Year: 2010
Type: article
Abstract: The Photodetector Array Camera and Spectrometer (PACS) is one of the three science instruments on ESA's far infrared and submillimetre observatory. It employs two Ge:Ga photoconductor arrays (stressed and unstressed) with 16×25 pixels, each, and two filled silicon bolometer arrays with 16×32 and 32×64 pixels, respectively, to perform integral-field spectroscopy and imaging photometry in the 60–210 μm wavelength regime. In photometry mode, it simultaneously images two bands, 60–85 μm or 85–125 μm and 125–210 μm, over a field of view of ~1.75'× 3.5', with close to Nyquist beam sampling in each band. In spectroscopy mode, it images a field of 47” × 47”, resolved into 5×5 pixels, with an instantaneous spectral coverage of ~1500 km s-1 and a spectral resolution of ~175 km s-1. We summarise the design of the instrument, describe observing modes, calibration, and data analysis methods, and present our current assessment of the in-orbit performance of the instrument based on the performance verification tests. PACS is fully operational, and the achieved performance is close to or better than the pre-launch predictions.
Source: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Authors: A. Poglitsch, C. Waelkens, N. Geis, H. Feuchtgruber, B. Vandenbussche, L. Rodriguez, O. Krause, E. Renotte, C. van Hoof, P. Saraceno, J. Cepa, F. Kerschbaum, P. Agnèse, B. Ali, B. Altieri, P. Andreani, J.-L. Augueres, Z. Balog, L. Barl, O. H. Bauer, N. Belbachir, M. Benedettini, N. Billot, O. Boulade, H. Bischof, J. Blommaert, E. Callut, C. Cara, R. Cerulli, D. Cesarsky, A. Contursi, Y. Creten, W. De Meester, V. Doublier, E. Doumayrou, L. Duband, K. Exter, R. Genzel, J.-M. Gillis, U. Grözinger, T. Henning, J. Herreros, R. Huygen, M. Inguscio, G. Jakob, C. Jamar, C. Jean, J. de Jong, R. Katterloher, C. Kiss, U. Klaas, D. Lemke, D. Lutz, S. Madden, B. Marquet, J. Martignac, A. Mazy, P. Merken, F. Montfort, L. Morbidelli, T. Müller, M. Nielbock, K. Okumura, R. Orfei, R. Ottensamer, S. Pezzuto, P. Popesso, J. Putzeys, S. Regibo, V. Reveret, P. Royer, M. Sauvage, J. Schreiber, J. Stegmaier, D. Schmitt, J. Schubert, E. Sturm, M. Thiel, G. Tofani, R. Vavrek, M. Wetzstein, E. Wieprecht, E. Wiezorrek
Institutions: Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, KU Leuven, Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives, Institut de Recherche sur les Lois Fondamentales de l'Univers, Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, University of Liège, IMEC, National Institute for Astrophysics, Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, University of Vienna, CEA Grenoble, European Space Astronomy Centre, European Southern Observatory, Trieste Astronomical Observatory, AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH, Graz University of Technology, Institut Nanosciences et Cryogénie, European Laboratory for Non-Linear Spectroscopy, Konkoly Observatory, Arcetri Astrophysical Observatory
Language: English
Subfield: Instrumentation
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2097350628