PUCHEROS: a cost-effective solution for high-resolution spectroscopy with small telescopes
Abstract
We present PUCHEROS, the high-resolution echelle spectrograph, developed at the Center of Astro-Engineering of Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile to provide an effective tool for research and teaching of astronomy. The instrument is fed by a single-channel optical fibre and it covers the visible range from 390 to 730 nm in one shot, reaching a spectral resolution of about 20 000. In the era of extremely large telescopes our instrument aims to exploit the capabilities offered by small telescopes in a cost-effective way, covering the observing needs of a community of astronomers, in Chile and elsewhere, which do not necessarily need large collecting areas for their research. In particular the instrument is well suited for long-term spectroscopic monitoring of bright variable and transient targets down to a V magnitude of about 10. We describe the instrument and present a number of text case examples of observations obtained during commissioning and early science.
- Publication:
-
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Pub Date:
- August 2012
- DOI:
- 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2012.21382.x
- Bibcode:
- 2012MNRAS.424.2770V
- Keywords:
-
- instrumentation: spectrographs;
- binaries: spectroscopic;
- stars: individual: o Pupis;
- stars: individual: T Pyxidis;
- stars: individual: V1200 Cen;
- novae;
- cataclysmic variables