MOONS : The multi-object optical and near-infrared spectrograph for the vlt

Cirasuolo, M. and Afonso, J. and Carollo, M. and Flores, H. and Maiolino, R. and Oliva, E. and Paltani, S. and Vanzi, Leonardo and Evans, Christopher and Abreu, M. and Atkinson, David and Babusiaux, C. and Beard, Steven and Bauer, F. and Bellazzini, M. and Bender, Ralf and Best, P. and Bezawada, N. and Bonifacio, P. and Bragaglia, A. and Bryson, I. and Busher, D. and Cabral, A. and Caputi, K. and Centrone, M. and Chemla, F. and Cimatti, A. and Cioni, M. R. and Clementini, G. and Coelho, J. and Crnojevic, D. and Daddi, E. and Dunlop, J. and Eales, S. and Feltzing, S. and Ferguson, A. and Fisher, M. and Fontana, A. and Fynbo, J. and Garilli, B. and Gilmore, G. and Glauser, A. and Guinouard, I. and Hammer, F. and Hastings, P. and Hess, A. and Ivison, R. and Jagourel, P. and Jarvis, M. and Kaper, L. and Kauffman, G. and Kitching, A. T. and Lawrence, A. and Lee, D. and Lemasle, B. and Licausi, G. and Lilly, S. and Lorenzetti, D. and Lunney, D. and Maiolino, R. and Mannucci, F. and McLure, R. and Minniti, D. and Montgomery, D. and Muschielok, B. and Nandra, K. and Navarro, R. and Norberg, P. and Oliver, S. and Origlia, L. and Padilla, N. and Peacock, J. and Pedicini, F. and Peng, J. and Pentericci, L. and Pragt, J. and Puech, M. and Randich, S. and Rees, P. and Renzini, A. and Ryde, N. and Rodrigues, M. and Roseboom, I. and Royer, F. and Saglia, R. and Sanchez, A. and Schiavon, R. and Schnetler, H. and Sobral, David and Speziali, R. and Sun, D. and Stuik, R. and Taylor, A. and Todd, S. and Tolstoy, E. and Torres, M. and Tosi, M. and Vanzella, E. and Venema, L. and Vitali, F. and Wegner, M. and Wells, M. and Wild, V. and Wright, G. and Zamorani, G. and Zoccali, M. (2014) MOONS : The multi-object optical and near-infrared spectrograph for the vlt. Proceedings of SPIE, 9147: 91470N. ISSN 0277-786X

Abstract

MOONS is a new Multi-Object Optical and Near-infrared Spectrograph selected by ESO as a third generation instrument for the Very Large Telescope (VLT). The grasp of the large collecting area offered by the VLT (8.2m diameter), combined with the large multiplex and wavelength coverage (optical to near-IR: 0.8μm - 1.8μm) of MOONS will provide the European astronomical community with a powerful, unique instrument able to pioneer a wide range of Galactic, Extragalactic and Cosmological studies and provide crucial follow-up for major facilities such as Gaia, VISTA, Euclid and LSST. MOONS has the observational power needed to unveil galaxy formation and evolution over the entire history of the Universe, from stars in our Milky Way, through the redshift desert, and up to the epoch of very first galaxies and re-ionization of the Universe at redshift z>8-9, just few million years after the Big Bang. On a timescale of 5 years of observations, MOONS will provide high quality spectra for >3M stars in our Galaxy and the local group, and for 1-2M galaxies at z>1 (SDSS-like survey), promising to revolutionise our understanding of the Universe. The baseline design consists of ∼1000 fibers deployable over a field of view of ∼500 square arcmin, the largest patrol field offered by the Nasmyth focus at the VLT. The total wavelength coverage is 0.8μm-1.8μm and two resolution modes: medium resolution and high resolution. In the medium resolution mode (R∼4,000-6,000) the entire wavelength range 0.8μm-1.8μm is observed simultaneously, while the high resolution mode covers simultaneously three selected spectral regions: one around the CaII triplet (at R∼8,000) to measure radial velocities, and two regions at R∼20,000 one in the J-band and one in the H-band, for detailed measurements of chemical abundances.