Fabry-Perot/CCD multichannel spectrometer for the study of warm, ionized interstellar gas and extragalactic clouds

Ronald J. Reynolds; Fred L. Roesler; Frank Scherb; John M. Harlander

doi:10.1117/12.19124

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1 July 1990 Fabry-Perot/CCD multichannel spectrometer for the study of warm, ionized interstellar gas and extragalactic clouds

Ronald J. Reynolds, Fred L. Roesler, Frank Scherb, John M. Harlander

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Proceedings Volume 1235, Instrumentation in Astronomy VII; (1990) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.19124
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation for the 21st Century, 1990, Tucson, AZ, United States

Abstract

The use of the University of Wisconsin 15-cm-diameter pressure-scanned Fabry-Perot spectrometer to detect and characterize faint optical emission lines from the Galaxy and the earth atmosphere is described, and a more powerful multichannel spectrometer is proposed. The fundamental principles and advantages of Fabry-Perot instruments are explained; the need for higher throughput is pointed out; the gains possible with a multichannel spectrometer are determined; and test results demonstrating the feasibility of multichannel spectrometry with either photomultiplier or CCD detectors are summarized. It is estimated that a multichannel spectrometer mounted at the Nasmyth focus of a 3.5-m or 8-m telescope would have a beam diameter of 10 or 4 arcmin, respectively, making it possible to probe ionized gas in the disks and halos of galaxies at emission measures less than about 1/cm to the 6th pc and spectral resolution 10 km/sec.

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Ronald J. Reynolds, Fred L. Roesler, Frank Scherb, and John M. Harlander "Fabry-Perot/CCD multichannel spectrometer for the study of warm, ionized interstellar gas and extragalactic clouds", Proc. SPIE 1235, Instrumentation in Astronomy VII, (1 July 1990); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.19124

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