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The 3D-NTT spectrograph

The 3D-NTT instrument is a 3rd generation spectro-imager which will be installed as a visitors’ instrument on the ESO NTT telescope at La Silla, Chile. It will offer two observing modes, a low resolution one with a tuneable Fabry-Perot interference filter for low interference orders and a high resolution one with a standard sweeping Fabry-Perot and a filter with synchronous tuning. This instrument is built in partnership with the Laboratoire d’Astronomie de Marseille and the Université de Montréal (Canada).

This instrument is aimed at two key scientific programs. The first consists of the observation of ionized gas in nearby galaxies, which have been observed elsewhere in all possible wavelength domains from the ground and from space. The second is aimed at detecting galaxies with high star formation rates around quasars in order to check if quasars with high luminosity in the ultraviolet inhibit star formation around them. If confirmed, this will put strong constraints on cosmological models.

The 3D-NTT will also allow a large variety of other programs, in particular those dedicated to the study of galaxy evolution. All these programs are particularly well adapted well to the Tuneable Filter mode. The High Resolution mode will make it possible to study the kinematics and dynamics of galactic or extragalactic objects (planetary nebulae, individual galaxies, interacting galaxies, …).