MOHSIS: The Maryland OH Suppression IFU System for the Discovery Channel Telescope

天文学中一个长期而深刻的问题是，由于夜空在这些波长上的极端亮度和变异性，从地面获得深度近红外观测是困难的。1.0-1.7微米的大气发射几乎完全来自一片极其明亮、非常狭窄的OH发射线的森林，这些发射线在几分钟的时间尺度上变化。使用一种称为光纤布拉格光栅(FBG)的方法，现在可以选择性地移除这些发射线，同时保持这些线之间的高吞吐量。马里兰大学帕克分校的S.Veilleux和他的国际团队通过整合一个完整的现场单元(IFU)FBG输入，仔细地改进了这项技术的应用，并通过使用现有望远镜和仪器进行的现场测试，彻底证明了这种方法的有效性。所要求的NSF资金是通过悉尼大学的FBG开发和NASA戈达德太空飞行中心以及马里兰大学提供的光谱仪建造而高度利用的。科学应用最初将集中在非常微弱的瞬变伽马射线爆发(GRB)源的低分辨率光谱，以及对承载这些大灾难的星系的研究。与探索通信公司的合作为该项目提供了一个不同寻常的外展部分，这将涉及到不同级别的学生和普通公众。近红外OH发射线抑制光谱仪的这个部分由NSF的天文科学部门通过其先进技术和仪器计划提供。

A long-standing and profound problem in astronomy is the difficulty in obtaining deepnear-infrared observations from the ground due to the extreme brightness and variability of the night sky at these wavelengths. The atmospheric emission at 1.0 - 1.7 um arises almost entirely from a forest of extremely bright, very narrow OH emission lines that vary on timescales of minutes. Using an approach known as a fiber Bragg grating (FBG), these emission lines can now be selectively removed, while retaining high throughput between the lines.Dr. S. Veilleux of the University of Maryland College Park and his international team have carefully refined the application of this technique by incorporating an Integral Field Unit (IFU) FBG input, and have thoroughly demonstrated the efficacy of the approach through in situ tests with existing telescopes and instrumentation. The requested NSF funds are highly leveraged through FBG development at the University of Sydney and spectrograph construction being provided by the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center as well as the University of Maryland. Science applications will initially focus on low-resolution spectroscopy of very faint, transient gamma-ray burst (GRB) sources, which are now known to originate in supernovae located in very distant galaxies, as well as on studies of the galaxies that host these cataclysms. Teaming with Discovery Communications provides an unusual outreach component to the project that will involve students at a variety of levels as well as the general public.Funding this component of the near-infrared OH emission-line suppression spectrograph is being provided by NSF's Division of Astronomical Sciences through its Advanced Technologies and Instrumentation program.