Status of the NIRSpec instrument

The Near Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) is one of the four science instruments aboard the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) scheduled for launch in 2014. NIRSpec is sensitive in the wavelength range from ~ 0.6 to 5.0 μm and will be capable of obtaining spectra of more than a 100 objects simultaneously, as well as fixed slit high contrast spectroscopy of individual sources. It also features an integral field unit for 3D spectroscopy. The key scientific objectives of the instrument include studies of star formation and chemical abundances of young distant galaxies and tracing the creation of the chemical elements back in time. In this paper, we present the status of the NIRSpec instrument as it is currently being prepared for its extensive ground calibration campaign later in 2010.

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