Getting Started

• Obtaining IMAPS Data
• Reading IMAPS Data
• Data Products

The Interstellar Absorption Profile Spectrograph (IMAPS) is a very high-resolution (R ~ 240,000) spectrograph used to observe several bright, hot stars over the spectral region 950-1150Å. The instrument is especially well-suited for studies of interstellar absorption lines. IMAPS flew on on two shuttle missions, in September 1993 and November 1996, in conjuction with the ORFEUS mission.

Currently only data from the first mission, IMAPS-1, are available. This archive includes about 600 spectral images of 10 hot stars. The data are available in two forms, raw images and coadded images corrected for various detector artifacts. Six of the stars currently have coadded, corrected images available: gamma-2 Vel, zeta Ori, zeta Pup, gamma Cas, epsilon Ori, and beta Cen. The images are listed in the search table.

The data are available as spectral images in FITS format (see Data Products). The files may be read using software packages such IRAF or IDL (see How to Read IMAPS Files), although the software to extract the echelle spectra from these images is not yet available. Wavelength calibration information is furnished with the spectral image files.