MAROON-X on the Way!

Andreas Seifahrt and Julian Stuermer (Univ. of Chicago) pose with the Front End unit that will attach to the Gemini Instrument Support Structure to position the optical fiber and provide atmospheric dispersion correction for MAROON-X.

MAROON-X is a new instrument in construction at the University of Chicago which is expected to have the capability to detect Earth-size planets in the habitable zones of mid- to late-M dwarf stars using the radial velocity method. The instrument is a high-resolution, bench-mounted spectrograph designed to deliver 1 meter/second radial velocity precision for M dwarfs down to and beyond V = 16. In order for MAROON-X to come to Gemini as a Visiting Instrument, the team constructed a Front End which will fit on the bottom instrument port at Gemini North and hold the fiber that will run down to the spectrograph located in the pier lab below.

The Front End components are now integrated and tested at the lab in the William Eckhardt Research Center in Chicago, and the pre-ship acceptance test was held at the end of last month. Although the report is still being finalized, the results look good, and we are looking forward to helping the team commission the Front End on the telescope in December using a simple detector, so that we are ready to commission the MAROON-X spectrograph when it arrives next year.