Since 2014, MUSE, the Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer, is in operation at the ESO-VLT. It combines a superb spatial sampling with a large wavelength coverage. By design, MUSE is an integral-field instrument, but its field-of-view and large multiplex make it a powerful tool for multi-object spectroscopy too. Every data-cube consists of 90,000 image-sliced spectra and 3700 monochromatic images. In autumn 2014, the observing programs with MUSE have commenced, with targets ranging from distant galaxies in the Hubble Deep Field to local stellar populations, star formation regions and globular clusters. This paper provides a brief summary of the key features of the MUSE instrument and its complex data reduction software. Some selected examples are given, how multi-object spectroscopy for hundreds of continuum and emission-line objects can be obtained in wide, deep and crowded fields with MUSE, without the classical need for any target pre-selection.
@article{arxiv.1512.03329,
title = {Multi-Object Spectroscopy with MUSE},
author = {Andreas Kelz and Sebastian Kamann and Tanya Urrutia and Peter Weilbacher and Lutz Wisotzki and Roland Bacon},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1512.03329},
year = {2015}
}
Comments
4 pages, 3 figures, 1 table, conference: Multi-Object Spectroscopy in the Next Decade, La Palma, March 2015. To be published in the Astronomical Society of the Pacific Conference Series (ASPCS); author added, Fig. 2 and caption modified