A Closer Look at Alice

Alice consists of a compact telescope, a spectrograph, and an electronic detector with 1,024 spectral channels at each of 32 separate spatial locations in its rectangular field of view. It is run by a microprocessor. Alice includes a sophisticated double delay line microchannel plate detector with ultraviolet photocathodes that maximize the sensitivity of the instrument. Alice also has "redundant" power supplies, which enable the instrument to keep working even if some components fail.