The 4MOST[1] instrument is a concept for a wide-field, fibre-fed high multiplex spectroscopic instrument facility on the
ESO VISTA telescope designed to perform a massive (initially >25x106 spectra in 5 years) combined all-sky public
survey. The main science drivers are: Gaia follow up of chemo-dynamical structure of the Milky Way, stellar radial
velocities, parameters and abundances, chemical tagging; eROSITA follow up of cosmology with x-ray clusters of
galaxies, X-ray AGN/galaxy evolution to z~5, Galactic X-ray sources and resolving the Galactic edge;
Euclid/LSST/SKA and other survey follow up of Dark Energy, Galaxy evolution and transients. The surveys will be
undertaken simultaneously requiring: highly advanced targeting and scheduling software, also comprehensive data
reduction and analysis tools to produce high-level data products. The instrument will allow simultaneous observations of
~1600 targets at R~5,000 from 390-900nm and ~800 targets at R<18,000 in three channels between ~395-675nm
(channel bandwidth: 45nm blue, 57nm green and 69nm red) over a hexagonal field of view of ~ 4.1 degrees. The initial
5-year 4MOST survey is currently expect to start in 2020. We provide and overview of the 4MOST systems: optomechanical,
control, data management and operations concepts; and initial performance estimates.
4MOST is a wide-field, high-multiplex spectroscopic survey facility under development for the VISTA telescope of the European Southern Observatory (ESO). Its main science drivers are in the fields of galactic archeology, high-energy physics, galaxy evolution and cosmology. 4MOST will in particular provide the spectroscopic complements to the large
area surveys coming from space missions like Gaia, eROSITA, Euclid, and PLATO and from ground-based facilities like VISTA, VST, DES, LSST and SKA. The 4MOST baseline concept features a 2.5 degree diameter field-of-view with ~2400 fibres in the focal surface that are configured by a fibre positioner based on the tilting spine principle. The fibres feed two types of spectrographs; ~1600 fibres go to two spectrographs with resolution R<5000 (λ~390-930 nm) and
~800 fibres to a spectrograph with R>18,000 (λ~392-437 nm and 515-572 nm and 605-675 nm). Both types of spectrographs are fixed-configuration, three-channel spectrographs. 4MOST will have an unique operations concept in which 5 year public surveys from both the consortium and the ESO community will be combined and observed in parallel during each exposure, resulting in more than 25 million spectra of targets spread over a large fraction of the
southern sky. The 4MOST Facility Simulator (4FS) was developed to demonstrate the feasibility of this observing
concept. 4MOST has been accepted for implementation by ESO with operations expected to start by the end of 2020.
This paper provides a top-level overview of the 4MOST facility, while other papers in these proceedings provide more
detailed descriptions of the instrument concept[1], the instrument requirements development[2], the systems engineering implementation[3], the instrument model[4], the fibre positioner concepts[5], the fibre feed[6], and the spectrographs[7].
MOONS is a new Multi-Object Optical and Near-infrared Spectrograph selected by ESO as a third generation
instrument for the Very Large Telescope (VLT). The grasp of the large collecting area offered by the VLT (8.2m
diameter), combined with the large multiplex and wavelength coverage (optical to near-IR: 0.8μm - 1.8μm) of MOONS
will provide the European astronomical community with a powerful, unique instrument able to pioneer a wide range of
Galactic, Extragalactic and Cosmological studies and provide crucial follow-up for major facilities such as Gaia,
VISTA, Euclid and LSST. MOONS has the observational power needed to unveil galaxy formation and evolution over
the entire history of the Universe, from stars in our Milky Way, through the redshift desert, and up to the epoch of very
first galaxies and re-ionization of the Universe at redshift z>8-9, just few million years after the Big Bang. On a
timescale of 5 years of observations, MOONS will provide high quality spectra for >3M stars in our Galaxy and the
local group, and for 1-2M galaxies at z>1 (SDSS-like survey), promising to revolutionise our understanding of the
Universe.
The baseline design consists of ~1000 fibers deployable over a field of view of ~500 square arcmin, the largest patrol
field offered by the Nasmyth focus at the VLT. The total wavelength coverage is 0.8μm-1.8μm and two resolution
modes: medium resolution and high resolution. In the medium resolution mode (R~4,000-6,000) the entire wavelength
range 0.8μm-1.8μm is observed simultaneously, while the high resolution mode covers simultaneously three selected
spectral regions: one around the CaII triplet (at R~8,000) to measure radial velocities, and two regions at R~20,000 one
in the J-band and one in the H-band, for detailed measurements of chemical abundances.
KMOS is a multi-object near-infrared integral field spectrograph built by a consortium of UK and German institutes for
the ESO Paranal Observatory. We report on the on-sky performance verification of KMOS measured during three
commissioning runs on the ESO VLT in 2012/13 and some of the early science results.
