E. Oliva, L. Origlia, R. Maiolino, C. Baffa, V. Biliotti, P. Bruno, G. Falcini, V. Gavriousev, F. Ghinassi, E. Giani, M. Gonzalez, F. Leone, M. Lodi, F. Massi, I. Mochi, P. Montegriffo, M. Pedani, E. Rossetti, S. Scuderi, M. Sozzi, A. Tozzi
GIANO is a high resolution (R50,000) IR spectrograph which provides a quasi-complete coverage of the 0.95-
2.5μm wavelengths range in a single exposure. The instrument was integrated and tested in Arcetri-INAF
(Florence, Italy) and will be commisioned at the 3.58m TNG Italian telescope in La Palma. The major scientific goals include the search for rocky planets with habitable conditions around low-mass stars, quantitative spectroscopy of brown dwarfs, accurate chemical abundances of high metallicity stars and stellar clusters. This presentation describes the status of the instrument and presents the first results obtained in laboratory during the acceptance tests.
KEYWORDS: Spectrometers, Control systems, Infrared spectroscopy, Infrared radiation, Astronomy, Data acquisition, Current controlled current source, Cryogenics, Computer architecture
Modern IR spectrometers must be equipped with software well suited to a wide range of purposes starting from the low level controls and going through acquisition, handling and fast quick-look of data. Such a complex software structure can be conveniently managed by means of dedicated GUIs which allow one to access the system at different levels: from the lowest (cryogenic controls) to the highest (data acquisition and quick-look). We will briefly describe the structure of this software, whose original characteristics is in the use of SQLite. We will also show a couple of results from our quick-look procedure based on customized DS9 and IRAF. The software architecture, that we present here, is general and can be adapted to any astronomical instruments. We have specifically implemented and tested it on
GIANO spectrometer
NICS (the Near Infrared Camera Spectrometer) is a cooled near-infrared camera-spectrometer that has been
developed in the late 90's at the INAF-Arcetri Astrophysical Observatory for the Ø3.5 m "Telescopio Nazionale
Galileo" (TNG) at the La Palma Observatory. The instrument has been operating for regular scientific observations
since the beginning of 2001. During the 2001-2007 period it has been used in about 410 nights yielding data
which contributed to the production of 60 refereed papers which collected a total of more than 800 citations. At
the age of 8 years, NICS is still among the most efficient and versatile infrared instruments existing worldwide.
To improve its observational efficiency, we have designed and we are currently developing new control software
and GUI interfaces. The former has been devised to optimize the low level tasks (in particular the motors
controls), the latter to simplify the communications between the observer and the instrument. We give here a
short description of NICS software upgrade.
GIANO is an ultra-stable IR echelle spectrometer, optimized for both low (R≃400) and high (R≃50,000)
resolution, that will be installed at the Nasmyth-B focus of the Italian national telescope (TNG).
At the beginning of this year the assembling phase of GIANO has started, at the Infrared Laboratory of INAFArcetri,
and is currently in progress.
We describe, here, the general control software structure of the instrument concerning both the user interface
and the controls of all subsystems. We present also the software interface which provides the communication
with the cryogenic system of the instrument and is handled by means of a Programmable Logic Controller.
GIANO-TNG is a cryogenic high resolution infrared spectrometer whose optics include large aspheric mirrors
and cross-dispersing prisms mounted over a ≃1.5 m2 aluminum bench. To achieve the highest possible spectral
stability and repeatability the bench is internally filled with liquid nitrogen whose boil-off pressure is actively
controlled and stabilized to a fraction of mbar. The bench is isostatically mounted inside a ≃2.5 m3 cryostat.
We present the characteristics and performances of the cryogenic system of GIANO which include, in particular,
a temperature uniformity and long-term stability of a few mK and a remarkably low consumption of liquid
nitrogen (less than 1 liter/hr).
GIANO is an infrared (0.9-2.5 μm cross-dispersed echelle spectrometer designed to achieve high resolution, high throughput, wide band coverage and very high stability for accurate radial velocity measurements. It also includes polarimetric capabilities and a low resolution mode with RS ~ 400 and complete 0.75-2.5 μm coverage. This makes it a very versatile, common user instrument which will be permanently mounted and available on the Nasmyth-B foci of the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo (TNG) located at Roque de Los Muchachos Observatory (ORM), La Palma, Spain. The project is fast-track and relies on well known, relatively standard technologies. It has been recognized as one of the top priority instrumental projects of INAF (the Italian National Institute of Astronomy) and received its first financing for the phase-A study in October 2003. Integration in the laboratory is planned to start before the end of 2006, commissioning at the telescope is foreseen within 2007 and scientific operations in 2008. One of the most important scientific goals is the search for rocky planets with habitable conditions around low-mass stars. If completed on time, GIANO will be the first and only IR instrument operating worldwide
providing the combination of efficiency, spectral resolution, wavelength coverage and stability necessary for this type of research. With its unique combination of high and low resolution modes, GIANO will also be a very flexible common-user instrument ideal e.g. for quantitative spectroscopy of brown dwarfs, stars and stellar clusters as well as for the determination of the spectral energy distribution of faint/red objects such as high redshift galaxies. The expected limiting magnitudes are such that GIANO will be able to deliver good quality HR spectra of any 2MASS object and LR spectra of any object detected in the UKIDSS large area survey.
We present the general software design and acquisition facilities of GIANO, an ultra-stable IR echelle spectrometer
optimized both for low (R ≃ 500) and high (R ≃ 50, 000) resolution, that will be mounted at Nasmyth-B focus
of the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo (TNG).
We describe the high-level software structure of the instrument, the user interface characteristics and the control
of all subsystems. The management of GIANO sensors and controls of the mechanical movements is indeed a
crucial issue that is handled by dedicated tasks. Monitoring of all these parameters is performed by means of
separated processes running in background on the control workstation (PC).
In this paper we will also schematically discuss the software for the instrument control, status display and setup,
the quick look facility and the pipeline for data reduction.
Giano is an infrared (0.9-2.5 μm) cross-dispersed echelle spectrometer designed to achieve high throughput, high resolving power, wide band coverage and high accuracy. Giano will be a common user instrument which will be permanently mounted at the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo (TNG), located at Roque de Los Muchachos Observatory (ORM), La Palma, Spain. Giano successfully concluded the development phase, and we present here some of the solutions adopted in the focal plane electronics, which take care of detector control and data acquisition and handling.
GIANO is an infrared (0.9-2.5 μm) cross-dispersed echelle spectrometer designed to achieve high throughput, high resolving power, wide band coverage and high accuracy radial velocity measurements. It also includes polarimetric capabilities and a low resolution mode that make it a very versatile, common user instrument which will be permanently mounted and available at one of the Nasmyth foci of the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo (TNG) located at Roque de Los Muchachos Observatory (ORM), La Palma, Spain. GIANO was selected by INAF as the top priority instrument among those proposed within the Second Generation Instrumentation Plan of the TNG. More information on this project can be found at the web page http://www.bo.astro.it/giano
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