(06-27-2025, 09:14 PM)AaronS Wrote: https://www.bigislandvideonews.com/2025/...missioned/
The University of Hawaiʻi Institute for Astronomy (IfA) is officially initiating the decommissioning process for the UH-owned UKIRT telescope, formerly known as the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope. The university made the announcement in a Friday news release.
The two previous decommissioned observatories are the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory and UH Hilo Hōkū Keʻa Observatory. Both facilities were completely removed by 2024.
Speaking for myself here, not for UH, IfA or my employer:
Well, ever since I started my PhD in 1990, UKIRT was under threat of closure. It has always been under that threat. The telescope was an easy target earlier on because it only had one funding agency, the UK government, but that changed in 2014. Now it belongs to UH and is funded by other agencies, some of them federal. The other thing to consider is the upcoming end of the lease for all the observatories in 2033, and if that's not sorted out soon, there will be no observational astronomy in Hawaii. Say goodbye to the most scientifically productive observing site on the planet.
As for scientific productivity, UKIRT led the world in the number of publications and although never published, because it was embarrassing to other telescopes, the scientific impact per dollar spent was by far and away the highest for UKIRT compared to any other telescope on earth and possibly in orbit. It's not a statistic that gets published, but UKIRT produced high-impact scientific results thanks to a very dedicated team of scientists, engineers, technicians, admin that was smaller than most observatories consider tenable. Yet it gets chosen to be decommissioned -- possibly -- watch this space.
What's sad is that if this does happen, all the local and talented people who work there now have to find new jobs in a few years. I'm OK, retirement is approaching, but UKIRT has a team of young, talented and enthusiastic scientists and technicians who have joined recently, and now they see a different future. And it's not because the telescope is past its time; it is still producing scientific ata that no other telescope can produce. It's because of politics.
