| UK Astronomy Technology Centre | |
| Size: | 309px |
| Abbreviation: | UK ATC |
| Formation: | 1998 |
| Status: | Research council establishment |
| Purpose: | Technology development for astronomy |
| Location: | Royal Observatory, Edinburgh, Scotland |
| Coords: | 55.9231°N -3.1878°W |
| Region Served: | United Kingdom and beyond |
| Parent Organization: | Science and Technology Facilities Council |
| Website: | UK ATC |
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.
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. 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]