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This answer to How will microshutter arrays be used in the James Webb and future space telescopes? explains how multiple objects can be selected so that the throughput of a spectrometer can be enhanced (with some compromises somewhere) by recording spectra of more than one object at a time. The answer is worth a read if you haven't read it yet.

Another technique to get multiple spectra from a single telescope is to place (and sometimes articulate) high quality optical fibers at may locations at the focal plane. These days the number of fibers and objects can number in the thousands, so the output of several fibers can be lined up along the slit one spectrometer, and multiple spectrometers can also be used.

But here I'd like to look back in time to understand the beginnings of this technology.

Question: How were "microshutters" or other multiplexed or multi-object techniques first used in Astronomical spectroscopy to capture spectra from multiple object?

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    $\begingroup$ Do prism plates count? Taking images through a prism gives you a spectrum of every object in the field. $\endgroup$
    – ProfRob
    Commented Aug 21, 2021 at 8:30
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    $\begingroup$ @ProfRob that is such a notable first that it really should be an answer here. I'm also interested in when the first micro-shutters or multiple objects with fibers were done, maybe I can keep this question general (and thus the prism plate would almost certainly be the right answer) and ask separately about those other two. Does that sounds like a good way to proceed? $\endgroup$
    – uhoh
    Commented Aug 21, 2021 at 10:24
  • $\begingroup$ @ProfRob prisms still count! $\endgroup$
    – uhoh
    Commented Dec 31, 2021 at 19:53
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    $\begingroup$ @KavinIshwaran yes, the use of "multiple" in the first sentence of the first and second paragraph does indicate that, but I will edit the question to add "multiple" to the third paragraph as well. That's what microshutters do and that's what multiplexing is; multiple signals through a single path (in this case through a telescope) such that they can be separated later. $\endgroup$
    – uhoh
    Commented Jan 3, 2022 at 19:39
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    $\begingroup$ Microshutters and fibers give spectra of selected targets. I'm not sure but I think slit-masks may have been the first technique used for selective multi-object spectroscopy, like in DEIMOS where plates of metal were cut to match a specific field: www2.keck.hawaii.edu/inst/deimos $\endgroup$
    – giardia
    Commented Jan 4, 2022 at 21:53

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