Prism inside Ariel’s AIRS instrument

ESA’s Ariel mission will study the atmospheres of 1000 exoplanets using its Ariel medium-resolution InfraRed Spectrometer (AIRS) instrument. This spectrometer is sensitive to infrared light with wavelengths between 1.95 and 7.8 micrometres. AIRS consists of two channels with the same design. Channel 0 is sensitive from 1.95 up to 3.9 micrometres and channel 1 from 3.9 up to 7.8 micrometres. Each channel splits the incoming light using a prism, pictured here on the left.