The AstroTechTalk (ger) offers a place to discuss, for all interested colleagues and especially for the technical departments, the project leaders, the administration and the scientists as the ultimately users:

• status of instrumentation projects
• scientific tasks and features of the instruments in construction or planned
• new possible involvements
• technical innovations and developments
• technical problems and their solutions
• logistical problems and their solutions
• how to improve operation and observation
• project standards.

Time: Always Fridays 11:00 - 12:00

Location: Hörsaal

Outline:

• Announcements (news, visitors, etc.) (mainly in German)
• Talk of about 30 min about a selected topic (German or English, will be announced)
• Follow up discussion and questions (German or English, depending on the speaker)

Please send proposals for talks via e-mail to: gaessler, hofferbert - or also available in room 021 or 211.

Date	Speaker	Topic
09.01.2015	--	No talk (Christmas break)
16.01.2015	Wolfgang Gaessler	Sharper vision with ARGOS eyes Argos - the all-seeing - was a primordial giant with hundred eyes in the Greek mythology. ARGOS the Advanced Rayleigh guided Ground layer adaptive Optics System for the LBT (Large Binocular Telescope) was named after this giant, because the system will also have a lot of eyes. Recently, the first of these eyes were taken into operation. Now, ARGOS is watching with "Argos-eyes" for LUCI. One year after the first laser stars have been projected on sky, the "Loop" could be closed on one side of the LBT simultaneously on three guide stars. The performance of the system was better than expected. A factor two improvement in image quality was the goal, but reality exceeded this prediction. Nevertheless, the images look not that spectacular than of other Adaptive Optics Systems, because ARGOS does not goal on the diffraction limit but on increasing the slit throughput for spectroscopy in a large range of atmospheric conditions. Wolfgang Gaessler will present the project and its current status. He will tell us which problems are solved and which still have to be solved. And we will learn when ARGOS will be ready and what one can do with it. But the question is: Will ARGOS have the same fate as Argos? In the Greek mythology, Zeus ordered Hermes to kill Argos to free Io. Hermes succeed. In the real world it also looks like that some Argeiphontes (slayer of Argos) start to gather! Talk:German Slides: English Questions: German, English
23.01.2015	Peter Bizenberger	Mission Impossible: The alignment of LINC-NIRVANA Patience and meditation is the way to reach Nirvana. That's what the Buddhism teaches. How is this related to LINC-NIRVANA? This instrument exists in principal just of three simple components: telescope, plus Adaptive Optics, plus infrared camera - all done before, easy - some people thought and also told! But, if one wants explore the full capability of a 23 meter telescope with this instrument, one has to invest a lot. The individual units are already demanding, but they are designed for the combination of the two 8.4 meter primary mirrors of the LBT (Large Binocular Telescope) and they have to be aligned with such precision accordingly. This brings existing technology to its limits - mission impossible? Peter Bizenberger explains the intricacy of LN and the requirements on the precision needed to align LN. A task which is done the first time at our institute in such complexity. To fulfill this task detailed planning and a large number of measurement technology and tools are unavoidable as well the control of the execution of each step are essential. Peter will present to us an overview of how the team handles the efforts from the design of the instrument to the fixing of the last screw, as well as of current the results. A thriller with lot of Action ....................................Items! Talk:German Slides: English Questions: German, English Answers: Swabian
30.01.2015	Peter Hartmann (Schott AG)	ZERODUR®: Glass ceramic with ultra-low thermal expansion Requirements on shape and dimensional stability of high tech components are continuously growing. Mirror shape profile must be kept constant within 10 nm, in microlithography silicon wafers must be positioned to 0.3 nm precision. Active temperature stabilization must be complemented by using materials which change their extension lowest possible with temperature variations. Here the glass ceramic ZERODUR® takes a prominent position with more than 45 years of successful application. Even though being unchanged in its composition it was subject of significant progress nonetheless in the last ten years. The production process enables mirrors of 4 and 8 m size with extreme homogeneity of the coefficient of thermal expansion in the 10-9/K range. Tempering processes basing on a physical model allow keeping CTE within