World's most powerful infrared camera opens its eyes on the heavens(Forwarded)

Joint Astronomy Centre
Hilo, Hawaii

Issued by:
Dr Douglas Pierce-Price, Science Outreach Specialist
Joint Astronomy Centre
Email:
Tel: +1 808 969 6524
Fax: +1 808 961 6516

Contacts:

Dr Paul Hirst, WFCAM Instrument Scientist at UKIRT
Joint Astronomy Centre, Hawaii
Email:
Tel: +1 808 969 6537

Dr Andy Adamson, UKIRT Head of Operations
Joint Astronomy Centre, Hawaii
Email:
Tel: +1 808 969 6511

David Lunney, WFCAM Project Manager at UK ATC
United Kingdom Astronomy Technology Centre, Edinburgh
Email:

Dr Douglas Pierce-Price, Science Outreach Specialist
Joint Astronomy Centre
Email:
Tel: +1 808 969 6524
Fax: +1 808 961 6516

Julia Maddock, Community Press Officer
Particle Physics & Astronomy Research Council
Tel: +44 (0)1793 442094
Fax: +44 (0)1793 442002
Email:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 22nd December 2004

World's most powerful infrared camera opens its eyes on the heavens

A new astronomical camera has begun operations on the United Kingdom Infrared
Telescope (UKIRT) in Hawaii. The Wide Field Camera (WFCAM), built at the UK
Astronomy Technology Centre (UK ATC), Edinburgh, is the world's most powerful
infrared survey camera. It will survey large regions of the sky at infrared
wavelengths and is expected to discover both the nearest objects outside our
Solar System and the farthest known objects in the Universe.

WFCAM has the largest field of view of any astronomical infrared camera in the
world. In a single exposure it can image an area of the sky equal to that of the
full moon.

"The ability to see such a large area at once, with state-of-the-art detectors,
makes WFCAM the fastest infrared survey instrument in the world, bar none." said
Dr Andy Adamson, Head of Operations for UKIRT.

WFCAM detects infrared light, or heat radiation, which is the key to
understanding many types of astronomical objects. These include stars in our own
Galaxy and beyond, interstellar clouds, the mysterious "failed stars" known as
brown dwarfs, and quasars at the edge of the observable Universe.

"WFCAM will be used to do surveys of the infrared sky which will detect objects
one hundred times fainter than those in the deepest existing surveys. This
survey programme will take up to seven years to complete and will provide
astronomers with a picture of the infrared sky to unprecedented depth." said Dr
Paul Hirst, WFCAM Instrument Scientist at UKIRT.

As part of its commissioning, led by Dr Hirst and Project Scientist Dr Mark
Casali, WFCAM was trained on a region of star formation in the constellation of
Orion, about 1500 light years from Earth. The full WFCAM image area is 1200
times larger than that covered by UKIRT's previous infrared camera UFTI, and
3600 times larger than that covered by the Hubble Space Telescope's infrared
camera NICMOS. The astronomers combined observations with different infrared
filters to give a 'colour' image, showing dramatic clouds of gas and dust in the
southern half of the Orion nebula. The images reveal not only the illuminated
edges of clouds and filaments, but also thousands of young stars that are
otherwise hidden from view at visible light wavelengths by the gas and dust.

"Getting this unique instrument designed, built and tested was a major technical
challenge that has been successfully completed through the dedication and skills
of the multi-disciplined team at the UK ATC. To provide UK astronomers with this
huge improvement in capability is part of the core mission of the UK ATC and
marks the end of 5 years of hard work for the team." said David Lunney, WFCAM
Project Manager at UK ATC.

At the heart of WFCAM are four "detector arrays". These are similar in concept
to the CCD chips in everyday digital cameras, but use a Mercury Cadmium
Telluride crystal to make them sensitive to infrared radiation rather than
visible light. Whilst a typical digital camera may take snapshots containing a
few million pixels, WFCAM will map the infrared sky in vast tiles that contain
over 250 million pixels each. When WFCAM is scanning the sky, it produces images
at a phenomenal rate. In a single night, it will generate over 200 gigabytes of
data -- enough to fill over 300 CD-ROM disks.

