The Maunakea Spectroscopic Explorer

Abstract

The Maunakea Spectroscopic Explorer (MSE) is the first of a future generation of massively multiplexed spectroscopic facilities. Building upon the success of imminent survey projects such as SDSS-V, DESI, and PFS, MSE is designed to enable truly transformative science, being completely dedicated to large-scale multi-object spectroscopic surveys, each studying thousands to millions of astrophysical objects. MSE will use an 11.25 m aperture telescope to feed 4,332 fibers over a 1.5 square degree field of view and has the capability to observe at a range of spectral resolutions, from R~3,000 to R~40,000, with all spectral resolutions available at all times across the entire field. With these capabilities, MSE will collect more than 10 million fiber-hours of 10m-class spectroscopic observations every year and is designed to excel at precision studies of large samples of faint astrophysical targets.