The PRL 2.5m Telescope and its First Light Instruments: FOC and PARAS-2
Abhijit Chakraborty,
Astronomy and Astrophysics division, Physical Research Laboratory, Navarangpura, Ahmedabad, 380009, India. Corresponding author: abhijit@prl.res.in
Kapil Kumar Bharadwaj,
Astronomy and Astrophysics division, Physical Research Laboratory, Navarangpura, Ahmedabad, 380009, India.
Jajaendra Siva Sehu Vara Prasad Neelam,
Astronomy and Astrophysics division, Physical Research Laboratory, Navarangpura, Ahmedabad, 380009, India.
Rishikesh Sharma,
Astronomy and Astrophysics division, Physical Research Laboratory, Navarangpura, Ahmedabad, 380009, India.
Kevikumar Ashokbhai Lad,
Astronomy and Astrophysics division, Physical Research Laboratory, Navarangpura, Ahmedabad, 380009, India.
Ashirbad Nayak,
Astronomy and Astrophysics division, Physical Research Laboratory, Navarangpura, Ahmedabad, 380009, India.
Nikitha Jithendran,
Astronomy and Astrophysics division, Physical Research Laboratory, Navarangpura, Ahmedabad, 380009, India.
Vishal Joshi,
Astronomy and Astrophysics division, Physical Research Laboratory, Navarangpura, Ahmedabad, 380009, India.
Vivek Kumar Mishra,
Astronomy and Astrophysics division, Physical Research Laboratory, Navarangpura, Ahmedabad, 380009, India.
Nafees Ahmed,
Astronomy and Astrophysics division, Physical Research Laboratory, Navarangpura, Ahmedabad, 380009, India.
Abstract
We present here the information on the design and performance of the recently commissioned 2.5-meter telescope at the PRL Mount Abu Observatory, located at Gurushikhar, Mount Abu, India. The telescope has been successfully installed at the site, and the Site Acceptance Test (SAT) was completed in October 2022. It is a highly advanced telescope in India, featuring the Ritchey-Chrétien optical configuration with primary mirror active optics, tip-tilt on sideport, and wave front correction sensors. Along with the telescope, its two first light instruments namely Faint Object Camera (FOC) and PARAS-2 were also integrated and attached with it in the June 2022. FOC is a camera that uses a 4096 X 4112 pixels detector SDSS type filters with enhanced transmission and known as u’, g’, r’, i’, z’. It has a limiting magnitude of 21 mag for 10 minutes exposure in the r’-band. The other first light instrument, PARAS-2, is a state-of-the-art high-resolution fiber-fed spectrograph operating in the 380-690 nm wave-band, aimed to unveil the super-Earth like worlds. The spectrograph works at a resolution of ∼107,000, making it the highest-resolution spectrograph in Asia to date, It is employed in an ultra-stable temperature and pressure environment, at 22.5 ± 0.001 ◦C and 0.005 ± 0.0005 mbar, respectively. Initial calibration tests of the spectrograph using a Uranium Argon Hollow Cathode Lamp (UAr HCL) have yielded intrinsic instrumental RV stability down to 30 cm s−1.
Keywords : Telescope, active optics, tip-tilt, photometry, high-resolution spectroscopy, Radial Velocity, exoplanets, supernovae
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Abhijit Chakraborty, Kapil Kumar Bharadwaj, Jajaendra Siva Sehu Vara Prasad Neelam, Rishikesh Sharma, Kevikumar Ashokbhai Lad, Ashirbad Nayak, Nikitha Jithendran, Vishal Joshi, Vivek Kumar Mishra & Nafees Ahmed, «The PRL 2.5m Telescope and its First Light Instruments: FOC and PARAS-2», Bulletin de la Société Royale des Sciences de Liège [En ligne], Volume 93 - Année 2024, No 2 - Proceeedings of the 3rd BINA Workshop on the Scientific Potential of the Indo-Belgian Cooperation, 68-88 URL : https://popups.uliege.be/0037-9565/index.php?id=11602.
