The SPEAR Instrument and On-Orbit Performance
astro-ph
/ Authors
Jerry Edelstein, Eric Korpela, Joe Adolfo, Mark Bowen, Michael Feuerstein, Jeffrey Hull, Sharon Jelinsky, Kaori Nishikida, Ken McKee, Peter Berg
and 14 more authors
Ray Chung, Jorg Fischer, Kyoung-Wook Min, Seung-Han Oh, Jin-Guen Rhee, Kwangsun Ryu, Jong-Ho Shinn, Wonyong Han, Ho Jin, Dae-Hee Lee, Uk-Won Nam, Jang-Hyun Park, Kwang-Il Seon, In-Soo Yuk
/ Abstract
The SPEAR (or 'FIMS') instrumentation has been used to conduct the first large-scale spectral mapping of diffuse cosmic far ultraviolet (FUV, 900-1750 AA) emission, including important diagnostics of interstellar hot (10^4 K - 10^6 K) and photoionized plasmas, H_2, and dust scattered starlight. The instrumentation's performance has allowed for the unprecedented detection of astrophysical diffuse far UV emission lines. A spectral resolution of 550 and an imaging resolution of 5' is achieved on-orbit in the Short (900 - 1175 AA) and Long (1335 - 1750 AA) bandpass channels within their respective 7.4 deg x 4.3' and 4.0 deg x 4.6' fields of view. We describe the SPEAR imaging spectrographs, their performance, and the nature and handling of their data.