Related papers: The ESO Spectroscopic facility
PFS (Prime Focus Spectrograph), a next generation facility instrument on the 8.2-meter Subaru Telescope, is a very wide-field, massively multiplexed, optical and near-infrared spectrograph. Exploiting the Subaru prime focus, 2394…
In this whitepaper, we outline how recent technological advances and ongoing developments open qualitatively new science opportunities in cosmology, fundamental physics, and quantum astrophysics. First, intensity interferometry can…
The International Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory (INTEGRAL) is dedicated to the fine spectroscopy (Delta-E: 2 keV FWHM @ 1.3 MeV) and fine imaging (angular resolution: 12 arcmin FWHM) of celestial gamma-ray sources in the energy range 15…
Fiber-fed spectrographs dedicated to observing massive portions of the sky are increasingly being more demanded within the astronomical community. For all the fiber-fed instruments, the primordial and common problem is the positioning of…
We have been undertaking a programme on the Gemini 8-m telescopes to demonstrate the power of integral field spectroscopy, using the optical GMOS spectrograph, and the new CIRPASS instrument in the near-infrared. Here we present some…
A variety of scientific results have been achieved over the last 10 years with the GROND simultaneous 7-channel imager at the 2.2m telescope of the Max-Planck Society at ESO/La Silla. While designed primarily for rapid observations of…
The current STELLA Echelle spectrograph (SES), which records 390nm to 870nm in one shot at a spectral resolution of 55000, will be replaced by a suite of specialized spectrographs in three spectral bands. The UV will be covered by a newly…
Herschel was launched on 14 May 2009, and is now an operational ESA space observatory offering unprecedented observational capabilities in the far-infrared and submillimetre spectral range 55-671 {\mu}m. Herschel carries a 3.5 metre…
ESO's two FOcal Reducer and low dispersion Spectrographs (FORS) are the primary imaging cameras for the VLT. Since they are not direct-imaging cameras, the accuracy of photometry which can routinely be obtained is limited by significant sky…
A quarter of a century has passed since the observing technique of integral field spectroscopy (IFS) was first applied to planetary nebulae (PNe). Progress after the early experiments was relatively slow, mainly because of the limited…
Starting in the 1970s, the Arecibo 305m telescope has made seminal contributions in the field of extragalactic spectroscopy. With the Gregorian upgrade completed in the late 1990s, the telescope acquired a field of view. Population of that…
We describe the scientific motivations, the mission concept and the instrumentation of SPACE, a class-M mission proposed for concept study at the first call of the ESA Cosmic-Vision 2015-2025 planning cycle. SPACE aims to produce the…
Integral field, or 3D, spectroscopy is the technique of obtaining spectral information over a two-dimensional, hopefully contiguous, field of view. While there is some form of astronomical 3D spectroscopy at all wavelengths, there has been…
As we enter the era of TESS and JWST, instrumentation that can carry out radial velocity measurements of exoplanet systems is in high demand. We will address this demand by upgrading the UC Lick Observatory's 2.4-meter Automated Planet…
The Gaia-ESO survey (GES) is now in its fifth and last year of observations, and has already produced tens of thousands of high-quality spectra of stars in all Milky Way components. This paper presents the strategy behind the selection of…
We present the first scientific results from the Sydney-AAO Multi-Object IFS (SAMI) at the Anglo-Australian Telescope. This unique instrument deploys 13 fused fibre bundles (hexabundles) across a one-degree field of view allowing…
The ISS (Integral-field Spectrograph System) has been designed as part of the EAGLE Phase A Instrument Study for the E-ELT. It consists of two input channels of 1.65x1.65 arcsec field-of-view, each reconfigured spatially by an image-slicing…
Valuable insights into galaxy evolution can be gleaned from studies of resolved stellar populations in the local Universe. Deep photometric surveys have provided tracers of the star-formation histories in galaxies from 0.8-16 Mpc, but…
The Solar Gravitational Lens (SGL) allows for major brightness amplification ($\sim 10^{11}$ at wavelength of $1~\mu$m) and extreme angular resolution ($\sim10^{-10}$ arcsec) within a narrow field of view. A meter-class telescope, with a…
Optical designs are presented for the Maunakea Spectroscopic Explorer (MSE) telescope. The adopted baseline design is a prime focus telescope with a segmented primary of 11.25m aperture, with speed f/1.93 and 1.52deg field-of-view,…