RAVE: The RAdial Velocity Experiment

TL;DR

RAVE is a large-scale astronomical survey aiming to measure radial velocities and chemical compositions of 50 million stars to better understand the structure and dynamics of the Milky Way galaxy.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive all-sky survey using innovative multi-fiber spectroscopy technology to collect stellar data at an unprecedented scale.

Findings

Survey will provide the first representative inventory of stellar radial velocities for all major Galaxy components.

It will create a vast stellar kinematic database three orders of magnitude larger than previous surveys.

The project demonstrates the feasibility of using the Echidna fiber-positioning system for large-scale stellar spectroscopy.

Abstract

RAVE (RAdial Velocity Experiment) is an ambitious program to conduct an all-sky survey (complete to V = 16) to measure the radial velocities, metallicities and abundance ratios of 50 million stars using the 1.2-m UK Schmidt Telescope of the Anglo-Australian Observatory (AAO), together with a northern counterpart, over the period 2006 - 2010. The survey will represent a giant leap forward in our understanding of our own Milky Way galaxy, providing a vast stellar kinematic database three orders of magnitude larger than any other survey proposed for this coming decade. RAVE will offer the first truly representative inventory of stellar radial velocities for all major components of the Galaxy. The survey is made possible by recent technical innovations in multi-fiber spectroscopy; specifically the development of the 'Echidna' concept at the AAO for positioning fibers using piezo-electric ball/spines. A 1m-class Schmidt telescope equipped with an Echidna fiber-optic positioner and suitable spectrograph would be able to obtain spectra for over 20 000 stars per clear night. Although the main survey cannot begin until 2006, a key component of the RAVE survey is a pilot program of 100 000 stars which may be carried out using the existing 6dF facility in unscheduled bright time over the period 2003--2005.