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Thirty Years of Astronomical Discovery with UKIRT pp 143–150Cite as

Comets and Asteroids from UKIRT

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Part of the book series: Astrophysics and Space Science Proceedings ((ASSSP,volume 37))

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.

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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

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. UK Astronomy Technology Centre, Royal Observatory, Edinburgh, EH9 3HJ, UK

    John K. Davies

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  1. John K. Davies
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Correspondence to John K. Davies .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Southern Operations Center, Gemini Observatory, La Serena, Chile

    Andy Adamson

  2. Astronomy Technology Centre, Royal Observatory, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

    John Davies

  3. UKATC, Royal Observatory Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

    Ian Robson

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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

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7432-2_12

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  • Online ISBN: 978-94-007-7432-2

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