Abstract
I present a personal view of my experiences using UKIRT to observe small solar system bodies between 1984 and 2002. This period saw a huge increase in capability from single element bolometers and photometers like UKT8 and UKT9 to imaging devices like IRCAM and UIST. Spectroscopic capability improved vastly from the linear instruments CGS2 and CGS3 to array spectrometers like CGS4 and Michelle. At the same time the discovery of the trans-Neptunian population greatly expanded the number of solar system objects available for observation. A small number of other important observations of planetary atmospheres and satellites are also highlighted.
Keywords
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Binzel, R.P., Rivkin, A.S., Stuart, J.S., Harris, A.W., Bus, S.J., Burbine, J.H.: Observed spectral properties of near Earth objects, results for population distribution, source regions and space weathering. Icarus 170, 259–294 (2004)
Crovisier, J., Leech, K., Bockelee-Morvan, D., Brooke, T.Y., Hanner, M.S., Altieri, B., Keller, H.U., Lellouch, E.: The spectrum of comet Hale-Bopp (C/1995 01) observed with the infrared space observatory at 2.9 Au from the sun. Science 275, 1904 (1997)
Cruikshank, D.P., Roush, T.L., Owen, T.C., Geballe, T.R., De Bergh, C., Schmitt, B., Brown, R.H., Bartholomew, M.J.: Ices on the surface of Triton. Science 261, 742–745 (1993)
Cruikshank, D.P., Roush, T.L., Moroz, L.V., Geballe, T.R., Pendleton, Y.J., White, S.M., Bell, J.F., Davies, J.K., Owen, T.C., de Bergh, C., Tholen, D.J., Bernstein, M.P., Brown, R.H., Tryka, K.A., Dalle Ore, C.M.: The composition of centaur 5145 Pholus. Icarus 135, 389–407 (1998)
Davies, J.K., Green, S., Stewart, B., Meadows, A.J., Aumann, H.H.: IRAS and the search for fast moving objects. Nature 309, 315–319 (1984). 24 May 1984
Davies, J.K., Green, S.F., Geballe, T.R.: The detection of a strong 3.28 m emission feature in Comet Levy. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 251, 148–151 (1991)
Davies, J.K., Mumma, M., Rueter, D., Hoban, S., Weaver, H., Puxley, P., Lumsden, S.: The infrared spectrum of comet P/Swift Tuttle. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 265, 1022–1026 (1993a)
Davies, J.K., Sykes, M.V., Cruikshank, D.P.: Near infrared spectroscopy and photometry of the unusual minor planet 5145 Pholus. Icarus 102, 166–169 (1993b)
Davies, J.K., Geballe, T.R., Hanner, M.S., Weaver, H.A., Crovisier, J., Bockele e-Morvan, D.: Thermal infrared spectra of Comet Hale-Bopp at heliocentric distances of 4 and 2.9 AU. Earth Moon Planet 78, 293–298 (1997a)
Davies, J.K., McBride, N., Green, S.F.: Optical and infrared photometry of Kuiper belt object 1993SC. Icarus 125, 61–66 (1997b)
Davies, J.K., Roush, T.L., Cruikshank, D.P., Bartholomew, M.J., Geballe, T.R., Owen, T., De Bergh, C.: The detection of water ice in Comet Hale-Bopp. Icarus 127, 238–245 (1997c)
Davies, J.K., McBride, N., Ellison, S.E., Green, S.F., Ballantyne, D.: Optical and infrared observations of six centaur objects. Icarus 134, 213–227 (1998a)
Davies, J.K., McBride, N., Green, S.F., Mottola, S., Carsenty, U., Basran, D., Hudson, K.A., Foster, M.J.: The lightcurve and colours of unusual minor planet 1996PW. Icarus 132, 418–430 (1998b)
Davies, J.K., Green, S.F., McBride, N., Muzerall, E., Tholen, D.J., Whiteley, R.J., Foster, M.J., Hillier, J.K.: Visible and infrared photometry of fourteen Kuiper belt objects. Icarus 146, 253–262 (2000)
Davies, J.K., Tholen, D.J., Whiteley, R.J., Green, S.F., Hillier, J.K., Foster, M.J., McBride, N., Kerr, T.H., Muzerall, E.: The lightcurve and colors of unusual minor planet 1998 WU24. Icarus 150, 69–77 (2001)
Davies, J.K., Harris, A.W., Rivkin, A.S., Wolters, S.D., Green, S.F., McBride, N., Mann, R.K.: Near infrared spectra of 12 near Earth objects. Icarus 186, 111–125 (2007)
Disanti, M., Mumma, M., Geballe, T.R., Davies, J.K.: Systematic observations of methanol and other organics in Comet Swift-Tuttle. Icarus 116, p1–p17 (1995)
Farnham, T.L., Davies, J.K.: The rotational and physical properties of the Centaur (32532) 2001 PT13. Icarus 164(2), 418–427 (2003)
