The evolution of PUCHEROS from a basic to a competitive tool for stellar astrophysics

We present PUCHEROS+, a new spectrograph developed as an enhanced version of PUCHEROS, which was the first high-resolution spectrograph built at the Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile (UC). With respect to its predecessor, PUCHEROS+ includes a substantial number of improvements, mainly: a new scientific detector, improved objective optics, calibration system, guiding, active thermal control and remote observing mode. These upgrades convert our early prototype into a much more powerful instrument for science. With a spectral resolution of R = 18, 000, a spectral range between 400 nm and 730 nm and an instrument efficiency of about 30%, PUCHEROS+ was tested at the ESO 1.52 m telescope where it has reached a limiting magnitude of about 12 in V-Band and radial velocity (RV) precision of about 30 m s−1. The instrument was conceived as a pathfinder for PLATOSpec, at the same time it demonstrates that a compact, relatively low-cost spectrograph can be efficiently employed for long term monitoring campaigns and as support facility for space missions, in particular if operated remotely at relatively small or medium size telescopes.