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.)
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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.
