Paper
19 July 2016 Galaxy evolution spectroscopic explorer: scientific rationale
Author Affiliations +
Abstract
GESE is a mission concept consisting of a 1.5-m space telescope and UV multi-object slit spectrograph designed to help understand galaxy evolution in a critical era in the history of the universe, where the rate of star-formation stopped increasing and started to decline. To isolate and identify the various processes driving the evolution of these galaxies, GESE will obtain rest-frame far-UV spectra of 100,000 galaxies at redshifts, z~1-2. To obtain such a large number of spectra, multiplexing over a wide field is an absolute necessity. A slit device such as a digital micro-mirror device (DMD) or a micro-shutter array (MSA) enables spectroscopy of a hundred or more sources in a single exposure while eliminating overlapping spectra of other sources and blocking unwanted background like zodiacal light. We find that a 1.5-m space telescope with a MSA slit device combined with a custom orbit enabling long, uninterrupted exposures (~10 hr) are optimal for this spectroscopic survey. GESE will not be operating alone in this endeavor. Together with x-ray telescopes and optical/near-IR telescopes like Subaru/Prime Focus Spectrograph, GESE will detect “feedback” from young massive stars and massive black holes (AGN’s), and other drivers of galaxy evolution.
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Sara Heap, Zoran Ninkov, Massimo Robberto, Tony Hull, and Lloyd Purves "Galaxy evolution spectroscopic explorer: scientific rationale", Proc. SPIE 9905, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2016: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray, 990505 (19 July 2016); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2234235
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KEYWORDS
Spectrographs

Ultraviolet radiation

Space telescopes

Space operations

Spectroscopes

Telescopes

Sensors

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