Foreseen Changes regarding Paranal Instrumentation and Facilities

UT instruments and facilities

  • CRIRES will be transformed into a cross-dispersed echelle spectrograph; as a consequence, the instrument will be taken out of operations for approximately one year likely starting in Period 95.
  • XSHOOTER will probably undergo an intervention lasting 3 months in Period 93 or 94, during which the instrument will not be available for operations. The main aim of the intervention is to fix the ADC systems.
  • SINFONI  will be taken out of operations possibly in late Period 95, as its Integral Field Unit SPIFFI will be integrated in ERIS which is expected to be installed during Period 99.
  • It is expected that the 2nd generation instruments MUSE and SPHERE will undergo commissioning in Period 93.

Activities related to the installation of the Adaptive Optics Facility on UT4 (Yepun)

  • The installation of GRAAL, the adaptive optics module for HAWK-I, is expected to take place on Nasmyth A during Period 94.
  • The installation of the 4 Laser Guide Stars Facility (4LGSF) is expected to take place late in Period 94.
  • GALACSI, the adaptive optics module for MUSE, is expected to be installed on Nasmyth B early in Period 95.
  • The installation of the Deformable Secondary Mirror and re-commissioning of the telescope is expected to take place late in Period 95; as a consequence, UT4 will not be available during approximately 2 months.
  • The commissioning of the AOF and AOF-related systems is expected to require monthly slots of up to 7 days during possibly 2 years.

VLTI instruments and facilites