Conception of a near-IR spectrometer for ground-based observations of massive stars

In our contribution, we outline the different steps in the design of a fiber-fed spectrographic instrument that intends to observe massive stars. Starting from the derivation of theoretical relationships from the scientific requirements and telescope characteristics, the entire optical design of the spectrograph is presented. Specific optical elements, such as a toroidal lens, are introduced to improve the instrument’s performances. Then, the verification of predicted optical performances is investigated through optical analyses such as resolution checking. Eventually, the star positioning system onto the central fiber core is explained.Massive stars: drivers of the evolution of the Univers

Spectral Imager of the Solar Atmosphere: The First Extreme-Ultraviolet Solar Integral Field Spectrograph Using Slicers

Particle acceleration, and the thermalisation of energetic particles, are fundamental processes across the universe. Whilst the Sun is an excellent object to study this phenomenon, since it is the most energetic particle accelerator in the Solar System, this phenomenon arises in many other astrophysical objects, such as active galactic nuclei, black holes, neutron stars, gamma ray bursts, solar and stellar coronae, accretion disks and planetary magnetospheres. Observations in the Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) are essential for these studies but can only be made from space. Current spectrographs operating in the EUV use an entrance slit and cover the required field of view using a scanning mechanism. This results in a relatively slow image cadence in the order of minutes to capture inherently rapid and transient processes, and/or in the spectrograph slit ‘missing the action’. The application of image slicers for EUV integral field spectrographs is therefore revolutionary. The development of this technology will enable the observations of EUV spectra from an entire 2D field of view in seconds, over two orders of magnitude faster than what is currently possible. The Spectral Imaging of the Solar Atmosphere (SISA) instrument is the first integral field spectrograph proposed for observations at ∼180 Å combining the image slicer technology and curved diffraction gratings in a highly efficient and compact layout, while providing important spectroscopic diagnostics for the characterisation of solar coronal and flare plasmas. SISA’s characteristics, main challenges, and the on-going activities to enable the image slicer technology for EUV applications are presented in this paper

Spectral Imager of the Solar Atmosphere: The First Extreme-Ultraviolet Solar Integral Field Spectrograph Using Slicers

© 2024 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).Particle acceleration, and the thermalisation of energetic particles, are fundamental processes across the universe. Whilst the Sun is an excellent object to study this phenomenon, since it is the most energetic particle accelerator in the Solar System, this phenomenon arises in many other astrophysical objects, such as active galactic nuclei, black holes, neutron stars, gamma ray bursts, solar and stellar coronae, accretion disks and planetary magnetospheres. Observations in the Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) are essential for these studies but can only be made from space. Current spectrographs operating in the EUV use an entrance slit and cover the required field of view using a scanning mechanism. This results in a relatively slow image cadence in the order of minutes to capture inherently rapid and transient processes, and/or in the spectrograph slit ‘missing the action’. The application of image slicers for EUV integral field spectrographs is therefore revolutionary. The development of this technology will enable the observations of EUV spectra from an entire 2D field of view in seconds, over two orders of magnitude faster than what is currently possible. The Spectral Imaging of the Solar Atmosphere (SISA) instrument is the first integral field spectrograph proposed for observations at ∼180 Å combining the image slicer technology and curved diffraction gratings in a highly efficient and compact layout, while providing important spectroscopic diagnostics for the characterisation of solar coronal and flare plasmas. SISA’s characteristics, main challenges, and the on-going activities to enable the image slicer technology for EUV applications are presented in this paper.H.A.S.R. and S.A.M. were funded by the UK Science, Technology, and Facilities Council (STFC) under the consolidated grant ST/W001004/1. H.A.S.R. also acknowledges funding from STFC grant ST/X002012/1. G.D.Z. acknowledges support from STFC via the consolidated grants to the atomic astrophysics group at DAMTP, University of Cambridge (ST/P000665/1. and ST/T000481/1). J.D. acknowledges the Czech National Science Foundation, Grant No. GACR 22-07155S, as well as institutional support RWO:67985815 from the Czech Academy of Sciences. G.S.K. acknowledges financial support from NASA’s Early Career Investigator Program (Grant# NASA 80NSSC21K0460) as well as from the PHaSER cooperative agreement (80NSSC21M0180). D.O.S. acknowledges financial support from the grants AEI/MCIN/10.13039/501100011033/ (RTI2018-096886-C5, PID2021-125325OB-C5, PCI2022-135009-2) and ERDF “A way of making Europe” and “Center of Excellence Severo Ochoa” award to IAA-CSIC (CEX2021-001131-S). L.A.H. and S.M. are supported by ESA Research Fellowships. A.C.R. acknowledges the ETP funding programme of the UK Space Agency and Durham University Seedcorn Funding.With funding from the Spanish government through the ‘Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence’ accreditation (CEX2021-001131-S).Peer reviewe

