First-light images from low dispersion spectrograph-cum-imager on 3.6-meter Devasthal Optical Telescope

A low dispersion spectrograph-cum-imager has been developed and assembled in ARIES, Nainital. The optical design of the spectrograph consists of a collimator and a focal reducer converting the f/9 beam from the 3.6-m Devasthal optical telescope to a nearly f/4.3 beam. The instrument is capable of carrying out broad-band imaging, narrow-band imaging and low-resolution (λ/Δλ<2000) slit spectroscopy in the wavelength range 350-1050 nm. A closed-cycle cryogenically cooled charge-coupled device camera, also assembled in ARIES, is used as the main imaging device for the spectrograph. The first images from the spectrograph on the telescope assert seeing-limited performance free from any significant optical aberration. An i-band image of the galaxy cluster Abell 370 made using the spectrograph shows faint sources down to ~25 mag. The quality and sensitivity of the optical spectrums of the celestial sources obtained from the spectrograph are as per the expectations from a 3.6-m telescope. Several new modes of observations such as polarimetry, fast-imaging, and monitoring of the atmospheric parameters are being included in the spectrograph. Using a test setup, single optical pulses from the Crab pulsar were detected from the telescope. The spectrograph is one of the main back-end instruments on the 3.6-m telescope for high sensitivity observations of celestial objects.

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