The PRL 2.5m Telescope and its First Light Instruments: FOC & PARAS-2 (2401.07715v1)

Abstract: We present here the information on the design and performance of the recently commissioned 2.5-meter telescope at the PRL Mount Abu Observatory, located at Gurushikhar, Mount Abu, India. The telescope has been successfully installed at the site, and the Site Acceptance Test (SAT) was completed in October 2022. It is a highly advanced telescope in India, featuring the Ritchey-Chr$\acute{e}$tien optical configuration with primary mirror active optics, tip-tilt on side-port, and wave front correction sensors. Along with the telescope, its two first light instruments {namely Faint Object Camera (FOC) and PARAS-2} were also integrated and attached with it in the June 2022. {FOC is a} camera that uses a 4096 X 4112 pixels detector SDSS type filters with enhanced transmission and known as u', g', r', i', z'. It has a limiting magnitude of 21 mag in 10 minutes exposure in the r'-band. The other first light instrument PARAS-2 is a state-of-the-art high-resolution fiber-fed spectrograph operates in 380-690 nm wave-band, aimed to unveil the super-Earth like worlds. The spectrograph works at a resolution of $\sim$107,000, making it the highest-resolution spectrograph in Asia to date, which is under {ultra}-stable temperature and pressure environment, at 22.5 $\pm$ 0.001 $^{\circ}$C and 0.005 $\pm$ 0.0005 mbar, respectively. Initial calibration tests of the spectrograph using a Uranium Argon Hollow Cathode Lamp (UAr HCL) have yielded intrinsic instrumental RV stability down to 30 cm s$^{-1}$.