The Mitchell Spectrograph: Studying Nearby Galaxies with the VIRUS
  Prototype
  The Mitchell Spectrograph (a.k.a. VIRUS-P) on the 2.7m Harlan J. Smith
telescope at McDonald Observatory is currently the largest field of view (FOV)
integral field unit (IFU) spectrograph in the world (1.7'x1.7'). It was
designed as a prototype for the highly replicable VIRUS spectrograph which
consists of a mosaic of IFUs spread over a 16' diameter FOV feeding 150
spectrographs similar to the Mitchell. VIRUS will be deployed on the 9.2 meter
Hobby-Eberly Telescope (HET) and will be used to conduct the HET Dark Energy
Experiment (HETDEX). Since seeing first light in 2007 the Mitchell Spectrograph
has been widely used, among other things, to study nearby galaxies in the local
universe where their internal structure and the spatial distribution of
different physical parameters can be studied in great detail. These
observations have provided important insight into many aspects of the physics
behind the formation and evolution of galaxies and have boosted the scientific
impact of the 2.7 meter telescope enormously. Here I review the contributions
of the Mitchell Spectrograph to the study of nearby galaxies, from the
investigation of the spatial distribution of dark matter and the properties of
supermassive black holes, to the studies of the process of star formation and
the chemical composition of stars and gas in the ISM, which provide important
information regarding the formation and evolution of these systems. I highlight
the fact that wide field integral field spectrographs on small and medium size
telescopes can be powerful cost effective tools to study the astrophysics of
galaxies. Finally I briefly discuss the potential of HETDEX for conducting
studies on nearby galaxies. The survey parameters make it complimentary and
competitive to ongoing and future surveys like SAMI and MANGA.