Geballe, T.R., Jagod, M.-F., Oka, T.: Detection of H3 + infrared emission in Saturn. Astrophsy. J. Lett. 408, L109–L112 (1993)
Green, S.F., Meadows, A.J., Davies, J.K.: Infrared observations of the extinct Cometary Candidate Minor Planet (3200) 1983TB. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 214, 29–36 (1985). Short Communication
Harris, A.W.: A thermal model for near Earth asteroids. Icarus 131, 291–301 (1998)
Harris, A.W., Davies, J.K.: Physical characteristics of near Earth asteroids from thermal infrared spectrophotometry. Icarus 142, 464–475 (1999)
Harris, A.W., Davies, J.K., Green, S.F.: Thermal infrared spectrophotometry of the near Earth asteroids 2100 Ra-Shalom and 1991 EE. Icarus 135(441–450), 1998 (1998)
Harris, A.W., Delbo, M., Binzel, R.P., Davies, J.K., Roberts, J., Tholen, D.J., Whiteley, R.J.: Visible to thermal-infrared spectrophotometry of a possible inactive cometary nucleus. Icarus 153, 322–337 (2001)
Jewitt, D.J., Luu, J.X.: QB1 IAUC 5611, 14 September 1992 (1991)
Knacke, R.F., Fajardo-Acosta, S.B., Geballe, T.R., Noll, K.S.: Infrared spectra of the R impact of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9. Icarus 125, 340–347 (1997)
McBride, N., Davies, J.K., Green, S.F., Foster, M.J.: Optical and infrared observations of the Centaur 1997CU26. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 306, 799–805 (1999)
McBride, N., Green, S.F., Davies, J.K., Tholen, D.J., Shepperd, S.S., Whiteley, R.J., Hillier, J.K.: Optical-infrared colors of KBO’s- searching for trends. Icarus 161, 501–510 (2003)
Miller, S., Achilleos, N., Dinelli, B.M., Laml, H.A., Tennyson, J., Jagod, M.-F., Oka, T., Geballe, T.R., Trafton, L.M., Joseph, R.D., Ballester, G.E., Baines, K., Brooke, T.Y., Orton, G.: The effect of the impact of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 on Jupiter’s aurorae. Geophys. Res. Lett. 22, 1629–1632 (1995)
Mueller, B.E.A., Tholen, D.J., Hartmann, W.K., Cruickshank, D.J.: Extraordinary colours of asteroidal object (5145) 1992AD. Icarus 97, 150–154 (1992)
Owen, T., Roush, T.L., Cruikshank, D.P., Elliott, J.L., Young, L.A., De Bergh, C., Schmitt, B., Geballe, T.R., Brown, R.H., Bartholomew, M.J.: Surface ices and atmospheric composition of Pluto. Science 261, 745–748 (1993)
Rivkin, A.S., Davies, J.K., Johnson, J.R., Ellison, S.L., Trilling, D.E., Brown, R.H., Lebofsky, L.A.: Hydrogen concentration on C-Class asteroids from remote sensing. Meteor. Planet. Sci. 38, 1383–1398 (2003)
Trafton, L.M., Geballe, T.R., Miller, S., Tennyson, J., Ballester, G.E.: Detection of H3 + from Uranus. Astrophys. J. 405, 761–766 (1993)
Whipple, F.: TB and the Geminid Meteors IAUC 3881, 25 October 1993 (1983)
Wolters, S.D., Green, S.F., McBride, N., Davies, J.K.: Optical and thermal infrared observations of six near-Earth asteroids in 2002. Icarus 175, 92–110 (2005)
Wolters, S.D., Green, S.F., McBride, N., Davies, J.K.: Thermal infrared and optical observations of four near-Earth asteroids. Icarus 193, 535–552 (2008)
Acknowledgements
None of the remarkable results described here would have been possible without the dedicated UKIRT staff who maintained, developed and operated this telescope. In particular I thank the long suffering Telescope Systems Specialists (Thor Wold, Tim Carroll, Dolores Walther and Joel Aycock) who had to find and guide on targets with sometimes uncertain positions and which were often faint but always moving. Tom Geballe reminded me of some key results outside my own, rather narrow, focus
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this paper
Cite this paper
Davies, J.K. (2013). Comets and Asteroids from UKIRT. In: Adamson, A., Davies, J., Robson, I. (eds) Thirty Years of Astronomical Discovery with UKIRT. Astrophysics and Space Science Proceedings, vol 37. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7432-2_12
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7432-2_12
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-007-7431-5
Online ISBN: 978-94-007-7432-2
eBook Packages: Physics and AstronomyPhysics and Astronomy (R0)