Top End
Andy Adamson
Head of Operations/Director of Science, UKIRT, Joint Astronomy Centre,
Hilo, Hawaii
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will be carried out in two phases (within semester 01B): initial
service-mode shared-risks and later classical-mode PATT observing.
There remains some doubt over the scheduling of 20-micron observing,
due to the anticipated late arrival of the Q-band grating. However
it is expected that at least some 20-micron work will be possible
within semester 01B. Due to the strong telluric absorption features
in this wavelength region, 20-micron spectroscopy will be offered
under a more strict flexibly-scheduled regime than has hitherto
been the case at UKIRT. Work on flexing three-micron spectroscopy
and thermal imaging has provided a good understanding of the required
definitions of weather bands for atmospheric water vapour content.
Flexing, which will be unfamiliar to many UKIRT observers, has been
under essentially continual manual testing since 1999, with UKIRT
staff taking up the additional administrative burden involved. Many
programmes have benefitted, and it is important to maximise the
impact of Michelle by applying the experience gained there also.
As noted in the previous newsletter, we have embarked on a project
to provide the infrastructure for more effective flexible scheduling
of UKIRT over the coming years. This software will first be deployed
in supporting the service programme. Service users will have noticed
the first steps of this already, with the installation of a new
web-based interface to the service programme - check this out by
referring to Paul Hirst’s article elsewhere in this issue.
In the longer term, all UKIRT science programmes will be entered
directly into a database which will be accessed by a filtering system
at the telescope. “Observations” in this scheme will be
replaced by “Minimum Schedulable Blocks” - this represents
the first, and most fundamental, new piece of terminology ushered
in by these new observing modes and their supporting software infrastructure.
Finally, I would personally like to wish Tim Hawarden and his family
the best for their return to Edinburgh (see article
near the end of this Newsletter). Tim has been at UKIRT for 14 years,
and his huge experience and knowledge, not to mention his ability
to quickly fill a whiteboard with extraordinarily useful information,
will be missed !
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Scientifically, the semester just past has been about as exciting
and as productive as they come, with both visiting observers and
UKIRT staff turning out a string of “firsts” in a variety
of fields. Examples: the first detection of brown-dwarf secondaries
in old cataclysmic variables, the first detection of thermal-infrared
flux from brown dwarfs, and the confirmation of the presence of
the key molecule H3+ in diffuse interstellar clouds.
The first semester of ORAC observing is now behind us, and the ORAC
team can look back with great satisfaction at the results. ORAC
software is responsible for a measurable (20%) increase in observing
efficiency when imaging with UFTI. ORAC gives UKIRT a 21st-century
user interface, perfectly matched to the 21st-century telescope
produced by the Upgrades programme.
As reported in this issue, Michelle’s arrival is now imminent
and we are eagerly anticipating the return of common-user thermal
spectroscopy and UKIRT’s first-ever common-user thermal 2-D
imaging. The telescope is ready: the recent visit by the MPIA group
showed that thermal stability is still one of UKIRT’s strong
points. Michelle acceptance testing is scheduled to begin at the
ATC shortly. The consistent improvement in the instrument’s
performance and mechanisms has continued over the past few months,
the latest development being a major leap in the quantum efficiency
of the detector.
If acceptance testing is successful, Michelle will arrive in Hilo
by June. Following a period in the Gemini Hilo laboratories, the
instrument will be taken to the summit in August. Once commissioning
is complete, science observing
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