The CBC News Technology and Science Q&A This ESPRESSO machine doesn't make coffee but scans the skies for habitable planets includes a nice description of ESPRESSO (Echelle SPectrograph for Rocky Exoplanet and Stable Spectroscopic Observations) and links to the YouTube video Echelle SPectrograph for Rocky Exoplanet and Stable Spectroscopic Observations.
There's something really amazing about the way that the spectrogram has been folded so nicely on to this image. Is this what it looks like on a 2D detector? (sans colour of course)
I see what looks like eight distinct sections, and a really nice spacing between adjacent lines otherwise. How is this accomplished?
Click or open the image in a new tab for full size view (it's worth it; 1.8 MB, 1738x2530)
above: Frame grab from the video at about 00:55
. Recorded with Python using this script, then extracting frames using this script in Blender. Click or open in new view for full size - it's worth it.
above: What an Echelle spectrogram "normally" looks like (again with added color). From the really interesting University of Virginia ASTR 3130 (Majewski) Lecture Notes.