Abstract.
TIFR Near Infrared Spectrometer and Imager (TIRSPEC) which is based on
1024 x 1024 HgCdTe focal plane array (Rockwell HAWAII-1 PACE detector
with imaging capabilities in 1 - 2.5 μm waveband range) at the focal
plane
of the 2 m Himalayan Chandra Telescope (HCT) will be a major
workhorse for a variety of challenging astrophysical problems. This will
be extremely sensitive to low temperature stellar photospheres (T ≤
2500 K)
and objects surrounded by warm dust envelopes or embedded in
dust/molecular
clouds. It is therefore particularly suited to the search for low and
very
low mass stellar populations (M/L dwarfs, brown dwarfs), strong
mass-losing
stars on the asymptotic giant branch, young stellar objects
still in their protostellar envelopes and active galactic nuclei.
\mbox{TIRSPEC} is being developed by Mauna Kea Infrared, LLC, Hawaii,
USA (MKIR)
in collaboration with the infrared astronomy group of TIFR.
Key words: instrumentation: detectors -- instrumentation:
spectrographs