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STAFF at Britain鈥檚 two royal observatories, who have waited since February to find out if their jobs are to be axed, have been left to stew for another three months. Last week, the board of the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council put off a decision on whether to merge much of the observatories鈥� work in a single astronomy technology centre.

This plan, proposed in February by a panel led by Jim Hough of the University of Hertfordshire, envisages selling off one of the observatory sites and shedding staff. Even though the plan was not approved, engineers and researchers at the Royal Greenwich Observatory in Cambridge were warned last week that the Royal Observatory at Edinburgh is the preferred site for the centre.

Staff at the RGO are 鈥渞eview weary鈥�, says Margaret Penston who works in Cambridge. Morale is also low in Edinburgh, says Magnus Paterson of the ROE. 鈥淏ut we鈥檙e more relaxed here than we have been for the past few months.鈥� Rumours circulating at the RGO put the likely number of redundancies at 90. The council says the number is 鈥渘otional鈥� because nothing has been decided.

The observatories are crucial to Britain鈥檚 ground-based astronomy programme. They specialise in designing telescopes and instruments, and help to manage Britain鈥檚 telescopes on La Palma in the Canary Islands and Hawaii. But developing the programme 鈥� in particular building two new telescopes in Chile and Hawaii 鈥� will cost PPARC an extra 拢3 million a year. That money looks like being taken from the observatories鈥� budgets.

Last week, however, the council decided that it did not have enough information to make a decision on the Hough plan. It told the panel to recalculate the savings from the merger. The council also wants extra information about a plan to make the island telescopes more autonomous by shifting more of the management to the islands.

Some council members admit that they are disappointed by the delay. 鈥淓veryone hoped that a decision would be made,鈥� says Martin Rees, professor of astronomy at the University of Cambridge. The panel had not used its time 鈥渁s effectively as one would have liked鈥�.

The IPMS, the union that represents staff at the observatories, has been arguing that the case for the new centre is not proven. Tony Bell of the IPMS says the council鈥檚 ruling has vindicated that position. 鈥淥ur fear is that the council will be hasty and shed key staff and damage the future of research.鈥