THE UNITED KINGDOM INFRARED TELESCOPE
ANNUAL REPORT 2003-2004

Introduction

G. Fuller, Chairman, UKIRT Board

2003 was marked by the completion of a number of important projects at UKIRT. The most significant change during the year was the adoption of fully flexible telescope scheduling. In combination with the versatility provided by the Cassegrain instrument support unit and UKIRT's varied suite of instruments, this has allowed UKIRT to become more responsive to changing circumstances during an observing night than any other telescope. A consequence of this flexibility has been a significantly improved completion rate of the highest priority programmes.

Access to the full capabilities of UIST in 2003 has provided the UKIRT user community with a new, exciting and flexible instrument, especially the integral field unit which has started to be used to probe the spatially resolved kinematics of a variety of objects including luminous starburst SCUBA galaxies. In 2004 MICHELLE returned to UKIRT from Gemini and continued to be very popular with the user community, every one of its multiple modes being used by observers. However age is no barrier to producing science, as CGS4, producing nearly a third of UKIRT's publications in 2003, 14 years after its commissioning, has shown.

By the end of 2004 WFCAM, the next stage in UKIRT's instrument development program, finally reached Hawaii. The instrument achieved first light in late October, only two months after its arrival on island. October 2004 was also the 25th anniversity of UKIRT's commissioning, an event marked with a well attended and highly successful celebration in Hilo.

The number of publications generated from UKIRT data in 2003 and 2004 and the proposal oversubscription rate both point to UKIRT's continuing high productivity. That UKIRT remains such a highly effective and productive telescope at this stage in its life is a tribute to its dedicated staff.

The Board, together with the user community, now look forward to UKIRT's continued success, combining CGS4, UIST and IRCAM with the new era of wide field infrared imaging using WFCAM.