Friday 27 February 2015

Goodbye, JAC, long live the JAC.

A sad day today, the Joint Astronomy Centre (JAC) will close for business on Saturday 28th February. The JAC has been around for decades and supported both UKIRT and the JCMT. UKIRT left in November 2014 but still used JAC staff for support, but now JCMT will be moving to new ownership this weekend.

The building still exists and both JCMT and UKIRT staff are still there, but the whole organisation that glued us together will be gone. It's quite a sad time but also, a new beginning for both telescopes.

Will Montgomerie, a telescope system specialist at the JCMT, just published this wonderful video as a tribute to the JAC and JCMT, and hope you enjoy it. I'm continually amazed by some of the hidden talents JAC employees have. This video is particularly special:


Starlapse: The James Clerk Maxwell Telescope from William Montgomerie on Vimeo.