********************************************************** Second Announcement 2017 ESO CALIBRATION WORKSHOP: THE SECOND GENERATION VLT INSTRUMENTS AND FRIENDS Santiago, Chile, January 16 - 19, 2017 http://www.eso.org/sci/meetings/2017/calibration2017.html Conference email: calibration2017@eso.org Organizer: ESO ********************************************************** Rationale ========= Calibration is a critical component in the conversion of raw data to material ready for scientific analysis. Consequently a complete, consistent calibration plan for each data set fulfilling quality control criteria was recognized as a cornerstone of VLT operations. In 2007, ESO organized its first calibration workshop with a focus on the first generation instruments. Ten years later, ESO's instrument suite has changed considerably following the arrival of second generation instruments and the completion of major upgrades of first generation ones - HARPS, KMOS, MUSE, SPHERE, VISIR, X-shooter. Soon, it will evolve further with the completion of the upgrade of CRIRES, the arrival of ESPRESSO and the AOF-assisted instruments MUSE and HAWK-I, as well as the projects SOXS and NIRPS, ERIS and MOONS. For many of them, the increase in complexity requires challenging calibration for optimum performance. The 2017 ESO Calibration Workshop will cover - all calibration aspects that are relevant for the user community or science operations for ESO VLT and La Silla sites, - the progress made in characterizing the properties of the atmosphere that allow science operations to make the best use of the present conditions, - the progress made in data reduction and pipeline tools. Topics therefore include high quality flat-fielding; high precision wavelength calibration; metrology; calibration for high contrast imaging, astrometry, integral field spectroscopy, multiple object spectroscopy (multi-slit, multi-fiber), photometry; infra-red sky background correction; reference data (atomic and molecular line parameters); characterization of atmospheric properties and forecasting; atmospheric modeling for data reduction... The workshop will not cover calibration issues specific to E-ELT instruments, ALMA, APEX, VLTI or survey instruments as their dedicated needs are better served by separate meetings. Participation by staff from other observatories is encouraged to foster collaboration with ESO. In order to make sure that, as a direct outcome of the workshop, novel and innovative self-contained calibration methods and ideas for calibration can be tested with ESO instruments on-sky we have pre-allocated telescope time for such observations. Participants are invited to submit proposals before the workshop (see timeline below), their content will be discussed at the meeting and the most convincing proposals will be executed in due course. Don't miss this unique opportunity to present your exciting ideas to a group of experts and have them tested in real-life as a fast track project. Visit to Paranal ================ We also give participants the opportunity (limited to 20 people tbc, first come first serve, cost ca 160 Euro, including air travel and lodging in Paranal) to visit Paranal and see some of the calibration infrastructure and procedures first hand and to talk to the observatory staff performing the calibration measurements on a daily basis. Confirmed invited speakers: ========================== Stefano Bagnulo (Armagh Observatory) “Polarimetric calibration and accuracy: lessons learnt from the existing instrumentation" Paul Bristow (ESO) “Metrology for astronomical instruments" Stefano Casertano (STScI) "Data reduction and archive at STScI" Susana Deustua (STScI) “Photometric calibration" Wolfram Freudling (ESO) “Data reduction" Carlos Gonzales-Fernandez (CASU) “Infra-red imaging data, incl. photometry of wide field surveys" Miwa Goto (MPE) “IR spectroscopy" Pascale Hibon (ESO) “Astrometry in MACO imaging" Christof Janssen (Observatoire de Paris-Meudon) "Molecular line parameters" Carme Jordi (U. Barcelona) "GAIA and ground-based astrometry" Robert Lupton (U. Princeton) "Calibration aspects of LSST" Elena Masciadri (Arcetri) “Atmospheric modeling and forecasting" Trevor Mendel (MPE) “Infra-red integral field units, such as KMOS" David Mouillet (Grenoble) “High-contrast imaging" Gillian Nave (NIST) “Wavelength calibration reference data" James Osborn (U. Durham) "Characterising atmospheric turbulence with the Stereo-SCIDAR" Elena Pancino (Arcetri) “GAIA spectro-photometric standards" Myriam Rodriguez (Observatoire de Paris-Meudon) “Sky background correction in multi-fiber spectrographs" Martin Roth (AIP) “Visible integral field units, such as MUSE" Andrew Szentgyorgyi (CfA) “High precision wavelength calibration" Registration ============ Registrations are open. Registration fee: EUR 250/EUR 150 for students Deadline for payment: January 2, 2017 The registration fee is payable through the ESO shop via credit card. It covers the welcome reception, the workshop dinner and all tea/coffee breaks. Important Deadlines =================== * Submission of abstracts: November 20th, 2016 * Notification of talk selection: December 1st, 2016 * Submission of proposals for innovative calibration observations: December 12th, 2016 * Hotel Director booking: December 15th, 2016 * Registration: January 2, 2017; earlier if the 100 conference slots are filled before * Payment of registration fee: January 2, 2017 * Deadline for proceedings submission March 1, 2017 Proceedings: =========== Proceedings will be published on-line using the zenodo platform: see https://zenodo.org/about Accommodation ============= ESO has made a special arrangement with Hotel Director, in Vitacura, Santiago. Located at only a few blocks from ESO, Hotel Director will have a special rate for the participants at our conference. Further information is available on the web page.