TripleSpec
Project overview:
The University of Virginia is collaborating with Cornell, JPL and Caltech to design and build three nearly identical λ / Δ λ ~ 3500 cross-dispersed near-infrared spectrographs for use as facility instruments on various 3.5 - 10 meter telescopes. Cornell and JPL are teaming to provide a copy for the Palomar 200-inch. Caltech is developing a copy for the Keck 10 meter. The University of Virginia is building a copy for the Apache Point Observatory 3.5 meter telescope. Through development of multiple copies, the project is saving money and increasing the likelihood of success through economies of scale and sharing intellectual capital.The instrument design addresses the common observatory need for efficient, reliable near-infrared spectrographs through such features as broad wavelength coverage across 6 simultaneous orders (0.9 - 2.4 um) in echelle format, real-time slit viewing through separate optics and detector, and minimal moving parts.
TripleSpec will excel at
investigating targets identified in large-scale imaging surveys
including the Two-Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS)
and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). These targets, such
as brown dwarfs and dust obscured galaxies, can be faint in the visible but
bright in the NIR. Another potential target will be high redshift objects
with visible rest frame diagnostic lines that have been red-shifted
into the near-infrared. TripleSpec will also be
useful for the spectral follow-up of objects identified in the
mid-infrared by, for example, the Spitzer Space Telescope and soon
by the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA).
 Dewar Design |
 LN2 Tank Design |
 Order Format |
Recent construction images of TripleSpec can be found here.
For additional information, download the instrument SPIE paper (pdf).
Reference is Wilson et al. 2004, Proc. SPIE Vol. 5492, p. 1295-1305, Ground-based Instrumentation for Astronomy; Alan F. Moorwood, Masanori Iye; Eds.
For additional questions please e-mail John Wilson: jcw6z@virginia.edu.
