The Monash Spectrograph simulation program

Abstract

The Monash University Physics Department is constructing a spectrograph, to be attached to a 0.46-metre Cassegrainian telescope. To help future users of the spectrograph determine the operational capabilities of the spectrograph a PC-based software package was created. This program allows the user to simulate the response of the spectrograph to various stellar types under differing observational constraints. We have estimated the precision of measurements of stellar radial velocities with the spectrograph. The estimates are reasonable but are yet to be compared with real data.