., Hintz, E. G., Ardern, S., Scowcroft, V. & Morrell, T. D., 30 Nov 2024, In: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 534, 3, p. 2221-2227 7 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open Access1 Link opens in a new tab Citation (SciVal) -
Controlling competing outcomes of a singlemolecule reaction
Purkiss, R., Keenan, P., Klamroth, T., Sloan, P. & Rusimova, K., 31 Jan 2024, Research Square, (Research Square).Research output: Working paper / Preprint › Preprint
File70 Downloads (Pure)
Datasets
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VizieR Online Data Catalog: Spitzer/IRAC observations of SMC Cepheids
Scowcroft, V. (Creator), Freedman, W. L. (Creator), Madore, B. F. (Creator), Monson, A. (Creator), Persson, S. E. (Creator), Rich, J. (Creator), Seibert, M. (Creator) & Rigby, J. R. (Creator), VizieR, Mar 2016
DOI: 10.26093/cds/vizier.18160049, http://vizier.cfa.harvard.edu/viz-bin/VizieR?-source=J/ApJ/816/49
Dataset
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Data for paper: Initiating and imaging the coherent surface dynamics of charge carriers in real space
Sloan, P. (Creator), Rusimova, K. (Creator), Bannister, N. (Creator), Harrison, P. (Creator), Crampin, S. (Creator), Palmer, R. (Creator) & Lock, D. (Creator), University of Bath, 27 Jul 2016
DOI: 10.15125/BATH-00230
Dataset
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Data for paper: Regulating the femtosecond excited-state lifetime of a single molecule
Sloan, P. (Creator), Rusimova, K. (Creator), Purkiss, R. (Creator) & Crampin, S. (Creator), University of Bath, 5 Sept 2018
DOI: 10.15125/BATH-00527
Dataset