limit of +/- 7×10-9/K. Even matching relative expansion Delta l/l to given temperature profiles for example for observatories is possible down to 10×10-9. CTE minimization is also possible for the temperature range 70 to 250 K. Bubbles, inclusions and striae content is very low as well as residual bulk stress. New processing methods enable lightweight structures with almost 90% weight reduction. Better modelling and an increased data base for bending strength support application at higher mechanical loads. A large number of earth-bound and space-based projects prove the high material quality and its reproducibility, which is a decisive precondition for extremely large telescopes. Talk: German Slides: English Questions: German, English
06.02.2015 (11:15hrs)	Matthias Lezius (Menlo Systems)	Technology and applications of frequency comb lasers The optical frequency comb is the core product of Menlo Systems GmbH. Since its invention it has triggered numerous applications in very demanding areas of science like e.g. ultra high resolution spectroscopy, calibration of (astronomical) spectrometers, precision ranging, optical clocks, ultra-pure micro-wave generation, frequency and time transfer. In a general sense it has become the swiss knife of precision metrology of time, frequency, and length. Even mass and gravitation have been reported to be measurable at increased precision using the frequency comb. In the present talk Matthias Lezius will present todays technologies how to build optical frequency combs based on femtosecond lasers, and how to apply this device to various metrological challenges. Talk: German Slides: English Questions: German, English
13.02.2015	Martin Kuerster	Allocation of the MPIA integration halls in 2015 A lot of important maneuvers are planned in the three large integration halls at MPIA in 2015. Therefore, we use this week's talk for some programmatic discussions about needs and assumptions. Martin Kuerster will present the basic planning constraints to allow for a (preliminary) mutual agreement and fixation between all involved parties. The following activities are scheduled in the "Montagehalle", the "Experimentierhalle" and the "Reinraumschleuse": * AIV, packing and transport for CARMENES incl. its test equipment * Analogical for LINC-NIRVANA * Remaining tasks for and storage of GRAVITY and MATISSE * Open House Day installations and layout * Implications for the outdoor area in front of the "Reinraumschleuse" * Future use of the halls Everybody is cordially invited. Attendance of the mentioned teams incl. project leaders/managers is vital for the discussion. Furthermore, persons with a perspective or a clear plan for an allocation of the hall(s) would be very helpful. Talk: German Slides: English Questions: German, English
20.02.2015	Ralf-Rainer Rohloff	Carbon fiber components in astronomical instruments Nowadays carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) is a standard material in aerospace applications. But also in other industrial fields, where products are driven by a low mass in conjunction with a high stiffness, like e.g. in vehicle construction or even sports equipment development, CFRP becomes more and more important. There is an increasing trend to apply carbon fiber parts also in astronomical instrumentation. One of the pioneers in this field is the interferometric camera LINC-NIRVANA for the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT). The talk will also discuss other examples in other projects. In addition the properties and the manufacturing process of this interesting material will be described. Talk: German Slides: English Questions: German, English
27.02.2015	Sascha Douffet	Occupational safety at MPIA What is occupational safety ? Why do we need it at MPIA ? Who "implements" it ? What is an ASA-meeting ? BG ? Labour inspectorate ? Every one of us has heard about it, some of us even have dedicated tasks in security-relevant fields at MPIA. But what is relevant for the rest of our colleagues in terms of training and instructions which aim to avoid any illegal practice. Sascha Douffet will explain to us, how this complex field is organized at MPIA and MPG-wide, and how he became a trained employee for occupational safety. Furthermore, aspects like responsibility as individual person and in the team, established tools like ASIP for monitoring, available documentation and the importance of instructions will be discussed. Talk: German Slides: English Questions: German, English
