Journal article
CHESS: An innovative concept for high-resolution, far-UV spectroscopy Instrument design, inception, and results from the first two sounding rocket flights
Experimental astronomy, Vol.50(2-3), pp.233-264
12/01/2020
DOI: 10.1007/s10686-020-09670-z
Abstract
The space ultraviolet (UV) is a critical astronomical observing window, where a multitude of atomic, ionic, and molecular signatures provide crucial insight into planetary, interstellar, stellar, intergalactic, and extragalactic objects. The next generation of large space telescopes require highly sensitive, moderate-to-high resolution UV spectrograph. However, sensitive observations in the UV are difficult, as UV optical performance and imaging efficiencies have lagged behind counterparts in the visible and infrared regimes. This has historically resulted in simple, low-bounce instruments to increase sensitivity. In this study, we present the design, fabrication, and calibration of a simple, high resolution, high throughput FUV spectrograph - theColorado High-resolution Echelle Stellar Spectrograph(CHESS). CHESS is a sounding rocket payload to demonstrate the instrument design for the next-generation UV space telescopes. We present tests and results on the performance of several state-of-the-art diffraction grating and detector technologies for FUV astronomical applications that were flown aboard the first two iterations of CHESS. The CHESS spectrograph was used to study the atomic-to-molecular transitions within translucent cloud regions in the interstellar medium (ISM) through absorption spectroscopy. The first two flights looked at the sightlines towards alpha Virgo and epsilon Persei and flight results are presented.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- CHESS: An innovative concept for high-resolution, far-UV spectroscopy Instrument design, inception, and results from the first two sounding rocket flights
- Creators
- Keri Hoadley - California Institute of TechnologyKevin France - Univ Colorado, Lab Atmospher & Space Phys, UCB 392, Boulder, CO 80309 USANicholas Nell - University of Colorado BoulderRobert Kane - Blue Canyon Technologies (United States)Brian Fleming - Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space PhysicsAllison Youngblood - Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space PhysicsMatthew Beasley - Southwest Research Institute
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Experimental astronomy, Vol.50(2-3), pp.233-264
- DOI
- 10.1007/s10686-020-09670-z
- ISSN
- 0922-6435
- eISSN
- 1572-9508
- Publisher
- Springer Nature
- Number of pages
- 32
- Grant note
- DOI: 10.13039/100007493, name: University of Colorado Boulder, award: NNX13AF55G
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 12/01/2020
- Academic Unit
- Physics and Astronomy
- Record Identifier
- 9984428794702771
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