Roman Instruments
The Roman Instruments section contains documentation for the Wide Field Instrument (WFI) and the Coronagraph Instrument of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. The Wide Field Instrument documentation is intended for users analyzing WFI data or planning WFI observations. The WFI imaging articles are developed and maintained by the Roman Science Operations Center (SOC) at STScI, while the spectroscopic articles (Prism and Grism) are developed and maintained by the Roman Science Support Center (SSC) at IPAC. All Roman Coronagraph Instrument documentation is also developed and maintained by the Roman SSC at IPAC.
Below, these Photographs of the Roman Instruments provides visuals of the Roman Instruments being assembled.
Photographs of the Roman Instruments
Photographs of Roman Instruments. Left, the Wide Field Instrument (WFI) after having arrived in a clean room at BAE Systems (formerly Ball Aerospace); instrument technicians on the far right are using the controls to remove the lifting hardware from the instrument (Image Credit: Ball Aerospace; Link to Original). Center, NASA's Goddard WFI team members and the Ball Aerospace integration and test team pose with the WFI as its sub-components were installed at Ball Aerospace (Image Credit: Ball Aerospace; Link to Original). Right, the Roman Coronagraph is integrated with the Instrument Carrier for NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope in a clean room at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. (Image Credit: NASA/Sydney Rohde; Link to original)
The Wide Field Instrument
The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope Wide Field Instrument (WFI) has sensitivity and resolution comparable to the Hubble Space Telescope, but with a field of view 200 times greater than Hubble's infrared view, combining excellent image quality with survey power. The WFI can be operated in imaging or spectroscopic mode.
The Wide Field Instrument Table of Contents
Visit the Wide Field Instrument documentation page to learn more about the WFI imaging and spectroscopic modes. Below is a listing of the the Wide Field Instrument documentation articles currently published in RDox.
- The Wide Field Instrument
- Description of the WFI
- WFI Detectors
- WFI Characterization Activities
- Observing with the WFI
- Roman Coronagraph Instrument
Under Construction
The Roman Wide Field Instrument documentation is under active development. Some topics are not yet available, and content may evolve as the instrument progresses through ground testing and commissioning.
Coronagraph Technological Demonstration
The Coronagraph Instrument on Roman will be the first active coronagraph to operate in space. Unlike prior coronagraph technology, the Roman Coronagraph has components, such as deformable mirrors, that are intended to respond to variables in real time to minimize light scatter and reach high-contrast ratios. Thus, this instrument will serve as a demonstration of active coronagraphic technology for space-based astronomy.
The Roman Coronagraph Instrument Table of Contents
Below is a listing of the Roman Coronagraph Instrument documentation articles currently published in RDox.
Additional resources for the Coronagraph:
- The Roman Coronagraph Instrument Website hosted by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory
- The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope Coronagraph Instrument Overview and Status (Bailey et al. 2023) proceedings for SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics.
More resources and documentation for the Coronagraph Instrument will be available in future RDox releases.
References
- Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope Coronagraph Instrument Overview and Status (Bailey et al. 2023)
For additional questions not answered in this article, please contact the Roman Help Desk.