Research
Research interests include:
- Lucky Imaging: Hubble resolution from the ground. See: Lucky_Web_Site
- Development of high-speed CCD camera systems. See: CCD Cameras page
- Very high sensitivity wavefront detectors for novel Adaptive Optics correction systems.
- Next generation CCD/CMOS detector systems for the visible and infrared, including Quanta detector cameras.
Selected papers
- C. D. Mackay, T. D. Staley, D. King, F. Suess and K. Weller, High-speed photon-counting CCD cameras for astronomy(2010)SPIE vol 7742, San Diego, June 2010.
- N.M.Law, S.T. Hodgkin, C.D. Mackay (2006) “Discovery of Five Very Low Mass Close Binaries, Resolved in the Visible with Lucky Imaging”, Mon. Not. R astr Soc, Vol. 368, pp. 1917-1924.
- N. M. Law, C. D. Mackay and J. E. Baldwin (2006) “Lucky imaging: high angular resolution imaging in the visible from the ground” Astron & Astrophys, vol. 446, 739-745.
- N.M. Law, C.D. Mackay, R.G. Dekany, M. Ireland, J. P. Lloyd, A. M. Moore, J.G. Robertson, P. Tuthill, H. Woodruff, "Getting Lucky with Adaptive Optics: Fast AO Image Selection the Visible with a Large Telescope",ApJ 692 No 1 (2009 February 10) 924-930.
- Baldwin, J.E, Warner, P.J., and Mackay, C.D., “The Point Spread Function in Lucky Imaging and Variations in Seeing on Short Timescales”, (2008), Astron & Astrophys, vol. 480, p589-597,2008.
- N.M. Law, S.T. Hodgkin and C.D. Mackay, “The LuckyCam Survey for Very Low Mass Binaries II:13 new M4.5-M6.0 Binaries”, (2008), MNRAS, vol 384, p150-160.
- N.M.Law, S.T. Hodgkin, C.D. Mackay (2006) “Discovery of Five Very Low Mass Close Binaries, Resolved in the Visible with Lucky Imaging”, Mon. Not. R astr Soc, Vol. 368, pp. 1917-1924.
- N. M. Law, C. D. Mackay and J. E. Baldwin (2006) “Lucky imaging: high angular resolution imaging in the visible from the ground” Astron & Astrophys, vol. 446, 739-745.
Curriculum Vitae : Craig Douglas Mackay
Date and place of birth: 2 April 1944, Dundee, Scotland
Education: Edinburgh Academy, 1949--1952.
Perth Academy, 1952--1962.
B.Sc. University of Edinburgh, 1962--1966
PhD University of Cambridge, 1966--1969
Supervisor: Professor Sir Martin Ryle FRS (Nobel prize winner)
Thesis title: `The Evolution of Extragalactic Radio Sources'.
Posts Held, Awards etc:
Staff member (various titles), Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, 1972--2009
Professor of Image Science, 2009 - present (Emeritus since 2013),
Fellow, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge 1972 -- present.
Bursar for Leckhampton (Corpus Christi College), 1992 – 1996
Chairman, Computer Users Committee of the Institute of Astronomyd since 2008.
Member, Instrument Definition Team for the European Space Agency Faint Object Camera of the Hubble Space Telescope 1976 – 1997.
Awarded Jackson-Gwilt medal of the Royal Astronomical Society, 2010.
Asteroid 249556 renamed “Craig Mackay”, 2013 as an award for lifetime contribution to scientific instrumental development. This asteroid was discovered by the WISE spacecraft on 18 May, 2010, designation 2010KX29. The citation was:
“Craig Mackay (b. 1944) is Professor of Image Science at the Institute for Astronomy, Cambridge University. For more than 40 years, he has pushed the frontiers of digital imaging, developing new detector systems and instrumentation that overcome the limits of observing through the Earth’s atmosphere, including OH suppression spectrographs, adaptive optics, interferometry, aperture masking, and he invented the field of “lucky imaging”. He has worked on instrumentation for the Hubble Space Telescope and radio astronomy, and his patents include technologies used in human genome sequencing, and x-ray, neutron and transmission electron microscope imaging. His stellar teaching record is combined with ~200 publications, and he is renowned for his outstanding technical presentations, delivered with passion and clarity”.
Teaching Experience: Undergraduate Teaching:
Organiser of the Part II Astrophysics course since its inception in 1995. Work includes all aspects of organising admissions, lecturing co-ordination, supervision management, student liaison, director of studies liaison, course quality evaluation and feedback to lecturers and supervisors, etc.
Taught the Introductory Astrophysics Lecture course, 24 lectures, 1998-2001 inclusive, and Topics in Contemporary Astrophysics, 2002-6 and Introduction to Astrophysics, 2008-present.
Graduate Teaching: Supervised graduate students in the Institute of Astronomy and the Cavendish Laboratory since 1972, a total of approximately 16 students.
Recent Major Projects:
AOLI: Adaptive Optics Lucky Imager for the WHT4.2 m and GranteCan 10.5 m telescopes: the development of instruments that are able to correct for atmospheric these errors on some of the largest telescopes in the world.
EMCCD (Electron Multiplying Charge Coupled Device development): the development of ultralow noise imaging systems for astronomy and laboratory applications, including the design and construction of high-speed low noise electronic systems.
Lucky Astronomy: the use of high speed image selection to optimise performance of ground-based telescopes affected by turbulence (they all are).
Hubble Space Telescope: member of the European space agency faint object camera design team. Instrument used and Hubble for many years: eventually replaced was the only instrument taken out of Hubble working as well is when first installed! The entire program was handled by ESA and NASA.
Publication Record: over 200 research papers in astronomy and astronomical technologies, plus 7 in life science technologies. Another ~ dozen written before starting at Edinburgh University on electronic construction designs, around 1960.
Commercial Experience.
AstroCam Ltd was originally incorporated in 1985. The company was established so that we could use some of the technologies developed in astronomy for application in life sciences. In particular we developed instruments for automated HLA tissue typing, two-dimensional protein gel electrophoresis, automated DNA sequencing as well as automated glycoprotein (carbohydrate) sequencing. Instruments were demonstrated for much more effective and reliable detection of tumours particularly for breast X-rays.
Instruments were also developed for 3D imaging with high resolution X-ray systems to allow faster detection of cracks in aircraft turbine blades for example.
Several international patents were awarded associated with these developments.
The company was based in Cambridge and the Isle of Man and eventually expanded to around 40 employees at maximum. Sadly as a consequence of one of our customers deciding to manufacture our product themselves the numbers were reduced. AstroCam merged with another Cambridge life science company and was eventually sold to the US-based multinational, Perkin Elmer life sciences. Some of these products still available internationally but now in more evolved form.
CDM was the Managing Director of the company until its merger and sale to Perkin Elmer.
Voluntary Work.
Been helping with Cambridge Online, and CamSight. CDM is fully Enhanced DBS accredited (certificate number 001819726721).
