MIRLIN Picture Gallery

Plans are underway for the Next Generation Space Telescope. This picture compares data taken with the Hubble Space Telescope with data taken by MIRLIN at Keck II, a rough equivalent to what we will see with NGST (though NGST will be more than 1000 times more sensitive!).

A "true color" picture collection of some of the objects which appear later on this page. Images of each object were taken at three different infrared wavelengths; these wavelengths were then assigned to the visible colors blue, green, and red (as indicated under each panel) to make the final color image.

The above image series shows Jupiter at a variety of wavelengths as seen by MIRLIN at the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility on Mauna Kea, HI in June, 1995. From left to right, top to bottom, the wavelengths are 2.2, 4.8, 10.3, 12.5, 17.9, and 24.5 µm. The changes in appearance are due in part to methane absorption (particularly at 2.2 µm) and the optical depths of various cloud layers.

More Jupiter images taken about 1 yr later.

Composite 12.5 and 24.5 µm images of several objects taken during the 1995 IRTF run. At left are images of craters on the dark limb of the moon. The brightness variations are due to thermal inertia (the craters apparently cool more slowly than the surrounding areas). At center are images of Saturn during the ring plane crossing. We can't see the rings since they are edge-on. Note the limb brightening in the 12.5 µm image. At right are images of the center of our galaxy. The "radio arms" are plainly visible.

12.5, 17.9, and 24.5 µm images of the Becklin-Neugebauer Object and the Kleinman-Low Nebula contained within the Orion Nebula. The lower right image is one interpretation of a truecolor version of the three grayscale images.

A pair of 12.5, 18, and 24.5 µm truecolor images of Saturn taken at the IRTF. The lefthand image was taken during the 1995 ring plane crossing when the rings were edge on. The righthand image was from this past fall when the rings were open a few degrees. The rings are visible apparently because they reflect heat from the planet itself; we are not seeing the thermal emission from the rings themselves.

Here are a couple of images taken with a 7.8 µm filter. The left image is a picture of yours truly (Mike Ressler). Note the temperature variations of my skin, particularly around my nose. The right image is a picture of me (on the right) and my SparcStation monitor (out of sight on the right) reflected off a 60 liter liquid helium dewar. The room was absolutely dark when this image was taken.

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