GRACES: Gemini remote access to CFHT ESPaDOnS Spectrograph through the longest astronomical fiber ever made (Experimental phase completed.)
Abstract
The Gemini Remote Access to CFHT ESPaDONS Spectrograph has achieved first light of its experimental phase in May 2014. It successfully collected light from the Gemini North telescope and sent it through two 270 m optical fibers to the the ESPaDOnS spectrograph at CFHT to deliver high-resolution spectroscopy across the optical region. The fibers gave an average focal ratio degradation of 14% on sky, and a maximum transmittance of 85% at 800nm. GRACES achieved delivering spectra with a resolution power of R = 40,000 and R = 66,000 between 400 and 1,000 nm. It has a ~8% throughput and is sensitive to target fainter than 21st mag in 1 hour. The average acquisition time of a target is around 10 min. This project is a great example of a productive collaboration between two observatories on Maunakea that was successful due to the reciprocal involvement of the Gemini, CFHT, and NRC Herzberg teams, and all the staff involved closely or indirectly.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1409.7448,
title = {GRACES: Gemini remote access to CFHT ESPaDOnS Spectrograph through the longest astronomical fiber ever made (Experimental phase completed.)},
author = {André-Nicolas Chené and John Pazder and Gregory Barrick and Andre Anthony and Tom Benedict and David Duncan and Pedro Gigoux and Scot Kleinman and Lison Malo and Eder Martioli and Claire Moutou and Vinicius Placco and Vlad Reshetovand and Jaehyon Rhee and Katherine Roth and Ricardo P. Schiavon and Eric Tollestrup and Tom Vermeulen and John White and Robert Wooff},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1409.7448},
year = {2015}
}
Comments
Presented at SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation 2014