The visitor instrument PIONIER provides VLTI with improved imaging capabilities and sensitivity. The instrument started routinely delivering scientific data in November 2010, that is less than 12 months after being approved by the ESO Science and Technical Committee. We recall the challenges that had to be tackled to design, built and commission PIONIER. We summarize the typical performances and some astrophysical results obtained so far. We conclude this paper by summarizing lessons learned.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1207.2285,
title = {PIONIER: a status report},
author = {J. -B. Le Bouquin and J. -P. Berger and G. Zins and B. Lazareff and L. Jocou and P. Kern and R. Millan-Gabet and W. Traub and P. Haguenauer and O. Absil and J. -C. Augereau and M. Benisty and N. Blind and A. Delboulbe and P. Feautrier and M. Germain and D. Gillier and P. Gitton and M. Kiekebusch and J. Knudstrup and J. -L Lizon and Y. Magnard and F. Malbet and D. Maurel and F. Menard and M. Micallef and L. Michaud and T. Moulin and D. Popovic and K. Perraut and P. Rabou and S. Rochat and F. Roussel and A. Roux and E. Stadler and E. Tatulli},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1207.2285},
year = {2015}
}
Comments
To appear in the proceedings of the 2012 SPIE Conference "Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation"