We present details of a prototype fiber feed for use on the Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT) that uses a dedicated fiber-fed medium/high resolution (R ≃ 10000) visible-band spectrograph to give integral field spectroscopy (IFS) of an extended object. A focal reducer couples light from the telescope to the close-packed lenslet array and fiber feed, allowing the spectrograph be used on other tele...

This paper describes the Wide Field Spectrograph (WiFeS) under construction at the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics (RSAA) of the Australian National University (ANU) for the ANU 2.3m telescope at the Siding Spring Observatory. WiFeS is a powerful integral field, double-beam, concentric, image-slicing spectrograph designed to deliver excellent thoughput, wavelength stability, spect...

In recent years there has been a trend toward the automation of modest sized observatories, especially those involved with photoelectric photometry. Although undoubtedly useful, there is clearly a need for more advanced instrumentation such as spectrographs. The relatively small telescope sizes places severe limits on the choice of spectrograph configuration. A fiber-fed echelle spectrograph is...

Knowledge of a spectrograph slit function is necessary to interpret unresolved lines and spectral features in an observed spectrum. In a scanning spectrometer with a single exit slit, the slit function is easily measured by illuminating the entrance slit with a broadband source and scanning the dispersive element. In a fixed grating/or disperser spectrograph, the slit functions have been measur...

A mass spectrograph is an instrument that separates and simultaneously focuses ions, along a focal plane, of different mass/charge ratios that are diverging in direction and that have a variable velocity. With these instruments and a spatially sensitive ion detector, simultaneous detection can be employed, which has been shown to improve precision and throughput (as compared to a mass spectrome...

FernalcTs discovery of the recent outburst of Nova RS Ophiuchi on July 14.1, 1958 (UT) was telephoned to the Mount Wilson Observatory from Berkeley by Dr. Leland E. Cunningham. The star reached maximum at about magnitude 5.0 later that night. It has since been reported that Peltier had observed the star at magnitude 11.1 on the previous night. I was the observer on the 60-inch telescope on the ...