06.03.2015	Uwe Graser	MATISSE - the successor of MIDI at VLTI During these days, MIDI gets dismounted at Paranal to make room for the two new "2nd generation VLTI instruments" GRAVITY und MATISSE. MIDI was in use at VLTI between December 2002 (installation) and February 2015. In this talk its successor, MATISSE, will be presented. The features of MATISSE (for tongue-twister-enthusiasts: Multi-Aperture Mid-Infrared Spectroscopic Experiment) can be easily deduced from its name: Multi-Aperture means several telescopes (at least 2, maximum 4), Mid-infrared is clear anyway ("the wavelength range, in which we mostly emit radiation"), and Spectroscopic is something you don't have to explain at an institute like this. More details of MATISSE, like its function (comprising a short intermezzo to "interferometry for dummies") and the composition of the instrument, MPIA's contribution and a bit of side-features like schedule and consortium structure will be briefly presented in this talk as well. Talk: German Slides: English, German Questions: German, English
13.03.2015	Silvia Scheithauer	The Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) aboard the James Webb Space Telescope The James Webb Space Telescope shall be launched in 2018. Aboard it will have four scientific instruments: two of them - MIRI and NIRSpec - being European deliveries with contributions from MPIA. MIRI has been built by a European science consortium involving more than a dozen scientific institutes - among them MPIA. MIRI includes an imager and two spectrometers capable of doing imaging, coronography as well as spectroscopy. MPIA has been responsible for the filter wheel and the two dichroic-grating wheel mechanisms of the instrument. They have been designed, partly manufactured and tested at MPIA with great involvements of the design engineering department, the mechanical and the electronics workshops, respectively. The scientific performance has been tested extensively in 2011 in the UK by the MIRI test team. MIRI has been delivered to NASA in 2012, since then the test team is supporting the cryo-test campaigns at the Goddard Space Flight Center, is preparing the calibration pipeline and science cases. The talk will give an overview of MIRI's history at MPIA, its scientific performance and the future till the launch in 2018. Talk: German Slides: English Questions: German, English
20.03.2015	--	No talk (LN consortium meeting)
27.03.2015	Bernhard Dorner	PANIC reactions after cryostat leak After the recent damage of PANIC at Calar Alto the wider team will be informed about the current status. Bernhard Dorner will report about the accident, the post-investigation of the instrument, Schrödinger's detector and a potential resurrection (last talk before Easter). In addition the expected impact on science will be outlined. Talk: German Slides: English Questions: German, English
03.04.2015	--	Good Friday
10.04.2015	--	No talk (Easter break)
17.04.2015	Michael Lehmitz	PLC control for MATISSE Before the use of PLCs ("Programmable Logic Controllers") control tasks for scientific instruments were usually implemented with the help of discrete contact switches, relays and other electro-mechanical components in conjunction with a complex wiring. With increasing complexity of the scientific instruments and their infratructure also the demands with respect to the required control systems and their flexibility have grown. For MATISSE, the "Multi-AperTure mid-Infrared SpectroScopic Experiment" for the Very Large Telescope, MPIA applied for the first time PLCs for supervising the instrument's two cryogenic systems, for controlling its calibration light sources and for reading-out sensors on the optical bench. In this talk Michael Lehmitz gives an introduction to PLC-based control technology and presents, via a live-demo, the performance of the MATISSE system. Talk: German Slides: English Questions: German, English
24.04.2015	Kai Weidlich (Airbus DS Optronics)	BELA - ESA's first Laser Altimeter for Planetary Research The space-qualified design of a miniaturized laser for the BepiColombo laser altimeter (BELA) will be presented. It will form an integral part of a larger geodesy and geophysics package on board the Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) of the BepiColombo mission. The laser facilitates pulsed operation at 10 Hz repetition rate and at 1064 nm wavelength. The laser design consists of a pair of diode-laser pumped, actively q-switched Nd:YAG rod oscillators encapsulated into dry synthetic air. The system delivers at least 300 million laser pulses with 50 mJ energy and 5 ns duration. It will be launched in 2016 and, after a six-years cruise, will start recording topographic data from orbital altitudes between 400 km and 1500 km above Mercury's surface. Critical qualification issues of the BELA Laser comprise reliable operation of laser diodes, accurate transmitter-to-receiver alignment, stable pulse energy and stable beam divergence over 300 million laser pulses. Starting design work at Carl Zeiss Optronics Oberkochen in 2008 the BELA Laser project was completed at Airbus DS Optronics with flight spare delivery in 2014. Talk: German Slides: English Part1 Part2 Questions: German, English
01.05.2015	--	No talk (public holiday)
