MRI: Development of VIRUS2 - A Scalable Integral Field Spectrograph for McDonald Observatory

该奖项资助西德克萨斯州麦克唐纳天文台开发一种新的天文仪器。VIRUS 2摄谱仪的设计将很好地适应下一代超大型望远镜的未来应用，并提供了一种具有成本效益的方法来测量这种望远镜。 该计划将为学生提供参与仪器设计，组装和调试的机会。VIRUS2是麦克唐纳天文台2.7米望远镜的可扩展积分场摄谱仪。它将基于为同样位于麦当劳的Hobby Eberly望远镜（HET）上的原始病毒仪器开发的技术。VIRUS摄谱仪适用于一系列光谱分辨率和波长。VIRUS2将使用三个重复单元以覆盖370 - 915 nm波长，分辨率约为2300。已经在VIRUS上进行的大量投资使得这个后续项目的成本低于从头开始，并且应该允许快速的时间表和低风险。由此产生的仪器将使研究能够补充正在进行的邻近星系（MaNGA，SAMI，CALIFA，VENGA）的结构调查，将观测扩展到星系的外围。

This award funds the development of a new astronomical instrument at the McDonald Observatory in West Texas. The VIRUS2 spectrograph design will be well-adapted to future applications on the next generation of extremely large telescopes, and offers a cost-effective way to instrument such telescopes. This program will provide the opportunity for students to be involved in the design, assembly, and commissioning of the instrument. VIRUS2 is a scalable Integral Field Spectrograph for the McDonald Observatory 2.7-m telescope. It will be based on technology developed for the original VIRUS instrument on the Hobby Eberly Telescope (HET), also at McDonald. The VIRUS spectrograph is adaptable to a range of spectral resolutions and wavelengths. VIRUS2 will utilize three replicated units to cover wavelengths 370-915 nm at resolution ~2300. The large investment already made in VIRUS makes this follow-on project lower in cost than starting from scratch and should allow for a rapid schedule and low risk. The resulting instrument will enable studies complementary to ongoing structure surveys of nearby galaxies (MaNGA, SAMI, CALIFA, VENGA) by extending observations to the outskirts of galaxies.