Dr. Raine Karjalainen, Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes

WEAVE is a powerful new multi-object spectrograph being planned for the 4.2-m William Herschel Telescope at the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos, on La Palma in the Canary Islands. It will allow astronomers to take spectra of up to 1000 stars and galaxies in a single exposure. This huge leap in observing efficiency (currently only 150 objects can be observed simultaneously) will allow astronomers to tackle several astrophysical problems that until now have remained out of reach. In this special AID, Dr. Karjalainen will introduce the WEAVE instrument project.

While doing his PhD, Dr. Karjalainen worked as a student support astronomer to the Nordic Optical Telescope for almost 2 years. He obtained his PhD in 2007 from University of Oulu, Finland, which was about dynamical and photometric modelling of Saturn’s rings, after which he worked for 2 years at Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT) in La Palma as staff astronomer. He is currently at the Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes (ING) as Observing Support Scientist.