- Curriculum Vitae
- 1987: Ph.D.,
Cornell University
- 1987-2001: Professor, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
- 2001-: Professor,
University of Virginia
- Recipient: James Craig Watson Medal of the National Academy of Sciences, Maria Eric Muhlmann Award of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific.
- Research Interests
- Infrared instrumentation
- Sky surveys (2MASS, WISE)
- Galactic structure and stellar populations
- Young Stellar Objects and Solar System Formation
- Low-mass stars and brown dwarfs
- Exoplanetary detection and characterization
| I direct a laboratory
for the construction of cryogenic near-infrared detection systems.
Instruments developed in recent years include the 256 × 256
element NICMOS3 HgCdTe camera (NICMASS),
the 2MASS cameras, the CorMASS
near-infrared spectrograph, the R=3000 TripleSpec
spectrograph which is a facility instrument at Apache Point
Observatory and the APOGEE . One of the 2MASS cameras remains active at the PAIRITEL automated infrared
telescope facility at Mt. Hopkins, Arizona providing observers in the
department quick access to automated observations of the near-infrared
sky. The other 2MASS camera operates at the Kuiper 61" Telescope at
Mt. Bigelow, Az, also available to department members through our allocation
of time at Steward Observatory facilities.
Beyond facilitating my research interests, this laboratory is
intended to provide graduate students and undergraduates with hands-on
experience with astronomical instrumentation. Current lab efforts
include the operation and scientific use of Fan
Mountain Infrared Camera operating
at UVa's 31-inch
telescope at Fan
Mountain Observatory. This camera was designed, constructed and
commissioned by students in the department. The laboratory has
recently completed a mid-infrared (3-5um) imaging channel, LMIRcam,
to support the University of
Arizona's imaging interferometer at the Large Binocular
Telescope. This instrument hold the exciting prospect of
delivering 30 millarcsecond spatial resolution in the thermal infrared
enabling direct imaging and spectroscopy of warm Jupiter analogs
orbiting several AU from nearby stars. In parallel the laboratory
has designed, fabricated and commissioned its most ambitious instrument to date
- a 300-fiber high-resolution (R=22,000) 1.5-1.7um cryogenic
spectrograph that is now conducting the APOGEE survey for the
third-generation Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-III). The
spectrograph will measure the elemental abundances in 100,000 Milky
Way giant stars providing a window on the assembly history of the
Milky Way.
The laboratory also maintains facilities to test and characterize
infrared arrays. For the last few years we have pursued an NSF-funded
program with Goodrich Corporation
- Sensors Unlimited to develop and evaluate extended wavelength
(2.3um cutoff) InGaAs arrays capable of matching the performance of
HgCdTe arrays in ground-based applications. This work has lead to the
production of an extended InGaAs array bonded to a cryogenic
"astronomical" multiplexer and has been tested in the CorMASS spectrograph.
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- Course Home Pages
- Astro 2110 - Introduction to Astrophysics I
- Astro 1210 - Intro. to the Sky and Solar System
- Astro 1740 - Intro. to Astronomical Research - Major's Seminar
- Astro 1970 - Hands on Optics: Telescope/Mirror Making
- Astro 5120 - Optical/Infrared Instrumentation
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Mr. Skrutskie directs a laboratory for the construction and
application of instruments operating at near-infrared (1-5um)
wavelengths. He was the principal investigator of the Two Micron All
Sky Survey (2MASS) and is now deeply involved in the space-based
mid-infrared equivalent, WISE. Common scientific themes for both
missions are the detection and characterization of sub-stellar objects
(brown dwarfs) and delineating the structure of the Milky Way. The
laboratory has recently delivered instruments for the world's largest
telescope, the Large Binocular Telescope, and for the next generation
Sloan Digital Sky Survey.
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