SOXS: a wide band spectrograph to follow up transients
Abstract
SOXS (Son Of X-Shooter) will be a spectrograph for the ESO NTT telescope capable to cover the optical and NIR bands, based on the heritage of the X-Shooter at the ESO-VLT. SOXS will be built and run by an international consortium, carrying out rapid and longer term Target of Opportunity requests on a variety of astronomical objects. SOXS will observe all kind of transient and variable sources from different surveys. These will be a mixture of fast alerts (e.g. gamma-ray bursts, gravitational waves, neutrino events), mid-term alerts (e.g. supernovae, X-ray transients), fixed time events (e.g. close-by passage of minor bodies). While the focus is on transients and variables, still there is a wide range of other astrophysical targets and science topics that will benefit from SOXS. The design foresees a spectrograph with a Resolution-Slit product ≈ 4500, capable of simultaneously observing over the entire band the complete spectral range from the U- to the H-band. The limiting magnitude of R 20 (1 hr at S/N 10) is suited to study transients identified from on-going imaging surveys. Light imaging capabilities in the optical band (grizy) are also envisaged to allow for multi-band photometry of the faintest transients. This paper outlines the status of the project, now in Final Design Phase.
- Publication:
-
Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy VII
- Pub Date:
- July 2018
- DOI:
- 10.1117/12.2307349
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1807.08828
- Bibcode:
- 2018SPIE10702E..0FS
- Keywords:
-
- Astrophysics - Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
- E-Print:
- 12 pages, 14 figures, to be published in SPIE Proceedings 10702