THE UNITED KINGDOM INFRARED TELESCOPE
ANNUAL REPORT
1998

1. The United Kingdom Infrared Telescope

Situated at an altitude of 4194 m above sea level near the summit of Mauna Kea, the 3.8-metre UK Infrared Telescope is the world's largest dedicated infrared telescope. UKIRT is owned by the UK Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC), and operated by the Joint Astronomy Centre, Hilo, under the oversight of the UKIRT Board. Apart from an automatic 15% allocation to the University of Hawaii, time on UKIRT is awarded in peer-reviewed open competition by PPARC's Panel for the Allocation of Telescope Time.

The purpose of UKIRT is to support high-quality fundamental observational research in astronomy. It does this by providing to its user communities infrared astronomical instrumentation maintained at the state-of-the-art through a vigorous programme of sponsored instrument development in the UK. It also identifies, and carries through on, opportunities to upgrade its existing instrumentation.

This year, UKIRT celebrated 20 years of operations; however it is operating effectively as a brand-new telescope, having derived the benefit of a comprehensive programme of Upgrades focussing on the delivered image quality. The Upgrades programme is being carried out by the Royal Observatories in the UK, the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg, and the Joint Astronomy Centre. It was carried further towards completion in 1998, as described later in this report. In return for, and proportionally to their contributed effort and expenditure, MPIA receives an allocation of UKIRT time. The improvements in imaging already being delivered are such that UKIRT has been able to move toward smaller pixel sizes (and hence more detailed imaging and higher sensitivity). The common-user spectrometer CGS4 was last year adapted to a smaller, 0.6 arcsecond pixel scale, and 1998 saw the delivery of a next-generation imager with 0.09 arcsecond pixel scale.

UKIRT's staff number approximately 30 full-time equivalent in Hawaii.