SPECTRE: A low-resolution spectrograph concept for IRTF

Michael Connelley (IfA/IRTF)

Spectre is a new instrument concept for IRTF that is optimized for the rapid characterization
of asteroids and transient astrophysical objects.  Spectre is an IFU prism spectrograph with
simultaneous coverage from 300 nm to 4.2 microns at a spectral resolution of R~100.  In addition
to being the first visible light spectrograph on IRTF, Spectre will have approximately twice the
throughput of SpeX in the near-IR. This instrument will have no moving optics to reduce
complexity and improve observing efficiency.  Specter's software is key to the instruments
success, from real time data reduction and visualization, to an efficient user interface and
guiding on fast moving targets.  This talk will describe the current optical design, software
requirements, science cases, and project status.