We have chosen the name of GYES, one of the mythological giants with one hundred arms,
offspring of Gaia and Uranus, for our instrument study of a multifibre spectrograph for
the prime focus of the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope. Such an instrument could provide an
excellent ground-based complement for the Gaia mission and a northern complement to the
HERMES project on the AAT. The CFHT is well known for providing a stable prime focus
environment, with a large field of view, which has hosted several imaging instruments, but
has never hosted a multifibre spectrograph. Building upon the experience gained at GÉPI
with FLAMES-Giraffe and X-Shooter, we are investigating the feasibility of a high
multiplex spectrograph (about 500 fibres) over a field of view one degree in diameter. We
are investigating an instrument with resolution in the range 15 000 to 30 000, which
should provide accurate chemical abundances for stars down to 16th magnitude and radial
velocities, accurate to 1 km s-1 for fainter stars. The study is led by
GÉPI-Observatoire de Paris with a contribution from Oxford for the study of the
positioner. The financing for the study comes from INSU CSAA and Observatoire de Paris.
The conceptual study will be delivered to CFHT for review by October 1st 2010.