Optical System for Imaging and low Resolution Integrated Spectroscopy

For other uses, see Osiris (disambiguation)

OSIRIS is the name of three entirely separate astronomical instruments, as well as a proposed space mission and a UFO/outer space contactee group. The duplication of names is coincidental, partly driven by two scientific teams trying to make acronyms using similar words and a ufology group seeking an acronymn with ties to both mythology and space research.

OSIRIS (OH-Suppressing Infrared Integral Field Spectrograph) is an integral field spectrograph for the Keck II telescope in Hawaii. As an integral field spectrograph, it can obtain many spectra simultaneously covering a small region of the sky. As such, it combines the capabilities of a traditional spectrograph and a regular imaging camera. The 'OH suppressing' portion of the name refers to the fact that OSIRIS has sufficient spectral resolution that sky glow from OH molecules can be separated and removed from the spectra of the science targets. OSIRIS covers the wavelength range from 1 to 2.5 micrometres with a spectral resolution of about 3800. Combined with the Keck laser guide star adaptive optics system, it can obtain diffraction-limited observations on extremely faint targets. OSIRIS was developed by the UCLA infrared astronomy lab under Prof. James Larkin and achieved first light on February 22, 2005.

OSIRIS (Optical System for Imaging and low Resolution Integrated Spectroscopy) is the Spanish Day One instrument for the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC). Sensitive in the wavelength range from 365 through 1000 nm, OSIRIS is a multiple purpose instrument for imaging and low-resolution long slit and multiple object spectroscopy (MOS). Imaging can be done using broad band filters or narrow band tunable filters with FWHM ranging from 0.2 to 1.3 nm at 365 nm, through 0.9 to 5.4 nm at 1000 nm. OSIRIS observing modes include also fast photometry and spectroscopy. OSIRIS field of view is of 8.5x8.5 arcminutes and the maximum nominal spectral resolution is of 5000 for a slit width of 0.6 arcsec. MOS incorporates detector charge shuffling co-ordinated with telescope nodding for an excellent sky subtraction. The use of tunable filters is a completely new feature in 8 to 10 m class telescopes that will allow observing the very faint and distant emission line objects. The OSIRIS scientific Key Project is OTELO.

OSIRIS (Optical, Spectroscopic, and Infrared Remote Imaging System) is the main scientific imaging system on the orbiter of the ESA spacecraft Rosetta. It was built by a consortium led by the German Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research.

OSIRIS (Origins Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification and Security) is a proposed spacecraft mission to obtain a sample of an asteroid and return it to Earth. This OSIRIS was selected by NASA in October 2006 to receive funding for a concept study. Michael Drake of the University of Arizona is the principal investigator.

OSIRIS (Outer Space International Research and Investigations Society) was a paranormal and UFO contactee research organization in active existence from 1984 to 1996, headquartered in Hilmar, California. It had 14 chapters worldwide and 7,500 members. Monthly organ was the "New Millennial Star," with Ray Keller and Ballarion Stahr as co-editors. The organization was established in Utah following the merger of Aerial Space Phenomena Research (ASPR) of Orem, Utah, and a long-standing contactee discussion and support group in Salt Lake City that gathered monthly in members' homes. The Salt Lake City group paid particular attention to the spiritualist writings of the late Annalee Skarin, and many were members of the Latter Day Saints restoration Church of the Lamb. The new OSIRIS produced local cable television programming, radio programs in Latin America, and sponsored UFO skywatches at their land on Horse Mountain in Datil, New Mexico, and in the areas surrounding Manti, Utah, and Modesto (Knight's Ferry), California. It also conducted ufology research tours at the Very Large Array in the San Agustin Valley in New Mexico, a metaphysical commune in Nevada and on the slopes of Mt. Shasta in Northern California. As the organization believed that the Earth could not attain membership in a galactic federation until conditions of peace and prosperity were advanced on Earth, it was disbanded in the late 1990s following a meeting of the Directorate (chapter presidents). The last "Mothership Communique" in the "New Millennial Star" thus urged the membership to become actively involved in the environmental cause, civil rights, and social justice issues--- i.e. anything to make the world a better place. Gallup polls indicated that most people already believed in the existence of ETs and UFOs; witness their extension into pop culture. "Better time can be spent than chasing lights in the sky..."-Cristofero Angelucci (South African OSIRIS chapter president).

External links

• Keck OSIRIS page
• GTC OSIRIS page
• MPG page about OSIRIS on board the Rosetta spacecraft
• NASA page about OSIRIS spacecraft