Astronomical Observations with a 10 Micron Array Camera

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Construction of a camera for operation in the 8-10 micron atmospheric window has been completed and the laboratory testing of the instrument is now in progress. The camera will be used for astronomical observations of regions of star formation both within our galaxy and in other galaxies. Some modifications and improvements will be made to the instrument. A larger format array, which is expected to have higher sensitivity, will be installed. A circular variable filter will replace the fixed filters, to allow acquisition of narrow band images both in continuum (dust) emission and in atomic and molecular features. The observations will be made from the University of California-San Diego/University of Minnesota 1.5m telescope at Mt. Lemmon near Tucson, Arizona. A scale of 1 arcsec per pixel will adequately sample the 2 arcsec images formed by a combination of diffraction and seeing. The scientific program will be aimed at achieving a better understanding of the star formation process. Within our galaxy no systematic studies of molecular clouds known to be active star formation regions have yet been feasible due to the large observing times required by single detector systems in the thermal infrared. This camera will obtain large area maps in reasonable timescales at wavelengths where the sensitivity to cool, young sources is high, and obscuration by dust is low. Many external galaxies show excess infrared emission (measured by the IRAS satellite) which has been attributed to star formation induced by galaxy collisions. The morphology of these objects can be studied using the camera. This will reveal details of the internal structure of the galaxies. This information is not available from other wavelengths due to dust obscuration, and can provide crucial evidence for or against the galaxy interaction hypothesis possibly giving clues in the mechanism which triggers star formation activity.