An Échelle Grating for the 74-inch Coudé

Abstract

As the night sky near Canberra grows brighter each year, many of the traditional areas of investigation at Mount Stromlo are suffering, and work in these fields is shifting to Siding Spring Mountain, near Coonabarabran, N.S.W. One of several projects designed to ensure the continued productivity of the 74-inch reflector at Mount Stromlo as conditions change has been the installation of an échelle grating system in the coudé focus of the telescope. This will allow very high dispersion work on bright stars, and should be littles affected by nearby city lights.