Although the detector arrays occupy a space not much larger than a Compact Disc
case, the entire WFCAM camera is huge. It is an imposing black cylinder, 5.4
metres (18 feet) long and weighing 1500 kilograms (1.7 tons), which points
towards the sky from the telescope's primary mirror.

"This is a novel and unusual 'forward-cassegrain' optical design with WFCAM
mounted just above the centre of the mirror. WFCAM's critical components are
cooled to temperatures below -200C (-325F) so that their own heat glow doesn't
swamp the tiny amounts of infrared radiation that we're trying to detect."
explained Dr Hirst.

WFCAM's size, weight, and unusual position made even its installation at UKIRT
an engineering challenge. It was built by the UK ATC in Edinburgh, and shipped
to UKIRT in Hawaii. The team of engineers used a custom designed fork-lift truck
to lift WFCAM carefully and very precisely into position over the telescope mirror.

"Achieving first light with WFCAM is the exciting result of many years of
international collaboration between staff at the Joint Astronomy Centre in
Hawaii and at the UK ATC. These stunning images are a testament to the hard work
of everyone involved and we now look forward to several years of exciting
scientific discoveries." said Professor Gary Davis, Director of the Joint
Astronomy Centre.

Professor Ian Robson, Deputy Director of the UK ATC said "Building an infrared
camera is relatively easy, but building the world's largest at an affordable
price requires a high level of design ingenuity and professionalism. WFCAM is a
tribute to the engineers of the UK ATC and we all look forward to sharing in the
fantastic discoveries that WFCAM and UKIRT will bring, ranging from
understanding the secrets of star formation to figuring out the formation of the
first galaxies in the Universe."

Images
[http://outreach.jach.hawaii.edu/pressroom/2004-wfcam/]
The following astronomical images are early results from WFCAM. For further
details please see the Notes for Editors. Credit: Joint Astronomy Centre. Data
processing by Dr Chris Davis and Dr Watson Varricatt.

Notes for editors

The Orion images

* The region shown is in the constellation of Orion, about 1500 light years from
Earth.
* One light year is about 10 million million kilometres or 6 million million miles.
* Infrared light wavelengths are typically measured in microns, also called
micrometres. One micron is one millionth of a metre, one 10000th of a
centimetre, or one 25000th of an inch.

UKIRT

The world's largest telescope dedicated solely to infrared astronomy, the
3.8-metre (12.5-foot) UK Infrared Telescope (UKIRT) is sited near the summit of
Mauna Kea, Hawaii, at an altitude of 4194 metres (13760 feet) above sea level.
It is operated by the Joint Astronomy Centre in Hilo, Hawaii, on behalf of the
UK Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC).

The UK ATC

The UK Astronomy Technology Centre is located at the Royal Observatory,
Edinburgh (ROE). It is a scientific site belonging to the Particle Physics and
Astronomy Research Council (PPARC). The mission of the UK ATC is to support the
mission and strategic aims of PPARC and to help keep the UK at the forefront of
world astronomy by providing a UK focus for the design, production and promotion
of state of the art astronomical technology.

PPARC

The Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC) is the UK's
strategic science investment agency. It funds research, education and public
understanding in four broad areas of science -- particle physics, astronomy,
cosmology and space science. PPARC is government funded and provides research
grants and studentships to scientists in British universities, gives researchers
access to world-class facilities and funds the UK membership of international
bodies such as the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, CERN, the
European Space Agency and the European Southern Observatory. It also contributes
money for the UK telescopes overseas on La Palma, Hawaii, Australia and in
Chile, the UK Astronomy Technology Centre at the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh
and the MERLIN/VLBI National Facility.

Web links

* Joint Astronomy Centre
http://www.jach.hawaii.edu/
* Joint Astronomy Centre public outreach site
http://outreach.jach.hawaii.edu/
* United Kingdom Astronomy Technology Centre
http://www.roe.ac.uk/atc/
* Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council
http://www.pparc.ac.uk/