UK Astronomy Technology Centre

The UK Astronomy Technology Centre (UK ATC) is based at the Royal Observatory in Edinburgh, Scotland, and is part of the Science and Technology Facilities Council.

UK Astronomy Technology Centre
UK ATC logo
AbbreviationUK ATC
Formation1998
Legal statusResearch council establishment
PurposeTechnology development for astronomy
Location
Coordinates55°55′23″N 3°11′16″W
Region served
United Kingdom and beyond
Parent organization
Science and Technology Facilities Council
WebsiteUK ATC

The UK ATC designs, builds, develops, tests and manages major instrumentation projects in support of UK and international Astronomy. It has design offices, workshops and test facilities for both ground- and space-based instruments, including a suite of test labs capable of handling the largest current and projected instruments.[1][2]

The UK ATC was formed in 1998 in Edinburgh from the technology departments of the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh (ROE), and the Royal Greenwich Observatory, Cambridge (RGO). Its initial "customers" were the then new Gemini Observatory, the former ROE observatories in Hawaii (the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) and the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope (UKIRT)), and a former RGO observatory, the Isaac Newton Group on La Palma, Canary Islands.[3] More recently, collaboration with the European Southern Observatory (ESO) and for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have gained importance.[1] Major projects and collaborations include:

Following increased government emphasis on knowledge transfer and declining funds for the Science and Technology Facilities Council[18] the UK ATC is increasingly working on projects with astronomical institutions beyond the UK and the EU, with institutions dedicated to science and technology other than astronomy, and with technology-related businesses.[19]

  • UK Astronomy Technology Centre is member of consortia that build instruments for E-ELT.[20]
  • "Flexure rig" to simulate operational movement on a telescope.
  • Lab with clean room.

See also

References
  1. UK Astronomy Technology Centre Archived 19 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine. UK ATC information sheet. Retrieved 5 January 2011.
  2. Facilities and expertise Archived 19 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine. UK ATC information sheet. Retrieved 5 January 2011.
  3. UK ATC history. UK ATC. Retrieved 1 April 2012.
  4. GCAL The Gemini Facility Calibration Unit. UK ATC. Retrieved 5 January 2011.
  5. GMOS Archived 21 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine. UK ATC. Retrieved 5 January 2011.
  6. GPol. UK ATC. Retrieved 5 January 2011.
  7. Michelle Archived 21 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine. UK ATC. Retrieved 5 January 2011.
  8. ORAC Archived 21 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine. UK ATC. Retrieved 5 January 2011.
  9. WFCAM Archived 21 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine. UK ATC. Retrieved 5 January 2011.
  10. SPIRE Archived 21 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine. UK ATC. Retrieved 5 January 2011.
  11. VISTA Archived 9 January 2011 at the Wayback Machine. UK ATC. Retrieved 5 January 2011.
  12. SCUBA 2 Archived 2 February 2011 at the Wayback Machine. UK ATC. Retrieved 5 January 2011.
  13. MIRI. UK ATC. Retrieved 5 January 2011.
  14. ALMA – The Atacama Large Millimetre Array Archived 19 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine. UK ATC. Retrieved 5 January 2011.
  15. The UK role in the European Extremely Large Telescope Archived 13 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine. UK ATC. Retrieved 5 January 2011.
  16. KMOS Archived 26 January 2011 at the Wayback Machine. UK ATC. Retrieved 5 January 2011.
  17. OPTICON Archived 19 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine. UK ATC. Retrieved 5 January 2011.
  18. Paul Crowther (2007-2011). STFC Funding Crisis: Astronomy. Retrieved 5 January 2011.
  19. ATC Innovations – what we offer. UK ATC. Retrieved 5 January 2011.
  20. "Agreement Signed for E-ELT HARMONI Instrument". Retrieved 24 September 2015.
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