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spectrometer, KWIC on the Kuiper Airborne Observatory. KWIC (Kuiper Widefield Infrared Camera) is an imaging spectrometer/spectrophotometer designed to yield diffraction limited images between 18 and 44 microns from the KAO. KWIC centers on a SIRTF funded 128 by 128 pixel Si:Sb BIB array. The plate scale (2.5" per pixel) was chosen to oversample the primary diffraction lobe of the KAO telescope at 35 microns (9"). Even with this oversampling the large array format yields a 5.4 by 5.4 arcminute field of view. The resolution achieving devices are fully tunable cryogenic Fabry-Perot interferometers.
We flew KWIC on the KAO for the first time in late February, 1994. For this paper, we will discuss the large scale (7' by 11') image we obtained of the Orion Nebula in the 37 micron continuum. The 37 micron continuum traces UV heated warm dust at the HII region/molecular cloud interface or near the IR cluster. Our diffraction limited image breaks the Orion bar interface region into wispy, clumpy structures, defines the bowl-shaped edges of the blister HII region, shows finger-like projections of dust away from the Orion outflow and point-like sources near the Trapezium cluster. Our data will be tied in with other tracers to constrain the physical conditions and morphology of the Orion Nebula.
