ESPRESSO Coude-Train: ESO's VLT Working as 16-metre Telescope

• Type: Article in International Conference Proceedings Book
• Date: 2019

Authors

Cabral, A (Author) Other; Abreu, M (Author) Other; Coelho, J (Author) Other; Avila, G (Author) Other; Riva, M (Author) Other; Megevand, D (Author) Other; N.C. Santos (Author) FCUP; Pepe, F (Author) Other

Conference proceedings International

Title: FOURTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON APPLICATIONS OF OPTICS AND PHOTONICS

4th International Conference on Applications of Optics and Photonics (AOP)

Univ Lisbon, Lisbon, PORTUGAL, MAY 31-JUN 04, 2019

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 1 Citation

Scopus - 2 Citations

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-00R-8DW

DOI: 10.1117/12.2527260

Abstract (EN): ESPRESSO is a fibre-fed, cross-dispersed, high-resolution, echelle spectrograph developed to fully exploit the European Southern Observatory VLT (Very Large Telescope), and it was open to the astronomical community at the end of 2018. This spectrograph was installed at the Combined Coude Laboratory (CCL) of the VLT, fed by four Coude Trains, which bring the light to the CCL from the Nasmyth platforms of the four 8.2-metre Unit Telescopes. With all four Telescopes combining their light-collecting power to feed a single instrument, the ESPRESSO Coude Train effectively transforms the VLT into the largest optical telescope in the world in terms of collecting area. The Coude Train is composed of a set of prisms and lenses delivering a pupil and an image to the CCL, up to 70 m away, including an Atmospheric Dispersion Compensator. The use of only refractive optics, namely Total Internal Reflection prisms, has the advantage of the inherent higher throughput, especially in the blue region of the spectrum. With these complex optics, ESPRESSO can either collect the light from up to all four Unit Telescopes together, or alternatively receive light from any one of the telescopes independently, allowing for more flexible usage of observing time. In this paper, we present the ESPRESSO Coude Train concept, the design and the implementation on the VLT.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 7