The United Kingdom Infrared Telescope is a 3.8m telescope located near the summit of Mauna Kea, a dormant volcano on Hawaii.
Completed in 1979, the instrument is dedicated to observing the sky in the infrared part of the spectrum and has been used to study the formation of stars in the Milky Way. In 2000, scientists using the telescope published data which showed the presence of free-floating planets in the Orion Nebula.
Image: The UK Infrared Telescope (credit: UKIRT/JAC)
Patrick Moore finds out about the unique features of the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope (UKIRT) located on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, and learns about the novel technique of 'chopping'.
Sir Patrick Moore visits the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope (UKIRT) and looks at some of its images.
Sir Patrick Moore's guest demonstrates how astronomers use infrared light in spacecraft such as the Herschel Space Observatory and in Earth-based telescopes such as UKIRT.
Sir Patrick Moore's guest Professor Richard Ellis from the University of Oxford reviews the world's large observatories and explains their importance. [The black and white images of Edwin Hubble, George Hale, Mount Wilson, the 200-inch telescope and mirror making in this clip are copyright Palomar Observatories/Caltech]
UKIRT, the United Kingdom Infra-Red Telescope, is a 3.8 metre (150 inch) infrared reflecting telescope, the second largest dedicated infrared (1 to 30 micrometres) telescope in the world. It is operated by the Joint Astronomy Centre in Hilo and located on Mauna Kea, Hawai'i as part of Mauna Kea Observatory. It is owned by the United Kingdom Science and Technology Facilities Council.
Based on the design of the Carlos Sanchez Telescope in Tenerife it is a Cassegrain device with a thin primary mirror, around 2/3 thinner than in other contemporary devices and weighing only 6.5 tonnes. The mirror is held in a massive steel 'cell' of 20 tonnes which is linked to the supports by Serrurier trusses. The instrument is held and pointed by a massive 'English Equatorial mounting' or yoke which sits on ball-bearings on steel piers, swinging east-west and rotating around north-south. The geometry of the mount limits the telescopes access to objects between +60 and -40 degrees of declination but it is extremely sturdy and free from deformation and so allows very accurate pointing. The telescope was built between 1975 and 1978; the mechanical systems were built by Dunford Hadfields of Sheffield and the optics by Grubb Parsons of Newcastle. Originally known as the Infrared Flux Collector it began operation in October 1979.
A UKIRT infrared survey was used to discover a redshift distance record breaking Quasar in 2011. The Quasar could not be seen in visible light, but could in the longer wavelengths observed by UKIRT.
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