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SpUpNIC (Spectrograph Upgrade: Newly Improved Cassegrain): a versatile and efficient low- to medium-resolution, long-slit spectrograph on the South African Astronomical Observatory's 1.9-m telescope

Crause, Lisa A.; Gilbank, David; van Gend, Carel; Worters, Hannah L.; Sass, Craig; Kotze, Enrico J.; Potter, Stephen; Sickafoose, Amanda; Sefako, Ramotholo; Southworth, John; Macri, Lucas; Thorstensen, John; Galan, Cezary; Skelton, Patricia; Engelbrecht, Chris; Braker, Ian; Winkler, Hartmut; Pieńkowski, Daniel; Sürgit, Derya; Erdem, Ahmet; Burleigh, Matt

SpUpNIC (Spectrograph Upgrade: Newly Improved Cassegrain): a versatile and efficient low- to medium-resolution, long-slit spectrograph on the South African Astronomical Observatory's 1.9-m telescope Thumbnail


Authors

Lisa A. Crause

David Gilbank

Carel van Gend

Hannah L. Worters

Craig Sass

Enrico J. Kotze

Stephen Potter

Amanda Sickafoose

Ramotholo Sefako

Lucas Macri

John Thorstensen

Cezary Galan

Patricia Skelton

Chris Engelbrecht

Ian Braker

Hartmut Winkler

Daniel Pieńkowski

Derya Sürgit

Ahmet Erdem

Matt Burleigh



Abstract

We report on the extensively upgraded Cassegrain spectrograph on the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) 1.9-m telescope. The introduction of new collimator and camera optics, a new detector and controller, a rear-of-slit viewing camera to facilitate acquisition, and a new instrument control and quick-look data-reduction software (to take advantage of the entire system now being governed by a programmable logic controller) has revolutionized this workhorse instrument on Africa’s second largest optical telescope. The improvement in throughput over the previous incarnation of the spectrograph is ~50??%?? in the red, increasing to a factor of four at the blue end. A selection of 10 surface-relief diffraction gratings is available to users, offering a variety of wavelength ranges and resolutions, with resolving powers between ~500 and 6500. SpUpNIC (Spectrograph Upgrade: Newly Improved Cassegrain) has been scheduled for ~80??%?? of the time available on the 1.9-m since being installed on the telescope in late October 2015, providing the single-object spectroscopic capability to support the broad research interests of the SAAO’s local and international user community. We present an assortment of data obtained for various observing programs to demonstrate different aspects of the instrument’s enhanced performance following this comprehensive upgrade.

Acceptance Date Apr 23, 2019
Online Publication Date May 14, 2019
Publication Date 2019-05
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems
Publisher Society of Photo-optical Instrumentation Engineers
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 5
Issue 2
Article Number 024007
DOI https://doi.org/10.1117/1.jatis.5.2.024007
Keywords spectrograph; Cassegrain; SpUpNIC; South African Astronomical Observatory; instrumentation
Publisher URL http://doi.org/10.1117/1.jatis.5.2.024007

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