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GNIRS SV Modes

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GNIRS system verification will occur on a mode-by-mode basis, as the modes complete commissioning.  The first observations are planned for early March 2004.  The pool from which verification observations will be drawn has been selected and is described in the SV plan. This plan contains details of individual observations and describes other aspects of the system which will be tested.  It will also provide access to the SV data once it is publicly available (~2 months after acquisition).

System Verification with GNIRS is being co-ordinated by Bernadette Rodgers (brodgers@gemini.edu) to whom any questions should be addressed.

The various configurations of GNIRS are divided into the 8 modes described below.  They are listed roughly in the order that we expect to commission them, with the first 4 modes included in the initial SV call.

  1. Long-slit, 0.9-2.5um spectroscopy (low background)
    • Pixel scale: 0.15 arcsec/pixel
    • Slit width: 0.10 to 3.0 arcsec
    • Slit length: 100 arcsec 
    • Spectral resolution: R=6000 with 0.30 arcsec slit
  2. Long-slit, 0.9-2.5um spectroscopy (OH limited)
    • Pixel scale: 0.15 arcsec/pixel
    • Slit width: 0.10 to 3.0 arcsec
    • Slit length: 100 arcsec 
    • Spectral resolutions: R=1800 with 0.30 arcsec slit
  3. Long-slit, 2.9-5.5um spectroscopy (thermal background limited)
    • Pixel scale: 0.15 (L band) and 0.05 (M band) arcsec/pixel
    • Slit width: 0.10 to 3.0 arcsec
    • Slit length: 100 arcsec (short camera), 49 arcsec (long camera)
    • Spectral resolutions: R=1800 and 6000 with 0.30 arcsec slit
  4. Cross-dispersed spectroscopy 0.9-2.5um
    • Slit width: 0.10 to 3.0 arcsec
    • Slit length: 6 arcsec (short camera), 3 arcsec (long camera)
    • Spectral resolutions:
      • R=1800 (long and short cameras) with 0.30 arcsec slit
    • No Atmospheric Dispersion Compensator, so non-AO images typically taken with vertical slit
  5. IFU spectroscopy 0.9-2.5um (low background)
    • Field of view aspect ratio: 1.4-to-1
    • Spatial sampling: 0.12x0.15 arcsec (12 arcsec2 ; short camera)
    • Spectral resolutions:
      • R=1800 and 6000 (short camera)
  6. IFU spectroscopy 2.9-5.5um (high background)
    • Field of view aspect ratio: 1.4-to-1
    • Spatial sampling: 0.12x0.15 arcsec (12 arcsec2 ; short camera)
    • Spectral resolutions:
      • R=1800 and 6000 (short camera)
  7. Long slit, 0.9-5.5um, high spatial and spectral resolution
    • Pixel scale: 0.05 arcsec/pixel
    • Slit width: 0.10 to 3.0 arcsec
    • Slit length: 50 arcsec 
    • Spectral resolutions: R=1800, 6000, 18000 with 0.10 arcsec slit
  8. Polarimetry
    • Wollaston prism: There is a Wollaston prism in GNIRS that operates with the Gemini polarization unit (GPOL) to provide spectral polarimetry.  This mode will be commissioned when the Gemini GPOL is commissioned.


Last update 27 February 2004; Bernadette Rodgers


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