The SED Machine: a dedicated transient IFU spectrograph

Sagi Ben-Ami; Nick Konidaris; Robert Quimby; Jack T.C. Davis; Chow Choong Ngeow; Andreas Ritter; Alexander Rudy

doi:10.1117/12.926317

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24 September 2012 The SED Machine: a dedicated transient IFU spectrograph

Sagi Ben-Ami, Nick Konidaris, Robert Quimby, Jack T.C. Davis, Chow Choong Ngeow, Andreas Ritter, Alexander Rudy

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Proceedings Volume 8446, Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy IV; 844686 (2012) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.926317
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2012, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Abstract

The Spectral Energy Distribution (SED) Machine is an Integral Field Unit (IFU) spectrograph designed specifically to classify transients. It is comprised of two subsystems. A lenselet based IFU, with a 26" × 26" Field of View (FoV) and ∼ 0.75" spaxels feeds a constant resolution (R∼100) triple-prism. The dispersed rays are than imaged onto an off-the-shelf CCD detector. The second subsystem, the Rainbow Camera (RC), is a 4-band seeing-limited imager with a 12.5' × 12.5' FoV around the IFU that will allow real time spectrophotometric calibrations with a ∼ 5% accuracy. Data from both subsystems will be processed in real time using a dedicated reduction pipeline. The SED Machine will be mounted on the Palomar 60-inch robotic telescope (P60), covers a wavelength range of 370 − 920nm at high throughput and will classify transients from on-going and future surveys at a high rate. This will provide good statistics for common types of transients, and a better ability to discover and study rare and exotic ones. We present the science cases, optical design, and data reduction strategy of the SED Machine. The SED machine is currently being constructed at the Calofornia Institute of Technology, and will be comissioned on the spring of 2013.

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Sagi Ben-Ami, Nick Konidaris, Robert Quimby, Jack T.C. Davis, Chow Choong Ngeow, Andreas Ritter, and Alexander Rudy "The SED Machine: a dedicated transient IFU spectrograph", Proc. SPIE 8446, Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy IV, 844686 (24 September 2012); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.926317

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