Optical/U-band Instrument Science Workshop was held

At the TAO site high atmospheric transmittance is expected not only in the infrared but also in the U bands (wavelength below 400 nm or 4000Å) due to the high elevation. Therefore, as a 2nd generation instrument for the TAO telescope, we started a conceptual study of an optical imager/spectrograph optimized for the U band.

As for the study of the instrument, a kick-off meeting was held in 2013, and several meeting have been held thereafter. Following them, on July 15, 2014, a mini workshop to discuss science cases in a wavelength range of 300-400 nm and requirements for the instrument was held, with 13 contributed talks and about 30 participants from the University of Tokyo, the National Astronomical Observatory, Tohoku University etc., including participation in TV conference (4 locations).

Participants in Mitaka

The U band contains a lot of important information. Since new discoveries are expected in the future, a wide range of observations are proposed, from solar system objects to stars, supernovae, and gravitational wave objects. In particular, the physical quantity obtained from spectroscopic observations may provide us the fundamental information of the target object. For each proposal, lively discussions were made, including many questions and comments from the standpoint of different fields, which clearly demonstrates that the U band observation delivers a new scientific aspect to TAO project.