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Heterodyne instruments will play animportant role for observations fromChajnantor: APEX will be equipped withreceivers covering all atmospheric win-dows from 200 GHz to 1 THz. In addi-tion, several experimental receiverscovering selected windows above 1THz – uniquely observable fromChajnantor – will be provided. APEXwill be equipped with autocorrelationspectrometers.

5. Site

The greatest problem for ground-based submillimetre astronomy is theabsorption of incoming radiation by at-mospheric lines, mainly by watervapour. This is why the submillimetreregion of the spectrum is still relativelyunexplored. Ground-based submillime-tre astronomy can only be done fromsites with extremely dry atmospheres,such as high mountain tops and inAntarctica.

Llano de Chajnantor is most likelythe best place for submillimetre astron-omy on Earth (possibly rivalled only bythe far more inaccessible sites inAntarctica), because of its high altitudeat 5000 m and also because of its loca-tion in the dry Chilean Atacama desert.Long-range monitoring to characterizethe site for the ALMA project has been

carried out since 1995, showing thatthe excellent atmospheric conditions onCerro Chajnantor will allow observa-tions in all submillimetre windows closeto 50% of the time.

6. Infrastructure and operations

APEX will be operated as part ofthe La Silla Observatory. The staffof 18 will include astronomers, opera-tors and engineers/technicians. Therewill be a base in San Pedro de Ata-cama (the nearest village at an alti-tude of 2500 m), which will consistof offices, laboratories, control room,cafeteria and dormitories, and the staffwill sleep at the base. On the highsite, APEX will be operated and main-tained from a set of oxygenized andheated containers. Diesel generatorswill provide power, both at the baseand at the high site. There will be ahigh-speed microwave link between theSan Pedro base and the telescope, al-lowing APEX to be operated remotelyfrom San Pedro in service mode andwith flexible scheduling. There mayalso be a visitor mode with observa-tions being done remotely from SanPedro. Part of the observing time will bededicated to more experimental obser-vations with PI instruments at THz fre-quencies.

7. Time scales

The antenna will be erected on thesite in April 2003 by VERTEX Anten-nentechnik. At this time receivers oper-ating at 90 GHz will be installed in orderto do holography and to set the surfaceto 18 microns rms. First-light receiverswill be installed soon after this, consist-ing of the SEST 1.3-mm receiver andperhaps also a single pixel bolometer.The first heterodyne receivers are ex-pected to arrive at the end of 2003, andLABOCA, the 300 pixel bolometer ar-ray, in the beginning of 2004. APEX op-erations are expected to start in the be-ginning of 2004.

8. SEST and APEX

ESO and OSO are presently operat-ing SEST on La Silla. In order to pro-vide operational funds for APEX, SESToperations are expected to stop at theend of June 2003 and SEST will beclosed. There is however a possibilitythat SEST may continue to be used af-ter June 2003, by dedicated groups do-ing survey work.

More information on APEX can befound at: http://www.mpifr-bonn.mpg.de/div/mm/apex.html andhttp://www.oso.chalmers.se/oso/apex/index.html

VIMOS Commissioning on VLT-MelipalO. LE FÈVRE1, D. MANCINI2, M. SAÏSSE1, S. BRAU-NOGUÉ3, O. CAPUTI2, L. CASTINEL1, S. D’ODORICO4, B. GARILLI5, M. KISSLER4, C. LUCUIX3, G. MANCINI2, A. PAUGET1, G. SCIARRETTA2, M. SCODEGGIO 5, L. TRESSE1, D. MACCAGNI5, J.-P. PICAT3, G. VETTOLANI6

1Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Marseille, France; 2Osservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte, Naples, Italy; 3Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées, Tarbes, France; 4European Southern Observatory, Garching, Germany;5Istituto di Fisica Cosmica e Tecnologie Relative, Milan, Italy; 6 Istituto di Radio Astronomia, Bologna, Italy

Introduction

In the mid-80s, multi-object spec-troscopy (MOS) appeared as a newand powerful technique to perform thespectroscopy of many objects simulta-neously. The idea is simple: instead ofusing a single slit as the input to a spec-trograph, masks are manufactured withslits positioned facing the images of tar-gets of interest in the entrance focalplane of the spectrograph. The techni-cal implementation turned out to bemore tricky, but the first successful ex-periments were conducted with punch-ing machines, in particular at ESO andCFHT with the PUMA concept [1].

