KSPEC - A NEAR-INFRARED CROSS-DISPERSED SPECTROGRAPH

KSPEC (K-band spectrograph) is an infrared spectrograph designed primarily for spectroscopy in the 2.0-2.5 mu m region. It offers two different optical configurations. The first is a cross-dispersed echelle mode designed to cover the atmospheric windows from 1-2.5 mu m in one spectral frame of a 256X256 format on a NICMOS-3 HgCdTe detector array. This configuration of the spectrograph provides medium spectral resolution (lambda/Delta lambda approximate to 500) for spectral classification work, emission-line detection, and redshift measurements. Alternatively, KSPEC can be equipped with a different spectrograph camera, giving a long-slit, single-order spectrum from 2.05-2.35 mu m. The instrument uses a second NICMOS-3 infrared detector array for slit viewing, to facilitate the acquisition of optically invisible objects, to document the slit position, and to monitor it during long spectroscopic integrations. KSPEC does not contain any moving components, making it a very reliable, relatively low-cost instrument that is easy to use.