Nixon Conor A, Teanby Nicholas A, Calcutt Simon B, Aslam Shahid, Jennings Donald E, Kunde Virgil G, Flasar F Michael, Irwin Patrick G, Taylor Fredric W, Glenar David A, Smith Michael D
University of Maryland, Department of Astronomy, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA.
Appl Opt. 2009 Apr 1;48(10):1912-25. doi: 10.1364/ao.48.001912.
The composite infrared spectrometer (CIRS) instrument on board the Cassini Saturn orbiter employs two 1x10 HgCdTe detector arrays for mid-infrared remote sensing of Titan's and Saturn's atmospheres. In this paper we show that the real detector spatial response functions, as measured in ground testing before launch, differ significantly from idealized "boxcar" responses. We further show that neglecting this true spatial response function when modeling CIRS spectra can have a significant effect on interpretation of the data, especially in limb-sounding mode, which is frequently used for Titan science. This result has implications not just for CIRS data analysis but for other similar instrumental applications.
