High-Resolution Spectroscopy at the New Weizmann Astrophysical Observatory

The New Weizmann Astrophysical Observatory (WAO), located near Kibbutz Neot Smadar in the South of Israel, will host two telescope arrays: The Large Array Survey Telescope (LAST) and the Multi Aperture Spectroscopic Telescope (MAST). 

In the talk, I will provide an overview of the observatory, with a particular emphasis on HighSpec, a high-resolution spectrograph, and MAST, the telescope array it will be coupled to.

HighSpec offers a high spectral resolution of R ∼ 20, 000 while maintaining an exceptionally high throughput with a peak efficiency of ≳ 55% over a narrow band-pass of ∼ 100 − 170 A for selected spectral lines. This is made possible by using highly optimized ion-etched binary mask gratings and an electron-multiplying CCD (EMCCD) detector.

In addition, I will review the science cases for which HighSpec has been optimized. Its role as a follow-up instrument, supporting both LAST and ULTRASAT, will also be discussed. 

By adopting a bottom-up instrument design approach tailored to address specific astrophysical questions and leveraging the observing flexibility provided by the MAST infrastructure, allowing for both parallel and combined observations, HighSpec, along with its twin instrument DeepSpec, emerge as powerful and unique tools in the field.  

HighSpec is currently undergoing the fabrication phase,  with commissioning expected to commence by mid-late 2023.