First results from the Goddard High-Resolution Spectrograph - A demonstration of spectral resolution and experiments with deconvolution

High-quality spectra of the sharp-lined star Chi Lupi were obtained with the Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph (GHRS). Spectra for the various resolving powers achievable with the echelle and G160M gratings are displayed. The effect of spherical aberration upon the spectral resolution is found to be negligible when using the small science aperture. The resolution of the large science aperture spectra is degraded by less than a factor of two. Efforts with spectral deconvolution using several techniques show that it is possible to regain much of the spectral resolution lost in the large science aperture if high signal-to-noise spectra are obtained.