Abstract
Polarimetry has played an important role at UKIRT, both through visitor instruments and as an option on most facility instruments. A large range of science has been carried out covering galactic and extragalactic astronomy. To date, 93 refereed papers have been published, including the very first refereed UKIRT paper published in Nature in 1980, using observations taken in November 1979, soon after UKIRT opened. This paper outlines the development of polarimetry at UKIRT and also includes some of the many science programmes carried out over the last 30 years.
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
Bailey, J., Hough, J.H., Axon, D.J.: IR photometry and polarimetry of 2A0311-227. Nature 285, 306 (1980)
Bailey, J., et al.: The polarization of NGC 1068. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 234, 899 (1988)
Bailey, J., et al.: Circular polarization in star-formation regions: implications for biomolecular homochirality. Science 281, 672 (1998)
Burton, M.G., et al.: Molecular hydrogen polarization images of OMC-1. Astrophys. J. 375, 611 (1991)
Buschermöhle, M., et al.: An extended search for circularly polarized infrared radiation from the OMC-1 region of Orion. Astrophys. J. 624, 821 (2005)
Chrysostomou, A., et al.: Polarimetry of young stellar objects – III. Circular polarimetry of OMC-1. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 312, 103 (2000)
Gledhill, T.M.: Axisymmetry in protoplanetary nebulae – II. A near-infrared imaging polarimetric survey. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 356, 883 (2005)
Hough, J.H., et al.: Infrared polarization in OMC-1 – discovery of a molecular hydrogen reflection nebula. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 222, 629 (1986)
Hough, J.H., et al.: Grain alignment in dense interstellar environments: spectropolarimetry of the 4.67-μm CO-ice feature in the field star Elias 16 (Taurus dark cloud). Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 387, 797 (2008)
Kishimoto, M., et al.: The characteristic blue spectra of accretion disks in quasars as uncovered in the infrared. Nature 454, 492 (2008)
Lucas, P.W.: Computations of light scattering in young stellar objects. J. Quant. Spectrosc. Radiat. Transf. 79, 921 (2003)
Mead, A.R.G., Brand, P.W.J.L., Hough, J.H., Bailey, J.A.: Polarimetric observations of the quasar 3C 345. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 233, 503 (1988)
Minchin, N.R., et al.: Near-infrared imaging polarimetry of bipolar nebulae. I – the BN-KL region of OMC-1. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 248, 715 (1991)
Shahbaz, T., Fender, R.P., Watson, C.A., O’Brien, K.: The first polarimetric signatures of infrared jets in X-Ray binaries. Astrophys. J. 672, 510 (2008)
Watanabe, M., et al.: Simultaneous optical and near-infrared spectropolarimetry of type 2 Seyfert galaxies. Astrophys. J. 591, 714 (2003)
Whittet, D.C.B., et al.: Systematic variations in the wavelength dependence of interstellar linear polarization. Astrophys. J. 386, 562 (1992)
Young, S., et al.: The obscured BLR in the radio galaxy 3C 234. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 294, 478 (1998)
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank the UKIRT staff who gave tremendous support during my many visits to UKIRT, particularly when bringing the HATPOL instruments which then required ISU2 and any facility instruments to be taken off the telescope. Not to be welcomed at 14,000 ft.
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
Hough, J.H. (2013). Polarimetry at 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_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7432-2_9
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)