08.05.2015 Seminarraum!!	Tom Herbst Patrick Fopp David Neb	The MPIA all-sky camera Observing time is very expensive, and state of the art large telescopes are operated out of a warm, closed, and isolated control room. What happens outside is often not visible to the observer until the (very expensive) data are reduced. Cloud cover and transparency variations can spoil an astronomical measurement and make optimizing telescope usage difficult. An all sky camera is the solution, giving the observer information on what is happening outside, so that he or she can react to sudden changes in weather and other conditions. Patrick Fopp, David Neb, and Tom Herbst describe the MPIA All-Sky Camera, which is currently being tested on the roof of the MPIA. Talk: German Slides: English Questions: German, English
15.05.2015	--	No talk (bridging day after Ascension Day)
22.05.2015	Torsten Boeker (ESA, STScI Baltimore)	NIRSpec and JWST - the search for the first light NIRSpec is the Near-InfraRed Spectrograph for the James Webb Space Telescope and allows for the simultaneous observation of up to 100 astronomical objects. Designed and realized under the leadership of Airbus Defense and Space in Ottobrunn (Germany), NIRSpec has been completed and delivered to NASA in 2013. In this talk, Torsten Boeker will give an overview of NIRSpec's opto-mechanical design and the various observing modes. In addition, he will describe the integration of NIRSpec into the instrument module ISIM since 2013 and will summarize the results of all the completed test campaigns. Finally, an outlook with respect to the remaining activities before JWST's launch in fall 2018 will be given. Talk: German Slides: English Part1 Part2 Questions: German, English
29.05.2015	Wolfgang Gaessler	4MOST "Most", more than more, even 4 times more! A demanding name. Always, it was necessary to survey a large number of objects over a large area of the sky to understand the universe. More than 25 million of spectra from all kinds of sky objects over the full southern Hemisphere, that's the goal of 4MOST. Actually, less than the claim of the GAIA satellite mission. How does this fit? What can we learn from the spectra? And how has the instrument to look like for such a task? Wolfgang Gaessler will present the answers in this talk. Talk: German Slides: English Questions: German, English
05.06.2015	--	No talk (bridging day after Corpus Christi)
12.06.2015	Bernhard Brandl (Leiden Observatory)	METIS - the Mid-Infrared E-ELT Imager and Spectrograph METIS will be one of the three first science instruments on the E-ELT. It will provide diffraction limited imaging and spectroscopy from 3-19µm. Focusing on its unique position on a 39m telescope, METIS will provide a new window to the thermal infrared universe at angular resolutions similar to what HST achieves in the optical, and unique high resolution (R~100,000) integral-field spectroscopy with JWST-like sensitivity (for unresolved lines). The talk will focus on the science case for METIS with an emphasis on circum-stellar disks and exoplanets, the technical concept of the instrument, and some recent technology developments. Bernhard Brandl will also highlight the anticipated role of MPIA within the METIS project. Talk: German Slides: English Questions: German, English
19.06.2015	--	No talk (preparations for open house day)
26.06.2015	Knud Jahnke	EUCLID Do you know what dark energy and dark matter is? But they make 95% of the energy in the universe! EUCLID is an M-class mission of ESA launching 2020, with the goal to change our understanding of this dark side of the universe. The satellite has two instruments aboard. One is a visible imager (VIS) and the other is a near infrared spectrometer and photometer (NISP). MPIA builds two major components of NISP. The first component is the calibration source of NISP and the second are the infrared filters of the instrument. But our institute is also involved in the calibration of the mission, simulation of the NISP instrument and we supply the mission with the photometry instrument scientist. Knud Jahnke will present an overview of EUCLID and NISP and tell us the current status of the NISP development in house and over all. Talk: German Slides: English Questions: German, English
03.07.2015	Reinhard Mundt	CARMENES The talk will consist of two main parts. The first part I will give an overview over the whole CARMENES-Project. CARMENES consists of two high-resolution 'echelle spectrographs (R=82000) for the search of extrasolar planets around nearby low-mass stars. One spectrograph covers the optical wavelength range (0.55-0.95 micron) and the other one the NIR wavelength range (1.0 - 1.7 micron). In the second part of the talk I will report about the detector cryostat for the NIR spectrograph, which is the major contribution of the MPIA to this project. It is equipped with a mosaic of two Hawaii 2RG detectors, which will be operated at about 85 K. This detector cryostat has been recently sent to our partner institute (IAA, Granada), where it will integrated soon for the first time in the 140 K cold NIR spectrograph. Talk: German Slides: English Questions: German, English
