The WEAVE multi-object spectrograph for the William Herschel Telescope ~ Dr Chris Benn (Head of Astronomy, Isaac Newton Group of Teescopes)

The 4.2-m William Herschel Telescope on La Palma is about to get a new lease of life, with the installation of a powerful new multi-object spectrograph, WEAVE, at its prime focus.  WEAVE will allow the WHT to obtain spectra of ~ 1000 stars and galaxies simultaneously.  It will be used to complement huge ongoing surveys by other telescopes.

For example, WEAVE will obtain spectra of several million stars whose radial velocities and proper motions are currently being measured by the Gaia satellite.  By combining the WEAVE and Gaia observations, it will be possible to study in detail how the Milky Way was assembled.

I will talk about the science to be carried out, the design of the spectrograph, and the international collaboration put together to build and use it.

Multimessenger Astronomy:
Two Major Papers from 2018 ~ Dr Tony Baxter