Ultrastable high-resolution spectrographs for large telescopes

Author(s):  
Francisco Diego ◽  
Ian A. Crawford ◽  
David D. Walker
2022 ◽  
Vol 134 (1031) ◽  
pp. 015004
Author(s):  
Yuji Ikeda ◽  
Sohei Kondo ◽  
Shogo Otsubo ◽  
Satoshi Hamano ◽  
Chikako Yasui ◽  
...  

Abstract WINERED is a novel near-infrared (NIR) high-resolution spectrograph (HRS) that pursues the highest possible sensitivity to realize high-precision spectroscopy in the NIR as in the optical wavelength range. WINERED covers 0.9–1.35 μm (z, Y, and J-bands) with three modes (Wide mode and two Hires modes) at the maximum spectral resolutions of R = 28,000 and R = 70,000. For fulfilling the objective, WINERED is designed with an unprecedentedly high instrument throughput (up to 50% at maximum including the quantum efficiency of the array) that is three times or more than other existing optical/NIR HRSs. This is mainly realized by a combination of non-white pupil and no fiber-fed configuration in optical design, the moderate (optimized) wavelength coverage, and the high-throughput gratings. Another prominent feature of WINERED is “warm” instrument despite for infrared (IR) observations. Such non-cryogenic (no cold stop) IR instrument finally became possible with the combination of custom-made thermal-cut filter of 10−8 class, 1.7 μm cutoff HAWAII-2RG array, and a cold baffle reducing the direct thermal radiation to the IR array into the solid angle of f/2. The thermal background is suppressed below 0.1 photons pixel−1 s−1 even in the wide band of 0.9–1.35 μm under the environment of 290 K. WINERED had been installed to the 3.58 m New Technology Telescope at La Silla Observatory, ESO, since 2017. Even with the intermediate size telescope, WINERED was confirmed to provide a limiting magnitude (for SNR = 30 with 8 hr. integration time) of J = 16.4 mag for the Wide mode and J = 15.1 mag for the Hires mode, respectively, under the natural seeing conditions. These sensitivities are comparable to those for the existing NIR-HRSs attached to the 8–10 m class telescopes with AO. WINERED type spectrographs may become a critical not only for the currently on-going extremely large telescopes to reduce the developing cost and time but also for smaller telescopes to extend their lives with long programs.


1982 ◽  
Vol 67 ◽  
pp. 79-84
Author(s):  
Jean Rösch

AbstractMuch effort has been spent at Pic-du-Midi, with increasingly large telescopes, to reduce the instrumental causes of image deterioration and take best advantage of local atmospheric conditions. With the new 2-meter reflector, specifically intended for high resolution imaging, the concept has been, ideally, to separate three air-masses: outside, inside the tube, and inside the dome. As a first step, no parallel plate of required size and quality being available, the tube is open to the outer air, but a connection between tube and dome aims at preventing the dome-air flowing across the light-beam. Results and expectations are presented.


2007 ◽  
Vol 15 (5) ◽  
pp. 1983 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacques M. Beckers ◽  
Torben E. Andersen ◽  
Mette Owner-Petersen

2008 ◽  
Vol 4 (S259) ◽  
pp. 653-662 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oleg Kochukhov ◽  
Nicolai Piskunov

AbstractWe review general properties and capabilities of the instrumentation employed to diagnose cosmic magnetic fields using medium-size and large optical telescopes. During the last decade these spectropolarimeters and high-resolution spectrographs have been successfully used to detect and characterize magnetic fields in stars across the H-R diagram. A new generation of high-resolution spectropolarimeters will benefit from the large collecting area of the future E-ELT and currently operating 8-m class telescopes. We review plans to develop spectropolarimeters for these very large telescopes and outline a number of science cases where new spectropolarimetric instrumentation is expected to play a key role.


1994 ◽  
Author(s):  
David D. Walker ◽  
Alan S. Radley ◽  
Francisco Diego ◽  
Andrew Charalambous ◽  
Mark Dryburgh ◽  
...  

1995 ◽  
Vol 107 ◽  
pp. 997 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Sneden ◽  
G. Basri ◽  
A. M. Boesgaard ◽  
J. A. Brown ◽  
B. W. Carney ◽  
...  

1984 ◽  
Vol 79 ◽  
pp. 675-678
Author(s):  
J. Lequeux

Interstellar matter is certainly one of the fields where a very large telescope (VLT) will prove to be most fruitful. This includes (somewhat paradoxically, but this will be explained later) the study of extended emissions. I will now examine in turn the different domains of interest for a VLT.I. Neutral diffuse matterOptical and near IR observations will mainly contribute to this domain through high-resolution spectroscopy of interstellar absorption lines in the spectra of stars. These lines are resonant lines of atoms (NaI, KI, etc.) or ions (CaII, TiII, etc.) as well as of some molecules (CH+, CH, CN, CS+, C2 in the near IR). Clearly this kind of study is always photon - limited; a VLT will collect more photons than present telescopes, thus increase the possibilities considerably.


Author(s):  
Z Lin ◽  
L Kaltenegger

ABSTRACT The closest stars that harbor potentially habitable planets are cool M-stars. Upcoming ground- and space-based telescopes will be able to search the atmosphere of such planets for a range of chemicals. To facilitate this search and to inform upcoming observations, we model the high-resolution reflection spectra of two of the closest potentially habitable exoplanets for a range of terrestrial atmospheres and surface pressures for active and inactive phases of their host stars for both oxic and anoxic conditions: Proxima b, the closest potentially habitable exoplanet, and Trappist-1e, one of 3 Earth-size planets orbiting in the Habitable Zone of Trappist-1. We find that atmospheric spectral features, including biosignatures like O2 in combination with a reduced gas like CH4 for oxic atmospheres, as well as climate indicators like CO2 and H2O for all atmospheres, show absorption features in the spectra of Proxima b and Trappist-1e models. However for some features like oxygen, high-resolution observations will be critical to identify them in a planet's reflected flux. Thus these two planets will be among the best targets for upcoming observations of potential Earth-like planets in reflected light with planned Extremely Large Telescopes.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document