Infrared Technology
One of the most common infrared detector arrays used at research telescopes is HgCdTe arrays. These operate well between 0.6 and 5 micrometre wavelengths. For longer wavelength observations or higher sensitivity other detectors may be used, including other narrow gap semiconductor detectors, low temperature bolometer arrays or photon-counting Superconducting Tunnel Junction arrays.
Special requirements for infrared astronomy include: very low dark currents to allow long integration times, associated low noise readout circuits and sometimes very high pixel counts.
Low temperature is often achieved by a coolant, which can run out. Space missions have either ended or shifted to "warm" observations when the coolant supply used up. For example, WISE ran out of coolant in October 2010, about ten months after being launched. (See also NICMOS, Spitzer Space Telescope)
Read more about this topic: Infrared Astronomy
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“Our technology forces us to live mythically, but we continue to think fragmentarily, and on single, separate planes.”
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