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Design and development of Mt.Abu faint object spectrograph and camera – Pathfinder (MFOSC-P) for PRL 1.2m Mt. Abu Telescope

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Abstract

Mt. Abu Faint Object Spectrograph and Camera – Pathfinder (MFOSC-P) is an imager-spectrograph developed for the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) 1.2m telescope at Gurushikhar, Mt. Abu, India. MFOSC-P is based on a focal reducer concept and provides seeing limited imaging (with a sampling of 3.3 pixels per arc-second) in Bessell’s B, V, R, I and narrow-band H-α filters. The instrument uses three plane reflection gratings, covering the spectral range of 4500-8500Å, with three different resolutions of 500, 1000, and 2000 around their central wavelengths. MFOSC-P was conceived as a pathfinder instrument for a next-generation instrument on the PRL’s 2.5m telescope which is coming up at Mt. Abu. The instrument was developed during 2015-2019 and successfully commissioned on the PRL 1.2m telescope in February 2019. The designed performance has been verified with laboratory characterization tests and on-sky commissioning observations. Different science programs covering a range of objects are being executed with MFOSC-P since then, e.g., spectroscopy of M-dwarfs, novae & symbiotic systems, and detection of H-α emission in star-forming regions. MFOSC-P presents a novel design and cost-effective way to develop a FOSC (Faint Object Spectrograph and Camera) type of instrument on a shorter time-scale of development. The design and development methodology presented here is most suitable in helping the small aperture telescope community develop such a versatile instrument, thereby diversifying the science programs of such observatories.

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Notes

  1. https://www.newport.com/b/richardson-gratings; Accessed 2020-03-18

  2. https://andor.oxinst.com/products/ikon-xl-and-ikon-large-ccd-series/ikon-m-934; Accessed 2020-03-18

  3. https://www.newport.com/f/pencil-style-calibration-lamps, Accessed: 2020-03-18

  4. https://www.sxccd.com/lodestar-x2-autoguider; Accessed: 2020-03-19

  5. https://andor.oxinst.com/products/solis-software/; Accessed: 2020-01-23

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  7. https://www.arcus-technology.com/ Accessed: 2020-01-23

  8. https://www.tracopower.com/home/;Accessed 2020-01-23

  9. https://gandh.com/; Accessed: 2020-03-20

  10. https://www.thorlabs.com; Accessed: 2020-03-20

  11. https://www.eso.org/sci/observing/tools/standards/spectra.html, Accessed: 2021-02-21

  12. http://www.astrosurf.com/aras/; Accessed: 2020-04-12

  13. https://www.aavso.org/; Accessed: 2020-03-20

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Acknowledgements

Development of the MFOSC-P instrument has been funded by the Department of Space, Government of India through Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), Ahmedabad. MFOSC-P team is thankful to the Director, PRL, for supporting the MFOSC-P development program. We express deep thanks to D.P.K. Banerjee (PRL) and Lalita Sharma (Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, India) for useful comments on the manuscript. MKS expresses sincere thanks to Shyam N. Tandon (Inter-University Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics – IUCAA, Pune, India) for detailed discussions on several aspects of FOSC design throughout the development process. VK is thankful to PRL for his Ph.D. research fellowship. MFOSC-P team expresses sincere thanks to Mt. Abu observatory staff for their sustained help and support during MFOSC-P commissioning and subsequent observations.

Funding

The development of the MFOSC-P instrument has been funded by the Department of Space, Government of India through Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), Ahmedabad.

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  1. Mohanlal Jangra

    Present address: Government Senior Secondary School, Hizrawan Khurd, Fatehabad, 125050, India

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Astronomy and Astrophysics Division, Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad, 380009, India

    Mudit K. Srivastava, Vipin Kumar, Vaibhav Dixit, Ankita Patel, Mohanlal Jangra, A. S. Rajpurohit & S. N. Mathur

  2. Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar, 382335, India

    Vipin Kumar

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Srivastava, M.K., Kumar, V., Dixit, V. et al. Design and development of Mt.Abu faint object spectrograph and camera – Pathfinder (MFOSC-P) for PRL 1.2m Mt. Abu Telescope. Exp Astron 51, 345–382 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10686-021-09753-5

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