The Solar Particle Acceleration Radiation and Kinetics (SPARK) Mission Concept

© 2023by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY), https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Particle acceleration is a fundamental process arising in many astrophysical objects, including active galactic nuclei, black holes, neutron stars, gamma-ray bursts, accretion disks, solar and stellar coronae, and planetary magnetospheres. Its ubiquity means energetic particles permeate the Universe and influence the conditions for the emergence and continuation of life. In our solar system, the Sun is the most energetic particle accelerator, and its proximity makes it a unique laboratory in which to explore astrophysical particle acceleration. However, despite its importance, the physics underlying solar particle acceleration remain poorly understood. The SPARK mission will reveal new discoveries about particle acceleration through a uniquely powerful and complete combination of γ-ray, X-ray, and EUV imaging and spectroscopy at high spectral, spatial, and temporal resolutions. SPARK’s instruments will provide a step change in observational capability, enabling fundamental breakthroughs in our understanding of solar particle acceleration and the phenomena associated with it, such as the evolution of solar eruptive events. By providing essential diagnostics of the processes that drive the onset and evolution of solar flares and coronal mass ejections, SPARK will elucidate the underlying physics of space weather events that can damage satellites and power grids, disrupt telecommunications and GPS navigation, and endanger astronauts in space. The prediction of such events and the mitigation of their potential impacts are crucial in protecting our terrestrial and space-based infrastructure.Peer reviewe

The Solar Particle Acceleration Radiation and Kinetics (SPARK) mission concept

Particle acceleration is a fundamental process arising in many astrophysical objects, including active galactic nuclei, black holes, neutron stars, gamma-ray bursts, accretion disks, solar and stellar coronae, and planetary magnetospheres. Its ubiquity means energetic particles permeate the Universe and influence the conditions for the emergence and continuation of life. In our solar system, the Sun is the most energetic particle accelerator, and its proximity makes it a unique laboratory in which to explore astrophysical particle acceleration. However, despite its importance, the physics underlying solar particle acceleration remain poorly understood. The SPARK mission will reveal new discoveries about particle acceleration through a uniquely powerful and complete combination of γ-ray, X-ray, and EUV imaging and spectroscopy at high spectral, spatial, and temporal resolutions. SPARK’s instruments will provide a step change in observational capability, enabling fundamental breakthroughs in our understanding of solar particle acceleration and the phenomena associated with it, such as the evolution of solar eruptive events. By providing essential diagnostics of the processes that drive the onset and evolution of solar flares and coronal mass ejections, SPARK will elucidate the underlying physics of space weather events that can damage satellites and power grids, disrupt telecommunications and GPS navigation, and endanger astronauts in space. The prediction of such events and the mitigation of their potential impacts are crucial in protecting our terrestrial and space-based infrastructure