10.07.2015	Thomas Bertram	Final tests before the LINC-NIRVANA shipment
17.07.2015 Last talk before the summer break!!	Hans-Walter Rix	Astronomy: Exegesis of cosmic light The laboratory of astrophysics is the universe itself, a laboratory presenting an incredible variety of physical phenomena, which, however, can only be "passively" observed from a distance without a chance for active manipulations. Nearly all aspects of astronomy are therefore in the end reducible to the exegesis, i.e. interpretation of light from the cosmos. There are good reasons to observe many celestial directions with steadily increasing resolution and sensitivity and at many different wavelengths. This drives the development of new telescopes and instruments. Hans-Walter Rix will sketch, which technical and scientific possibilities emerge for observations with highest image quality using today's and future observatories, in particular in conjunction with adaptive optics and interferometry. Talk: German Slides: English Questions: German, English

Preview:

18.09.2015 first talk after the summer break

Last available Friday before Christmas 2015 Dietrich Lemke - Fraunhofer & Co.

Program from 01.09 to 31.12.2014

Date	Speaker	Topic
12.09.2014	Martin Kürster	The project landscape of the technical departments Here's another one of those funny names for a new instrument. But actually, what is it about? Do you also sometimes feel like this? Martin Kürster will give us an overview of the instruments we are building at MPIA. From this, we should be able to get the connection between those acronyms and the instruments. But not only that, after several years of heavy overbooking of the technical departments the mid-term future of the project landscape has recently become a bit unclear due to repeated delays of the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT). Martin Kürster will also tell us about possible future initiatives, project acquisitions still under discussion, that will pose new challenges for the technical departments. Talk: German Slides: English Questions: German, English
19.09.2014	Ralf-Rainer Rohloff	Precision metal optics over a large temperature range Since long, metal optics are an important part of astronomical instruments. Often diamond turned mirrors of aluminum (Al6061) are used. But it is difficult to polish aluminum. Therefore, the mirror is coated with Nickle Phosphor layer, which can be polished more easily. This is very important at shorter wavelength. But the mirrors deform with temperature changes because of the different coeffient of thermal expansion between aluminum and NiP. Ralf-Rainer will tell us about a collaboration between MPIA Heidelberg and IOF Jean, which developed and tested a new material to minimize the temperature related deformation of such mirrors. The material consists of an aluminum silicate, which has a coefficient of thermal expansion close to NiP. Thus, the deformation could be reduced drastically. But now the work just started. Is it possible to built a mirror of this material? Does the material change with time? The best answer would be the study could show that such mirror can be built and are stable over time! Talk: German Slides: English Questions: German, English
26.09.2014	Tom Herbst	LINC-NIRVANA - the path to the telescope LINC-NIRVANA is an ambitious high resolution imager for the LBT, and it is currently the largest single instrument contribution at the MPIA. We are also the Principal Investigator institute, and hence are responsible for the complex integration and testing phase now underway. LN uses Multi-Conjugate Adaptive Optics (MCAO) for high-sky-coverage diffraction-limited imagery and (eventually) interferometric beam combination. The last two years have seen both successes and challenges. On the one hand, final integration is proceeding well in the lab. We also achieved First Light at the LBT with the Pathfinder experiment. On the other hand, funding constraints have forced a significant re-planning of the overall instrument implementation. Tom Herbst presents the progress and plans for bringing the remainder of the instrument online at the telescope in the next year. Talk: German Slides: English Part1 Part2 Part3 Questions: German, English
03.10.2014	--	Tag der deutschen Einheit
