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Astronomers excited by the prospect of studying the birth of stars in
intimate detail had to lower their sights last week when Canada pulled out
of the £120 million Gemini project at the eleventh hour. This is
the second time Canada has threatened the plan to build a pair of 8-metre
telescopes in Hawaii and Chile.

‘It is extraordinarily frustrating,’ says Roger Davies, an astronomer
at the Uni-versity of Oxford who has worked on the project.

Mark Richmond, chairman of Britain’s Science and Engineering Research
Council, travelled to Ottawa last week to sign an international agreement
with Pierre Perron, president of Canada’s National Research Council. This
would have given the go-ahead to the Gemini project. Gemini’s other partners,
including the US, were due to sign in the next few weeks. But on Tuesday,
the day of the ceremony, Perron told Richmond he would not be signing.

The NRC is worried about the prospect of cuts in its budget as a result
of a squeeze on government spending announced by Kim Campbell, Canada’s
Prime Minister. The council says it remains ‘committed’ to Gemini. However,
it is unable to say when, or if, it will eventually sign the agreement.

Two years ago, Canada withdrew from Gemini and then reduced its contribution
from 25 per cent of the cost to 15 per cent.

Richmond says the NRC’s decision will prove to be ‘a hiccup’. Davies,
too, believes the Canadians will eventually return to the fold. ‘The Canadians
have pulled out before,’ he says. ‘In 1991 they were back in within six
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