Astronomical Spectroscopic Instrumentation

The Astronomical Spectroscopic Instrumentation group develops innovative research technologies, novel spectrographs and analysis software for observational astronomy – for three different methods: Imaging or 3D spectroscopy (3DS) allows spatially extended, complex regions such as gas clouds, nebulae, star clusters or galaxies to be spectrally captured in a single image. Multi-object spectroscopy (MOS) is used for the efficient observation of a very large number of stars or galaxies, thus enabling extensive surveys. High-resolution, stabilised spectrographs on the largest available telescopes are used to characterise Earth-like planets, investigate the chemical composition of stars and verify fundamental physical constants.