MOS was then quickly identified asthe tool of choice to conduct deepgalaxy surveys. Multi-object spectro-

graphs on 4-m-class telescopes havebeen very powerful tools to quantify theevolution of galaxies over more thanhalf of the age of the universe, up toredshifts ~1 [2][3]. This because thedensity of galaxies to I ~ 22 (reachingredshifts ~1 or about half the currentage of the universe) projected on thesky is high enough that very efficientspectrographs with high-quality CCDs[4] can efficiently assemble samples ofseveral hundreds of measured spectraand redshifts. The technique was thenapplied on the first 10-m Keck with theLRIS spectrograph [5] and producedmost of the Lyman-break galaxies atredshifts 3–4 known today [6].

However, the study of galaxy evolu-tion and of their space distribution overmost of the age of the universe requires

much more than the few thousandgalaxies measured today, all surveysincluded. The need to study the distri-bution of galaxies in the local universehas prompted two major science andinstrumentation programmes: theSloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), andthe 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey. Bothare acquiring several hundred thou-sands of galaxy spectra with dedicatedMOS facilities [7][8]. Similarly, the needto acquire large numbers of spectra/redshifts over a redshift range 0–5 cov-ering 90% of the current age of the uni-verse, has been identified. This is re-quired by the necessity to cover sever-al time/redshift steps, study the evolu-tion of various classes of galaxies in awide range of environments, rangingfrom the low density of voids to very

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dense cluster cores. As an example,the measurement of the evolution of theluminosity function of galaxies or of thestar-formation rate requires 50 galaxiesper measured magnitude bin, over 10magnitudes, for three basic types(colours) of galaxies, in three types ofenvironments. Adding the necessity toprobe several fields (i.e. 4) to minimizethe impact of cosmic variance, and 7time steps leads to a total galaxy sam-ple of 50 × 10 × 3 × 3 × 4 × 7 = 126,000galaxies. Very efficient MOS instru-ments are therefore needed.

In 1994, ESO convened a workshopto canvass the community in definingthe full instrument complement for allunit telescopes of the VLT. A wide-fieldmulti-object spectrograph appeared asthe most important missing instrumentin a poll of the community present at themeeting. Our team presented the base-line specifications and a tentative con-cept [9], the result of discussionsacross the community, in particular in-cluding the WFIS concept developed atESO. A feasibility study was then com-missioned by ESO to our consortium ofFrench and Italian institutes, and con-ducted over 9 months in 1995–1996.ESO then issued a call for proposals tobuild a facility instrument, based on awide-field MOS. The proposal present-ed by our consortium was selected bythe ESO-STC in October 1996. A con-tract between ESO and the CentreNational de la Recherche Scientifiqueof France represented by the thenLaboratoire d’Astronomie Spatiale inMarseille (now Laboratoire d’Astro-physique de Marseille) was signed inJuly 1997, to construct VIMOS, theVisible Multi-Object Spectrograph, NIR-MOS, the Near-IR Multi-Object Spec-trograph, and the MMU, the MaskManufacturing Machine.

After the successful completion ofthe Preliminary Acceptance Europe,VIMOS was shipped and reassembledin Paranal. We describe here the re-sults of the main tests carried out dur-

ing the first commissioning periods andpresent the general performance ofVIMOS. This article is also intended toprepare the community to the arrival ofthis powerful facility.

VIMOS concept

VIMOS was designed from the outsetto maximize the number of spectra ob-served with spectral resolutions R =200–2500 (1 arcsec slits) [10]. The4-channel concept allows one to maxi-mize the multiplex gain: the field of viewof each channel is 7 × 8 arcmin2 in bothimaging and MOS, projected on thecentral 2048 × 2350 pixels of a 2048 ×4096 pixels thin EEV CCD, while the

full detector is used to record spectra.The slit sampling is set to allow Nyquistsampling for a 0.5 arcsec slit, with aplate scale of 0.205 arcsec/pix. In addi-tion, the Integral Field Unit (IFU) coversa field 54 × 54 arcesc2, with 6400 reso-lution elements 0.67 × 0.67 arcsec2,each leading to a spectrum.

In all, it is really 4 instruments in one,with a total field of view of 224 arcmin2,each channel being the equivalent of acomplete FORS instrument. For eachchannel, a mask exchange unit (MEU),a filter exchange unit (FEU), and agrism exchange unit (GEU) permitsconfiguration of the instrument in theimaging or MOS modes. Furthermore,special masks can be positioned at theentrance focal plane to configure the in-strument in IFU mode.

