Progress with 6dF: a multi-object spectroscopy system for all-sky surveys

摘要

6dF is a fully-automated front-end for the multi-object fiber-coupled spectroscopy system of the UK Schmidt Telescope (UKST). It is a magnetic pick-place system with an positioning robot, and it will replace the manually- configured FLAIR front-end that has been operated on the telescope in its present form since 1992. The one-hour reconfiguration time of 6dF makes a range of projects possible that could not be contemplated with FLAIR. Most notable of these is the 6dF Galaxy Survey, a two-part survey of redshifts and peculiar velocities that will become the main task of the Schmidt-Telescope once 6dF is commissioned late in 2000. This will eventually lead to a determination of the large-scale distribution of mass density in the local Universe, which will be a significant achievement for a telescope in the 1-m class. The instrument will be capable of carrying out other survey projects, and 6dF spectroscopy will be the UKSTs main science product for at least the next five years. A notable aspect of 6dF has been the very rapid progress made in its construction by the Anglo-Australian Observatory's Instrumentation Division.