Line Surveys with HIFI

In a line survey, the complete spectrum, available to HIFI, will be scanned for dedicated pointings. In this way an unbiased and complete inventory of all molecular species, radiating in the HIFI wavelengths, will be obtained.

Figure 1 shows the spectral range available to HIFI. Clicking the coloured parts shows you a simulated spectrum for the Orion IRc2 region in which the enormous richness in molecular lines is clearly visible.

--> Figure 2 shows the wavelength bands available for ground-based instruments. Clicking on the coloured parts shows an observed spectral scan from the Orion IRc2 region. Again the amount of information obtained is overwhelming, even when considering that the spectral range available to HIFI is much larger than for ground-based telescopes.

Example: The evolution of a molecular cloud core as depicted by its submillimeter spectrum.