La Silla Paranal Observatory Update

Published: 26 Aug 2021
Paranal at sunrise

As of the shift starting August 30, all telescopes on Paranal are in science operations. HAWK-I has been recommissioned in the last days and is also ready. CRIRES commissioning concluded mid August, leaving CRIRES ready for P108. VISIR on-sky validation is ongoing, and it is expected to be available for P108. Therefore, all instruments announced for P108 will be available.

Following the sustained improvement of the pandemic situation in Chile, the observatory is able to slowly increase the staffing and activity levels on the sites (e.g. moving from about 80 to about 90 staff on Paranal), and hopes to continue in this direction in the next weeks and months. 

From September 7 to September 20 the recoating of M1 and M3 of UT1 will take place. Since full operations have not been restored yet, the operations of the survey telescopes will be paused during this period, and VLTI-ATs will be operated on a best effort basis.