To produce the masks placed at theVIMOS focal plane, a dedicated maskmanufacturing unit (MMU) is availableto cut masks with s l i ts at any location,with any size and shape. It is fully de-scribed elsewhere [11]. The powerfullaser machine is capable of cutting~200 typical slits 1 × 12 arcsec each inless than 15 min. The MMU is alsoused to cut masks for the FORS2 MXUmode.

VIMOS observing modes

VIMOS has three main observingmodes: direct imaging, multi-objectspectroscopy with multi-slit masks, andintegral field spectroscopy. The maincharacteristics of these modes are list-ed in Table 1.

Figure 1: VIMOS field asprojected on the sky,each quadrant has afield 7 × 8 arcmin2, for atotal field of 224 arcmin2.

Imaging mode

Field of view 4 × 7 × 8 arcmin2

Wavelength range 0.37–1 micronFilters U′ BVRIzSpatial sampling 0.205 arcsec/pixel

Multi-Object Spectroscopy mode

Field of view 4 × 7 × 8 arcmin2

Spatial sampling 0.205 arcsec/pixelLow resolution R ~ 200 (1 arcsec slit) Grisms: LRBlueNumber of slits ~1000 of length ~ 8 arcsec LROra

LRRedMedium resolution R ~1000 (1 arcsec slit) Grisms: MRNumber of slits ~ 400 of length ~ 8 arcsecHigh resolution (1 arcsec slit) Grisms: HRBlueNumber of slits ~ 200 of length ~ 8 arcsec HROra

HRRed

Integral Field Spectroscopy mode

Field of view 54 × 54 arcsec2

Wavelength range 0.37–1 micronSpatial sampling 0.67 arcsec / fiberNumber of resolution elements / spectra 6400Spectral resolution R ~ 200–2500

Table 1: VIMOS observing modes

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VIMOS integration and tests

After completing integration and test-ing at the European integration facilityat Observatoire de Haute-Provence,France, VIMOS was completely disas-sembled and shipped in more than 50crates (a total of 15 tons) at the end of2001. The reassembly took place in theintegration facility of the Paranal Ob-servatory in January-February 2002.Optical alignment was checked, all me-chanical motions were tuned and veri-fied over hundreds of cycles, and allsoftware components were implement-ed prior to the installation at the tele-scope. The instrument was moved toMelipal on February 23rd (Figure 2).VIMOS is now attached to the Nasmythfocus B of the “Melipal” – UT3 tele-scope of the ESO Very Large Tele-scope (Figure 2).

The weight of the instrument turnedout to be significantly larger than fore-seen in the original design. At a totalweight of 4 tons, VIMOS is about 1 tonoverweight with respect to the Nasmythrotator-adapter specification. It wasnecessary to implement a supportstructure at the back end of the instru-

ment to relieve the adapter from the ex-tra weight as seen in Figure 3.

In a first commissioning run inFebruary 2002, the first 2 channelswere extensively tested on the sky.While the internal image quality wasmeasured to conform to specificationsduring integration, images on the skyhave demonstrated the excellent over-all image quality of the combined tele-scope + instrument. Images as good as0.4 arcsec FWHM have been recorded.The complex sequence necessary toplace slits at the focal plane in coinci-dence with selected targets, involving atransformation matrix from sky to maskfocal plane to detector, has been testedand validated.

In a second technical commissioningin May 2002, the support structureto compensate the extra weight wasinstalled, and the 4 channels complete-ly integrated. Due to bad weather,many calibration tests were obtainedon the complete 4-channel configura-tion but no sky observations could beobtained. Image and spectral qualityhave been confirmed to be within speci-fications.

After technical activities in July 2002,

completing the work on the support legand on flexures adjustment, VIMOS willhave its third and last commissioningon the sky in September 2002.

VIMOS performance

Image quality

The image quality of the optical trainwas measured for each channel. A gridwith pinholes 100 microns in diameterwas produced with the Mask Man-ufacturing Unit and placed at the en-trance focal plane. The optical align-ment was perfected by means of a rel-ative X,Y adjustment of the last elementof the optical train coupled to the de-tector assembly. All channels are fullyin specification, with 90% of the fieldwith images better than 0.5 arcsec at80% encircled energy as shown inFigure 4.

Flexure

Flexure control for a 4-ton instrumenthas been a concern from the start of theproject. The main VIMOS structure wasdesigned to minimize flexure defined as

Figure 2: Installation of VIMOS on the VLT-UT3. From upper left, clockwise: (a) transportation of VIMOS from the Paranal Observatory inte-gration facility to the telescope, (b) VIMOS being hoisted inside the dome of Melipal to reach the Nasmyth platform, (c) installation on theNasmyth rotator, (d) VIMOS after cabling and co-rotator installation.

