Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-fqc5m Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-29T11:51:15.173Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

9 - Giant Ground-Based Near-Infrared and Submillimetre Telescopes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 March 2013

Michael Rowan-Robinson
Affiliation:
Imperial College London
Get access

Summary

The enormous impact of the Caltech Two Micron Survey in 1969 stimulated interest in developing specialized ground-based infrared telescopes. While far-infrared wavelengths are accessible only from space, atmospheric windows can be used in the near-infrared and submillimetre wavelengths from high mountaintop sites. From the late 1970s, large near-infrared and submillimetre telescopes began to be built on high-altitude sites, especially on the 4200-metre dormant volcanic peak of Mauna Kea, Hawaii.

The advent of these new infrared telescopes and the dramatic impact of the new infrared-array detectors in the 1980s generated a profusion of scientific discoveries. These ranged from high-redshift galaxies to studies of luminous dusty galaxies and the effects of gravitational lensing, the black hole in the heart of our Milky Way Galaxy, brown dwarf stars, protostars and protoplanetary systems.

LARGE GROUND-BASED NEAR-INFRARED TELESCOPES: UKIRT, IRTF AND CFHT

The first of the large, specialized infrared telescopes was the United Kingdom’s 3.8-metre UK Infrared Telescope (UKIRT), constructed between 1975 and 1978 on Mauna Kea, Hawaii. UKIRT was designed to be lightweight and cheap. It started work in 1979 and had an immediate impact on near-infrared astronomy. At about the same time, NASA’s 3-metre Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF), with Eric Becklin as its first director, and the Canada-France-Hawaii 3.6-metre optical/infrared telescope also began work on Mauna Kea.

Type
Chapter
Information
Night Vision
Exploring the Infrared Universe
, pp. 119 - 131
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2013

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×