A Proposal to Construct a 1 to 5 Micron Infrared Array Camera for the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility

将在莫纳克亚山建造一个1-5微米阵列相机，作为NASA红外望远镜设施（IRTF）的设施仪器。它将使用58x62 InSb阵列，既提供3596元素阵列的多路复用优势，又匹配或充分利用IRTF出色的可视性和低背景。它的主要特点将是：1)三个快速选择的平板尺度，2)1-3%的光谱分辨率或1到5微米的宽带滤波器，3)一个冷却日冕仪和4)成像偏振模式。用这些问题。包括从寻找附近恒星周围的次恒星伴星到寻找原星系的调查。双极流出的图像将有助于阐明这些风与周围分子茧的相互作用。3.3 um发射特征的成像将有助于确定发射机制，并将被用作星系中恒星形成的示踪剂。对我们银河系中心的恒星密度和人口分布的调查将验证一个巨大黑洞的说法。活动星系的宽带和发射线图将使我们能够以高空间分辨率探测严重模糊的区域。在1-5微米范围内丰富的分子和固态特征使研究太阳系行星的表面地质和大气结构成为可能。

A 1-5 um array camera for use as a facility instrument at the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) at Mauna Kea will be constructed. It will use a 58x62 InSb array, providing both the mulitiplex advantages of a 3596 element array and also matching or fully exploit the excellent seeing and low background at the IRTF. Its primary features will be: 1) three quickly selectable platescales, 2) 1-3% spectral resolution or broadband filters from 1 to 5 um 3) a cooled coronagraph and 4) an imaging polarimetry mode. Using these questions. INcluded are surveys that range from a search for substellar companions around nearby stars to a search for protogalaxies. Images of bipolar outflows will help elucidate the interaction of these winds with the surrounding molecular cocoon. Imaging in the 3.3 um emission feature will serve to identify the emission mechanism and will be employed as a tracer of star formation in galaxies. An investigation of the stellar density and population distribution at the center of our own Galaxy will test suggestions of a massive black hole. Broadband and emission line maps of active galaxies will allow us to probe into heavily obscured regions with high spatial resolution. Studies of the surface geology and atmospheric structure of planets in our solar system are made possible by the wealth of molecular and solid-state features in the 1-5 um range.