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Figure 3: The fully integrated instrument onthe Nasmyth focus, including its dedicatedsupport structure to the right.

Figure 4: image quality as a function of ra-dius from the field centre, measured forchannels 1 to 4 (top to bottom) on a grid ofpinholes 300 microns in diameter. The im-age quality is better than the specificationidentified by the dashed line.

motion on the CCDs of a light spot pro-duced at the entrance focal plane. Amechanical support system was imple-mented at the back of the folding mir-rors on the optical train to allow for pas-sive flexure compensation by means ofastatic levers. This support system canalso be upgraded to an active supportusing piezo-actuators to apply motionon the folding mirrors to compensatefor flexure.

Figure 5: Flexuremeasurement onchannel 2. Thepoints represent theposition of a refer-ence spot of light onthe detector, as afunction of the rota-tion angle of theNasmyth rotatorover 360°. Thedashed circle repre-sents a 1-arcsec radius motion of thereference spot.

Uncompensated flexure is measuredto be on order ± 2.5 pixels in both X(along slit) and Y (dispersion) for a full360° rotation of the instrument. Astaticlevers have been installed and are be-ing adjusted at the time of this writing.They are expected to cut the flexure bya factor 3, as based on previous meas-urements taken during integration atHaute-Provence Observatory. This isshown on the current corrected flexurebehaviour for channel 2, showing flex-ure contained within a one-pixel radius(Figure 5). Optimization of the otherchannels is under way.

VlMOS first light

First light was achieved on February26, 2002, with VIMOS in 2-channelmode. Images with excellent imagequality were recorded right away (seee.g. Figure 6 to Figure 8, and imageson http://www.astrsp-mrs.fr/virmos

�

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Imaging performance

The overall throughput of the instru-ment can be measured in terms of thephotometric zero points used to trans-form the observed CCD counts to mag-nitudes as listed in Table 2. This is bet-ter in the UV and blue than the com-parable FORS instrument on the VLTand shows equivalent sensitivity in thevisual-red, when the additional reflec-tion in the telescope is taken into ac-count.

Multi-object spectroscopy performance

Masks have been produced from im-ages taken with the instrument. Thetransformation matrix from CCD tomask was computed using images froma uniformly distributed grid of pinholes.This transformation proved to be veryaccurate: from the first try onward, slitsand reference apertures on maskshave been successfully positioned di-rectly on top of astronomical objects.

Examples of masks observed areshown in Figure 9. This demonstratesthe great multiplex capability of VIMOS,with several hundred objects being ob-served simultaneously. The details pre-sented in Figure 10 show the high ac-curacy of the slit profile, thanks to thehigh precision of the laser-based maskmanufacturing unit [11].

Figure 6: Image of the “Antennae” taken during the first night of VIMOS on the sky. Compositeof V, R, and I images, 60 seconds each. The image quality measured on stars is 0.6 arcsecFWHM.

Filter Zero point (preliminary, average of 2 channels)Mag = zero point –2.5 log (flux) in ADU) –2.5 log (CCD gain) +2.5 log (exposure time)-kc.sec (air mass)

U 26.3B 28.0V 27.7R 27.8I 27.0

Table 2: Photometric zero points

Figure 7: image of the cluster of galaxies ACO 3341. Figure 8: Central part of the cluster Cl 1008-12. Composite of V, R, and Iband exposures, 5 minutes each.

The mask design interface allowsone to define a mask in an automatedfashion from a “pre-image” taken withVIMOS. Slits can be placed either ontargets selected from a catalogue of ob-jects detected on the pre-image, or onobjects from a user imported catalogue.The software cross correlates thebrightest objects detected in thepre-image with objects in the user cat-alogue to define a transformation ma-trix. This allows one for instance to usevery deep images taken with VIMOS oranother facility to place slits on objectsnot visible on the short-exposure pre-images. Slits are placed in an automat-

ed fashion in order to maximize thenumber of objects, and to minimize theeffect of overlap between orders whenworking with several banks of spectraalong the dispersion direction.

Performance in spectroscopy modeis as expected, and follows the compu-tations from the Exposure Time Cal-culator (see ESO web page referred tobelow). Spectra of extended IAB ≤ 22.5galaxies have been recorded in 3 × 15min exposures, with S/N ~ 5–10 on thecontinuum (Figure 14).

