Design drivers for a wide-field multi-object spectrograph for the William Herschel Telescope
Wide-field multi-object spectroscopy is a high priority for European astronomy over the next decade. Most 8-10m telescopes have a small field of view, making 4-m class telescopes a particularly attractive option for wide-field instruments. We present a science case and design drivers for a wide-fiel...
| Hoofdauteurs: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Formaat: | Journal article |
| Gepubliceerd in: |
2010
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| _version_ | 1826266291688701952 |
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| author | Balcells, M Benn, C Carter, D Dalton, G Trager, S Feltzing, S Verheijen, M Jarvis, M Percival, W Abrams, D Agocs, T Brown, A Cano, D Evans, C Helmi, A Lewis, I McLure, R Peletier, R Perez-Fournon, I Sharples, R Tosh, I Trujillo, I Walton, N Westfall, K |
| author_facet | Balcells, M Benn, C Carter, D Dalton, G Trager, S Feltzing, S Verheijen, M Jarvis, M Percival, W Abrams, D Agocs, T Brown, A Cano, D Evans, C Helmi, A Lewis, I McLure, R Peletier, R Perez-Fournon, I Sharples, R Tosh, I Trujillo, I Walton, N Westfall, K |
| author_sort | Balcells, M |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | Wide-field multi-object spectroscopy is a high priority for European astronomy over the next decade. Most 8-10m telescopes have a small field of view, making 4-m class telescopes a particularly attractive option for wide-field instruments. We present a science case and design drivers for a wide-field multi-object spectrograph (MOS) with integral field units for the 4.2-m William Herschel Telescope (WHT) on La Palma. The instrument intends to take advantage of a future prime-focus corrector and atmospheric-dispersion corrector that will deliver a field of view 2 deg in diameter, with good throughput from 370 to 1,000 nm. The science programs cluster into three groups needing three different resolving powers R: (1) high-precision radial-velocities for Gaia-related Milky Way dynamics, cosmological redshift surveys, and galaxy evolution studies (R = 5,000), (2) galaxy disk velocity dispersions (R = 10,000) and (3) high-precision stellar element abundances for Milky Way archaeology (R = 20,000). The multiplex requirements of the different science cases range from a few hundred to a few thousand, and a range of fibre-positioner technologies are considered. Several options for the spectrograph are discussed, building in part on published design studies for E-ELT spectrographs. Indeed, a WHT MOS will not only efficiently deliver data for exploitation of important imaging surveys planned for the coming decade, but will also serve as a test-bed to optimize the design of MOS instruments for the future E-ELT. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-06T20:36:40Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:32e36d94-09ac-4cc5-8b5f-fe82aa54d35e |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-06T20:36:40Z |
| publishDate | 2010 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:32e36d94-09ac-4cc5-8b5f-fe82aa54d35e2022-03-26T13:16:48ZDesign drivers for a wide-field multi-object spectrograph for the William Herschel TelescopeJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:32e36d94-09ac-4cc5-8b5f-fe82aa54d35eSymplectic Elements at Oxford2010Balcells, MBenn, CCarter, DDalton, GTrager, SFeltzing, SVerheijen, MJarvis, MPercival, WAbrams, DAgocs, TBrown, ACano, DEvans, CHelmi, ALewis, IMcLure, RPeletier, RPerez-Fournon, ISharples, RTosh, ITrujillo, IWalton, NWestfall, KWide-field multi-object spectroscopy is a high priority for European astronomy over the next decade. Most 8-10m telescopes have a small field of view, making 4-m class telescopes a particularly attractive option for wide-field instruments. We present a science case and design drivers for a wide-field multi-object spectrograph (MOS) with integral field units for the 4.2-m William Herschel Telescope (WHT) on La Palma. The instrument intends to take advantage of a future prime-focus corrector and atmospheric-dispersion corrector that will deliver a field of view 2 deg in diameter, with good throughput from 370 to 1,000 nm. The science programs cluster into three groups needing three different resolving powers R: (1) high-precision radial-velocities for Gaia-related Milky Way dynamics, cosmological redshift surveys, and galaxy evolution studies (R = 5,000), (2) galaxy disk velocity dispersions (R = 10,000) and (3) high-precision stellar element abundances for Milky Way archaeology (R = 20,000). The multiplex requirements of the different science cases range from a few hundred to a few thousand, and a range of fibre-positioner technologies are considered. Several options for the spectrograph are discussed, building in part on published design studies for E-ELT spectrographs. Indeed, a WHT MOS will not only efficiently deliver data for exploitation of important imaging surveys planned for the coming decade, but will also serve as a test-bed to optimize the design of MOS instruments for the future E-ELT. |
| spellingShingle | Balcells, M Benn, C Carter, D Dalton, G Trager, S Feltzing, S Verheijen, M Jarvis, M Percival, W Abrams, D Agocs, T Brown, A Cano, D Evans, C Helmi, A Lewis, I McLure, R Peletier, R Perez-Fournon, I Sharples, R Tosh, I Trujillo, I Walton, N Westfall, K Design drivers for a wide-field multi-object spectrograph for the William Herschel Telescope |
| title | Design drivers for a wide-field multi-object spectrograph for the
William Herschel Telescope |
| title_full | Design drivers for a wide-field multi-object spectrograph for the
William Herschel Telescope |
| title_fullStr | Design drivers for a wide-field multi-object spectrograph for the
William Herschel Telescope |
| title_full_unstemmed | Design drivers for a wide-field multi-object spectrograph for the
William Herschel Telescope |
| title_short | Design drivers for a wide-field multi-object spectrograph for the
William Herschel Telescope |
| title_sort | design drivers for a wide field multi object spectrograph for the william herschel telescope |
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