Current Activities of TIFR Infrared Group & Plans for Near Future Swarna Kanti Ghosh, Bhaswati Mookerjea, Devendra Ojha Scientific and Technical Staff : S L D’Costa, M B Naik, S S Poojary, P Sandimani, C B Bakalkar, G S Meshram, D M Patkar, R B Jadhav

Central Research Theme The study of Interstellar Medium (ISM) in relation to Star Formation in our Galaxy and nearby galaxies - Properties of interstellar dust and gas - Multi-wavelength studies

Current Research Activities Far Infrared (FIR) studies: High angular resolution (~ 1') mapping of Galactic Star Forming Regions (GSFRs) using TIFR 100 cm balloon borne telescope (from TIFR Balloon Facility, Hyderabad) * **  in two FIR bands (150 & 210  m ) * **  in astrophysically important [C II] line at 158  m using Fabry Perot Spectrometer, FPS (TIFR – Japan collaboration) * **

Current Research Activities cont…. Near Infrared (NIR), Optical & Radio continuum studies of GSFRs (Ground-based) :  Using NIR imager (including TIFR µm camera: TIRCAM) * **  Optical imagers / spectrometers from various ground based telescopes at the National observatories (at Mount Abu, Hanle, Nainital; GMRT) * * * **  H 2 (1-0)S1 – rotational-vibrational line of molecular hydrogen (2.12 µm) (shocked gas) * * *  Br  – hydrogen recombination line (2.16 µm) (Ionized gas)  H , [S II], [O III],… narrow-band imaging: Ionized/shocked emission  Optical spectroscopy: Ionizing source(s), Embedded PMS stars, Nebular characteristics  Slitless Spectroscopy Surveys: Search for H  emission stars of T Tauri and related types (TTSs) as well as of Herbig-Haro objects

Current Research Activities cont…. International facilities (through competitive, peer- reviewed observing proposals and archival databases): VLT, UKIRT, SUBARU, SPITZER, MSX, ISO, AKARI, JCMT Numerical modelling: - Radiative transfer; - UIB emission from the MSX & Spitzer bands; - Model of stellar population synthesis of the Galaxy

In Near Future….. NIR imager for 2 meter Himalayan Chandra Telescope NIR imager for 2 meter Himalayan Chandra Telescope (HCT), Hanle (Ladakh) (HCT), Hanle (Ladakh) TIRCAM-II  Upgradation of TIRCAM-I  A large format NIR array (Aladdin III quadrant InSb 512 x 512 pixels; µm) has been procured from Raytheon, USA, to upgrade the TIRCAM-I (58 x 62 pixels). * * **  The upgradation work is nearly complete for the NIR imaging (PAH, nbL’, M-band) beyond 2 µm with 2 meter HCT in Hanle, Ladakh (altitude ~ 4,517 meter) **

Near Infrared Spectrometer (NIRSPEC) for Large Aperture Indian Telescopes (D tel ≥ 2 meter)  Plan to develop a NIR spectrometer (with imaging capabilities) based on 1024 x 1024 HgCdTe focal plane array (Rockwell HAWAII-I 1K PACE detector) for use with large aperture (D tel  2 meter) ground-based Indian telescopes

NIRSPEC NIRSPEC (General Specifications): Optical Feeds : ARIES, Nainital 3.6 meter (by 2012) ** Optical design f#9 FOV 6.8 arcminutes Pixel size ~0.4 arcseconds Imaging : microns Filters : J, H, K, H 2, Br Gamma, Kcont, CO, [Fe II] & few others Spectroscopic mode : Resolving power of 1,000 to 3,000 Slit width of 0.8 and 1.2 pixels Slit length > 4 arcminutes Two Grisms (JH & HK wavelength range)

Sub-mm Astronomy from Hanle (Ladakh); Time sharing in large telescopes (e.g., UKIRT, Gemini) ?

Thank You !

TIFR 100 cm Balloon Borne Far Infrared Telescope (on Launch Arm) Primary : 100 cm aluminium ; Mass ~ 850 Kg No. of launches : 20 “T100” payload Final map resolution ~ 1.0 arc min 200  m)

@ 0.3 K

RCW 106 Southern Galactic star forming region Distance ~ 3.6 kpc 23 discrete COLD sources (M ≥ 15 M sun ) TIFR μm TIFR μm T ~ KPeak optical depth ~ 0.10 Dust emission in far infrared Spatial distribution of dust temperature & optical depth T 150/210  210 ~ 1.2 deg 2

Fabry Perot Spectrometer (FPS) ISAS (Institute of Space & Astronautical Science, Japan) Tuned to [CII] line at µm Detector – Stressed Ge:Ga Photoconductor Spectral Resolution – ~1700 (175 km/s) Spectral Range – µm to µm Spatial Resolution ’ Detection Limit – 3 x ergs s -1 cm -2 sr -1

Far Infrared Spectroscopic mapping of Orion-A ( [C II] line at 158  m – most efficient coolant of the interstellar gas at ~ 100 K )

TIFR NEAR INFRARED CAMERA (SBRC 58 x 62 InSb FPA)

Fabry Perot Spectrometer (FPS) (developed at ISAS, Japan & adapted for T100) Spectral Resolution (R) ~ 1700 Spectral scanning range ~ 63.2 – 63.5 cm^-1 (157.4  m –  m) Stressed Ge:Ga photoconductor (Spectral Response) Scanning Fabry Perot Basic configuration of the FPS

TIFR FIR 130 and 200 μm maps probe the cold dust T ~ 34 K (assuming  λ  λ -2 ) IRAS-HIRES 12 and 25 μm maps have been used to obtain T(12/25) and  25 (assuming  λ  λ -1 ) T(12/25) Contours are 1, 5, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90 and 95% of peak optical depth (0.001)  25 Isotherms are 100, 110, 120, 125, 135, 140, 150, 170 K Spatial distribution of Dust Temperature, etc

Radio emission from ionised gas Date of Observation - 28 Oct'01 Primary beam ’ Synthesized beam - 7.5” x 3.8” Position angle o noise in map mJy/bm Cont. Bandwidth - 16 Phase calibrators IRAS IRAS GMRT MHz

Results from radiative transfer modeling IRAS IRAS

512 x 512 InSb Array (Aladdin III quadrant)

TIRCAM-II : TIRCAM-II : Preparation for MUX installation

TIRCAM-II (with MUX)

(Another view …)

(on the launch field …)

TIFR Balloon Facility, Hyderabad

(Another view of the TIFR Balloon Facility) (High ceiling lab. to house T100; S-band telemetry antenna)

Balloon filling (with Hydrogen gas) in progress …

The launch …..

A few seconds after the launch …