The 4MOST consortium is currently halfway through a Conceptual Design study for ESO with the aim to develop a wide-field ( < 3 square degree, goal < 5 square degree), high-multiplex ( < 1500 fibres, goal 3000 fibres) spectroscopic survey facility for an ESO 4m-class telescope (VISTA). 4MOST will run permanently on the telescope to perform a 5 year public survey yielding more than 20 million spectra at resolution R∼5000 (λ=390–1000 nm) and more than 2 million spectra at R~20,000 (395–456.5 nm and 587–673 nm). The 4MOST design is especially intended to complement three key all-sky, space-based observatories of prime European interest: Gaia, eROSITA and Euclid. Initial design and performance estimates for the wide-field corrector concepts are presented. Two fibre positioner concepts are being considered for 4MOST. The first one is a Phi-Theta system similar to ones used on existing and planned facilities. The second one is a new R-Theta concept with large patrol area. Both positioner concepts effectively address the issues of fibre focus and pupil pointing. The 4MOST spectrographs are fixed configuration two-arm spectrographs, with dedicated spectrographs for the high- and low-resolution fibres. A full facility simulator is being developed to guide trade-off decisions regarding the optimal field-of-view, number of fibres needed, and the relative fraction of high-to-low resolution fibres. The simulator takes mock catalogues with template spectra from Design Reference Surveys as starting point, calculates the output spectra based on a throughput simulator, assigns targets to fibres based on the capabilities of the fibre positioner designs, and calculates the required survey time by tiling the fields on the sky. The 4MOST consortium aims to deliver the full 4MOST facility by the end of 2018 and start delivering high-level data products for both consortium and ESO community targets a year later with yearly increments.
KMOS is a multi-object near-infrared integral field spectrograph being built by a consortium of UK and German
institutes. We report on the final integration and test phases of KMOS, and its performance verification, prior to
commissioning on the ESO VLT later this year.
4MOST1 is a multi object spectrograph facility for ESO’s NTT or VISTA telescope. 4MOST is one of the two projects selected for a conceptual design study by ESO. The 4MOST instrument will be able to position < 1500 fibres in the focal plane and collect spectra in a high resolution (R=20000)2 and a low resolution (R=5000) mode (HRM, LRM). The spectral coverage for the LRM is 400-900 nm, the HRM covers 390-459 nm and 564-676 nm. We will present one of the possible positioner designs and first tests of some components for the focal plane array. The design follows the LAMOST3 positioner and has two rotational axes to move the fibre inside the patrol disc. Each axis consists of a stepper motor attached to micro harmonic drive (MHD). The small outer dimensions and high gear ratios of the MHD-stepper motor package, makes them perfectly suitable for our application. The MHD is also backlash free and self-locking what gives us the opportunity to minimize power consumption and heat dissipation during observation without loosing the position of the fibre on sky. The control electronics will also be miniaturized and part of the positioner unit.
MOONS is a new conceptual design for a Multi-Object Optical and Near-infrared Spectrograph for the Very Large
Telescope (VLT), selected by ESO for a Phase A study. The baseline design consists of ~1000 fibers deployable over a
field of view of ~500 square arcmin, the largest patrol field offered by the Nasmyth focus at the VLT. The total
wavelength coverage is 0.8μm-1.8μm and two resolution modes: medium resolution and high resolution. In the medium
resolution mode (R~4,000-6,000) the entire wavelength range 0.8μm-1.8μm is observed simultaneously, while the high
resolution mode covers simultaneously three selected spectral regions: one around the CaII triplet (at R~8,000) to
measure radial velocities, and two regions at R~20,000 one in the J-band and one in the H-band, for detailed
measurements of chemical abundances.
The grasp of the 8.2m Very Large Telescope (VLT) combined with the large multiplex and wavelength coverage of
MOONS – extending into the near-IR – will provide the observational power necessary to study galaxy formation and
evolution over the entire history of the Universe, from our Milky Way, through the redshift desert and up to the epoch
of re-ionization at z<8-9. At the same time, the high spectral resolution mode will allow astronomers to study chemical
abundances of stars in our Galaxy, in particular in the highly obscured regions of the Bulge, and provide the necessary
follow-up of the Gaia mission. Such characteristics and versatility make MOONS the long-awaited workhorse near-IR
MOS for the VLT, which will perfectly complement optical spectroscopy performed by FLAMES and VIMOS.
KMOS is a near-infrared multi-object spectrometer, which is currently being built by a British-German consortium
for the ESO VLT. As for any other VLT instrument, the KMOS instrument software is based on the
application framework given by the VLT Common Software, but faces particular design challenges in addition.
