ECHARPE: a fiber-fed echelle spectrograph for the Pico dos Dias Observatory Tania P. Dominici* a , Bruno Castilho a , Clemens D. Gneiding a , Bernard A. Delabre b , Vanessa B.P. Macanhan a , Marcio V. de Arruda a , Antonio C. de Oliveira a , Jorge Melendez c , Luiz P. R. Vaz d , Wagner J.B. Corradi d , Gabriel A.P. Franco d , Jose D. do Nascimento Jr. e , Germano R. Quast a , Gustavo F. Porto de Mello f a Laboratório Nacional de Astrofísica, Rua Estados Unidos, 154, Bairro das Nações, Itajubá, 37504- 364, MG - Brazil; b European Southern Observatory, Garchin - Germany, c Departamento de Astronomia, IAG/USP, São Paulo, SP – Brazil, d Departamento de Física-ICEx-UFMG, Belo Horizonte, MG - Brazil, e Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Departamento de Física, Natal, RN - Brazil, f Observatório do Valongo, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ - Brazil ABSTRACT At least during the last ten years, the Brazilian astronomical community has been asking for an echelle spectrograph for the 1.6 m telescope installed at Pico dos Dias Observatory (Brazópolis, MG, Brazil, OPD/MCTI/LNA). Among the scientific cases are topics related to the chemical evolution of the Galaxy, asteroseismology, chemical composition and chromospheric activities of solar type stars and the relations between solar analogues and terrestrial planets. During 2009 the project finally got started. The called ECHARPE spectrograph (Espectrógrafo ECHelle de Alta Resolução para o telescópio Perkin-Elmer) is being projected to offer a spectral resolution of R ~ 50000, in the range 390-900 nm and with a single exposition. It will be a bench spectrograph with two channels: blue and red, fed by two optical fibers (object, sky or calibration) with aperture of 1.5 or 2.0 arcseconds. The instrument will be placed in one of the telescope pillar ramification, in the originals installations of a Coudé spectrograph and in a specially created environment controlled room. In this work we will present the scientific motivations, the conceptual optical design, the expected performance of the spectrograph, and the status of its development. ECHARPE is expected to be delivered to the astronomical community in 2014, fully prepared and optimized for remote operations. Keywords: spectrograph, echelle, Pico dos Dias Observatory, OPD, high resolution spectroscopy, ECHARPE *tdominici@lna.br; phone +55 35 3629-8114; fax +55 35 3623-1544; www.lna.br 1. INTRODUCTION In the last few years, it is clear the increase of the international astronomical community interest in the availability of high resolution spectrographs. It is justified, for example, by the fast development in extrasolar planets searches, which have consequences for several other subjects, like asteroseismology and the chemical evolution of the Galaxy. Even telescopes with moderate apertures can contribute by surveying different kinds and samples of objects and these observations will be fundamental for the optimal use of the next generation of large telescopes. In this context, an echelle spectrograph is also a desire of the users’ community for the 1.6 m telescope of the Pico dos Dias Observatory, located in Brazópolis (Minas Gerais, Brazil, at 1864 m) and operated by the National Laboratory of Astrophysics (LNA). In 2009, we started to work in the concept of the spectrograph, named ECHARPE (ECHelle de Alta Resolução para o Perkin-Elmer). The spectrograph is being projected to offer a spectral resolution of R ~ 50000, in the interval 390-900 nm and in a single exposition. It will be a bench spectrograph with two channels: blue and red, fed by two optical fibers (object, sky or calibration) with aperture of 1.5 or 2.0 arcseconds. An artistic impression is shown in Figure 1. Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy IV, edited by Ian S. McLean, Suzanne K. Ramsay, Hideki Takami, Proc. of SPIE Vol. 8446, 844636 · © 2012 SPIE · CCC code: 0277-786X/12/$18 · doi: 10.1117/12.925674 Proc. of SPIE Vol. 8446 844636-1 Downloaded From: http://proceedings.spiedigitallibrary.org/ on 03/27/2013 Terms of Use: http://spiedl.org/terms