XSHOOTER News
On this page, we list the main changes that affected the instrument and its current status.
- The XSHOOTER pipeline version 1.4.5 has been released and its first REFLEX support as well. You may want to find it here.
- Some updates of the user manual were performed regarding the phase 2 for P89, please check it.
In addition a new document describing the NIR readout mode, its regimes and their impacts is available here .
Please read it too as it may affect the data quality. And please prepare with the new XSHOOTER ETC v3.2.13
your OBs, specially regarding the NIR DITs and NIR slits.
- In July 2011 during the intervention the NIR slits wheel was replaced by a new one with 2 new slits
of 0.6" and 0.9" with the K-band bloking filter allowing observations not dominated anymore by the thermal background in J and H
bands (background reduced by factors 3 to 4) but by the sky. However, the measurements show that the readout noise is
the new limiting factor for these 2 slits. However, the 1.5" slit was removed.
In addition the TCCD performances were improved allowing a reduced pick-up noise and giving snapshot images of a better quality than
before.
- New templates are available for P88, 1 about the spectrophotometric observations in nodding mode,
2 other for doing additional AFC during an OB.
- Recently an oscillation of the dichroic absorption band in the UVB and VIS arms was reported.
The last UVB arm order and the first 4 orders of the VIS arm suffer of this oscillation.
However, the NIR arm remains not affected. More information in the Known Problems webpage, (see here)
- The stability of the spectrographs in radial velocity is currently investigated with calibration data. In addition, for testing XSHOOTER possibilities, a RV standard
star HIP34785, a star with an exoplanet HD73256, and a stellar binary system HIP34110 were observed on March 24 and March 26, 2011.
New quality control plots will be available and as soon as we get statistical information a report will be published in XSHOOTER webpages.
- In July 2011 an intervention will take place leading to replace the 1.5" slit of the NIR arm by another slit with a K-band bloking filter.
Thus the 1.5" slit will not be available anymore. Once commissionned and properly characterized the 2 new slits of 0.6" and 0.9"
with the K-band bloking filter will be offered.
- Last October 2010, the patterns problem in the VIS arm has been fixed for both readout modes. The readout noise stays the same (see VIS Health Check plots ).
- There is a meeting devoted to the 1st year of XSHOOTER science (October 19-22, 2010). For all details, see the
website.
- XSHOOTER pipeline, current version 1.3.7 find it here.
First public release of XSHOOTER pipeline, v1.0.0 (May 2010):
DISCLAIMER: The current version has been tested by a limited number of users at ESO and in the user community, hence, we cannot exclude that some bugs are still present. Please signal them to the instrument scientist, the pipeline responsible (find them here) and to xshooterATeso.org. The use/validity of the pipeline produced 1D merged spectra for scientific analysis depends very much on each scientific application and its requirements. The final assessment can be made by the user only. - The ESO Archive Group has prepared the XSHOOTER instrument specific query form (Feb 2010). Request here XSHOOTER public data.
- New SM operation requirements/constraints might be implemented with a new period. Please always check the User Manual and/or the instrument specific phase 2 requirements or phase 2 news. Please note that changes have been implemented already for P85.
XSHOOTER History
- On Nov 2008 and Jan 2009 the UVB and VIS arms have been commissioned at the UT3 Cassegrain focus (see, e.g., Messenger 134, 12 ). Data taken during the commissioning runs have shown that the instrument efficiency matches the predictions and the instrument physical model.
- The NIR arm has been commissioned on March 2009.
- XSHOOTER commissioning data (Nov 2008, Jan 2009, Mar 2009 and May 2009) are public. Click here to retrieve them.
- Paranalization data (May 29 to Jun 1 2009) are public. Click here to retrieve them.
- XSHOOTER science verification (SV) data (Aug and Sep 2009) are public. All the data (including mistakenly hidden SV1 Flux standard calibrations) can be found here.