The Cosmic Web Imager: An integral field spectrograph for the Hale Telescope at Palomar Observatory: Instrument design and first results

摘要

We describe the Cosmic Web Imager (CWI), a UV-VIS integral field spectrograph designed for the Hale 200" telescope at the Palomar Observatory. CWI has been built specifically for the observation of diffuse radiation. The instrument field of view is 60" x 40" with spectral resolving power of R ~5000 and seeing limited spatial resolution. It utilizes volume phase holographic gratings and is intended to cover the spectral range 3800Å to 9500Å with an instantaneous bandwidth of ~450Å. CWI saw first light in July 2009, and conducted its first successful scientific observations in May 2010.