Welcome to the new UKIRT Website!!
With our move to the Institute for Astronomy comes an overhaul of our website.
Please bear with us as we migrate historical information, and please let us know if anything is missing or anything you would like to see!
NB: We are aware that links in this article may be dead. As we move our website this may occur and we thank you for your patience.
The productivity of an observatory is traditionally measured by the number of refereed articles containing observatory data. For the past three years running, UKIRT has set new productivity records as results from the UKIDSS survey have appeared in print (see here).
This trend is continuing. In the first four months of 2012, 76 papers based on UKIRT data appeared in the literature. If this rate is maintained, the publication rate for 2012 will smash the previous record by a very wide margin (see figure below).
The specific criteria for inclusion in the UKIRT publication list can be found here.
A research institute in South Korea, the Korean Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI), has acquired 22 nights of UKIRT time in 2012.
The science project to be carried out during this time is the UKIRT Widefield Infrared Survey for Fe+. The objective of this programme is to map 110 square degrees of the galactic plane using a bespoke Fe+ filter, to be supplied by KASI. Emission from Fe+ is a good tracer of dense, shock-excited gas, and the programme will therefore provide valuable insight into star formation and stellar feedback mechanisms. This survey will complement the existing UKIRT Widefield Infrared Survey for H2, and when taken together these data will probe dynamically-active components of star-forming regions, the circumstellar medium around evolved stars and the interstellar medium. The survey will also complement existing or upcoming surveys (e.g., UKIDSS-GPS, Spitzer-GLIMPSE, Spitzer-MIPSGAL, Akari, Herschel Hi-Gal, JCMT JPS). The project team includes collaborating astronomers from Korea and around the world, including two science staff at the Joint Astronomy Centre.
KASI is the second Korean organisation to obtain time on UKIRT, the first being the Centre for the Exploration of the Origin of the Universe, a research group at Seoul National University. Together, the two groups will have access to 62 nights of observing time in 2012.
NB: We are aware that links in this article may be dead. As we move our website this may occur and we thank you for your patience.
Like all observatories, we routinely track the number of published scientific papers each year based on UKIRT data. This metric is a measure of the observatory’s productivity. The specific criteria we adopt for this determination are listed here.
In 2010, UKIRT set a new record with 118 publications in the scientific literature. This exceeds the previous record of 84, set in 1997 and repeated in 2009, by a very wide margin. The primary reason for the rapid increase in productivity is the UKIRT Infrared Deep Sky Survey (UKIDSS), which now takes up the lion’s share of UK time on UKIRT. Observations for UKIDSS commenced in 2005 and the publication of scientific results has been accelerating since the first paper appeared in 2007, as indicated in the figure below.
The complete record of UKIRT publications is given here and the UKIDSS-specific papers are listed by the UKIDSS consortium here.
UKIRT has just undergone the largest operational change in its 31-year history. On December 13 2010, after several months of planning and preparation, UKIRT was operated in a fully remote mode for the first time and it is now a full-time remotely operated telescope.
On June 4 2010 the Director JAC announced that UKIRT would switch to “Minimalist Operating Mode”, which entailed plans to operate the telescope remotely from the JAC offices in Hilo from January 1 2011. Ever since the telescope was commissioned in 1979 it has always been operated by a crew at the summit consisting of a telescope operator (now Telescope System Specialist, TSS) and either a member of the science staff or visiting astronomers. In the new operating mode there is no summit crew at night and all observing is controlled by a lone TSS in the new remote control room at the JAC building, although there is still the opportunity for visitors and staff to sit with the TSS for a night of observing.
A number of things had to be in place before the switch could be made. The number one priority was the safety of the public atop Mauna Kea when we open in the evening and of course the safety of the facility. Our current mode of operation requires someone to be at the summit when the dome is opened to ensure that members of the public are at a safe distance from the dome, the dome itself is free of ice and snow and the dome interior is free of obstructions. Fortunately, since the JAC operates two telescopes on Mauna Kea, the JCMT night-time crew are available to perform this task and they visit UKIRT on their way to the JCMT to coordinate opening with the UKIRT TSS at sea level. During the night, we will have both infrared and low-light cameras that can be used to monitor the facility which will eventually allow us to open the dome without assistance from the JCMT, although for now we still require a crew to be at UKIRT for the initial opening every evening.
