Raw image from a KMOS detector

On the tip of each of KMOS’ 24 arms, a small optical device splits the image in 14 slices of 14 pixels each. These slices are aligned on the entrance of one of the 3 spectrograph, which disperses the light in wavelength, forming spectra of each of the original pixels, as seen on this raw image from one of the three detectors in K-MOS. A software pipeline process these images, and re-organize all the spectra in such way that the astronomer can analyze the full spectra of the 24 independent objects on which the arms were positioned.