ESPaDOnS is an ongoing Franco-Canadian project for a new bright time instrument, a cross-dispersed échelle spectrograph/spectropolarimeter, for general community use at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT). This instrument will be able to obtain:
a complete
optical spectrum (i.e. from 370 to 1,000 nm) in a single exposure with a resolving
power of about 50,000;
all
polarisation components of the stellar light (circular and linear) with the same
resolving power;
20% peak total
throughput (telescope and detector included).
ESPaDOnS will be a unique instrument worldwide
in polarimetric mode, competitive with similar instruments on
8 m class telescopes in non-polarimetric mode.
With the new facility, French and Canadian astronomers will be able to address with
unprecedented detail a broad range of important issues in stellar
physics, from studies of stellar interiors, to investigations of stellar atmospheres,
stellar surfaces,
stellar magnetic fields,
and to observations of circumstellar environments and
extrasolar planets.
More information on ESPaDOnS can be found below on:
the scientific drivers;
the
technical characteristics;
the
expected performances;
the
total cost, project team and updated agenda.
Donati J.-F. ,
``ESPaDOnS: An Echelle SpectroPolarimetric Device for the
Observation of Stars at CFHT'',
in: Trujillo Bueno J., Sanchez Almeida J. (eds.),
proceedings of the Solar Polarisation Workshop #3 (2003).
ASP Conf. Series (in press).
Donati J.-F. , Catala C., Landstreet J.D.,
``ESPaDOnS: An Echelle SpectroPolarimetric
Device for the Observation of Stars at CFHT'',
in: Martin P., Rucinski S. (eds.), `proceedings of the ``fifth CFHT users'
meeting'' (1998). p. 50
© Jean-François Donati, last update on 2003 Jun. 16