- Split View
-
Views
-
Cite
Cite
W. S. Holland, E. I. Robson, W. K. Gear, C. R. Cunningham, J. F. Lightfoot, T. Jenness, R. J. Ivison, J. A. Stevens, P. A. R. Ade, M. J. Griffin, W. D. Duncan, J. A. Murphy, D. A. Naylor, SCUBA: a common-user submillimetre camera operating on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 303, Issue 4, March 1999, Pages 659–672, https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-8711.1999.02111.x
- Share Icon Share
Abstract
SCUBA, the Submillimetre Common-User Bolometer Array, built by the Royal Observatory Edinburgh for the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope, is the most versatile and powerful of a new generation of submillimetre cameras. It combines a sensitive dual-waveband imaging array with a three-band photometer, and is sky-background-limited by the emission from the Mauna Kea atmosphere at all observing wavelengths from 350 μμto 2 mm. The increased sensitivity and array size mean that SCUBA maps close to 10 000 times faster than its single-pixel predecessor (UKT14). SCUBA is a facility instrument, open to the world community of users, and is provided with a high level of user support. We give an overview of the instrument, describe the observing modes, user interface and performance figures on the telescope, and present a sample of the exciting new results that have revolutionized submillimetre astronomy.
Author notes
Mullard Space Science Laboratory, University College London, Holmbury St Mary, Dorking, Surrey RH5 6NT.
Department of Physics & Astronomy, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT.
Now the UK Astronomical Technology Centre, Royal Observatory, Blackford Hill, Edinburgh EH9 3HJ.