KWIC: a widefield mid-infrared array camera/spectrometer for the KAO

摘要

Abstract: KWIC (Kuiper Widefield Infrared Camera) is a wide field imaging spectrometer/spectrophotometer designed for use between 18 and 44 $mu@m on NASA's Kuiper Airborne Observatory (KAO). KWIC achieves the highest possible spatial resolution (approximately 5 to 10') over this band, by using a Rockwell 128 $MUL 128 pixel Si:Sb BIB array. Even with spatially oversampled, 3' $MUL 3' pixels, the large array gives KWIC a very wide field of view: 6 $MUL 6 arc minutes. KWIC delivers high spatial resolution images both in imaging spectrophotometry mode and in imaging spectrometer mode. KWIC is thereby optimized for detailed investigations of dust and discerning lines in galactic and extragalactic sources. these modes are quickly interchangeable during a KAO flight. We plan to have the entire instrument complete by mid August 1993 and hope to have our first flights on the KAO in early 1994. KWIC will address a wide variety of astrophysical issues. The fine-structure lines available to KWIC are excellent probes of the density and ionization structure of interstellar gas clouds. The mid-IR continuum arises from warm dust heated by nearly starlight. We will use KWIC's large scale diffraction limited imaging capabilities to: (1) explore molecular cloud structure, probing the physical conditions of the gas near embedded sources and condensations, (2) examine the relationship between the interstellar medium and star formation activity on galactic scales through complete imaging of nearby galaxies, (3) examine the complex kinematics and density structure of the gas clouds associated with the center of the Galaxy, and (4) conduct high spatial resolution, large scale imaging of young stellar objects in the dust continuum thereby probing the dusty disks predicted to accompany low mass star formation.!16