SING: Spectroscopic Investigations of Nebular Gas
SING is a near ultraviolet (NUV) spectrograph chosen to fly on the Chinese Space Station (CSS) through a joint announcement of opportunity by the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) and the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA).
The primary science objective is to study the physical conditions in extended regions of the sky, from hot gas in supernova remnants (SNR) to the warm gas in planetary nebulae to cold gas in molecular clouds.
SING will be mounted on the CSS, scanning the sky as the space station orbits earth. Data collected by the spectrograph over its mission life will generate a spectroscopic map of the sky in the wavelength range 140 - 270nm, at a spectral resolution of 0.3nm at 200nm.
Design, realization and calibration of SING forms the heart of the PhD thesis of Bharat Chandra (2024).
Specifications
SING is equipped with a 300mm on-axis concave primary mirror. Grating is a 70mm flat-field concave, with a dispersion of 3.25 nm/mm and groove density 1200 lines/mm. Since the spectral resolution worsens towards the edge of the field, we have employed a dumbbell shape slit. Primary and secondary baffles are incorporated to minimize stray light.
Status
SING is assembled and calibrated. The payload is currently stored in the Clean room at the MGK Menon Laboratory for Space Sciences, Indian Institute of Astrophysics.
Publications
- Chandra, Bharat, et al, Spectroscopic Investigation of Nebular Gas (SING): instrument design, assembly and calibration, Experimental Astronomy, Volume 57, Issue 3, article id.18 (2024)
- Chandra, Bharat, et al, Spectroscopic Investigation of Nebular Gas (SING): instrument design, assembly and testing, Proceedings of the SPIE, Volume 13093, id. 1309336 8 pp. (2024)
- Sachkov M. et al, The Indo-Russian UV Spectrograph Project for the Chinese Space Station (SING), Solar System Research, Volume 55, Issue 7, p.688-691 (2021)
- Chandra, Bharat. et al, Spectroscopic Investigation Of Nebular Gas (SING): a dedicated NUV spectrograph to study extended objects from a stable space platform, Proceedings of the SPIE, Volume 11444, id. 1144476 7 pp. (2020)
- Sachkov M. et al, Spectroscopic Investigation of Nebular Gas (SING): general objectives and preliminary optical layout , INASAN Science Reports, Volume 5(6), pp. 374-379 (2020)
- Chandra, Bharat. et al, Spectroscopic Investigation of Nebular Gas (SING): a dedicated NUV spectrograph to study extended objects, Proceedings of the SPIE, Volume 11203, id. 112031K 8 pp. (2020)