We describe results from a new instrument-telescope configuration that combines all of the capabilities necessary to obtain high resolving power visible band spectra of diffuse targets from small aperture on-axis telescopes where significant observing time can be obtained. This instrument, Khayyam, is a tunable all-reflective spatial heterodyne spectrometer (TSHS) that is mounted to a fixed focal plane shared by the 0.6m Coude auxiliary telescope on Mt. Hamilton, CA. Khayyam has up to 55 arcsec input field of view, resolving power up to 176000, and a tunable bandpass covering (triangle)λ_B < 100nm. Khayyam is being field tested to study spatially extended astronomical targets where high resolving power is necessary to separate multimodal signals, crowded molecular bands, and to sample low (<10 km/s) velocities at rapid temporal cadence. Here we will discuss the design considerations going into this new system, its installation, testing of the interferometer-telescope combination, the first science target observations and future plans.

Date Published: 6 August 2014
PDF: 9 pages
Proc. SPIE 9147, Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy V, 91478L (6 August 2014); doi: 10.1117/12.2055862

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9147:
Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy V
Suzanne K. Ramsay; Ian S. McLean; Hideki Takami, Editor(s)