FORCAST: a first light facility instrument for SOFIA

Joseph D. Adams; Terry L. Herter; George E. Gull; Justin Schoenwald; Charles P. Henderson; Luke D. Keller; James M. De Buizer; Gordon J. Stacey; Thomas Nikola

doi:10.1117/12.857049

15 July 2010 FORCAST: a first light facility instrument for SOFIA

Joseph D. Adams, Terry L. Herter, George E. Gull, Justin Schoenwald, Charles P. Henderson, Luke D. Keller, James M. De Buizer, Gordon J. Stacey, Thomas Nikola

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 7735, Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy III; 77351U (2010) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.857049
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2010, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

FORCAST is the "first light" U. S. science instrument to fly aboard SOFIA. FORCAST offers dual channel imaging in discrete filters at 5 - 25 microns and 30 - 40 microns, with diffraction-limited imaging at wavelengths > 15 microns. FORCAST has a plate scale of 0.75 arcsec per pixel, giving it a 3.2 arcmin x 3.2 arcmin FOV on SOFIA. We give a status update on FORCAST development, including the performance of new far-IR filters; design and performance of the calibration box; laboratory operations and performance; and results from ground-based and first flight operations.

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Joseph D. Adams, Terry L. Herter, George E. Gull, Justin Schoenwald, Charles P. Henderson, Luke D. Keller, James M. De Buizer, Gordon J. Stacey, and Thomas Nikola "FORCAST: a first light facility instrument for SOFIA", Proc. SPIE 7735, Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy III, 77351U (15 July 2010); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.857049

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