Other facility safety measures include automatic shutdown in case of power failure or a breakdown in network connections between Hilo and the summit, and of course the JCMT night crew are available in the event of an emergency. For this reason we currently only open UKIRT when the JCMT crew are at the summit while we learn about the new mode over the coming months. Facility security is of course also a concern and we have taken measures to secure and monitor the dome overnight.
Unfortunately the arrival of first severe winter storm this year disrupted our planned switch to remote observing. Dr Omar Almaini and his research student, Caterina Lani, were due to observe as normal the two nights prior to the switch but the storm delayed the trip to the mountain until Monday afternoon. Still, on Monday night, with the two visitors at the summit along with myself, Tim Carroll ran the telescope, instrument and observing queue from Hilo with little or no intervention from us in the summit control room. This was repeated for one more night and then on Wednesday 15 December the telescope was operated with all of us at the JAC and an empty summit control room. This time, Jack Ehle was the on-shift TSS. Since then all our night time observing has been done from Hilo.
Tom Kerr
UKIRT Head of Operations
The following note was issued by the Director JAC on 5-Apr-2009.
Dear colleagues,
It is my great pleasure to announce that the Statement of Interest (SoI) submitted by Dr Hugh Jones (Herts) for a new UKIRT instrument, called UKIRT Planet Finder (UPF), was endorsed by the relevant STFC committee (PPAN). This endorsement is a very significant step forward and is testament to the compelling science case for the new instrument. Searching for Earth-mass planets around other stars is one of the top priorities in all of astronomy, and UKIRT is the ideal telescope at which to carry out that search.
The next step is to put together a full proposal, which will go to another STFC committee called PPRP (Projects Peer Review Panel). PPRP’s next meeting is in June and the deadline for submission of the proposal is 6th May. The proposal is being led by Dr Jones, with support from the UKATC (who will be the prime contractor) and, of course, the JAC.
The approval process is likely to take several months, so a final verdict is not expected until late 2009. Nevertheless it is gratifying that we have cleared the first hurdle. My thanks to those of you who provided letters of support for the SoI – I am sure that this was an important factor in its endorsement.
Professor Gary Davis,
Director JAC.
5-Apr-2009
The following note was issued by the Director, JAC, on 12-Feb-2009. It can be obtained in PDF format here.
Dear colleagues,
In my announcement of 22-Dec-2008, I indicated that UKIRT would operate exclusively in wide-field survey mode from 1st February 2009. This change has now been implemented and as a consequence WFCAM will be the only operational instrument on the telescope for the foreseeable future.
Our science mission now is to complete the UKIDSS programme as quickly as possible, but I also seek to optimise the science programme of the telescope within that constraint. Careful analysis indicates that we can continue to support limited PATT and service programmes within existing resources and without compromising the end-date of UKIDSS. Accordingly, a call for proposals for semester 09B will be issued shortly.
Professor Gary Davis
Director JAC
12th February 2009.
The following note was issued by the Director, JAC, on 22-Dec-2008. It can be obtained in PDF format here.
Dear colleagues,
The final outcome of STFC’s Programmatic Review was announced in July, and its implications for UKIRT can be seen here. The announcement described three scenarios for the future operation of UKIRT, and specified that a decision would be made in December.
Following a lengthy discussion with the UKIRT Board, which met at the JAC on 8/9 December, option (c) was selected: UKIRT will move to wide-field survey mode from February 2009 and the UKIDSS survey programme will be completed as expeditiously as possible under STFC funding.
This is a profound change of paradigm and the decision was taken only with great reluctance, given that UKIRT has served the UK astronomical community exceptionally well as a general-purpose observatory for almost 30 years. Adoption of this mode will nevertheless enable us to focus our resources on UKIRT’s highest-priority science programme. Accordingly, the three Cassegrain instruments (CGS4, UFTI and UIST) will be removed from service at the end of the current block (currently scheduled for the last week of January). They will not, however, be retired: it is my intention to keep them in storage for a period for potential reinstatement should circumstances change.
