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Register a new userPhotometric Calibrations for the SIRTF Infrared Spectrograph
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Added by
Vassilis Charmandaris
Publication date
2002
fields
Physics
and research's language is
English
Authors
P.W. Morris
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The SIRTF InfraRed Spectrograph (IRS) is faced with many of the same calibration challenges that were experienced in the ISO SWS calibration program, owing to similar wavelength coverage and overlapping spectral resolutions of the two instruments. Although the IRS is up to ~300 times more sensitive and without moving parts, imposing unique calibration challenges on their own, an overlap in photometric sensitivities of the high-resolution modules with the SWS grating sections allows lessons, resources, and certain techniques from the SWS calibration programs to be exploited. We explain where these apply in an overview of the IRS photometric calibration planning.
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The Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) is a new facility instrument for the Gemini Observatory designed to provide direct detection and characterization of planets and debris disks around stars in the solar neighborhood. In addition to its extreme adaptive optics and corona graphic systems which give access to high angular resolution and high-contrast imaging capabilities, GPI contains an integral field spectrograph providing low resolution spectroscopy across five bands between 0.95 and 2.5 $mu$m. This paper describes the sequence of processing steps required for the spectro-photometric calibration of GPI science data, and the necessary calibration files. Based on calibration observations of the white dwarf HD 8049B we estimate that the systematic error in spectra extracted from GPI observations is less than 5%. The flux ratio of the occulted star and fiducial satellite spots within coronagraphic GPI observations, required to estimate the magnitude difference between a target and any resolved companions, was measured in the $H$-band to be $Delta m = 9.23pm0.06$ in laboratory measurements and $Delta m = 9.39pm 0.11$ using on-sky observations. Laboratory measurements for the $Y$, $J$, $K1$ and $K2$ filters are also presented. The total throughput of GPI, Gemini South and the atmosphere of the Earth was also measured in each photometric passband, with a typical throughput in $H$-band of 18% in the non-coronagraphic mode, with some variation observed over the six-month period for which observations were available. We also report ongoing development and improvement of the data cube extraction algorithm.
The answers to fundamental science questions in astrophysics, ranging from the history of the expansion of the universe to the sizes of nearby stars, hinge on our ability to make precise measurements of diverse astronomical objects. As our knowledge of the underlying physics of objects improves along with advances in detectors and instrumentation, the limits on our capability to extract science from measurements is set, not by our lack of understanding of the nature of these objects, but rather by the most mundane of all issues: the precision with which we can calibrate observations in physical units. We stress the need for a program to improve upon and expand the current networks of spectrophotometrically calibrated stars to provide precise calibration with an accuracy of equal to and better than 1% in the ultraviolet, visible and near-infrared portions of the spectrum, with excellent sky coverage and large dynamic range.
The InfraRed Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) is a first-light instrument for the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) that will be used to sample the corrected adaptive optics field by NFIRAOS with a near-infrared (0.8 - 2.4 $mu$m) imaging camera and Integral Field Spectrograph (IFS). In order to understand the science case specifications of the IRIS instrument, we use the IRIS data simulator to characterize photometric precision and accuracy of the IRIS imager. We present the results of investigation into the effects of potential ghosting in the IRIS optical design. Each source in the IRIS imager field of view results in ghost images on the detector from IRISs wedge filters, entrance window, and Atmospheric Dispersion Corrector (ADC) prism. We incorporated each of these ghosts into the IRIS simulator by simulating an appropriate magnitude point source at a specified pixel distance, and for the case of the extended ghosts redistributing flux evenly over the area specified by IRISs optical design. We simulate the ghosting impact on the photometric capabilities, and found that ghosts generally contribute negligible effects on the flux counts for point sources except for extreme cases where ghosts coalign with a star of $Delta$m$>$2 fainter than the ghost source. Lastly, we explore the photometric precision and accuracy for single sources and crowded field photometry on the IRIS imager.
We make predictions for the cosmological surveys to be conducted by MIPS/SIRTF at 24, 70 and 160 microns, for the GTO and the legacy programs, using the latest knowledge of the instrument. In addition to detector and cirrus confusion noise, we discuss in detail the derivation of the confusion noise due to extragalactic sources, that depends strongly on the shape of the source counts at a given wavelength and on the telescope and detector pixel sizes. We show that it is wise in general to compare the classical photometric criterion and the so called source density criterion to predict the confusion levels. We obtain, using the model of Lagache, Dole, & Puget (2002) limiting fluxes of 50 microJy, 3.2 mJy and 36 mJy at 24, 70 and 160 microns (resp.). We compute the redshift distributions of the detected sources at each wavelength, and show that they extend up to z ~ 2.7 at 24 microns and up to z ~ 2.5 at 70 and 160 microns, leading to resolve at most 69, 54 and 24% of the Cosmic Infrared Background (CIB) at 24, 70 and 160 microns (resp.). We estimate which galaxy populations will be used to derive the luminosity function evolution with redshift. We also give the redshift distributions of the unresolved sources in the FIR range, that dominates the fluctuations of the CIB, and a predicted power spectrum showing the feasibility of fluctuations (due to Poissonian & clustered source distributions) measurements. The main conclusion is that MIPS (and SIRTF in general) cosmological surveys will greatly improve our understanding of galaxy evolution by giving data with unprecedented accuracy in the mid and far infrared range.
The MMT and Magellan infrared spectrograph (MMIRS) is a cryogenic multiple slit spectrograph operating in the wavelength range 0.9-2.4 micron. MMIRS refractive optics offer a 6.9 by 6.9 arcmin field of view for imaging with a spatial resolution of 0.2 arcsec per pixel on a HAWAII-2 array. For spectroscopy, MMIRS can be used with long slits up to 6.9 arcmin long, or with custom slit masks having slitlets distributed over a 4 by 6.9 arcmin area. A range of dispersers offer spectral resolutions of 800 to 3000. MMIRS is designed to be used at the f/5 foci of the MMT or Magellan Clay 6.5m telescopes. MMIRS was commissioned in 2009 at the MMT and has been in routine operation at the Magellan Clay Telescope since 2010. MMIRS is being used for a wide range of scientific investigations from exoplanet atmospheres to Ly-alpha emitters.
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