As separate parts of the software require a similar functionality with respect to mechanical and optical permissibility
checks, user interface, and configuration control, a number of tasks have to be implemented twice and
slightly differently. It turns out that most of these issues can be tackled successfully by means of well-known
object-oriented design patterns, providing for reusability and improving the overall software design. We present
a set of sample problems along with their particular pattern solution.
MICADO is the adaptive optics imaging camera for the E-ELT. It has been designed and optimised to be mounted
to the LGS-MCAO system MAORY, and will provide diffraction limited imaging over a wide (~1 arcmin) field
of view. For initial operations, it can also be used with its own simpler AO module that provides on-axis
diffraction limited performance using natural guide stars. We discuss the instrument's key capabilities and
expected performance, and show how the science drivers have shaped its design. We outline the technical
concept, from the opto-mechanical design to operations and data processing. We describe the AO module,
summarise the instrument performance, and indicate some possible future developments.
KMOS is a near-infrared multi-object integral-field spectrometer which is one of a suite of second-generation
instruments under construction for the VLT. The instrument is being built by a consortium of UK and German
institutes working in partnership with ESO and is now in the manufacture, integration and test phase. In this paper
we present an overview of recent progress with the design and build of KMOS and present the first results from the
subsystem test and integration.
KMOS is a multi-object integral field spectrometer working in the near infrared which is currently being built
for the ESO VLT by a consortium of UK and German institutes. It is capable of selecting up to 24 target
fields for integral field spectroscopy simultaneously by means of 24 robotic pick-off arms. For the preparation
of observations with KMOS a dedicated preparation tool KARMA ("KMOS Arm Allocator") will be provided
which optimizes the assignment of targets to these arms automatically, thereby taking target priorities and several
mechanical and optical constraints into account. For this purpose two efficient algorithms, both being able to
cope with the underlying optimization problem in a different way, were developed. We present the concept and
architecture of KARMA in general and the optimization algorithms in detail.
KMOS is a near-infrared multi-object integral field spectrometer which has been selected as one of a suite of second-generation instruments to be constructed for the ESO VLT in Chile. The instrument will be built by a consortium of UK and German institutes working in partnership with ESO and is currently at the end of its preliminary design phase. We present the design status of KMOS and discuss the most novel technical aspects and the compliance with the technical specification.
A 16K x 16K, 1 degree x 1 degree field, detector system was developed by ESO for the OmegaCAM instrument for use on the purpose built ESO VLT Survey Telescope (VST). The focal plane consists of an 8 x 4 mosaic of 2K x 4K 15um pixel e2v CCDs and four 2K x 4K CCDs on the periphery for the opto-mechanical control of the telescope. The VST is a single instrument telescope. This placed stringent reliability requirements on the OmegaCAM detector system such as 10 years lifetime and maximum downtime of 1.5 %. Mounting at Cassegrain focus required a highly autonomous self-contained cooling system that could deliver 65 W of cooling power. Interface space for the detector head was severely limited by the way the instrument encloses the CCD cryostat. The detector system features several novel ideas tailored to meet these requirements and described in this paper:
Key design drivers of the detector head were the easily separable but precisely aligned connections to the optical field flattener on the top and the cooling system at the bottom. Material selection, surface treatment, specialized coatings and in-situ plasma cleaning were crucial to prevent contamination of the detectors. Inside the cryostat, cryogenic and electrical connections were disentangled to keep the configuration modular, integration friendly and the detectors in a safe condition during all mounting steps. A compact unit for logging up to 125 Pt100 temperature sensors and associated thermal control loops was developed (ESO's new housekeeping unit PULPO 2), together with several new modular Pt100 packaging and mounting concepts. The electrical grouping of CCDs based on process parameters and test results is explained. Three ESO standardized FIERA CCD controllers in different configurations are used. Their synchronization mechanism for read-out is discussed in connection with the CCD grouping scheme, the shutter, and the integrated guiding and image analysis facility with four independent 2K x 4K CCDs. An illustration of the data chain performance from CCD output to storage on hard-disk gives an impression of the challenge to shift 512 MB of data within 45 seconds via the standardized hierarchical ESO data acquisition network. Finally the safety and emergency features of the overall system are presented.
