PALM-3000

Precision-Wavefront Science on the 5.1 Meter Hale Telescope at Palomar Mountain

Treat as Caltech Proprietary

Unique Science Capabilities

•     Access to visible spectral bands (predominantly R-band, down to H-alpha)
•     Improved imaging resolution
•     Improved photometric precision in J, H, K (up to 94% Strehl, sigma_SR ~ 1.5%)
•     Improved contrast (in both IR and red)

PALM-3000 Instrumentation

•     PHARO 1k x 1k HgCdTe J, H, K band imager (40" FoV), grism slit spectrograph (R~1500), Lyot coronagraph - Existing instrument
•     Oxford SWIFT visible 44 x 89 IFU spectrograph (spatial scales 0.08", 0.16", 0.23"; R~4300) - Fully funded, Expected arrival at Palomar in 2008
•     Proposed red-enhanced visible CCD imager (4k x 4k w/ ~10 mas pixels) - Not yet funded
•     AMNH speckle suppression 100x100 IFU coronagraph (R~50, few arcsec FoV) - Fully funded, to be not precluded for Palomar
•     High-speed/speckle imager (Lucky Imaging down to 0.4um?) - Suggestion

* 06_MRI_Project_Description_v26.pdf: As submitted Project Description