Artist’s impression of PACS

The Photoconductor Array Camera and Spectrometer (PACS) contains a camera and low to medium resolution spectrometer. It operates at wavelengths between 55 and 210 micrometres.

The opening of this infrared window by PACS to sensitive photometry and spectroscopy at high spatial resolution will address a wide range of key questions of current astrophysics concerning the origins of stars, planetary systems, galaxies, and the evolution of the Universe.

PACS contains four detector arrays, two bolometer arrays and two Germanium:Gallium photoconductor arrays. The bolometer arrays are dedicated for wideband photometry, while the photoconductor arrays are to be employed exclusively for medium-resolution spectroscopy. PACS can be operated either as an imaging photometer, or as an integral field line spectrometer.

It was developed by a consortium led by Max-Planck-Institut für extraterrestrische Physik, Germany.