UKIRT in the mid-infrared

Abstract

The historical development of and scientific results from the mid-infrared instruments used on the UK Infrared Telescope from 1980 to 2005 are described. That near- and mid-infrared instruments (and submm photometers) were mounted on the telescope and easily available for use was a particular strength of UKIRT, which encouraged multi-wavelength and long-term monitoring programmes. The mid-infrared spectrometers UCLS and CGS3 were the most sensitive available in the world in the 1980s and 1990s and they established the spectral properties of many classes of astronomical objects. Papers describing mid-infrared measurements accounted for over 10 % of the total output from UKIRT in this period.