A vacancy has arisen for a Support Astronomer at the Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes (ING) on the island of La Palma in the Canaries. This appointment will be fixed-term for a period of 3 years, but with the

possibility of an extension for an additional 2 years.Starting salary would be in the range £17,880 to £22,790, plus overseas allowances based on your personal circumstances, rent free accommodation for you and your dependants and an attractive relocation package.

The ING operates the 4.2-m William Herschel Telescope, the largest and most advanced optical telescope in Europe, the 2.5-m Isaac Newton Telescope and the 1-m Jacobus Kapteyn Telescope. They are located in a multi-national observatory site, el Roque de Los Muchachos, at an altitude of 2,400 metres. The ING is pursuing a vigorous optical and IR development programme concentrating on the areas of wide field astronomy and Adaptive Optics. This year has seen the highly successful debut of the new IR camera, INGRID, on the WHT and this summer will also see delivery and commissioning of NAOMI, the natural guide star adaptive optics system on the WHT. Other important developments are upgrades to AF2/WYFFOS, the WHT's wide field fibre positioner and spectrograph, and the implementation of improved data pipeline processing and archiving facilities.

DUTIES

The core responsibilities of the successful applicant will include night-time support of visiting observers, provision of scientific and technical advice, execution of service observations and responsibility, as instrument specialist, for the welfare of a particular instrument or instruments. We are especially interested in hearing from applicants with new and innovative ideas for exploiting the enhancements to the observing opportunities at the ING mentioned above. Support astronomers are also expected to spend a substantial fraction of their time on a personal research programme and opportunities also exist for the successful candidate to participate and contribute to instrumentation development projects.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

Applicants must have a Ph.D. in observational astronomy or related subject, together with a good understanding of astronomical instrumentation. The ability to work effectively with engineering staff to diagnose and solve technical problems, plus a strong and competitive research programme are essential requirements. Experience relevant to any of the development areas mentioned above would be an advantage, as would be research interests complementing those of existing astronomy staff.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Applications, including a CV, publication list, a statement of research interests and two letters of recommendation should reach the Isaac Newton Group by 15th September 2000. They should be addressed to; Personnel Officer, Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes, Sea Level Office, Apartado de Correos 321, 38700 Santa Cruz de La Palma, Spain. Informal enquiries may be addressed to the Head of Astronomy, Danny Lennon (djl@ing.iac.es).