Related papers: First Light SOFIA Instruments
The Planet Formation Imager (PFI) initiative aims at developing the next generation large scale facility for imaging astronomical optical interferometry operating in the mid-infrared. Here we report on the progress of the Planet Formation…
We describe in some detail one of the instruments that will be available in 2004 to the research community. FRODOSpec is an integral field unit spectrograph that will be available for use with the 2 m robotic Liverpool Telescope on the…
We present a progress report on the design and construction of the Field-Imaging Far-Infrared Line Spectrometer (FIFI LS) for the SOFIA airborne observatory. The design of the instrument is driven by the goal of maximizing observing…
Measurements in the infrared wavelength domain allow us to assess directly the physical state and energy balance of cool matter in space, thus enabling the detailed study of the various processes that govern the formation and early…
The third science flight of the balloon-borne solar observatory Sunrise carries three entirely new post-focus science instruments with spectropolarimetric capabilities, concurrently covering an extended spectral range from the near…
The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) will be a transformative experiment for gravitational wave astronomy, and, as such, it will offer unique opportunities to address many key astrophysical questions in a completely novel way. The…
In the distant past, telescopes were known, first and foremost, for the sizes of their apertures. Advances in technology are now enabling astronomers to build extremely powerful instruments to the extent that instruments have now achieved…
We report on the measurements of telluric water vapor made with the instrument FIFI-LS on SOFIA. Since November 2018, FIFI-LS has measured the water vapor overburden with the same measurement setup on each science flight with about 10 data…
The Gaia astrometric mission - the Hipparcos successor - is described in some detail, with its three instruments: the two (spectro)photometers (BP and RP) covering the range 330-1050 nm, the white light (G-band) imager dedicated to…
Gaia is an all sky, high precision astrometric and photometric satellite of the European Space Agency (ESA) due for launch in 2010-2011. Its primary mission is to study the composition, formation and evolution of our Galaxy. Gaia will…
SONG (Stellar Observations Network Group) is a global network of 1-m class robotic telescopes that is under development. The SONG prototype will shortly be operational at Observatorio del Teide, Tenerife, and first light is expected by…
With the recent discovery of a dozen dusty star-forming galaxies and around 30 quasars at z>5 that are hyper-luminous in the infrared ($\mu$$L_{\rm IR}>10^{13}$ L$_{\odot}$, where $\mu$ is a lensing magnification factor), the possibility…
An international group of scientists has begun planning for the Planet Formation Imager (PFI, www.planetformationimager.org), a next-generation infrared interferometer array with the primary goal of imaging the active phases of planet…
We describe the scientific objectives and instrument design of the ASPIICS coronagraph launched aboard the Proba-3 mission of the European Space Agency (ESA) on 5 December 2024. Proba-3 consists of two spacecraft in a highly elliptical…
The large surveys and sensitive instruments of modern astronomy are turning ever more examples of variable objects, many of which are extending the parameter space to testing theories of stellar evolution and accretion. Future projects such…
We give an overview of the current and future IFU capabilities on the Gemini 8-m telescopes. The telescopes are well-suited to integral field spectroscopy and both telescopes will have optical and near-infrared IFUs within the next few…
Gravitational wave detectors capable of making astronomical observations could begin to operate within the next year, and over the next 10 years they will extend their reach out to cosmological distances, culminating in the space mission…
The Prime Focus Spectrograph (PFS) is a new facility instrument for Subaru Telescope which will be installed in around 2017. It is a multi-object spectrograph fed by about 2400 fibers placed at the prime focus covering a hexagonal…
The Sunrise balloon-borne solar observatory is equipped with a one-meter aperture optical telescope, offering a unique platform for uninterrupted seeing-free observations across ultraviolet, visible, and infrared wavelengths from altitudes…
The Stellar Observations Network Group prototype telescope at the Teide Observatory has been operating in scientific mode since March 2014. The first year of observations has entirely been carried out using the high resolution echelle…