The Michigan/Magellan Fiber System (M2FS): An MRI Development Proposal

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案(公法111-5)资助的。在世界上最大的望远镜上观测时间是一种非常有价值的商品。任何能够提高其效率的计划都会在可进行的科学研究项目的数量和相关的观测成本方面带来巨大的红利。密歇根大学的马里奥·马特奥博士设计了一种新的光谱仪，用于智利拉斯坎帕纳斯天文台6.5米长的麦哲伦望远镜，该天文台是华盛顿卡内基研究所的研究机构。光谱仪是天文学和许多其他科学技术领域的主要仪器。他们将来自望远镜焦点的光扩散成组成颜色(就像彩虹)，以供进一步分析。分析可以告诉我们天体的化学成分、温度和速度。与现有仪器相比，这种新的光谱仪将在运行效率、波长覆盖、光学吞吐量和易用性方面实现显著提高。新的光谱仪将通过光纤同时从天空中的256个物体获得光。美国国家科学基金会通过其主要研究仪器计划为这种新光谱仪的开发提供资金。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).Observing time on the world's largest telescopes is a very valuable commodity. Any scheme that can enhance their efficiency pays significant dividends in the number of scientific research programs that can be undertaken and in the associated cost of the observations. Dr. Mario Mateo of the University of Michigan has designed a new spectrograph for use on the 6.5-meter Magellan telescope at Las Campanas Observatory in Chile, a research facility of the Observatories of the Carnegie Institution of Washington. Spectrographs are a workhorse instrument for astronomy and many other fields of science and technology. They spread the light from the telescope focus into its constituent colors (like a rainbow) for further analysis. The analysis can tell us about the chemical composition, temperature, and velocity of a celestial object. This new spectrograph will realize a significant increase in operational efficiency, wavelength coverage, optical throughput, and ease of use over the existing instrument. The new spectrograph will be fed light simultaneously from up to 256 objects on the sky via optical fibers. The National Science Foundation is funding the development of this new spectrograph through its Major Research Instrumentation program.