Open AccessThe SAURON project – I. The panoramic integral‐field spectrograph
Author(s) -
Bacon R.,
Copin Y.,
Monnet G.,
Miller Bryan W.,
AllingtonSmith J.R.,
Bureau M.,
Marcella Carollo C.,
Davies Roger L.,
Emsellem Eric,
Kuntschner Harald,
Peletier Reynier F.,
Verolme E.K.,
Tim de Zeeuw P.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
monthly notices of the royal astronomical society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.058
H-Index - 383
eISSN - 1365-2966
pISSN - 0035-8711
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-8711.2001.04612.x
Subject(s) - spectrograph , physics , william herschel telescope , integral field spectrograph , stellar kinematics , galaxy , kinematics , telescope , astronomy , field (mathematics) , astrophysics , optics , spectral line , classical mechanics , milky way , mathematics , pure mathematics
A new integral‐field spectrograph, SAURON, is described. It is based on the TIGER principle, and uses a lenslet array. SAURON has a large field of view and high throughput, and allows simultaneous sky subtraction. Its design is optimized for studies of the stellar kinematics, gas kinematics, and line‐strength distributions of nearby early‐type galaxies. The instrument design and specifications are described, as well as the extensive analysis software which was developed to obtain fully calibrated spectra, and the associated kinematic and line‐strength measurements. A companion paper will report on the first results obtained with SAURON on the William Herschel Telescope.