AIP astronomy picture of the month
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Integrated fiber spectrograph of the PMAS instrument,
first successful tests for image quality and flexure.
(credit: M.M. Roth, A. Kelz, E. Popow)
Reason for selection:
The integration of the
PMAS
3D instrument has passed
successfully an important milestone: laboratory first light of
the high-tech fiber spectrograph.
On June 20, 2000, A. Kelz and E. Popow, having completed the integration of the
fiber spectrograph at the telescope simulator in the new
AIP technology
building (Schwarzschild-Haus), achieved
for the first time a true optical test of the final configuration.
A provisional set-up of fibers was attached to the collimator,
and a microscope - cryogenic CCD combination was mounted to the camera
in order to observe the image quality with very high resolution.
By tilting the telescope simulator a test for stability against flexure
was performed.
The results are fully in agreement with the expectations, see
PMAS
website.
.