Abstract
In order to study the role played by the magnetic fields in the dynamics of the interstellar medium (ISM) a two-channel imaging polarimeter (IMPOL) has been constructed. The instrument is capable of multi-wavelength observations in the visible and very near infrared (IR) wavelengths, has a sensitive CCD detector and a built-in acquisition and guidance unit. When used with a 1.2m, f/13 telescope IMPOL gives a field of view of 6×6 arcmin with an angular resolution of 2″ so that it is well-suited to observe both faint extended objects and moderately crowded stellar fields. The instrumental polarization is less than 0.05% and the accuracy of the measurements is primarily limited by photon noise in a typical observation. In this paper, we present a brief description of the instrument and observational techniques, as well as the results of a successful observation of a molecular cloud close to the open cluster IC 5146.
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Ramaprakash, A.N., Tandon, S.N., Gupta, R. (1998). Imaging polarimetry of nearby molecular clouds. In: Breitschwerdt, D., Freyberg, M., Trümper, J. (eds) The Local Bubble and Beyond Lyman-Spitzer-Colloquium. Lecture Notes in Physics, vol 506. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0104727
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0104727
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