NIRSpec Instrument within the Astrium Cleanroom in Ottobrunn, Germany
Mission type
Astronomy
Operator
ESA with contributions from NASA
Website
ESA Europe Astrium Germany NASA United States
Mission duration
5 years (design) 10 years (goal)
Spacecraft properties
Manufacturer
Astrium
Launch mass
196 kg (432 lb)[1]
Start of mission
Launch date
December 25, 2021
Rocket
As part of JWST onboard Ariane 5
Launch site
Kourou ELA-3
Contractor
Arianespace
Main telescope
Type
Spectrograph
Wavelengths
0.6 μm (orange) to 5.0 μm (near-infrared)
The NIRSpec (Near-Infrared Spectrograph) is one of the four scientific instruments flown on the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).[2] The JWST is the follow-on mission to the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and is developed to receive more information about the origins of the universe by observing infrared light from the first stars and galaxies. In comparison to HST, its instruments will allow looking further back in time and will study the so-called Dark Ages during which the universe was opaque, about 150 to 800 million years after the Big Bang.
The NIRSpec instrument is a multi-object spectrograph and is capable of simultaneously measuring the near-infrared spectrum of up to 100 objects like stars or galaxies with low, medium and high spectral resolutions. The observations are performed in a 3 arcmin × 3 arcmin field of view over the wavelength range from 0.6 μm to 5.0 μm. It also features a set of slits and an aperture for high contrast spectroscopy of individual sources, as well as an integral-field unit (IFU) for 3D spectroscopy.[3]
The instrument is a contribution of the European Space Agency (ESA) and is built by Astrium together with a group of European subcontractors.[4]
^"Extracting Information From Starlight". NASA. 2010-03-30. Retrieved 2014-04-09.
^Greenhouse, M. (2013). MacEwen, Howard A; Breckinridge, James B (eds.). "The JWST science instrument payload: mission context and status". Proceedings of SPIE. UV/Optical/IR Space Telescopes and Instruments: Innovative Technologies and Concepts VI. 8860: 886004. Bibcode:2013SPIE.8860E..04G. doi:10.1117/12.2023366. S2CID 173183643.
^Ferruit, P.; et al. (2012). Clampin, Mark C; Fazio, Giovanni G; MacEwen, Howard A; Oschmann, Jacobus M (eds.). "The JWST near-infrared spectrograph NIRSpec: status". Proceedings of SPIE. Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2012: Optical, Infrared, and Millimeter Wave. 8442: 84422O. Bibcode:2012SPIE.8442E..2OF. doi:10.1117/12.925810. S2CID 123316716.
^"ESA Science & Technology: NIRSpec – the Near-Infrared Spectrograph on JWST". Sci.esa.int. 2013-09-06. Retrieved 2013-12-13.
The NIRSpec (Near-Infrared Spectrograph) is one of the four scientific instruments flown on the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). The JWST is the follow-on...
transit information. On August 31, 2022, the James Webb Space Telescope's NIRSpec instrument captured the exoplanet with just two transit observations and...
with Pierre Ferruit (École normale supérieure de Lyon) as NIRSpec project scientist. The NIRSpec design provides three observing modes: a low-resolution...
measurements of the star in 2011 using the Near Infrared Spectrometer (NIRSPEC) instrument at the Keck II observatory did not reveal any variations that...
inferred from emission lines of hydrogen and helium in medium-resolution NIRSpec data. Surprisingly 2M1207b does not show absorption due to methane, which...
James Webb Space Telescope contains both a near-infrared spectrograph (NIRSpec) and a mid-infrared spectrograph (MIRI). An Echelle spectrograph uses two...
installed in ISIM. March 2014: NIRCam installed in ISIM 24–25 March 2014: NIRSpec integrated into ISIM. June 2014: first combined test of all four instruments...
galaxy JADES-GS-z13-0 Fornax z=13.2 Spectroscopic observations by JWST's NIRSpec instrument in December 2022 confirmed the galaxy's redshift of z = 13.2...
Subsequent spectroscopic observations by the Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) confirmed a redshift value of 13.2, establishing it as the current earliest...
Bingjie; et al. (2023-11-13). "UNCOVER: Illuminating the Early Universe—JWST/NIRSpec Confirmation of z > 12 Galaxies". The Astrophysical Journal Letters. 957...
scientists were instrumental in the construction of three instruments (NIRSpec, MIRI and NIRISS) for the project, and will be involved in the analysis...
(23 October 2023). "Detection of the infrared aurora at Uranus with Keck-NIRSPEC". Nature Astronomy. 7 (12): 1473–1480. arXiv:2311.06172. Bibcode:2023NatAs...
heat generated by a recent collision. JWST observations of 2M1207B with NIRSpec did not detect any methane (CH4) and only weak carbon monoxide (CO) in...
instruments: Near-Infrared Camera, or NIRCam Near-Infrared Spectrograph, or NIRSpec. Mid-Infrared Instrument, or MIRI Fine Guidance Sensor/ Near InfraRed Imager...
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