TY - GEN
T1 - NIMBUS
T2 - Ground-Based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy IV
AU - McElwain, Michael W.
AU - Mandell, Avi
AU - Woodgate, Bruce
AU - Spiegel, David S.
AU - Madhusudhan, Nikku
AU - Amatucci, Edward
AU - Blake, Cullen
AU - Budinof, Jason
AU - Burgasser, Adam
AU - Burrows, Adam S.
AU - Clampin, Mark
AU - Conroy, Charlie
AU - Deming, L. Drake
AU - Dunham, Edward
AU - Foltz, Roger
AU - Gong, Qian
AU - Knutson, Heather
AU - Muench, Theodore
AU - Murray-Clay, Ruth
AU - Peabody, Hume
AU - Rauscher, Bernard
AU - Rinehart, Stephen A.
AU - Villanueva, Geronimo
PY - 2012
Y1 - 2012
N2 - We present a new and innovative near-infrared multi-band ultraprecise spectroimager (NIMBUS) for SOFIA. This design is capable of characterizing a large sample of extrasolar planet atmospheres by measuring elemental and molecular abundances during primary transit and occultation. This wide-field spectroimager would also provide new insights into Trans-Neptunian Objects (TNO), Solar System occultations, brown dwarf atmospheres, carbon chemistry in globular clusters, chemical gradients in nearby galaxies, and galaxy photometric redshifts. NIMBUS would be the premier ultraprecise spectroimager by taking advantage of the SOFIA observatory and state of the art infrared technologies. This optical design splits the beam into eight separate spectral bandpasses, centered around key molecular bands from 1 to 4 μm. Each spectral channel has a wide field of view for simultaneous observations of a reference star that can decorrelate time-variable atmospheric and optical assembly effects, allowing the instrument to achieve ultraprecise calibration for imaging and photometry for a wide variety of astrophysical sources. NIMBUS produces the same data products as a low-resolution integral field spectrograph over a large spectral bandpass, but this design obviates many of the problems that preclude high-precision measurements with traditional slit and integral field spectrographs. This instrument concept is currently not funded for development.
AB - We present a new and innovative near-infrared multi-band ultraprecise spectroimager (NIMBUS) for SOFIA. This design is capable of characterizing a large sample of extrasolar planet atmospheres by measuring elemental and molecular abundances during primary transit and occultation. This wide-field spectroimager would also provide new insights into Trans-Neptunian Objects (TNO), Solar System occultations, brown dwarf atmospheres, carbon chemistry in globular clusters, chemical gradients in nearby galaxies, and galaxy photometric redshifts. NIMBUS would be the premier ultraprecise spectroimager by taking advantage of the SOFIA observatory and state of the art infrared technologies. This optical design splits the beam into eight separate spectral bandpasses, centered around key molecular bands from 1 to 4 μm. Each spectral channel has a wide field of view for simultaneous observations of a reference star that can decorrelate time-variable atmospheric and optical assembly effects, allowing the instrument to achieve ultraprecise calibration for imaging and photometry for a wide variety of astrophysical sources. NIMBUS produces the same data products as a low-resolution integral field spectrograph over a large spectral bandpass, but this design obviates many of the problems that preclude high-precision measurements with traditional slit and integral field spectrographs. This instrument concept is currently not funded for development.
KW - Airborne instrumentation
KW - Infrared imaging
KW - Precision photometry
KW - Transiting exoplanets
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84871983289&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84871983289&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1117/12.927094
DO - 10.1117/12.927094
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:84871983289
SN - 9780819491473
T3 - Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering
BT - Ground-Based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy IV
Y2 - 1 July 2012 through 6 July 2012
ER -