Exploring the Properties of Nearby Debris Disks using the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) on the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)
Abstract
MIRI is the only one of the four JWST instruments operating in the 5 to 27 m wavelength regime (Wright, G.S., Rieke, G. and the MIRI team, 2004, SPIE, 5492). MIRI has both an imaging channel and a medium resolution spectroscopy channel. The imaging channel includes low resolution slit spectroscopy with a double prism and 4 wavelengths of coronagraphy using fixed masks. The medium resolution spectrometer obtains simultaneous spectral and spatial data on a relatively compact region of the sky by using four integral field units constructed of image slicers. Using only three grating wheel positions, an observer can obtain the whole 5 to 28 m wavelength region on a single object. Due to JWST's cold operating temperature and large primary mirror, MIRI will be 10 million times faster than current ground based 8 m telescopes with mid-IR instruments and tens of thousands of time faster than Spitzer in its ability to map the mid-infrared sky. MIRI will reveal the detailed structure of nearby debris disks detected by Spitzer. MIRI will also detect, photometrically debris disks with surface brightnesses similar to our solar systems zodical emission. Extrasolar Giant Planets will also be detectable with MIRI's coronagraph. The coronagraphic filters have been chosen to study these planets and debris disks.
- Publication:
-
Nearby Resolved Debris Disks
- Pub Date:
- October 2005
- Bibcode:
- 2005nrdd.conf...24M