| Type |
Conference Paper |
| Names |
Andrew I. Sheinis, Marsha J. Wolf, Matthew A. Bershady, Kenneth H. Nordsieck, Ryan L. Doering, Theodore B. Williams |
| Conference Name |
Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE) Conference Series |
| Volume |
7735 |
| Pages |
162 |
| Date |
July 1, 2010 |
| URL |
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2010SPIE.7735E.162S |
| Library Catalog |
NASA ADS |
| Abstract |
The Robert Stobie Spectrograph Near Infrared Arm (RSS-NIR) is a new
instrument on the 11-meter Southern African Large Telescope (SALT),
scheduled to begin commissioning in 2012. This versatile instrument will
add capabilities that are unique to large telescopes. The main
instrument modes include NIR imaging, medium resolution long slit
spectroscopy over an 8 arcminute field of view (FOV), multi-object
spectroscopy with custom slit masks over an 8x8 arcminute FOV,
Fabry-Perot narrowband imaging over an 8 arcminute diameter FOV, and
polarimetry and spectropolarimetry over a 4x8 arcminute FOV. Limiting
magnitude predictions are 21.1 and 20.1 for J and H band for S/N = 10
per spectral resolution element in 1 hour for 1 arcsec2at an
R=7000. All instrument modes can be operated simultaneously with the RSS
visible arm, providing spectral coverage from 0.32-1.7 microns. We list
the science drivers and describe the way in which they have guided the
design for this instrument. We also present a more detailed description
of some several planned science programs that will take advantage of the
unique capabilities of RSS-VISNIR and the queue-scheduled SALT
telescope. Lastly we give a brief description of predicted instrumental
performance, along with a comparison to several other NIR instruments at
other observatories. |