The Cosmic Origins Spectrograph
Abstract
The Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS) is a moderate-resolution spectrograph with unprecedented sensitivity that was installed into the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) in May 2009, during HST Servicing Mission 4 (STS-125). We present the design philosophy and summarize the key characteristics of the instrument that will be of interest to potential observers. For faint targets, with flux F_lambda ~ 1.0E10-14 ergs/s/cm2/Angstrom, COS can achieve comparable signal to noise (when compared to STIS echelle modes) in 1-2% of the observing time. This has led to a significant increase in the total data volume and data quality available to the community. For example, in the first 20 months of science operation (September 2009 - June 2011) the cumulative redshift pathlength of extragalactic sight lines sampled by COS is 9 times that sampled at moderate resolution in 19 previous years of Hubble observations. COS programs have observed 214 distinct lines of sight suitable for study of the intergalactic medium as of June 2011. COS has measured, for the first time with high reliability, broad Lya absorbers and Ne VIII in the intergalactic medium, and observed the HeII reionization epoch along multiple sightlines. COS has detected the first CO emission and absorption in the UV spectra of low-mass circumstellar disks at the epoch of giant planet formation, and detected multiple ionization states of metals in extra-solar planetary atmospheres. In the coming years, COS will continue its census of intergalactic gas, probe galactic and cosmic structure, and explore physics in our solar system and Galaxy.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1110.0462,
title = {The Cosmic Origins Spectrograph},
author = {James C. Green and Cynthia S. Froning and Steve Osterman and Dennis Ebbets and Sara H. Heap and Claus Leitherer Jeffrey L. Linsky and Blair D. Savage and Kenneth Sembach and J. Michael Shull and Oswald H. W. Siegmund and Theodore P. Snow and John Spencer and S. Alan Stern and John Stocke and Barry Welsh and Stephane Beland and Eric B. Burgh and Charles Danforth and Kevin France and Brian Keeney and Jason McPhate and Steven V. Penton and John Andrews and Kenneth Brownsberger and Jon Morse and Erik Wilkinson},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1110.0462},
year = {2015}
}
Comments
17 pages, 15 figures