Space and Planetary Science; Mechanical Engineering; Astronomy and Astrophysics; Instrumentation; Control and Systems Engineering; Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
Abstract :
[en] European Southern Observatory (ESO)’s Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI), Paranal, Chile, is one of the most proficient observatories in the world for high angular resolution astronomy. It has hosted several interferometric instruments operating in various bandwidths in the infrared. As a result, the VLTI has yielded countless discoveries and technological breakthroughs. We propose to ESO a new concept for a visitor instrument for the VLTI: Asgard. It is an instrumental suite comprised of four natively collaborating instruments: High-Efficiency Multiaxial Do-it ALL Recombiner (HEIMDALLR), an all-in-one instrument performing both fringe tracking and stellar interferometry with the same optics; Baldr, a Strehl optimizer; Beam-combination Instrument for studying the Formation and fundamental paRameters of Stars and planeTary systems (BIFROST), a combiner whose main science case is studying the formation processes and properties of stellar and planetary systems; and Nulling Observations of dusT and planeTs (NOTT), a nulling interferometer dedicated to imaging young nearby planetary systems in the L band. The overlap between the science cases across different spectral bands yields the idea of making the instruments complementary to deliver sensitivity and accuracy from the J to L bands. Asgard is to be set on the former AMBER optical table. Its control architecture is a hybrid between custom and ESO-compliant developments to benefit from the flexibility offered to a visitor instrument and foresee a deeper long-term integration into VLTI for an opening to the community.
Research center :
CSL - Centre Spatial de Liège - ULiège [BE]
Disciplines :
Space science, astronomy & astrophysics
Author, co-author :
Martinod, Marc-Antoine; KU Leuven, Institute of Astronomy, Leuven, Belgium
Defrere, Denis ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département d'astrophysique, géophysique et océanographie (AGO) > Planetary & Stellar systems Imaging Laboratory ; KU Leuven, Institute of Astronomy, Leuven, Belgium
Ireland, Michael; The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
Kraus, Stefan; University of Exeter, School of Physics and Astronomy, Exeter, United Kingdom
Martinache, Frantz; Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur, Nice, France
Tuthill, Peter; University of Sydney, Sydney Institute for Astronomy, School of Physics, Camperdown, New South Wales, Australia
Bigioli, Azzurra; KU Leuven, Institute of Astronomy, Leuven, Belgium
Bouzerand, Emilie; ETH Zurich, Institute for Particle Physics and Astrophysics, Zurich, Switzerland
Bryant, Julia; University of Sydney, Sydney Institute for Astronomy, School of Physics, Camperdown, New South Wales, Australia
Chhabra, Sorabh; University of Exeter, School of Physics and Astronomy, Exeter, United Kingdom
Courtney-Barrer, Benjamin; The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
Crous, Fred; University of Sydney, Sydney Institute for Astronomy, School of Physics, Camperdown, New South Wales, Australia
Cvetojevic, Nick; Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur, Nice, France
Dandumont, Colin ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Unités de recherche interfacultaires > Space sciences, Technologies and Astrophysics Research (STAR)
Ertel, Steve; University of Arizona, Department of Astronomy and Steward Observatory, Tucson, Arizona, United States
Gardner, Tyler; University of Exeter, School of Physics and Astronomy, Exeter, United Kingdom
Garreau, Germain; KU Leuven, Institute of Astronomy, Leuven, Belgium
Glauser, Adrian M.; ETH Zurich, Institute for Particle Physics and Astrophysics, Zurich, Switzerland
Labadie, Lucas; Universität zu Köln, I. Physikalisches Institut, Cologne, Germany
Lagadec, Tiphaine; The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
Laugier, Romain; KU Leuven, Institute of Astronomy, Leuven, Belgium
Mazzoli, Alexandra ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Centres généraux > CSL (Centre Spatial de Liège)
Mortimer, Daniel; University of Exeter, School of Physics and Astronomy, Exeter, United Kingdom
Norris, Barnaby; University of Sydney, Sydney Institute for Astronomy, School of Physics, Camperdown, New South Wales, Australia
Raskin, Gert; KU Leuven, Institute of Astronomy, Leuven, Belgium
Robertson, Gordon; University of Sydney, Sydney Institute for Astronomy, School of Physics, Camperdown, New South Wales, Australia
Sanny, Ahmed; Universität zu Köln, I. Physikalisches Institut, Cologne, Germany
Taras, Adam; University of Sydney, Sydney Institute for Astronomy, School of Physics, Camperdown, New South Wales, Australia
High-angular resolution and high contrast observations from Y to L band at the Very Large Telescope Interferometer with the Asgard Instrumental suite
Publication date :
27 June 2023
Journal title :
Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems
ISSN :
2329-4124
eISSN :
2329-4221
Publisher :
SPIE-Intl Soc Optical Eng
Volume :
9
Issue :
02
Peer reviewed :
Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi
European Projects :
H2020 - 101003096 - GAIA-BIFROST - GAIA-BInaries: Formation and fundamental pRoperties Of Stars and planeTary systems H2020 - 866070 - SCIFY - Self-Calibrated Interferometry for Exoplanet Spectroscopy
Name of the research project :
ASGARD
Funders :
ERC - European Research Council [BE] UE - Union Européenne [BE] ARC - Australian Research Council [AU]
M.-A.M. has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation
program (Grant No. 101004719). S.K. and S.C. acknowledge support from an ERC Consolidator
Grant (“GAIA-BIFROST,” Grant No. 101003096). S.K. and D.J.M. acknowledge support from
STFC (Grant No. ST/V000721/1). SCIFY (A.B., C.D., D.D., G.G., and R.L.) has received funding
from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research
and innovation program (Grant No. CoG - 866070). We are grateful for the kind support and
constructive interactions with colleagues at ESO, in particular Frédéric Gonte, Xavier Haubois,
Antoine Mérand, Nicolas Schuhler, and Julien Woillez. This research was partially funded by
the Australian Government through the Australian Research Council (Grant No. LE220100126).
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