CYCLOPS2

 
 

CYCLOPS2 started life as a new-and-improved fibre bundle for CYCLOPS Classic, and was supplemented by new harware to mount this bundle on the AAT in the form of the AAO's CURE Cassegrain focus upgrade. CYCLOPS2 has 17 working fibres - 16 that see the sky and a 17th for doing simultaneous wavelength calibration.


It replaces the 5 mirror Coude train, with a Cassegrain-fed optical-fibre bundle, which reformats a ~3" diameter aperture into a pseudo-slit which is 0.63" wide and 15 elements long (or about ~14" on the sky), allowing it to deliver similar throughput to the old mirror train, but with improved spectral resolution (λ/Δλ=70000 compared to 45000 with a 1" slit) and from an aperture equivalent to a 2.45" diameter, which better matches typical AAT seeing conditions than a 1" slit.

 

CYCLOPS2 IN BRIEF




IFU: 16 x 0.6" close-packed hexagons, equivalent to a 2.45" diameter aperture (ie. 5.0 asec2) on sky.


PSEDUO-SLIT: 0.63"x14.5"

λ/Δλ RESN: 70,000

THROUGHPUT: for typical seeing conditions at the AAT (1.5") CYCLOPS2 collects 80% more photons than the Coude train + 1" slit.

UCLES ECHELLE: 79l/mm

TYPICAL WAVELENGTH COVERAGE WITH EEV:

  1. •4550-7350Å (mid)

  2. NB: Wavelength coverage is complete for λ<5400A. At λ>5400A there are gaps between orders, which grow with wavelength. For example in the 5000-6000A the 79l/mm echellogram coverage is 30% of that obtained with the 31l/mm.


AVAILIBILITY: CYCLOPS2 can be applied for in any AAT proposal, though at present proposers are strongly recommended to discuss them in advance with AAO staff or Chris Tinney.


LINKS

  1. •CYCLOPS Classic

  2. •CYCLOPS News - with updates from commissioning runs.

  3. •CYCLOPS Classic Set-up

  4. •CYCLOPS pages at AAO

  5. •Instrument availability on AAT

  6. •CYCLOPS status page at AAO

  7. •AAO UCLES Documentation

  8. •Anglo-Australian Planet Search

  9. •Exoplanetary Science at UNSW



Page prepared by Chris Tinney,
CYCLOPS Project Scientist.
Last updated 3 September 2012.

 


  2. CYCLOPS2








  10. The following information on CYCLOPS2 assumes you are familiar with the basics of echelle spectroscopy using the AAO's UCLES spectrograph. Please consult the UCLES Manual and the UCLES Cookbook, first before trying to use this guide to CYCLOPS observing.


  12. 1.Current Status & Issues


At the time of writing, CYCLOPS2 is being commissioned on its second run.


All 16 fibres that see the sky work, and the simultaneous ThXe fibre works. Throughput of CYCLOPS2 is (on average) 10% better than for CYCLOPS Classic.


Spectral image quality is the same as for CYCLOPS Classic. The fibres are ~10% more closely packed on the detector.


  1. 2.Docuentation

Is stil being prepared ... watch this space.


 

The image above shows a section of a ThAr arc spectrum obtained with CYCLOPS - each element of the IFU is recorded by UCLES as a single spectrum with spectral FWHM=2.55 pixels. In this image, three fibres are missing (fibres 2,3 and 6) producing a distinctive pattern on the spectrograph.

The image above shows a section of a V=14 star observed to measure Doppler velocities, along with a ThXe spectrum injected through the simultaneous calibration fibre.