IGRINS-2 spectrograph completed attached to the telescope of the Gemini Observatory located in Miunakea, Hawaii, USA. Photo provided by Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute
The Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute announced on the 9th that it developed IGRINS-2 (Immersion GRating INfrared Spectrograph, IGRINS-2), an infrared high-dispersion spectrometer for the Gemini Observatory, a world-class large telescope, and succeeded in making the first observation (First Light).
A spectroscope is a device that decomposes and analyzes light collected through an astronomical observation telescope into wavelengths, and is essential for understanding the composition of a celestial body or the speed at which a celestial body moves. Dispersion, meaning dividing light, is classified into high dispersion, medium dispersion, and low dispersion depending on how detailed it is.
Gemini Observatory is an international jointly operated observatory consisting of a large telescope with a diameter of 8.1m, one each in Hawaii, USA and Cerropa Village, Chile. Currently, it is considered the world’s largest optical telescope, along with the Subaru Telescope.
The Astronomy Research Institute’s observation instrument development team installed a spectroscope at the observatory located on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, 4,200 meters above sea level, in October of this year and successfully captured the expanding gas emission line of the planetary nebula NGC 7027.
The first object of observation, planetary nebula NGC 7027 in the constellation Cygnus, is about 3,000 light-years away from Earth and is a star with a mass 3 to 4 times greater than the Sun and in the death stage. Using IGRINS-2, the development team successfully captured various spectral lines coming from the gas expanding from the center.
The IGRINS-2 spectrometer is an observation instrument specialized in research on the birth and evolution of stars and planetary systems and the discovery and characterization of exoplanets. By using a silicon immersion grid as a core component, a wide wavelength band can be observed with high sensitivity in a smaller volume than existing spectrometers. In particular, the infrared region, H-band (1.49-1.80 micrometers) and K-band (1.96-2.46 micrometers) can be observed simultaneously, allowing detailed analysis of the physical characteristics of celestial bodies.
The IGRINS-2 spectrometer will undergo additional test observations and performance verification in the first half of 2024, and will be provided to astronomers around the world for research use as early as the second half of 2024.
Park Chan, a senior researcher at Astronomy Research Institute in charge of development, said, “Although we were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic for most of the development period, we completed development and test observations without schedule delay, which is an opportunity to solidify our pride in our domestic astronomy technology development capabilities.” “It’s done,” he said.
Senior Researcher Park Byeong-gon, head of the Large Telescope Business Division of the Astronomy Research Institute, said, “It is significant in that we have become the first in Korea to develop and utilize the main observation device of an 8m-class large telescope.”
Since 2019, the Astronomical Research Institute has been jointly operating the Gemini Observatory with the United States, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, and Chile. After the performance of the IGRINS spectrometer, which was jointly developed with the University of Texas at Austin in the U.S. in 2014, was recognized by the Gemini Observatory community, the Astronomy Research Institute has been developing IGRINS-2, with improved performance, exclusively for the Gemini Observatory since 2020.
