ERIS is a new Adaptive Optics (AO) instrument installed at the Cassegrain focus of VLT-UT4 in January 2022 and led by a Consortium of Max-Planck Institut fuer Extraterrestrische Physik, UK-ATC, ETH-Zurich, NOVA-Leiden, ESO and INAF. The ERIS AO system provides NGS mode to deliver high contrast correction and LGS mode to extend high Strehl performance to large sky coverage. The AO module includes one 40x40 LGS wavefront sensor (WFS), one NGS WFS able to switching between 40x40 and 4x4 configuration, the related optics to relay the telescope beam and a dedicated SPARTA real time computer running the AO loop up to 1kHz. The AO module, with the 1170-actuator Deformable Secondary Mirror and the Laser Facility from VLT-AOF, provides AO correction to the high resolution coronagraphic imager NIX (1-5um) and the IFU spectrograph SPIFFIER (1-2.5um). In this paper we briefly review the ERIS AO system design and we present preliminary AO results of the ongoing commissioning, started in February 2022.
ERIS (Enhanced Resolution Imager and Spectrograph) is a new adaptive optics instrument installed at the Cassegrain focus of the VLT-UT4 telescope at the Paranal Observatory in Chile. ERIS consists of two near infrared instruments: SPIFFIER, an integral field unit (IFU) spectrograph covering J to K bands, and NIX, an imager covering J to M bands. ERIS has an adaptive optics system able to work with both LGS and NGS. The Assembly Integration Verification (AIV) phase of ERIS at the Paranal Observatory was carried out starting in December 2021, followed by several commissioning runs in 2022. This contribution will describe the first preliminary results of the on-sky performance of ERIS during its commissioning and the future perspectives based on the preliminary scientific results.
MIRADAS (Mid-resolution InfRAreD Astronomical Spectrograph) is the facility near-infrared multi-object echelle spectrograph for the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC) 10.4-meter telescope. MIRADAS operates at spectral resolution R=20,000 over the 1-2.5µm bandpass), and provides multiplexing (up to N=12 targets) and spectro-polarimetry. The MIRADAS consortium includes the University of Florida, Universidad de Barcelona, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, Institut d'Estudis Espacials de Catalunya and Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, as well as partners at A-V-S (Spain), New England Optical Systems (USA), and IUCAA (India). MIRADAS completed its Final Design Review in 2015, and in this paper, we review the current status and overall system design for the instrument, with scheduled delivery in 2018. We particularly emphasize key developments in cryogenic robotic probe arms for multiplexing, a macro-slicer mini-IFU, an advanced cryogenic spectrograph optical system, and a SIDECAR-based array control system for the 1x2 HAWAII-2RG detector mosaic.
CIRCE is a near-infrared (1-2.5 micron) imager (including low-resolution spectroscopy and polarimetery) in operation as a visitor instrument on the Gran Telescopio Canarias 10.-4m tele scope. It was built largely by graduate students and postdocs, with help from the UF Astronomy engineering group, and is funded by the University of Florida and the U.S. National Science Foundation. CIRCE is helping to fill the gap in time between GTC first light and the arrival of EMIR, and will also provide the following scientific capabilities to compliment EMIR after its arrival: high-resolution imaging, narrowband imaging, high-time-resolution photometry, polarimetry, and low-resolution spectroscopy. There are already scientific results from CIRCE, some of which we will review. Additionally, we will go over the observing modes of CIRCE, including the two additional modes that were added during a service and upgrading run in March 2016.
The Mid-resolution InfRAreD Astronomical Spectrograph (MIRADAS, a near-infrared multi-object echelle spectrograph operating at spectral resolution R=20,000 over the 1-2.5μm bandpass) was selected by the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC) partnership as the next-generation near-infrared spectrograph for the world's largest optical/infrared telescope, and is being developed by an international consortium. The MIRADAS consortium includes the University of Florida, Universidad de Barcelona, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, and Institut d'Estudis Espacials de Catalunya, as well as probe arm industrial partner A-V-S (Spain), with more than 45 Science Working Group members in 10 institutions primarily in Spain, Mexico, and the USA. In this paper, we review the overall system design and project status for MIRADAS during its early fabrication phase in 2016.
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