A multichannel imaging spectrometer for low speed, low altitude airborne geological, geophysical and environmental surveys, particularly adapted to provide detector limited noise threshold. An optical scanner employs a rotating polygon (20) allowing reduced scan optics with increased data acquisition efficiency. Scan speeds from 5 to 50 scan/sec with up to 2048 pixels per scan are available. Multiple spectrometers (24,26,28,30) integrally registered allow channelization of the received signal to optimize noise performance in the range from ultraviolet through infrared. Output data is in a form for recording (124) and real time display (128). All channels are acquired simultaneously resulting in perfect band-to-band registration with continuous spectral curves for each pixel. <IMAGE>
Airborne imaging multiband spectrometer.