LWS
Comparison with MIRLIN and OSCIR

The following table compares the capabilities of the three mid-infrared instruments available on the Keck telescopes. The OSCIR and MIRLIN performance characteristics were kindly provided to us by Andrea Ghez based on her analysis of observations made with both instruments by several science teams.

Characteristic LWS MIRLIN OSCIR
Detector Type 4 channel;
moderate-flux
16 channel;
high-flux
16 channel;
high-flux
Array size 128×128 px 128×128 px 128×128 px
Pixel scale 0.080 arcsec 0.137 arcsec 0.062 arcsec
Field of view 10.3×10.3 arcsec 17.5×17.5 arcsec 7.9×7.9 arcsec
Filters 3.5-25 µm; broadband and narrowband 2-25 µm; broadband and narrowband 2-25 µm; broadband and narrowband
Spectroscopy R=100,1400 None R=35-735
Sensitivity, 10µm 0.025 Jy¹ 0.034 Jy 0.027 Jy
Sensitivity, 20µm 0.15 Jy² 0.53 Jy 0.25 Jy
Manual available? No Yes No
Home Page LWS MIRLIN OSCIR

Notes:

  1. Preliminary upper limit
  2. Preliminary estimate


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Last modified: Fri Jun 4 15:56:47 HST