Konrad Kuijken, Ralf Bender, Enrico Cappellaro, Bernard Muschielok, Andrea Baruffolo, Enrico Cascone, H.-J. Hess, Olaf Iwert, Harald Nicklas, Klaus Reif, Edwin Valentijn, Dietrich Baade, K. Begeman, Alessandro Bortolussi, Danny Boxhoorn, F. Christen, Erik Deul, Laura Greggio, Reiner Harke, Reinhold Haefner, Ulrich Hopp, Ivica Ilijevski, Guenther Klink, Helmut Kravcar, Carlo Magagna, Wolfgang Mitsch, Philip Mueller, Henning Poschmann, Roeland Rengelink, Walter Wellem
OmegaCAM is the wide-field camera for the VLT Survey Telescope being
completed for ESO's Paranal observatory. The instrument, as well as the telescope, have been designed for very good, natural seeing-limited image quality over a 1 degree field. At the heart of the project are a square-foot photometric shutter, a 12-filter storage/exchange mechanism, a 16k x 16k CCD detector mosaic, and plenty of software for instrument control and data handling, analysis and archiving.
The 256-Mega-Pixel imager OmegaCAM will become the wide-field camera at the VLT-Survey-Telescope of the ESO Paranal Observatory. The camera will cover 1 square-degree field of view at the 2.6-metre VST telescope with 16k×16k pixel resolution. The opto- and electro-mechanical design is the responsibility of a Dutch-German-Italian consortium whereas the cryogenic detector system is built by ESO. The design phase had been finalized with a successful Final-Design-Review in autumn 2001. Procurement and manufacturing is ongoing till the end of the year 2002 followed by an extensive testing period before Preliminary-Acceptance-in-Europe. The paper will present the camera design including the results of design analyses and performance assessments of which optical and finite-element-analyses will be emphasized. The actual design of large-format optical filters will be addressed as well. Their procurement turned out as a challenging issue.
FORS is an all dioptric focal reducer designed for direct imaging, low-dispersion multi-object spectroscopy, imaging polarimetry and spectropolarimetry of faint objects. Two almost identical copies of the instrument were built by a consortium of three astronomical institutes under contract and in cooperation with ESO. FORS1 was installed in September 1998 and FORS2 in October 1999 at the Cassegrain foci of the ESO VLT unit telescope nos. 1 and 2. FORS1 is in regular operation since April 1999. Regular observation with FORS2 are scheduled to begin in April 2000.
The FORS instruments are focal reducers and spectrographs which are built in two copies for the unit telescopes UT1 and UT2 of the ESO/VLT by a consortium of University Observatories. An overview of the instrument capabilities is given in a separate paper at this conference.
We used FORS2 at UT2 of the VLT to obtain low resolution spectra of early type emission line stars in the field of the young open SMC cluster NGC 330. This cluster is known for its exceptional large number fraction of Be stars and could play a key role in constraining the Be phenomenon in general. 48 of the 59 program stars identified as H(alpha) excess sources by CCD imaging photometry can be confirmed to show H(alpha) line emission superimposed on a strong continuum. Comparison with VLT-FORS1 spectra collected a year earlier shows no or only a low significance of variability on the time scale of a year. To test the prediction of the hybrid model for global disk oscillations in Be star circumstellar disks we compared the number ratio of Be stars with asymmetric line profiles to the total number of Be stars with the known ratio of galactic field Be stars. About 10 of 47 emission line stars show asymmetric line profiles hence the theoretical prediction is not matched. We discuss several possibilities which might explain the discrepancy.
FORS1 (FOcal Reducer/low-dispersion Spectrograph) is an all dioptric focal reducer designed for direct imaging, low- dispersion multi-object spectroscopy, imaging polarimetry and spectro-polarimetry of faint objects. Two identical copies of the instrument (FORS 1 and 2) are being built by a consortium of three astronomical institutes (Landessternwarte Heidelberg and the University Observatories of Gottingen and Munich) under contract and in cooperation with ESO. FORS 1 and 2 will be installed, respectively, in 1998 and 2000 at the Cassegrain foci of the ESO VLT unit telescopes nos. 1 and 2. For the tests of FORS in Europe, a telescope and star simulator was built, which allows to incline and rotate the whole instrument and to simulate stars in the field of view at various seeing conditions. FORS 1 was integrated at the telescope simulator and saw its 'first light' in the integration facility in November 1996. Since then the electro-mechanical functions, the image motion due to flexure, the calibration units, the optical performance and the instrument software were tested and optimized. This paper presents a summary of the procedure and the results of the tests.
One of the most critical issues in designing a spectrograph is the motion of opto-mechanical components due to flexure especially when it will be mounted to the Cassegrain focus of a telescope. Image motion on the detector has to be kept small in order not to affect the value of the scientific data. The FORS spectrographs fulfil those requirements by a proper design and by a passive compensation of the instrumental flexure. Image motion of the 2 metric tons instrument could be reduced in this way to a tiny fraction of one pixel's size thus not affecting the data gathered with those spectrographs. It is tested and approved at a telescope simulator that all specifications regarding those motions are fully met. A fine tuning flexure compensation is built into the spectrograph's design and is tested on its tuning range which allows to adapt the compensation to effects eventually caused by the Cassegrain flange of the telescope.
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