New WHIRC for a 3.5-Meter Telescope The WIYN High

New WHIRC for a 3.5-Meter Telescope
The WIYN High-resolution InfraRed Camera
Matthew S. Povich
UW Space Place
11 March 2008
1. What is
“infrared”?
The Center of the Milky Way Galaxy
2. Why use infrared for Astronomy?
(Hint: Dust is everywhere in the Universe!)
Visible light
Near-infrared light
M17:
Omega
Nebula
Visible-light image
(Palomar
Observatory Sky
Survey)
Near-infrared image
(Two-Micron All-Sky
Survey; 2MASS)
J = 1.2 µm
H = 1.6 µm
K = 2.2 µm
The WHIRC Team...
Margaret Meixner (Principal Investigator)
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD
Ed Churchwell (Scientific PI)
University of Wisconsin–Madison
Ryan Doering
John W. Mackenty
Bill Ditsler
Bob Marshall
Buell Jannuzi
Charles Corson
Dave Mills
Dick Joyce
George Jacoby
Gregg Scharfstein
Jeff Percival
Joe Orndoff
Mark Hunten
Maureen Ellis
Mike Regan
Nick Buchholz
Patricia Knezek
Peter Moore
Robert Barkhouser
Ron George
Stephen Smee
Steve Howell
Todd Miller
3. What makes
WHIRC special?
WIYN 3.5-Meter Telescope
• WIYN =
–
–
–
–
Wisconsin
Indiana
Yale
NOAO =
•
•
•
•
National
Optical
Astronomy
Observatory
• WHIRC is a triply–
nested acronym!
www.wiyn.org
Mirror Actuators
Margaret and Ed
with WHIRC
Temperature Control:
Camera and
Telescope
WHIRC on WIYN!
Visible-light image
3.5 hours exposure
NGC 891:
Edge-On Spiral
Galaxy
Two Views from
WIYN
WHIRC image
0.5 hour exposure
A Globular Cluster in the Galactic Disk
The meaning of “high-resolution.”
2MASS
WHIRC
NGC 7027
Planetary nebula
He I 1.08 µm
Full WHIRC field-of-view
He I
1.08 µm
H
1.65 µm
Ks
2.12 µm
NGC 7027 — WIYN vs. Hubble
WIYN/WHIRC
•
Advantage of Space-Based Astronomy
–
•
HST/NICMOS
Hubble is a 2.4-meter telescope, while WIYN is a 3.5-meter telescope!
Cost of Space-Based Astronomy
– Hubble: $1.5 billion originally (1990), $300 million for Shuttle servicing mission
– WIYN: $14 million originally (1994), WHIRC cost $1.6 million to build.
•
The best is yet to come for WHIRC and WIYN!
Summary
1. What is infrared?
•
Segment of the electromagnetic spectrum with wavelengths
just longer than visible light — infrared literally means below
red.
2. Why is infrared useful to astronomers?
•
•
•
Infrared light penetrates dust, and dust is everywhere in the
Universe.
Observe dust structures that are otherwise invisible, like
planet-forming disks around young stars.
Measure redshifts of the most distant galaxies.
3. What is special about WHIRC?
•
•
•
High resolution and good sensitivity for a ground-based
detector.
Smallest camera ever built with these capabilities.
Value for money — $1.6 million is actually very inexpensive
for a state-of-the-art astronomical instrument!

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