MaStar Observing Strategy
MaStar conducts its observations by piggy-backing on the APOGEE-2 survey during bright time, using MaNGA fiber bundles and the BOSS optical spectrographs. See the schematic diagram below for how we conduct the parallel observations.
Schematic Diagram showing how we conduct parallel observing between optical and infrared. Click on the image for a larger view.
APOGEE-2 often revisits the same field multiple times for time-variability studies. As a result, MaStar will also obtain multiple epoch observations of the same set of stars. Each epoch is typically 1 hour long, with 4×15 minutes exposures.
Sometimes multiple plates are drilled for the same set of targets to allow more flexible scheduling of observations. Therefore, the same star can be observed on multiple plates.
On each plate, we have 17 science targets and 12 spectrophotometric calibration stars.