Our science mission is now to complete the UKIDSS programme as quickly as possible, and to optimise the science programme of the telescope within that constraint. Modelling indicates that completing UKIDSS will take us until the middle of 2012, and that there will be a considerable amount of ‘empty-queue’ time, increasing in the later years, as UKIDSS fields are increasingly completed. The Board has therefore decided to convene a review of UKIDSS and the four approved campaign programmes in the autumn of 2009.
Given the continued existence of some non-UKIDSS time, it is possible that we will continue to support PATT and service programmes under this operational mode; a further announcement on this point will be made in early February, following an operational re-planning exercise.
Finally, I can report to the community that the UKIRT Board strongly endorsed the concept of a new instrument for UKIRT. Dr Hugh Jones (Herts) will be submitting a Statement of Interest to STFC for an ultra-stable, high-resolution echelle spectrometer called UKIRT Planet Finder (UPF). Although the primary science goal is to search for Earth-mass planets around nearby M dwarfs by extending the radial velocity technique to the infrared, the proposed instrument (based heavily on the cancelled PRVS instrument for Gemini) has a wide range of other astronomical applications. Hugh will be canvassing the UK community for support during January and I encourage all potential users of such an instrument to get in touch with him.
Professor Gary Davis
Director JAC
22nd December 2008.
The following note was issued by the Director, JAC, on 21-Jul-2008.
Dear colleagues,
On 3rd July, STFC announced the final outcome of the Programmatic Review. I am pleased to announce to the UKIRT community that, due in no small part to the very strong support that you provided to the consultation process, as reflected in the report of the Ward panel, the outlook for UKIRT is now very much better than when the initial rankings were released in March.
The short-term arrangements are as follows:
1. UKIRT will continue operating as a full-service observatory until the end of 2008. This will give me an opportunity to continue my ongoing discussions with several potential partners who are interested in joining UKIRT, some of which are very promising at present. Although some of the candidates are interested only in wide-field imaging with WFCAM, others are interested in the entire suite of capabilities: imaging, spectroscopy and polarimetry.
2. The situation will be assessed at the end of 2008. Depending on the progress of the partnership discussions and the scientific aspirations of the likely partners, three options are currently foreseeable:
(a) UKIRT will continue operating as a full-service observatory with a new partnership and a reduced contribution from the UK;
(b) UKIRT will convert to wide-field survey mode in early 2009 and will then operate with a new partnership and a reduced contribution from the UK; or
(c) UKIRT will convert to wide-field survey mode in early 2009 and the UKIDSS survey programme will be expeditiously completed under STFC funding.
3. If the situation evolves such that the choice between options becomes clear before the end of 2008, the decision date will be brought forward.
Option (c) is clearly the worst-case scenario and it is listed here for completeness; I am optimistic that a partnership arrangement can be reached for UKIRT, and that the facility will continue to operate under scenario (a) or (b).
This new implementation strategy offers three clear advantages:
• first, it gives me more time to establish a viable partnership for the future of UKIRT without compromising its capabilities;
• second, it recognises the completion of the full, approved UKIDSS survey as a minimum deliverable; and
• third, under any of the three scenarios, there now exists an opportunity to develop a scientific mission for UKIRT in the post-UKIDSS era.
Achievement of this outcome is a very major step forward for UKIRT and its community.
Professor Gary Davis
Director, JAC
| Previous update 4, 2-Apr-2008 | UKIRT and the STFC Programmatic Review – Update 4 |
| Previous update 3, 22-Mar-2008 | STFC Programmatic Review – Update 3: User Input (22-Mar) |
| Previous update 2, 18-Mar-2008 | STFC Programmatic Review – Update 2: PPAN Feedback & User Input (18-Mar) |
| Previous update 1, 10-Mar-2008 | STFC Programmatic Review – Update 1: Important note to users from Director, JAC and Chair, UKIRT Board (10-Mar) |
| First note to users, 3-Mar-2008 | URGENT – STFC Programmatic Review and Semesters 08A and 08B (3-Mar) |