Scanning Fabry–Perot Interferometer of the 6-m SAO RAS Telescope

Abstract—The scanning Fabry–Perot interferometer (FPI) is the oldest method of optical 3D spectroscopy. It is still in use because of the high spectral resolution it provides over a large field of view. The history of the application of this method for the study of extended objects (nebulae and galaxies) and the technique of data reduction and analysis are discussed. The paper focuses on the performing observations with the scanning FPI on the 6-m telescope of the Special Astrophysical Observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The instrument is currently used as a part of the SCORPIO-2 multimode focal reducer. The results of studies of various galactic and extragalactic objects with the scanning FPI on the 6-m telescope—star-forming regions and young stellar objects, spiral, ring, dwarf and interacting galaxies, gas subsystems associated with the ionization cones of active galactic nuclei, galactic winds, etc. are briefly discussed. Further prospects for research with the scanning FPI of the Special Astrophysical Observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences are discussed.