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UKIRT Annual Report 1999
THE UNITED KINGDOM INFRARED TELESCOPE
ANNUAL REPORT
1999
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 to the world community by
PPARC's Panel for 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 sponsoring instrument development in the UK,
by continually improving the performance and observational efficiency of
the telescope and its existing instruments, by providing its users with
comprehensive support of the highest quality, and by identifying
opportunities to upgrade its existing instrumentation and software.
A comprehensive programme of upgrades, combined with an instrumentation
programme tailored to the telescope's performance, has resulted in
increased light grasp and spatial resolution for UKIRT.
The instrument suite will always be
characterized by high throughput and efficiency, and UKIRT's imaging and
spectroscopy capabilities remain highly competitive on Mauna Kea. 1999 saw
the completion of the first stage of a programme of advanced software
development intended to improve the operational efficiency of UKIRT.
1999 saw the completion of all but one element of the UKIRT Upgrades
programme; 2000 will see the final implementation of the last: cooling of
the primary mirror. The secondary mirror, which suffered from
lightweighting print-through and a considerable degree of trefoil
aberration due to thermal effects in the mounting pads, was replaced with
a new mirror which enables the imagers to deliver image quality fully in
line with the wavefront delivered by the rest of the telescope. 1999 was
the first full year of operation for the UKIRT Fast-Track Imager,
which confirmed UKIRT's extremely good
imaging quality. The year has also seen further improvements in our
understanding of the telescope environment and its effect on performance.
UKIRT's staff members are increasingly shared with the other JAC facility
(the JCMT submillimetre observatory); the equivalent number of staff
working at UKIRT remains approximately 30.
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