VIRUS early installation and commissioning

Tuttle, Sarah; Hill, Gary J.; Vattiat, Brian L.; Lee, Hanshin; Drory, Niv; Kelz, Andreas; Ramsey, Jason; Peterson, Trent; Noyola, Eva; DePoy, D. L.; Marshall, J. L.; Chonis, Taylor S.; Dalton, Gavin; Fabricius, Maximilian; Farrow, Daniel J.; Good, John M.; Haynes, Dionne; Indahl, Briana L.; Jähn, Thomas; Kriel, Hermanus; Nicklas, H.; Montesano, Francesco; Prochaska, Travis; Allen, Richard D.; Landriau, Martin; MacQueen, Phillip J.; Roth, Martin; Savage, Richard; Snigula, J.

doi:10.1117/12.2231253

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 14 publications

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“…The first 16 VIRUS units were deployed in May 2016 7,40 and at the time of writing we have deployed 40 VIRUS units and 54 IFUs on HET, along with the two units of the new low-resolution spectrograph (LRS2-B and LRS2-R 41 ) that also utilize the VIRUS cryogenic, enclosure, and readout infrastructure. Installation of spectrograph units is described in Refs.…”

Section: Virus Deployment and Performancementioning

confidence: 99%

VIRUS: status and performance of the massively replicated fiber integral field spectrograph for the upgraded Hobby-Eberly Telescope

Hill

Kelz

Lee

et al. 2018

Ground-Based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy VII

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The Visible Integral-field Replicable Unit Spectrograph (VIRUS) consists of 156 identical spectrographs (arrayed as 78 pairs, each with a pair of spectrographs) fed by 35,000 fibers, each 1.5 arcsec diameter, at the focus of the upgraded 10 m Hobby-Eberly Telescope (HET). VIRUS has a fixed bandpass of 350-550 nm and resolving power R~750. The fibers are grouped into 78 integral field units, each with 448 fibers and 20 m average length. VIRUS is the first example of large-scale replication applied to optical astronomy and is capable of surveying large areas of sky, spectrally. The VIRUS concept offers significant savings of engineering effort and cost when compared to traditional instruments.The main motivator for VIRUS is to map the evolution of dark energy for the Hobby-Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment (HETDEX ‡ ), using 0.8M Lyman-alpha emitting galaxies as tracers. The VIRUS array has been undergoing staged deployment starting in late 2015. Currently, more than half of the array has been populated and the HETDEX survey started in 2017 December. It will provide a powerful new facility instrument for the HET, well suited to the survey niche of the telescope, and will open up large spectroscopic surveys of the emission line universe for the first time. We will * The Hobby -Eberly Telescope is operated by McDonald Observatory on behalf of the

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Section: Virus Deployment and Performancementioning

confidence: 99%

VIRUS: status and performance of the massively replicated fiber integral field spectrograph for the upgraded Hobby-Eberly Telescope

Hill

Kelz

Lee

et al. 2018

Ground-Based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy VII

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ProtoDESI: First On-Sky Technology Demonstration for the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument

Fagrelius

Abareshi

Allen

et al. 2018

PASP

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The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) is under construction to measure the expansion history of the universe using the baryon acoustic oscillations technique. The spectra of 35 million galaxies and quasars over 14,000 square degrees will be measured during a 5-year survey. A new prime focus corrector for the Mayall telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory will deliver light to 5,000 individually targeted fiber-fed robotic positioners. The fibers in turn feed ten broadband multi-object spectrographs. We describe the ProtoDESI experiment, that was installed and commissioned on the 4-m Mayall telescope from August 14 to September 30, 2016. ProtoDESI was an on-sky technology demonstration with the goal to reduce technical risks associated with aligning optical fibers with targets using robotic fiber positioners and maintaining the stability required to operate DESI. The ProtoDESI prime focus instrument, consisting of three fiber positioners, illuminated fiducials, and a guide camera, was installed behind the existing Mosaic corrector on the Mayall telescope. A Fiber View Camera was mounted in the Cassegrain cage of the telescope and provided feedback metrology for positioning the fibers. ProtoDESI also provided a platform for early integration of hardware with the DESI Instrument Control System that controls the subsystems, provides communication with the Telescope Control System, and collects instrument telemetry data. Lacking a spectrograph, ProtoDESI monitored the output of the fibers using a Fiber Photometry Camera mounted on the prime focus instrument. ProtoDESI was successful in acquiring targets with the robotically positioned fibers and demonstrated that the DESI guiding requirements can be met.

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The HETDEX Instrumentation: Hobby–Eberly Telescope Wide-field Upgrade and VIRUS

Hill¹,

Lee²,

MacQueen³

et al. 2021

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The Hobby–Eberly Telescope (HET) Dark Energy Experiment (HETDEX) is undertaking a blind wide-field low-resolution spectroscopic survey of 540 deg2 of sky to identify and derive redshifts for a million Lyα-emitting galaxies in the redshift range 1.9 < z < 3.5. The ultimate goal is to measure the expansion rate of the universe at this epoch, to sharply constrain cosmological parameters and thus the nature of dark energy. A major multiyear Wide-Field Upgrade (WFU) of the HET was completed in 2016 that substantially increased the field of view to 22′ diameter and the pupil to 10 m, by replacing the optical corrector, tracker, and Prime Focus Instrument Package and by developing a new telescope control system. The new, wide-field HET now feeds the Visible Integral-field Replicable Unit Spectrograph (VIRUS), a new low-resolution integral-field spectrograph (LRS2), and the Habitable Zone Planet Finder, a precision near-infrared radial velocity spectrograph. VIRUS consists of 156 identical spectrographs fed by almost 35,000 fibers in 78 integral-field units arrayed at the focus of the upgraded HET. VIRUS operates in a bandpass of 3500−5500 Å with resolving power R ≃ 800. VIRUS is the first example of large-scale replication applied to instrumentation in optical astronomy to achieve spectroscopic surveys of very large areas of sky. This paper presents technical details of the HET WFU and VIRUS, as flowed down from the HETDEX science requirements, along with experience from commissioning this major telescope upgrade and the innovative instrumentation suite for HETDEX.

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VIRUS early installation and commissioning

Cited by 3 publications

References 14 publications

VIRUS: status and performance of the massively replicated fiber integral field spectrograph for the upgraded Hobby-Eberly Telescope

VIRUS: status and performance of the massively replicated fiber integral field spectrograph for the upgraded Hobby-Eberly Telescope

ProtoDESI: First On-Sky Technology Demonstration for the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument

The HETDEX Instrumentation: Hobby–Eberly Telescope Wide-field Upgrade and VIRUS

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