SRON and Kapteyn Astronomical Institute P.O. Box 800, 9700 AV Groningen, the Netherlands
The Short-Wavelength Spectrometer1 on-board of the Infrared Space Observatory, has provided the astronomical community with unprecedented capabilities for moderate and high spectral resolution observations, from the near to the far infrared, over 4 octaves. The instrument has two grating sections covering the wavelength range from 2.38 to 45.2 microns with a spectral resolution of the order of 1000 to 2000. With its Fabry-Perot etalons, located at the output of the long-wavelength section, the resolution could be enhanced to about 30.000 for the wavelength range from 11.4 to 44.5 microns. In orbit, the SWS performed extremely well, resulting in a large amount of high quality observations and calibration accuracy well beyond expectation. Many discoveries and first detections have been made in a wide range of astronomical sources. Particularly the investigations of Galactic nuclei, of circum-stellar and interstellar gasses, dust and ices, and of planetary atmospheres have been very successful. Highlights of SWS in-orbit performance and observations will be presented with a status report on the calibration.
1 The SWS instrument was developed, fabricated and space-qualified by the Space Research Organisation of the Netherlands (SRON) and the Max Planck Institute für Extraterrestrische Physik (MPE) with contributions by the Technical Physics Department (TNO/TPD) of the University of Delft, the Steward Observatory, Tucson, and by AF Phillips Laboratory, Hanscom, USA. A team of SRON and MPE scientists and engineers carried out the preparations for the operations of the SWS and its instrument specific software with participation of the Katholieke Universiteit of Leuven. With the installation of the SWS instrument dedicated team, mainly responsible for the operations, calibration and data processing software of the SWS, ESA personnel were included as well.