IRCS
(Infrared Camera and Spectrograph)
(Infrared Camera and Spectrograph)
The Sharpest Sight from Earth
IRCS is Subaru’s primary near-infrared camera and spectrograph. It is designed to perform optimally when used with the AO system. Solar system objects, brown dwarfs, star-forming regions, galaxies, high redshift objects, all can be studied with IRCS.
AO mechanism
A near-infrared image of the planetary nebula AFGL618. This is an older star expelling gas and dust into interstellar space. The star itself is at the center, but cannot be seen because the dust that surrounds it obscures our view. This star ejects material in two opposite directions. The mechanism driving this bipolar outflow is still unknown. In this image, three bullet-like structures are found to the right, and a horn-like structure is seen to the left. These structures are likely to be signatures of the process that created the bipolar outflow.
Aging Star Has “Bullets” and “Horns” (Sep. 29, 2002)
Quasar
This is an IRCS spectrum of the quasar APM 08279+5255 at a redshift of 3.9(12 billion light years). Light at longer wavelength is to the right. Faint parts of the spectrum (labeled Mg II) are caused by absorption by magnesium (Mg) in foreground inter-galactic gas lying between the quasar and us. From these absorption features, information on the physical conditions of inter-galactic gas can be obtained. This kind of study has previously been made in the optical, but IRCS pushes it to the infrared. The image of this quasar is split into two components (labeled A and B in this figure) by a foreground galaxy acting as a gravitational lens. Although the separation between the two components is only 0.4 arcseconds, IRCS was able to resolve them and obtain a spectrum which reveals the spatial extent of the foreground gas.
Interview:
IRCS was one of the first instruments to go on the telescope. It is a general purpose instrument that gives Subaru imaging and spectroscopic capabilities at near-infrared wavelengths. It’s a very versatile instrument with high and low-resolution spectroscopy modes and two different pixel scales for imaging. Anything from solar system objects to other galaxies are appropriate research targets for IRCS. It is also one of the two instruments that can take advantage of Subaru's AO system.
IRCS is one of the most stable instruments on the telescope. It was developed under an international collaboration with the University of Hawaii with careful attention paid to every single detail. The greatest challenge in its development was to make it compatible with AO system. The performance increase from using an AO system also increases the level of precision necessary in the optical design of the instrument.
In the short term, we will continue to upgrade IRCS to maintain and improve upon its already high performance.
(From a late 2002 interview with Hiroshi Terada, Support astronomer for IRCS.)
