"SPECIAL SEMINAR: Optical Spectroscopy with Starbugs, from TAIPAN to the Giant Magellan Telescope"

 

 

 

The majority of astronomical fiber-fed spectroscopic instruments rely on sequential positioning of fibers that require significant time (up to an hour in some cases) to reconfigure a field for observation, thus reducing the amount of on-sky time available for any instrument.  Starbugs, a novel fiber-positioning technology developed by the Australian Astronomical Observatory, allow for simultaneous positioning of hundreds of fibers.  Enabled by this new technology, future instruments are being designed to take advantage of a much faster observing cadence -- with possibly as little as two minutes between observations.

I will detail the operating principles of Starbugs, as well as results of the first on-sky tests using the UK Schmidt Telescope at Siding Spring Observatory. I will also describe the TAIPAN instrument, which is being constructed with 150 Starbugs at its heart and will soon engage in a southern hemisphere survey of hundreds of thousands of galaxies and stars.  I will conclude with a look forward to MANIFEST, the Many-Instrument Fibre Positioner System that will deploy Starbugs on the Giant Magellan Telescope to greatly enhance the scientific capabilities of that extremely large telescope.