IACUB - A NEW ECHELLE SPECTROGRAPH FOR USE AT THE OBSERVATORIO-DEL-ROQUE-DE-LOS-MUCHACHOS

An uncrossed echelle spectrograph has been constructed in a collaborat ion between the Queen's University of Belfast and the Instituto de Ast rofisica de Canarias for a series of joint investigations requiring ve ry high spectral resolution observations (up to lambda/DELTAlambda app roximately 10(5)). It is being used to observe stellar and interstella r lines over the wavelength range lambdalambda 3100 angstrom to 1.1 mu m at the Cassegrain focus of the 2.5 m Nordic Optical Telescope at the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos on the Canary island of La Pa lma. In this paper we present the design and laboratory performance of the spectrograph, as well as the first results obtained after a commi ssioning run devoted to the measurement of Be and Li abundances in met al-deficient stars, of K and Na lines in the interstellar medium, and of the emission line spectrum in planetary nebulae.