The Mid-infrared Instrument for JWST and Its In-flight Performance
Journal article, 2023
The Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) extends the reach of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to 28.5 μm. It provides subarcsecond-resolution imaging, high sensitivity coronagraphy, and spectroscopy at resolutions of λ/Δλ ∼ 100-3500, with the high-resolution mode employing an integral field unit to provide spatial data cubes. The resulting broad suite of capabilities will enable huge advances in studies over this wavelength range. This overview describes the history of acquiring this capability for JWST. It discusses the basic attributes of the instrument optics, the detector arrays, and the cryocooler that keeps everything at approximately 7 K. It gives a short description of the data pipeline and of the instrument performance demonstrated during JWST commissioning. The bottom line is that the telescope and MIRI are both operating to the standards set by pre-launch predictions, and all of the MIRI capabilities are operating at, or even a bit better than, the level that had been expected. The paper is also designed to act as a roadmap to more detailed papers on different aspects of MIRI.
Author
Gillian Wright
Royal Observatory
G. H. Rieke
University of Arizona
A. Glasse
Royal Observatory
M. E. Ressler
California Institute of Technology (Caltech)
M. Garcia-Marin
European Space Agency (ESA)
Jonathan Aguilar
Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI)
Stacey Alberts
University of Arizona
J. Álvarez-Márquez
Centro de Astrobiologia (CAB)
Ioannis Argyriou
KU Leuven
K. Banks
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Pierre Baudoz
Paris Observatory
Anthony Boccaletti
Paris Observatory
P. Bouchet
Institut de Recherche sur les Lois Fondamentales de l'Univers
J. Bouwman
Max Planck Society
B. R. Brandl
Leiden University
David Breda
California Institute of Technology (Caltech)
Stacey Bright
Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI)
Steven Cale
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
L. Colina
Centro de Astrobiologia (CAB)
Christophe Cossou
University Paris-Saclay
Alain Coulais
Paris Observatory
Misty Cracraft
Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI)
W. De Meester
KU Leuven
D. Dicken
Royal Observatory
Michael Engesser
Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI)
Mireya Etxaluze
STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
Ori D. Fox
Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI)
Scott Friedman
Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI)
Henry Fu
Northrop Grumman corporation
Danny Gasman
KU Leuven
András Gáspár
University of Arizona
R. Gastaud
Institut de Recherche sur les Lois Fondamentales de l'Univers
V. C. Geers
Royal Observatory
A. M. Glauser
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich (ETH)
Karl D. Gordon
Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI)
T. P. Greene
NASA Ames Research Center
T. R. Greve
Technical University of Denmark (DTU)
T. Grundy
STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
M. Gudel
University of Vienna
P. Guillard
Institut d 'Astrophysique de Paris
Peter Haderlein
California Institute of Technology (Caltech)
Ryan Hashimoto
Northrop Grumman corporation
T. Henning
Max Planck Society
Dean Hines
Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI)
Bryan Holler
Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI)
O. Detre
Max Planck Society
Amir Jahromi
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Bryan James
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
O. C. Jones
Royal Observatory
Kay Justtanont
Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Astronomy and Plasmaphysics
Patrick Kavanagh
Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies
S. Kendrew
European Space Agency (ESA)
Pamela Klaassen
Royal Observatory
O. Krause
Max Planck Society
A. Labiano
Centro de Astrobiologia (CAB)
P. O. Lagage
University Paris-Saclay
Scott Lambros
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
K. Larson
Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI)
David R. Law
Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI)
David Lee
Royal Observatory
M. Libralato
Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI)
Jose Lorenzo Alverez
European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESA ESTEC)
Margaret Meixner
NASA Ames Research Center
J. E. Morrison
University of Arizona
Migo Mueller
University of Groningen
Katherine Murray
Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI)
Matthew Mycroft
California Institute of Technology (Caltech)
Richard Myers
Northrop Grumman corporation
Omnarayani Nayak
Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI)
Bret Naylor
California Institute of Technology (Caltech)
Bryony Nickson
Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI)
A. Noriega-Crespo
Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI)
G. Östlin
Stockholm University
Brian O’Sullivan
European Space Agency (ESA)
Richard Ottens
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
P. Patapis
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich (ETH)
K. Penanen
California Institute of Technology (Caltech)
Martin Pietraszkiewicz
Northrop Grumman corporation
T. P. Ray
Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies
Michael Regan
Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI)
Anthony Roteliuk
Northrop Grumman corporation
Pierre Royer
KU Leuven
P. Samara-Ratna
University Of Leicester
Bridget Samuelson
Northrop Grumman corporation
Beth A. Sargent
Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI)
S. Scheithauer
Max Planck Society
Analyn Schneider
California Institute of Technology (Caltech)
Jürgen Schreiber
Max Planck Society
B. Shaughnessy
STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
Even Sheehan
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Irene Shivaei
University of Arizona
G. C. Sloan
Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI)
Laszlo Tamas
Royal Observatory
Kelly Teague
Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI)
Tea Temim
Princeton University
T. Tikkanen
University Of Leicester
Samuel Tustain
STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
Ewine F. van Dishoeck
Leiden University
B. Vandenbussche
KU Leuven
Mark Weilert
California Institute of Technology (Caltech)
Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific
0004-6280 (ISSN) 1538-3873 (eISSN)
Vol. 135 1046 048003Subject Categories
Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology
Atom and Molecular Physics and Optics
DOI
10.1088/1538-3873/acbe66