10.10.2014	Casey Deen	Alignment challenges and strategies for the GRAVITY wavefront sensor cryostat and tower Aligning a handful of small mirrors,filters, and lenses with a laser shouldn't be so difficult, right? Surely no more than an afternoon! But after another week spent huddled in a dark laboratory, the light still does not end up in the correct position on the detector! In order to avoid this frustrating situation, an alignment strategy is an important part of building any instrument. Casey Deen presents the alignment concept for the GRAVITY wavefront sensor. This near-infrared sensor works on the Shack-Hartman Principle. Due to their wavelength range, near-infrared sensors have a larger selection of bright guide stars than do optical sensors, as most stars are brightest in the infrared. Optical light is also attenuated more by interstellar dust, making optical sensors impractical in dusty regions like the Galactic Center. The wavefront sensors are located in the Coude rooms of the Unit Telescopes of the Very Large Telescope (VLT). The location and the optical design of the wavefront sensors present several challenges for alignment. Casey and his colleagues present their strategy for alignment of the optics, and are looking forward to hearing opinions, advice and concerns from the assembled experts at MPIA. Expect a lively discussion and insight on what is laboratory work about! Talk: English Slides: German Questions: German, English
17.10.2014	Klaus Meisenheimer	PANIC - on the way to the Calar Alto No, that's not a talk about the infamous taxi transportation to the Calar Alto, at which some astronomer turned the red color of his fresh sun burn into white or even green. PANIC is a panoramic imager. Klaus Meisenheimer will tell us more about its capabilities. He will also show that the tests in the laboratory demonstrated good image quality and high throughput. Currently, the instrument is on its way to the Calar Alto. After arrival it will be re-integrated and will see first light in beginning of November. In this presentation, we also hear what happened to PANIC in this most interesting phase of a project and learn what will be observed with this instrument to understand our universe better. Talk: German Slides: English Questions: German, English
24.10.2014	Jacopo Farinato (OA Padova, SHARK-PI)	A SHARK for the Laarge Binocular Telescope (LBT) A SHARK in the desert of Arizona, are you kidding? This presentation will not be about the killer fish. In April this year, SHARK was selected by the LBT board as possible second generation instrument. The instrument team was asked to move on with a Phase A study. The concept of the instrument goals on studying planets in the near-infrared with a coronograph and in the visual with a integral field spectrograph. But it will serve also other science cases. Jacopo Farinato will explain us the details of the instrument, what happened since April and how the consortium and instrument evolved. There have been different opinion between LBT Observatory and the consortium how the implementation should go on. Make up your own opinion if this is the right path. It might be still time to influence it. Talk: English Slides: English Questions: English, (German)
31.10.2014	--	GAIA Challange
07.11.2014	Roman Follert (Thüringer Landessternwarte Tautenburg, Project Manager)	CRIRES - Upgrade CRIRES was a high resolution near infrared spectrograph at the VLT doing important observations already for years. Study of extrasolar planets has been one of the field the instrument was very successful. However, the instantaneous wavelength range of one observation was quite limited due to its special design. Therefore, 2011, the CRIRES upgrade project was born. The goal of the upgrade is to rebuild CRIRES into a full Echelle spectrograph, which can cover a larger wavelength range in one shot. The scientific goals of CRIRES are studying exoplanets around young stars and the formation and evolution of stellar magnetic fields. Roman Follert will tell us about the project status and the new extended capabilities of the "New" CRIRES, which will become a real planet hunter. For sure, some people already awaiting this instrument wishful. Talk: German Slides: English Questions: German, English
14.11.2014	Stefan Meister	Apprenticeship award 2011-2014 mechanical workshop The second star of the apprenticeship - history of his origin Usually, we at MPIA observe stars. However, others like the national football teams get stars for winning the world championship. But also our administration and mechanical workshop has already earned a second star for its apprenticeship. Two times, the MPIA won the apprenticeship award, which is given each year to three Max-Planck Institute doing apprenticeship. Stefan Meister introduces to us his very impressive concept, which he developed for the apprenticeship in the mechanical workshop. He will answer questions like: - What is the content of the apprenticeship concept in the mechanical workshop and how is the history of his origin? - How can you get nominated for the award and what it is the award given for? - And what does apprenticeship mean? He will also report on his goals and what kind of projects are done during the apprenticeship and what happened to the awarded money. But what is next and how to get there? .... a journey to a third star. Talk: German Slides: German Questions: German, (English)
