On the way to professional measurements

Thanks to a substantial public grant, we were able to finance a spectrograph for our large telescope. With this instrument we will be able to perform professional measurements of stars and participate in the search for exoplanets. The instrument was designed and realized at Macquarie University in Sydney. The main developer Prof. Dr. Christian Schwab now visited the school observatory to discuss and define mechanical and optical interfaces between telescope and spectrograph. The implementation in Europe is carried out by the Katholieke Universiteit in Leuven, Belgium. The central optical and mechanical components have already arrived there and are now being tested in the laboratory. By the end of September, the spectrograph is to be put into operation for the first time in order to coordinate various subsystems.