Abstract
The design and the current development status of the Infrared Camera (IRC) onboard ASTRO-F is described. The IRC is designed for wide field imaging and slit-less spectroscopic observations at near- and mid-infrared wavelengths. The IRC consists of three channels, NIR, MIR-S and MIR-L, which cover wavelengths of 2–5, 5–12 and 12–26 micron, respectively. All of them consist of refractive optics. State-of-the-art large format array detectors are placed at the focal plane. Each channel has 10 × 10 arcmin wide field-of-view with diffraction-limited spatial resolution of 70 cm aperture of ASTRO-F telescope at wavelengths over 5 micron. We plan to have more than 7000 pointing observations dedicated for the IRC. The observational time of each pointing is limited to 500 seconds because of its low earth sun-synchronous polar orbit. The 5 sigma sensitivity of one pointing observation is estimated to be 2, 30 and 120 micro-Jy at 5, 9, 20 micron bands, respectively. Fabrication of the prototype model has been completed, and the performance tests are underway.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.