Probing the Dark Ages: MOMFIS, a multi-object multi-field IR spectrometer instrument concept for OWL
J.-G. Cuby¹, J.-P. Kneib¹, E. Prieto¹, P.-E. Blanc¹, F. Hammer², P. Jagourel², M. Marteaud², P. Vola^2
1 LAM, Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille ² GEPI, Observatoire Paris-Meudon

A highlight science case for the European ELT is: First light - The First Galaxies and the Ionization State of the Early Universe. It aims at peering into the Dark Ages when the Universe was being re-ionized to observe and characterize the first sources of light and understand the origin of the galaxies and of their formation. Understanding this key epoch of the Universe is one of the main quests of today's observational cosmology, and requires the following exquisite instrument capabilities on an ELT: a few tens of integral field units with spatial sampling ~ 20 mas and individual fields of ~ 1" over a wide field of view of 5' x 5' or larger. Multi-Object Adaptive Optics is required to locally provide significant image quality enhancement. Spectroscopic observations are required in the near IR domain with a spectral resolution of a few thousand. MOMFIS is a preliminary instrument concept designed for OWL around this science case. The instrument concept and preliminary design are presented. Development efforts are estimated, as well as development risks and required R&D activities.

---

File translated from T_EX by T_TH, version 3.33.
On 20 Oct 2005, 17:41.