The FIREBall fiber-fed UV spectrograph

Sarah E. Tuttle; David Schiminovich; Bruno Milliard; Robert Grange; D. Christopher Martin; Shahinur Rahman; Jean-Michel Deharveng; Ryan McLean; Gordon Tajiri; M. Matuszewski

doi:10.1117/12.789836

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9 July 2008 The FIREBall fiber-fed UV spectrograph

Sarah E. Tuttle, David Schiminovich, Bruno Milliard, Robert Grange, D. Christopher Martin, Shahinur Rahman, Jean-Michel Deharveng, Ryan McLean, Gordon Tajiri, M. Matuszewski

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Proceedings Volume 7014, Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy II; 70141T (2008) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.789836
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2008, Marseille, France

Abstract

FIREBall (Faint Intergalactic Redshifted Emission Balloon) had a successful first engineering flight in July of 2007 from Palestine, Texas. Here we detail the design and construction of the spectrograph. FIREBall consists of a 1m telescope coupled to a fiber-fed ultraviolet spectrograph flown on a short duration balloon. The spectrograph is designed to map hydrogen and metal line emission from the intergalactic medium at several redshifts below z=1, exploiting a small window in atmospheric oxygen absorption at balloon altitudes. The instrument is a wide-field IFU fed by almost 400 fibers. The Offner mount spectrograph is designed to be sensitive in the 195-215nm window accessible at our altitudes of 35-40km. We are able to observe Lyα, as well as OVI and CIV doublets, from 0.3 < z < 0.9. Observations of UV bright B stars and background measurements allow characterization of throughput for the entire system and will inform future flights.

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Sarah E. Tuttle, David Schiminovich, Bruno Milliard, Robert Grange, D. Christopher Martin, Shahinur Rahman, Jean-Michel Deharveng, Ryan McLean, Gordon Tajiri, and M. Matuszewski "The FIREBall fiber-fed UV spectrograph", Proc. SPIE 7014, Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy II, 70141T (9 July 2008); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.789836

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