Four years of good SpeX

John T Rayner; Peter M. Onaka; Michael C. Cushing; William D. Vacca

doi:10.1117/12.551107

30 September 2004 Four years of good SpeX

John T Rayner, Peter M. Onaka, Michael C. Cushing, William D. Vacca

Proceedings Volume 5492, Ground-based Instrumentation for Astronomy; (2004) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.551107
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2004, Glasgow, United Kingdom

Abstract

SpeX is a cross-dispersed medium-resolution 0.8-5.5 micron spectrograph in operation at the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) on Mauna Kea, Hawaii. The instrument uses prism cross-dispersers and gratings to provide resolving powers of up to R~2000 simultaneously across 0.8-2.4 micron or ~2-5.4 micron. An autonomous infrared slit-viewer is used for object acquisition, guiding, and scientific imaging. The spectrograph employs a 1024x1024 Aladdin 3 InSb array and the imager a 512x512 Aladdin 2 InSb array. Since it was commissioned in June 2000, SpeX has been used for about 45% of all telescope time. We give an overview of the design, followed by details of the use and performance of the Aladdin arrays, observing techniques, maintenance issues and lessons learned.

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John T Rayner, Peter M. Onaka, Michael C. Cushing, and William D. Vacca "Four years of good SpeX", Proc. SPIE 5492, Ground-based Instrumentation for Astronomy, (30 September 2004); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.551107

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