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The LASP at RITs Center for Imaging Science

• Laboratory for Astronomy in Strange Places

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Telescopes on Mauna Kea
Altitude circa 14,000 ft.
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The Kuiper Airborne Observatory
Altitudes up to 45,000 ft.
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Higher is Better Roots of the LASP
CISs Director (as grad student!) in action on
the Kuiper Airborne Observatory (1970-something)
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Why is higher better?
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Why Do Astronomy in the Infrared?

• Most of the luminosity of our galaxy and in other
  galaxies emerges in this wavelength region
• Low dust extinction at these wavelengths permits
  unbiased and potentially complete observations of
  statistically large samples of objects
• Formation of galaxies in the early universe and
  the crucial stages of formation and evolution of
  stars and planets can be best studied in this
  range of wavelengths
• Most of the fundamental absorption and emission
  lines and bands of astrophysically and
  astrochemically significant molecules occur in
  the far infrared

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M17 Optical Photograph Far Infrared
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That was then...
Kuiper Airborne Observatory maps of far-IR
emissionfrom the W3 star formation
region, 1970-something
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This is now...
The W3 star formation region as seen in the
near-IR by a modern IR camera
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Youngest stars in M17 hidden by dust
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Near-Infrared ImagingUncovering the young stars
in M17
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Constructing a Spatial Mosaic
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Mosaics obtained at three infrared wavelengths
1.65 microns
1.25 microns
2.2 microns
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Result of combining...
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Visible Infrared
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Big targets need big detector arrays
The galactic center region in the near-IR
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This image took a long time to make...
because this image of M17 (from late
1980s) consists of a mosaic of several
dozen individual 58x62 frames
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But this one was a snap!
Image of M17 taken in mid-1990s with a 256x256
near-infrared detector array
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The advantages of color
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Using a bigger telescope to see detail
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Orion Nebula
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Star formation is inefficient
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Image Processing Separating Stars from Nebula
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Narrow-band IR imagingDistinguishing the dust
from the gas
Dust emission from M17at 3.3microns
Emission from ionized gas at 2.16 microns and
4.05 microns
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Colder is also better
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Why is colder better?
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Sky gets darker as temperature drops
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Are we having fun yet?
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The Principal Investigator
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Construction at the Pole
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The SPIREX Telescope
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The SPIREX Telescope
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Data Pipelining at RIT

• Data from the South Pole
• National request for proposals
• 45 proposals received 13 carried out
• Data reduced at RIT and distributed worldwide

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The Galactic Center viewed from the Pole
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Star formation regions from the Pole
The advantage of infrared imaging from a cold
environment
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Star formation regions from the Pole
The advantage of infrared imaging with a wide
field
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A very wide field 3-color IR image
Image mosaic of the NGC 6334 star formation
region obtained with SPIREX/Abu at the South Pole
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Site monitoring for the entire season
The advantage of relentless observing data
pipelining
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How to tell when its cloudy
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How to tell the good times from the bad
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How to squeeze blood from a rock(Or, how to make
the bad times look like the good)
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The SOFIA Concept
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Test flights
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Telescope specifications

• Nominal Operational Wavelength Range 0.3 to 1600
  um
• prime wavelengths 15-300 microns
• Primary Mirror Diameter 2.7 meters
• System Clear Aperture Diameter 2.5 meters
• Nominal System f-ratio 19.6
• Primary Mirror f-ratio 1.28
• Telescope's Unvignetted Elevation Range 20-60
  degrees

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The mirror blank
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SOFIA Key Science

• Interstellar cloud physics and star formation in
  our galaxy
• Proto-planetary disks and planet formation in
  nearby star systems
• Origin and evolution of biogenic atoms,
  molecules, and solids
• Composition and structure of planetary
  atmospheres and rings, and comets
• Star formation, dynamics, and chemical content of
  other galaxies
• The dynamic activity in the center of the Milky
  Way.

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SOFIA Data Pipelining at RIT

• Under construction a data cycle system for SOFIA
• Our data cycle system will be modular,
  extensible, and continuously improving
• These 3 attributes are the promise of SOFIA

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In the works telescopes on the Atacama Plateau,
Chile

• Altitude circa 19000 ft.
• Rainfall almost never

Talk about astronomy in strange places!