Year: 2018
Type: article
Abstract: We report on the design and performance of the Keck Cosmic Web Imager (KCWI), a general purpose optical integral field spectrograph that has been installed at the Nasmyth port of the 10 m Keck II telescope on Maunakea, Hawaii. The novel design provides blue-optimized seeing-limited imaging from 350–560 nm with configurable spectral resolution from 1000–20,000 in a field of view up to 20″ × 33″. Selectable volume phase holographic (VPH) gratings and high-performance dielectric, multilayer silver, and enhanced-aluminum coatings provide end-to-end peak efficiency in excess of 45% while accommodating the future addition of a red channel that will extend wavelength coverage to 1 micron. KCWI takes full advantage of the excellent seeing and dark sky above Maunakea with an available nod-and-shuffle observing mode. The instrument is optimized for observations of faint, diffuse objects such as the intergalactic medium or cosmic web. In this paper, a detailed description of the instrument design is provided with measured performance results from the laboratory test program and 10 nights of on-sky commissioning during the spring of 2017. The KCWI team is lead by Caltech and JPL (project management, design, and implementation) in partnership with the University of California at Santa Cruz (camera optical and mechanical design) and the W. M. Keck Observatory (observatory interfaces).
Source: The Astrophysical Journal
Authors: Patrick Morrissey, Matuesz Matuszewski, D. Christopher Martin, James D. Neill, Harland Epps, Jason Fucik, Bob Weber, Behnam Darvish, Sean Adkins, Steve Allen, Randy Bartos, Justin Belicki, Jerry Cabak, Shawn Callahan, Dave Cowley, Marty Crabill, Willian Deich, Alex Delecroix, Greg Doppman, David Hilyard, Ean James, Steve Kaye, Michael Kokorowski, Shui Kwok, Kyle Lanclos, Steve Milner, Anna Moore, Donal O’Sullivan, Prachi Parihar, Sam Park, Andrew Phillips, Luca Rizzi, Constance Rockosi, Hector Rodriguez, Yves Salaun, Kirk Seaman, David Sheikh, Jason Weiss, Ray Zarzaca
Language: English
Subfield: Instrumentation
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2883311338