TY - JOUR
T1 - Infrared detectors enable spectacular infrared astronomy
AU - Rieke, George
N1 - Funding Information:
The author is grateful to Steve Gaalema, Alan Hoffman, and Kadri Vural for sharing their memories (and stories) about the first developments of astronomical infrared detector arrays. The author also acknowledges a helpful discussion with Klaus Hodapp. The author is grateful to Martin Roth for his outstanding work organizing and hosting the detector workshop. This work was partially supported by NASA Grants NNX13AD82G887 and 80NSSC22K1293.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 Wiley-VCH GmbH.
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - Major advances in infrared astronomy have been enabled by new technologies-from the first example of infrared astronomy using the vacuum thermocouple to the expansion of the field into the thermal infrared using the Ge:Ga bolometer. The introduction of high-performance detector arrays had an even more profound influence through the James Webb Space Telescope: it is the rapid and exciting development of these arrays that built the case for this major investment in breakthrough astronomy. The arrays were developed in defense-oriented aerospace firms, making the mechanisms for delivering them to astronomers eccentric. This article describes this formative era for infrared astronomy with arrays and how it led to the incredible devices now strutting their stuff on James Webb Space Telescope.
AB - Major advances in infrared astronomy have been enabled by new technologies-from the first example of infrared astronomy using the vacuum thermocouple to the expansion of the field into the thermal infrared using the Ge:Ga bolometer. The introduction of high-performance detector arrays had an even more profound influence through the James Webb Space Telescope: it is the rapid and exciting development of these arrays that built the case for this major investment in breakthrough astronomy. The arrays were developed in defense-oriented aerospace firms, making the mechanisms for delivering them to astronomers eccentric. This article describes this formative era for infrared astronomy with arrays and how it led to the incredible devices now strutting their stuff on James Webb Space Telescope.
KW - history and philosophy of astronomy
KW - instrumentation: detectors
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U2 - 10.1002/asna.20230065
DO - 10.1002/asna.20230065
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85153597870
SN - 0004-6337
JO - Astronomische Nachrichten
JF - Astronomische Nachrichten
ER -