The Solar Particle Acceleration Radiation and Kinetics (SPARK) Mission Concept

Particle acceleration is a fundamental process arising in many astrophysical objects, including active galactic nuclei, black holes, neutron stars, gamma-ray bursts, accretion disks, solar and stellar coronae, and planetary magnetospheres. Its ubiquity means energetic particles permeate the Universe and influence the conditions for the emergence and continuation of life. In our solar system, the Sun is the most energetic particle accelerator, and its proximity makes it a unique laboratory in which to explore astrophysical particle acceleration. However, despite its importance, the physics underlying solar particle acceleration remain poorly understood. The SPARK mission will reveal new discoveries about particle acceleration through a uniquely powerful and complete combination of γ-ray, X-ray, and EUV imaging and spectroscopy at high spectral, spatial, and temporal resolutions. SPARK’s instruments will provide a step change in observational capability, enabling fundamental breakthroughs in our understanding of solar particle acceleration and the phenomena associated with it, such as the evolution of solar eruptive events. By providing essential diagnostics of the processes that drive the onset and evolution of solar flares and coronal mass ejections, SPARK will elucidate the underlying physics of space weather events that can damage satellites and power grids, disrupt telecommunications and GPS navigation, and endanger astronauts in space. The prediction of such events and the mitigation of their potential impacts are crucial in protecting our terrestrial and space-based infrastructure

Conception d'un spectrographe proche-infrarouge pour l'observation des étoiles massives

This research contribution intends to introduce the conception of a new fiber-fed spectrograph, called NƎSIE, that operates in the near-infrared domain. This PhD thesis was part of a research project led by Prof. Rauw which focuses on massive stars. The final location of NƎSIE will be the TIGRE telescope located in La Luz, Mexico. The observational data provided by this instrument will help several research groups from the University of Liège to study massive stars. In particularly, evolution models will be improved through the comparison of the collected spectra with theoretical models. This collaboration will therefore contribute to a better understanding of massive stars and the mechanisms that take place within these extraordinary objects.Ce travail de recherche a pour intention de présenter la conception d’un nouveau spectrographe, appelé NƎSIE, alimenté par fibres optiques qui opère dans le domaine proche-infrarouge. Cette thèse de doctorat faisait partie d’un projet de recherche mené par le Prof. Rauw centré sur les étoiles massives. La destination finale de NƎSIE sera le télescope TIGRE qui se trouve à La Luz au Mexique. Les données observationnelles fournies par cet instrument aideront plusieurs groupes de recherche de l’Université de Liège à étudier les étoiles massives. Plus particulièrement, des modèles d’évolution seront améliorés au travers de comparaisons entre les spectres collectés et les modèles théoriques. Cette collaboration contribuera dès lors à une meilleure compréhension des étoiles massives et des phénomènes qui se déroulent au sein de ces objets extraordinaires.Massive stars: drivers of the evolution of the univers

Design, assembly and test of a near-infrared spectrograph for the TIGRE telescope

The presentation introduces the different major steps of the design of a near-infrared spectrograph that will be installed at the TIGRE telescope, Mexico.Massive stars: drivers of the evolution of the Univers

Feasibility of a UV imager onboard a Cubesat platform

This Master thesis presents the feasibility study of an ultraviolet imager onboard a Cubesat platform. The goal is to observe the Io's torus with the help of a triple unit Cubesat. Similar projects are studied to identify possible components for the mission. A mission analysis is carried out to highlight suitable intervals of time to observe the Io's torus when considering different orbits. Then optical design processes are performed to obtain a telescope that fits in the Cubesat platform. Eventually a final design that fulfils all the scientific requirements is introduced and a few perspectives are proposed for the future studies

Conception of a near-infrared spectrometer for ground-based observations of massive stars

In our contribution, we outline the different steps in the design of a fiber-fed spectrographic instrument for stellar astrophysics. Starting from the derivation of theoretical relationships from the scientific requirements and telescope characteristics, the entire optical design of the spectrograph is presented. Specific optical elements, such as a toroidal lens, are introduced to improve the instrument’s efficiency. Then the verification of predicted optical performances is investigated through optical analyses, such as resolution checking.Massive stars: drivers of the evolution of the Univers