DeepSpec: a broad-band R~650 spectrograph with multiplexing capabilities
: Irani, Ido; Ben-Ami, Sagi; Sofer-Rimalt, Yahel; Ofek, Eran O.; Mikhnevich, Gleb; Gal-Yam, Avishay; Achren, Jani; Bichkovsky, Alex; Blumenweig, Arie; Hallakoun, Na'ama; Ofir, Hershko; Kuncarayakti, Hanindyo; Mattila, Seppo; Ironi, Oren; Polishook, David; Yaron, Ofer
: Marshall, Heather K.; Spyromilio, Jason; Usuda, Tomonori
: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation
Publisher: SPIE
: 2024
: Proceedings of SPIE : the International Society for Optical Engineering
: Ground-based and Airborne Telescopes X
: 1309453
: 13094
: 0277-786X
: 1996-756X
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3018423
: https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3018423
DeepSpec is a novel R~650 broad-band (365nm-900nm) spectrograph planned for the Weizmann Multi-Aperture Spectroscopic Telescope (MAST). MAST is an array of twenty 60cm PlaneWave telescopes, capable of either acting as a single 2.7m telescope or multiplexing over the entire sky using smaller flexible groups. This approach will make the combination of MAST/DeepSpec a unique facility worldwide in terms of its low cost, flexibility and efficiency, capable of observing up to hundreds of targets per night spread over large areas. With an end-to-end throughput of >65%, DeepSpec will be able to observe targets fainter than 20.5mag in a 15-min exposure using all telescopes, or tens/hundreds of spectra per hour of 18-19 magnitude targets using smaller groups of telescopes – making it an ideal instrument for time-domain astronomy. DeepSpec is currently in the assembly, integration and testing phase and is planned to start on-sky commissioning by summer of 2024.