SCORE: A Mid‐Infrared Echelle Format Spectrograph with No Moving Parts

Abstract

SCORE (SIRTF Cornell Echelle) is a mid-infrared spectrograph with a resolution of l/Dl ϭ covering the entire ground-based 10 mm atmospheric window in a single exposure. It was built as a proof 600 of concept for one of the SIRTF (Space Infrared Telescope Facility) instruments. It has no moving mechanical parts. SCORE was designed to operate properly upon assembly needing nothing more than a one-time focus adjustment. The instrument has been adapted for use on the Palomar 200 inch (5 m) Hale telescope and has been used there successfully. The demonstrated starting sensitivity is 105 mJy (1 j in 100 s at 10 mm). A direct extrapolation to SIRTF conditions predicts a sensitivity between 60 and 90 better than demonstrated on the 200 inch telescope for the same elapsed observing time. Algorithms for reducing the data have been developed in IDL and are discussed. Sample astronomical observations demonstrating SCORE's operation are also presented.

Mid-infrared spectroscopy of protoplanetary and planetary nebulae

“…The planetary nebulae on our source list were observed using SCORE (Van Cleve et al 1998) at the Cassegrain focus of the Hale 5‐m telescope, 1 between 1997 September and 1998 August. SCORE is a novel medium‐resolution mid‐infrared spectrograph built originally as a proof of concept of the Infrared Spectrograph (IRS) short‐hi module for SIRTF .…”

Mid-Infrared Spectra of Be Stars

“…The observations presented here were taken using SCORE (van Cleve et al 1998) at the Cassegrain focus of the Hale 5-m telescope. 2 SCORE is a novel medium resolution mid-infrared spectrograph built originally as a proof of concept of the Infrared Spectrograph (IRS) short-hi module for SIRTF.…”