!
Welcome!
Welcome to issue 10 of the e-
MERLIN newsletter. We will be
publishing e-MERLIN-related
news and science highlights,
including calls for proposals,
adverts for summer schools and
links to e-MERLIN partners like
the EVN. If you would like to
contribute to the e-MERLIN
newsletter, please get in touch at:
emerlin.support@jb.man.ac.uk "
A radio counterpart to
the ULX M82 X-1
Ultra-luminous X-ray sources
(ULXs) are bright off-nuclear point
sources in nearby galaxies that
may house elusive intermediate-
mass black holes. Only a handful
of ULXs have been found to have
radio emission, which is usually
interpreted as an unresolved radio
jet. In M82, the brightest ULX
(M82 X-1) has never been
detected until a recent re-analysis
of 2015 e-MERLIN data. The
source was detected at 0.15 mJy
and undetected a week prior.
Moreover, M82 X-1 was detected
once more with EVN+e-MERLIN
observations in 2021, showing it’s
transient and/or flaring nature. "
Read the full paper here
(Williams-Baldwin et al. 2025,
MNRAS, 540, 239)."
Searching for ex-OH maser emission in
young stellar objects with e-MERLIN
High-mass young stellar objects (HMYSOs) arise in
giant molecular clouds, with the environment preventing
direct observation of the star at optical frequencies. To
track these inner regions, maser emissions like the 6.7
GHz methanol maser and 6.035 GHz ex-OH maser can
be used. But, it’s unclear whether (or not) the ex-OH
maser resides in the same region as the 6.7 GHz maser."
Ten ex-OH sources were imaged. Simultaneous
observations located the regions of coincidence (or
avoidance) of both transitions and showed they are
related to local changes in temperatures and/or
densities, for scales of a few hundred astronomical
units, which are directly associated with the brightness
and the distance from HMYSO.$"
Read the full paper here (Kobak et al. 2025, A&A, 695,
A149)"
User Newsletter
Issue 10 22 July 2025!
Distribution of methanol and ex-OH masers
MeerKAT and EVN+e-
MERLIN observations
South Africa’s MeerKAT radio
telescope and telescopes from
the European VLBI Network
(EVN) including e-MERLIN have
for the first time successfully
conducted very long baseline
interferometry (VLBI)
observations, enhancing both
resolution and sensitivity, while
opening new avenues for
scientific exploration. The
collaboration between MeerKAT
and the EVN demonstrated, for
the first time, how a highly
sensitive, modern radio
interferometer telescope in the
southern hemisphere can
significantly enhance the
capabilities of existing VLBI
networks at centimetre
wavelengths."
Read the full press release here."
The e-MERLIN digital upgrade
A new e-MERLIN Digital Upgrade is set to transform
the UK’s premier radio interferometer with state-of-
the-art digital systems across three key operational
areas. %
& In$Acquisition, each telescope will benefit from
new digital baseband converters adopting a VLBI-
standardised data format, improving data consistency,
interoperability, and downstream processing
efficiency. %
& In$Transmission, the network is transitioning to
a cutting-edge 100G UDP fibre infrastructure, with
deployment of new fibre components scheduled to
begin this summer—enabling high-speed, unified, and
resilient data transport across the array. %
& In$Correlation, the legacy WIDAR correlator will
be replaced with a new software-based system,
offering improved flexibility and upgradability.
Throughout the upgrade, careful planning is in place
to minimise disruption to ongoing scientific
observations, with more updates on the
implementation schedule to follow in the coming
months."
& & The upgrade also lays a robust
foundation for the UK’s next-
generation radio astronomy
capabilities. Built for scalability, the
new digital platform allows for the
future addition of more telescopes,
wider observing bandwidths, and
novel operational modes. These
developments will ensure that e-
MERLIN remains a cutting-edge
facility well into the future, both as a
standalone instrument and as a key
partner in international networks
such as the EVN and SKA pathfinder
programmes."
e-MERLIN Cycle 20 results
announcement
The results for cycle 20 of the e-MERLIN call for
proposals have now been released to PIs. The
successful programmes are listed here.
www.e-merlin.ac.uk
Spatially consistent modelling of the
coronal emission in NGC 1068
Previous observations of the nearby radio-quiet
Seyfert 2 galaxy showed an unexplained sub-mm
excess emission between 200-700 GHz, which was
consistent with synchrotron emission from a compact,
optically thick corona with approximately 70±5
gravitational radii. By combining e-MERLIN, VLA and
ALMA data and limiting the uv range and angular
resolution of the data, a consistent parsec-scale
spectral energy distribution (SED) of the data was
possibly for the first time. This SED shows clearly that
the sub-mm bump is real, and can be modelled as
coronal emission near the black hole. Moreover, the
multiple emission mechanisms can be fit
simultaneously for the first time."
Read the full paper here (Mutie et al. 2025, MNRAS,
539, 2, 808-819)."
Announcements
%
NOEMA Call for Proposals.
Deadline TBC September 2025.
Click here for further information "
EVN Call for Proposals.
Deadline 1 October 2025. Click
here for further information"
Meetings/Workshops"
%
UK & Ireland Transients
Meeting 2025 Warwick, UK,
9-10 September 2025, Click
here for more details "
JIVE-VLBI School 2025
Dwingeloo, Netherlands, 15-19
September 2025, Click here for
more details "
ACME Swift/XMM-Newton
workshop Milan, Italy, 7-10
October 2025, Click here for
more details"
10th International VLBI
Technology Workshop
Chalmers, Sweden, 21-25 Oct
2025, Click here for more details"
mm-VLBI science and
receivers workshop Bologna,
Italy, 28-31 Oct 2025, Click here
for more details"
IRAM 30m School Granada,
Spain, 31 October - 7 November
2025, Click here for more details"
Multi-band SED of the nucleus of NGC 1068