We present the result from a comprehensive laboratory and on-sky characterization of the commercial spectrograph system consisting of a PIXIS 1300BX charge-coupled device (CCD) camera and an IsoPlane 320A spectrograph as part of the preparation of the forthcoming all-sky spectroscopic survey of nearby galaxies (A-SPEC). In the laboratory, we have quantified readout noise, dark current, gain, and full-well capacity via bias, dark, and photon transfer curve analysis at all acquisition modes. To do that, we have developed a gradient correction technique to address row-dependent signal gradients in the image, which are caused by the shutter-less condition of our CCD camera test setup. The technique successfully reproduces the values in the manufacturer specifications. We also have measured quantum efficiency exceeding 80% from 400–800 nm and ≳ 90% between 450–750 nm, with sub-second persistence decay, making it ideal for rapid, multi-object spectroscopy. Using a set of diffraction gratings (150, 300, and 600 grmm−1), we have evaluated the spatial separability of multiple spectra and spectral resolution. We have conducted a test observation with this spectrograph system at the Seoul National University Astronomical Observatory (SAO) 1 m telescope and successfully demonstrated its capability of multi-object spectroscopy with moderate resolution of R ≈ 600–2600. We release all Python codes for the test and recipes to facilitate further instrument evaluations.

We use N-body/hydrodynamic simulations to study the evolution of the spin of a Milky Way-like galaxy through interactions. We perform a controlled experiment of co-planar galaxy-galaxy encounters and study the evolution of disk spins of interacting galaxies. Specically, we consider cases where the late-type target galaxy encounters an equally massive companion galaxy, which has either a late or an early-type morphology, with a closest approach distance of about 50 kpc, in prograde or retrograde sense. By examining the time change of the circular velocity of the disk material of the target galaxy from each case, we nd that the target galaxy tends to lose the spin through prograde collisions but hardly through retrograde collisions, regardless of the companion galaxy type. The decrease of the spin results mainly from the de ection of the orbit of the disk material by tidal disruption. Although there is some disk material which gains the circular velocity through hydrodynamic as well as gravitational interactions or by transferring material from the companion galaxy, it turns out that the amount of the material is generally insucient to increase the overall galactic spin under the conditions we set. We nd that the spin angular momentum of the target galaxy disk decreases by 15{20% after a prograde collision. We conclude that the accumulated eects of galaxy-galaxy interactions will play an important role in determining the total angular momentum of late-type galaxies.

A data simulator and reduction package for the Devasthal Optical Telescope Integral Field Spectro- graph (DOTIFS) has been developed. Since data reduction for the Integral Field Spectrograph (IFS) requires complicated procedures due to the complex nature of the integral spectrograph, common reduc- tion procedures are usually not directly applicable for such an instrument. Therefore, the development of an optimized package for the DOTIFS is required. The data simulator observes artificial object and simulates CCD images for the instrument considering various effects; e.g. atmosphere, sky background, transmission, spectrograph optics aberration, and detector noise. The data reduction package has been developed based on the outcomes from the DOTIFS data simulator. The reduction package includes the entire processes for the reduction; pre-processing, at-fielding, and sky subtraction. It generates 3D data cubes as a final product, which users can use for science directly.