The SAURON project – I. The panoramic integral-field spectrograph
/ Authors
R. Bacon, Y. Copin, Guy J. Monnet, B. Miller, J. Allington-Smith, M. Bureau, C. Carollo, R. Davies, E. Emsellem, H. Kuntschner
and 3 more authors
/ Abstract
A new integral-field spectrograph, SAURON, is described. It is based on the TIGER principle, and uses a lenslet array. SAURON has a large field of view and high throughput, and allows simultaneous sky subtraction. Its design is optimized for studies of the stellar kinematics, gas kinematics, and line-strength distributions of nearby early-type galaxies. The instrument design and specifications are described, as well as the extensive analysis software which was developed to obtain fully calibrated spectra, and the associated kinematic and line-strength measurements. A companion paper will report on the first results obtained with SAURON on the William Herschel Telescope.
Journal: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society