Steele, IA; Marchant, JM; Jermak, HE; Barnsley, RM; Bates, SD; Clay, NR; Fitzsimmons, A; ... de Val-Borro, M; + view all Steele, IA; Marchant, JM; Jermak, HE; Barnsley, RM; Bates, SD; Clay, NR; Fitzsimmons, A; Jehin, E; Jones, G; Mottram, CJ; Smith, RJ; Snodgrass, C; de Val-Borro, M; - view fewer (2016) LOTUS: a low-cost, ultraviolet spectrograph. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society , 460 (4) pp. 4268-4276. 10.1093/mnras/stw1287.

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Abstract

We describe the design, construction and commissioning of a simple, low-cost long-slit spectrograph for the Liverpool Telescope. The design is optimized for near-UV and visible wavelengths and uses all transmitting optics. It exploits the instrument focal plane field curvature to partially correct axial chromatic aberration. A stepped slit provides narrow (2.5 × 95 arcsec) and wide (5 × 25 arcsec) options that are optimized for spectral resolution and flux calibration, respectively. On sky testing shows a wavelength range of 3200–6300 Å with a peak system throughput (including detector quantum efficiency) of 15 per cent and wavelength dependent spectral resolution of R = 225–430. By repeated observations of the symbiotic emission line star AG Peg, we demonstrate the wavelength stability of the system is <2 Å rms and is limited by the positioning of the object in the slit. The spectrograph is now in routine operation monitoring the activity of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko during its current post-perihelion apparition.

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