Multi-object spectroscopic capability at the Canada France Hawaii Telescope: the MSE pathfinder

Abstract

MSE/CFHT plan to develop an end-to-end Pathfinder or for the Maunakea Spectroscopic Explorer (MSE). The MSE Project office is developing a new massively multiplexed spectroscopic facility on the site of the existing CFHT. MSE has currently passed its externally vetted Conceptual Design Stage. It will be a minimum 11-meter aperture telescope feeding 4000-10,000 fibers mated to a battery of medium and high-resolution spectrographs in the visible and NIR. The goal of the Pathfinder will be to fast-track technology development for MSE by demonstrating on-sky the ability of the major components of MSE and the major software packages in parallel with producing an initial science product that can be shared with the community. Among the primary science goals of the Pathfinder are time-domain astrophysics, specifically spectroscopic follow-up of transients identified by facilities such as Rubin Observatory and Zwicky Transient Factory to optimize their identification and classification; galactic archeology; and the spectroscopy of stars for stellar abundance studies and stellar evolution studies. The end-to-end Pathfinder will be a multi-object spectrograph fed at prime focus from the Canada France Hawaii telescope. It will utilize the same MSE spectrograph design with a multiplexing of ~800-1400 fibers using the same fiber positioner technology as MSE. The Pathfinder will prototype the software architecture for MSE including, scheduling; targeting; data reduction and analysis; and data management, archiving and database manipulation.