21.11.2014	Jörg-Uwe Pott	Vibration control in observational astronomy Just like in any other high precision instrumentation field (microscopy for example), in astronomy we need to deal with vibrations, when aiming to reach for the diffraction limit of our telescopes. Telescopes are exposed to strong, variable wind load, cooling pumps, electronics fans etc, and at the same time the mirror mounts shall be lightweight, so that vibrations cannot always be avoided by stiff design and passive damping. In fact, vibrations (rather than atmospheric turbulence) are limiting the sensitivity of the highest resolution instruments we have in the optical and near-infrared range: the interferometers. Joerg Uwe will present three projects related to LINC-NIRVANA at the LBT and MICADO a near-infrared high-resolutionimager for the EELT, which give an example of what can and need to be done to reach the diffraction limit, beyond the correction of the turbulent atmosphere. Together with the Institute for System Dynamics (ISYS) at the University of Stuttgart, we developed a new, powerful filter strategy to derive vibration information from accelerometer sensors without wasting star light. First tests demonstrate a 2.5-5x better performance and more robustness to changing conditions than classical control strategies, currently applied at the VLTI and LBTI. Talk: German Slides: English Questions: German, English
28.11.2014	Oliver Krause Special!! Hans-Walter Rix	SPICA-SAFARI Sorry, this is not a multi-vision show about sunsets, landscapes and wild animals. SPICA is the next generation infrared astronomy mission and SAFARI is an instrument on this 3.2m diameter space telescope. Currently, the European and Japanese Space Agencies study the feasibility of this mission, which plans to operate in the 20-210 um wavelength range and on an actively cooled primary mirror at a temperature of 6 Kelvin (-267 Celsius). SPICA will be about two orders of magnitude more sensitive than HERSCHEL. SAFARI is one of the three instruments discussed for the SPICA payload, an imaging Fourier-transform spectrometer employing ultra-sensitive TES bolometers. These bolometers are superconducting at low temperatures and have a large quantum efficiency. The instrument will be built by a European consortium. Oliver Krause will give us an overview of the current status of the project and discuss its science case and the potential contributions from MPIA to the SAFARI instrument. Talk: German Slides: English Questions: German, English Instrumentation at MPIA - How does it go on ? The directors view.
05.12.2014	Aleksei Pavlov, Markus Feldt	The SPHERE Pipeline - the key to the planets Recently, SPHERE the planet finder imager was commissioned at the VLT and is currently running through its verification tests.The key component of the system is the data analysis pipeline built by MPIA. Modern astronomical observations differ fundamentally from the old fashioned "taking images": The preparation starts at home. The observation sequence is compounded from given templates. I.e. the acquisition of an object, the setup of the instrument as well as the sequence of exposures. Than, the observation at the telescope is more or less fully automatic and after a sequence of exposures is finished the data analysis starts also fully automatically. Markus Feldt and Aleksei Pavlov will explain to us the data flow from the idea which the astronomer has in mind, down to the final planet detection. The focus will be on the detection, which is done with help of the delivered pipeline. They will shortly explain all the details of each processing step and intermediate analysis. Don't miss this talk if you want to be sure, that the outcome of your observation is not just an artifact. Talk: German Slides: English Questions: German, English
12.12.2014	Roland Gredel	LUCI - it goes even sharper Why became LUCIFER a girl? When does LUCI see with full sharpness? Actually, both twin near infrared spectrographs are already at the Large Binoculare Telescope for a while. Nevertheless, there is still some work to do and some parts of the instrument are still missing. Roland Gredel will update us about the last situation of the LUCI instruments. He will present exiting observation results of the last years and explain us how and when the instrument will reach its full capability. Running into trouble is not unusual building prototypes - as we do - and lessons learned from such a project are not only informative but also entertaining. Talk: German Slides: English Part1, Part2 Questions: German, English
19.12.2014	--	Christmas party
26.12.2014	--	Christmas