SIRTF - Capabilities for planetary science

Major research areas of the Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF) are discussed which include Kuiper-belt comets, IR spectroscopy of comets, and circumstellar planetary debris disks. SIRTF instrumentation will include the infrared array camera (IRAC) and multiband imaging photometer (MIP). The IRAC uses large area, 2D infrared array detectors to provide wide-field (7 arcmin) and diffraction-limited imaging over the spectral region from 2 to 30 microns. The MIP will provide background-limited imaging and photometry over the wavelength range from 30 to 200 microns, wide-field, high resolution imaging from 50 to 120 microns, and broad band photometry and mapping from 200 to 700 microns.