J. Guerra

Harps-N: the new planet hunter at TNG

The Telescopio Nazionale Galileo (TNG)[9] hosts, starting in April 2012, the visible spectrograph HARPS-N. It is based on the design of its predecessor working at ESOs 3.6m telescope, achieving unprecedented results on radial velocity measurements of extrasolar planetary systems. The spectrographs ultra-stable environment, in a temperature-controlled vacuum chamber, will allow measurements under 1 m/s which will enable the characterization of rocky, Earth-like planets. Enhancements from the original HARPS include better scrambling using octagonal section fibers with a shorter length, as well as a native tip-tilt system to increase image sharpness, and an integrated pipeline providing a complete set of parameters. Observations in the Kepler field will be the main goal of HARPS-N, and a substantial fraction of TNG observing time will be devoted to this follow-up. The operation process of the observatory has been updated, from scheduling constraints to telescope control system. Here we describe the entire instrument, along with the results from the first technical commissioning.

HARPS-N @ TNG, two year harvesting data: performances and results

The planet hunter HARPS-N[1], in operation at the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo (TNG)[13] from April 2012 is a highresolution spectrograph designed to achieve a very high radial velocity precision measurement thanks to an ultra stable environment and in a temperature-controlled vacuum. The main part of the observing time was devoted to Kepler field and achieved a very important result with the discovery of a terrestrial exoplanet. After two year of operation, we are able to show the performances and the results of the instrument.

Final design and progress of WEAVE: the next generation wide-field spectroscopy facility for the William Herschel Telescope

We present the Final Design of the WEAVE next-generation spectroscopy facility for the William Herschel Telescope (WHT), together with a status update on the details of manufacturing, integration and the overall project schedule now that all the major fabrication contracts are in place. We also present a summary of the current planning behind the 5-year initial phase of survey operations. WEAVE will provide optical ground-based follow up of ground-based (LOFAR) and space-based (Gaia) surveys. WEAVE is a multi-object and multi-IFU facility utilizing a new 2-degree prime focus field of view at the WHT, with a buffered pick-and-place positioner system hosting 1000 multi-object (MOS) fibres, 20 integral field units, or a single large IFU for each observation. The fibres are fed to a single (dual-beam) spectrograph, with total of 16k spectral pixels, located within the WHT GHRIL enclosure on the telescope Nasmyth platform, supporting observations at R~5000 over the full 370-1000nm wavelength range in a single exposure, or a high resolution mode with limited coverage in each arm at R~20000. The project is now in the manufacturing and integration phase with first light expected for early of 2018.

GIARPS@TNG: GIANO-B and HARPS-N together for a wider wavelength range spectroscopy

Abstract.Since 2012, thanks to the installation of the high-resolution echelle spectrograph in the optical range HARPS-N, the Italian telescope TNG (La Palma) became one of the key facilities for the study of the extrasolar planets. In 2014 TNG also offered GIANO to the scientific community, providing a near-infrared (NIR) cross-dispersed echelle spectroscopy covering 0.97-2.45μm at a resolution of 50000. GIANO, although designed for direct light-feed from the telescope at the Nasmyth-B focus, was provisionally mounted on the rotating building and connected via fibers to only available interface at the Nasmyth-A focal plane. The synergy between these two instruments is particularly appealing for a wide range of science cases, especially for the search of exoplanets around young and active stars and the characterisation of their atmosphere. Through the funding scheme “WOW” (a Way to Others Worlds), the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF) proposed to position GIANO at the focal station for which it was originally designed and the simultaneous use of these spectrographs with the aim to achieve high-resolution spectroscopy in a wide wavelength range (0.383-2.45μm) obtained in a single exposure, giving rise to the project called GIARPS (GIANO-B & HARPS-N). Because of its characteristics, GIARPS can be considered the first and unique worldwide instrument providing not only high resolution in a large wavelength band, but also a high-precision radial velocity measurement both in the visible and in the NIR arm, since in the next future GIANO-B will be equipped with gas absorption cells.

GIARPS: the unique VIS-NIR high precision radial velocity facility in this world

GIARPS (GIAno and haRPS) is a project devoted to have on the same focal station of the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo (TNG) both the high resolution spectrographs HARPS-N (VIS) and GIANO (NIR) working simultaneously. This could be considered the first and unique worldwide instrument providing cross-dispersed echelle spectroscopy at a high resolution (R=115,000 in the visual and R=50,000 in the IR) and over in a wide spectral range (0.383 - 2.45 μm) in a single exposure. The science case is very broad, given the versatility of such an instrument and the large wavelength range. A number of outstanding science cases encompassing mainly extra-solar planet science starting from rocky planet search and hot Jupiters, atmosphere characterization can be considered. Furthermore both instrument can measure high precision radial velocity by means the simultaneous thorium technique (HARPS - N) and absorbing cell technique (GIANO) in a single exposure. Other science cases are also possible. Young stars and proto- planetary disks, cool stars and stellar populations, moving minor bodies in the solar system, bursting young stellar objects, cataclysmic variables and X-ray binary transients in our Galaxy, supernovae up to gamma-ray bursts in the very distant and young Universe, can take advantage of the unicity of this facility both in terms of contemporaneous wide wavelength range and high resolution spectroscopy.

