First-generation instrumentation for the Discovery Channel Telescope

Thomas A. Bida; Edward W. Dunham; Philip Massey; Henry G. Roe

doi:10.1117/12.2056872

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14 July 2014 First-generation instrumentation for the Discovery Channel Telescope

Thomas A. Bida, Edward W. Dunham, Philip Massey, Henry G. Roe

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Proceedings Volume 9147, Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy V; 91472N (2014) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2056872
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2014, Montréal, Quebec, Canada

Abstract

The 4.3m Discovery Channel Telescope (DCT) has been conducting part-time science operations since January 2013. The f/6.1, 0.5° field-of-view at the RC focus is accessible through the Cassegrain instrument cube assembly, which can support 5 co-mounted instruments with rapid feed selection via deployable fold mirrors. Lowell Observatory has developed the Large Monolithic Imager (LMI), a 12.3' FOV 6K x 6K single CCD camera with a dual filter wheel, and installed at the straight-through, field-corrected RC focal station, which has served as the primary early science DCT instrument. Two low-resolution facility spectrographs are currently under development with first light for each anticipated by early 2015: the upgraded DeVeny Spectrograph, to be utilized for single object optical spectroscopy, and the unique Near-Infrared High-Throughput Spectrograph (NIHTS), optimized for single-shot JHK spectroscopy of faint solar system objects. These spectrographs will be mounted at folded RC ports, and the NIHTS installation will feature simultaneous optical imaging with LMI through use of a dichroic fold mirror. We report on the design, construction, commissioning, and progress of these 3 instruments in detail. We also discuss plans for installation of additional facility instrumentation on the DCT.

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Thomas A. Bida, Edward W. Dunham, Philip Massey, and Henry G. Roe "First-generation instrumentation for the Discovery Channel Telescope", Proc. SPIE 9147, Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy V, 91472N (14 July 2014); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2056872

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