AAT Future Instrumentation
Workshop (held on 9 November 2007, ATNF Lecture Theatre)
Workshop Objective
Workshop summary and conclusions by Matthew Colless, AAO Director
A community workshop was held on Friday, 9 November 2007, at the
AAO Epping laboratory to discuss the various options for a new instrument
at the Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT).
The objective of this one-day workshop was to receive community
input to the science objectives and requirements, and to prioritise
these options. The AAO will likely make a final decision on
which option to pursue by the middle of 2008.
Funds from the NCRIS scheme for the development of a new instrument for
the AAT have been used to look at a variety of instrument
options, including AAOmicron (an infrared multi-object spectrograph
expanding AAOmega to 0.9-1.7microns), HERMES (a High Resolution
Multi-object Echelle Spectrograph) and WFMOS-A (a wide-field
multi-object optical spectrograph using Echidna fibre positioning).
The workshop featured talks on the science drivers for each main
instrument concept, the planned technical capabilities, and an
extended discussion of the instrument options.
Instrument Concepts Under
Consideration
The following concepts have been explored by the AAO (see the August
2007 AAO Newsletter for further details):
|
AAOmicron
|
HERMES
|
WFMOS-A Baseline
|
WFMOS-A plus HERMES
|
Wavelength Regime
|
0.9 - 1.7 microns
|
370 - 950 nm
|
370 - 950 nm
|
370 - 950 nm
|
Resolving Power
|
1300
|
30000
|
1300-11000
|
1300 - 30000
|
N-targets
|
~200 over 2 degrees
|
~400 over 2 degrees
|
1600 over 2 degrees
|
1600 over 2 degrees
|
List of Instrument Concepts under
Review
List of Speakers
Science Drivers
Andrew
Hopkins presented
science
applications for the AAOmicron concept.
Ken
Freeman presented
science
applications for the HERMES concept.
Chris
Blake presented
science
applications for the WFMOS-A baseline concept.
Tom Shanks gave an
overview of a
proposal for NG2dF/NG1dF which
is an extreme multiplex (~10,000 slit) spectrograph with a 1dF (using
the WIFI corrector) or 2dF (using the AAOmega corrector.
Karl Glazebrook presented
an
overview of instrumentation
needs a seen from the AATAC perspective and user demand.
Will Saunders presented a novel possibility of improving the spectral resolution of AAOmega with extra gratings.
Technical Capabilities
Sam
Barden presented an
overview of
technical details for instrument concepts.
Agenda
2006 Workshop Conclusions
A similar workshop was previously held in May 2006. The
conclusions reached at that time can be found in this document:
Report of the Workshop
on a New Instrument for the AAT.