GIANO-B online data reduction software at the TNG

GIANO-B is the high resolution near-infrared (NIR) spectrograph of the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo (TNG), which started its regular operations in October 2017. Here we present GIANO-B Online Data Reduction Software (DRS) operating at the Telescope. GIANO-B Online DRS is a complete end-to-end solution for the spectrograph real-time data handling. The Online DRS provides management, processing and archival of GIANO-B scientific and calibration data. Once the instrument control software acquires the exposure ramp segments from the detector, the DRS ensures the complete data flow until the final data products are ingested into the science archive. A part of the Online DRS is GOFIO software, which performs the reduction process from ramp-processed 2D spectra to extracted and calibrated 1D spectra. A User Interface (UI) developed as a part of the Online DRS provides basic information on the final reduced data, thus allowing the observer to take decisions in real-time during the night and adjust the observational strategy as needed.

OCS: towards a more efficient telescope

The OCS1 (Observation Control System) is a software architecture that allows automatic observations at the TNG2 (Telescopio Nazionale Galileo). It plays a critical role as it is responsible for orchestrating several devices and going through several heterogeneous software interfaces across the telescope. One successful key aspect of the OCS is the interface decoupling over the telescope devices in order to reach a high grade of automatism. The OCS architecture was successfully developed and installed at the TNG just before the arrival of HARPSN3 (more than 2 years ago) and has now reached a good level of maturity and flexibility. Using standard protocols like HTTP which allows a quick integration with new instruments and devices. At the beginning, when only two systems were connected to the OCS the HARPS-N scheduler and the TNG tracking system, other systems have been added to include more features, for example the service offered by the Active Optics system.

GIARPS: commissioning and first scientific results

GIARPS (GIAno and haRPS) is a project devoted to have on the same focal station of the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo (TNG) both high resolution spectrographs, HARPS–N (VIS) and GIANO–B (NIR), working simultaneously. This could be considered the first and unique worldwide instrument providing cross-dispersed echelle spectroscopy at a resolution of 50,000 in the NIR range and 115,000 in the VIS and over in a wide spectral range (0.383−2.45 μm) in a single exposure. The science case is very broad, given the versatility of such an instrument and its large wavelength range. A number of outstanding science cases encompassing mainly extra-solar planet science starting from rocky planets search and hot Jupiters to atmosphere characterization can be considered. Furthermore both instruments can measure high precision radial velocities by means the simultaneous thorium technique (HARPS–N) and absorbing cell technique (GIANO–B) in a single exposure. Other science cases are also possible. GIARPS, as a brand new observing mode of the TNG started after the moving of GIANO–A (fiber fed spectrograph) from Nasmyth–A to Nasmyth–B where it was re–born as GIANO–B (no more fiber feed spectrograph). The official Commissioning finished on March 2017 and then it was offered to the community. Despite the work is not finished yet. In this paper we describe the preliminary scientific results obtained with GIANO–B and GIARPS observing mode with data taken during commissioning and first open time observations.

Construction progress of WEAVE: The next generation wide-field spectroscopy facility for the William Herschel Telescope

We present an update on the overall construction progress of the WEAVE next-generation spectroscopy facility for the William Herschel Telescope (WHT), now that all the major fabrication contracts are in place. We also present a summary of the current planning behind the 5-year initial phase of survey operations, and some detailed end-to-end science simulations that have been effected to evaluate the final on-sky performance after data processing. WEAVE will provide optical ground-based follow up of ground-based (LOFAR) and space-based (Gaia) surveys. WEAVE is a multi-object and multi-IFU facility utilizing a new 2-degree prime focus field of view at the WHT, with a buffered pick-and-place positioner system hosting 1000 multi-object (MOS) fibres, 20 integral field units, or a single large IFU for each observation. The fibres are fed to a single (dual-beam) spectrograph, with total of 16k spectral pixels, located within the WHT GHRIL enclosure on the telescope Nasmyth platform, supporting observations at R~5000 over the full 370-1000nm wavelength range in a single exposure, or a high resolution mode with limited coverage in each arm at R~20000. The project has experienced some delays in procurement and now has first light expected for the middle of 2019.

Introducing GOFIO: a DRS for the GIANO-B near-infrared spectrograph

The NIR echelle spectrograph GIANO-B at the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo is equipped with a fully automated online DRS: part of this pipeline is the GOFIO reduction software, that processes all the observed data, from the calibrations to the nodding or stare images. GOFIO reduction process includes bad pixel and cosmic removal, flat-field and blaze correction, optimal extraction, wavelength calibration, nodding or stare group processing. An offline version of GOFIO will allow the users to adapt the reduction to their needs, and to compute the radial velocity using telluric lines as a reference system. GIANO-B may be used simultaneously with HARPS-N in the GIARPS observing mode to obtain high-resolution spectra in a wide wavelength range (383-2450 nm) with a single acquisition. In this framework, GOFIO, as part of the online DRS, provides fast and reliable data reduction during the night, in order to compare the infrared and visible observations on the fly.