Principal Investigator Robert Simcoe
Project Website http://www.mit.edu/people/rsimcoe/FIRE/index.html
FIRE is a new spectrometer in development for the 6.5 meter Magellan telescopes that will cover the full 0.8-2.5 micron band at a spectral resolution of 50 km/s. FIRE is designed to deliver high sensitivity with minimal contamination from atmospheric foregrounds, opening the door for new angles of astronomical research.
Infrared spectroscopy is a fundamental technique for studying the early universe, low mass stars, the Milky Way Galaxy, gamma-ray bursts, the Solar System, and much more.
Advances in detector and cryogenic technologies are enabling the construction of sensitive new instruments to explore this region of the electromagnetic spectrum.