Optimal resolutions for IR spectroscopy through the OH airglow Conference Paper uri icon

abstract

  • The OH airglow emission lines are the dominant source of background emission in the near-infrared J and H bandpasses. In principle, these emission lines can be avoided by observing at sufficiently high spectral resolution, rejecting pixels contaminated by OH lines, and rebinning to the desired resolution. Two trade-offs to this approach are non-negligible detector noise per pixel and the added expense of instrumentation with higher resolution. In this contribution, we simulate various observed and desired resolutions as a function of detector noise and target brightness to develop a set of guidelines for the optimal resolution in a variety of observing programs. As a general rule, observing at a 2-pixel resolution of 2000 - 4000 provides optimal OH rejection for a wide range of detector noise and source signal.

name of conference

  • Optical and IR Telescope Instrumentation and Detectors

published proceedings

  • Proceedings of SPIE

author list (cited authors)

  • Martini, P., & DePoy, D. L.

citation count

  • 8

complete list of authors

  • Martini, Paul||DePoy, Darren L

editor list (cited editors)

  • Iye, M., & Moorwood, A.

publication date

  • August 2000