Recent Upgrades to the AST

January 2010

The AST has been recently upgraded with the goal of improving end-to-end photon throughput and to augment the telescope's observational capabilities. A new secondary mirror has been installed, and a system of new fiber optic cables with an array of aperture sizes now feed the echelle and HK spectrographs. The heart of the upgrade is a new acquisition/guiding head which facilitates the selection of aperture size, providing the desired resolution.

Wavelength range covers ~4900 to 7100 Å. Radial velocity precision of ± 0.15 km/s for narrow lined stars.
Spectra of faint stars to V=12.


Current Capabilities

Fiber diameterResolutionExposure time for S/N= ~50
100 μm
~40,000
V=6, 3600s
200 μm
~30,000
V=6, 900s
365 μm
~15,000
V=6, 300s