DESCRIPTION |
COMICS is a mid-infrared camera and spectrometer with the ability to study cool interstellar
dust, galaxies and active galactic nuclei, protoplanetary/planetary applications mounts on the
Cassegrain focus of the Subaru 8.2 m telecope at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
on Mauna Kea, in Hawai'i. The instrument measures 2 m x 2 m x 2m and weighs 2 t. COMICS operates
in the wavelength range 7.5 - 25 µm and is optimized for use in the N-band (7.5 - 13.5 µm) and Q-
band (16 - 25 µm). The detectors used are 6 320-pixel by 240-pixel Si:As BIB detectors: 1 for
imaging/slit viewing (40" slit length) and 5 arrays for spectroscopy, which provide high sensitivity,
high spatial resolution, and observational efficiency. The field of view (FOV) is 42 arcsec x 32 arcsec
for imaging, with a pixel size of 50 µm. Pixel scale is 0.13 arcsec (imaging) or 0.165 arcsec
(spectroscopy), which translates into specrtral resolution of 250-10,000 in N-band and 2,500 in Q-band.
Taken from instrument web page: https://www.subarutelescope.org/Introduction/instrument/COMICS.html
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