Spectra with the integral field unithave also been obtained as shown inFigure 11.

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Data processing

Spectra have been processed usingdedicated Data Reduction Software(DRS). The spectra are corrected forthe detector response and the sky linesare subtracted before the 2D spectraare summed. The 1D extraction then fol-lows, with wavelength and flux calibra-tion. Because of the thin substrate ofthe EEV detectors, fringing from thestrong sky OH emission appears above~ 8200 Å. This fringing can be efficient-ly removed using a sequence of shiftsof objects along slits, as shown in Fig-ures 12 and 13. Spectra of extended

Figure 9: Example of multi-slit data taken with VIMOS during the first light in February 2002. In these masks on 2 channels, more than 220objects were observed simultaneously with a spectral resolution R ~ 250.

Figure 10: Detail of a raw MOS spectraframe. One can identify the trace of the con-tinuum of galaxies in each slit. The slit pro-file is extremely accurate thanks to the highprecision of the MMU. Fringing from the de-tector is visible in the red part of the spectra(towards the top).

Figure 11: Spectra taken with the VIMOS-IFU. Left: 3200 spectra obtained with 2 channels inFebruary 2002. Right: enlarged portion of the IFU spectra showing the emission lines from aplanetary nebula observed during tests.

Figure 12: Processing of the VIMOS MOS data. Left panel: sequence of 3 spectra taken whilethe object was maintained at the same position in the slit. Three sky-subtracted spectra areshown from left to right (about 200 Å around 8200 Å; wavelength increases towards the top),together with the combined average of the three spectra on the right. Significant fringing resid-uals are present. Right panel: in this set of observations, the object was moved along the slitat positions –1, 0, +1 arcsec; the combined average shows that fringes can be corrected toa high level of accuracy.

27

galaxies with IAB ≤ 22.5 are shown inFigure 14.

SummaryThe wide-field survey instrument

VIMOS is now being commissioned atthe VLT. In each of the three opera-tional modes (imaging, multi-slit spec-troscopy and integral-field spectros-copy), VIMOS offers an unprecedentedfield of view. In multi-slit spectroscopymode, several hundred spectra can berecorded simultaneously, while in inte-gral-field mode, 6400 spectra arerecorded in a field 54 × 54 arcsec2. It isexpected that VIMOS guest observa-tions will start in April 2003. Informa-tion needed to prepare observing pro-posals is available on the web pageshttp://www.eso.org/instruments/vimos/ index.html

References[1] Fort, B., Mellier, Y., Picat, J.P., Rio, Y.,

Lelièvre, G., 1986, SPIE, 627, 339. [2] Ellis, R.S., Colless, M.M., Broadhurst,

et al., 1996, MNRAS, 280, 235.[3] Lilly, S.J., Le Fèvre, O., Crampton, D.,

Hammer, F., Tresse L., 1995, Ap.J.,455, 50.

[4] Le Fèvre, O., Crampton, D., Felenbok,P., Monnet, G., 1994, A&A., 282, 325.

[5] Oke, J.B. et al., 1995, PASP, 107, 3750.[6] Steidel, C.C., Giavalisco, M., Pettini,

M., et al., 1996 ApJ, 462, 17.[7] Gunn, G.E., and Weinberg, D.H., 1995,

in ‘‘Wide field spectroscopy and thedistant universe”, ed. S. Maddox &Aragon Salamanca, World ScientificSingapore, 3.

[8] Colless, M.M., et al., 1999, proc. 2ndIgrap conference “Clustering at highredshifts, June 1999, Mazure, LeFèvre, Le Brun Eds, ASP series.

[9] Le Fèvre, O., et al., 1994, proceedingsof the meeting Science with the VLT”,J. Walsh, I. Danziger Eds., Springer, p.367.

[10] Le Fèvre, O., et al., 2000, Proc. SPIEVol. 4008, p. 546–557, Optical and IRTelescope Instrumentation and Detec-tors, Masanori Iye; Alan F. Moorwood;Eds.

[11] Conti, G., Mattaini, E., Maccagni, D.,Sant’Ambrogio, E., Bottini, D., Garilli,B., Le Fèvre, O., Saïsse, M., Voët, C.,et al., 2001, PASP, 113, 452.

Figure 13: Effect ofsky and fringe sub-traction with(bottom) and without(top) shifting objectsalong the slit as de-scribed in Figure 12.

Figure 14:Examples of spectrataken with VIMOSduring the first com-missioning inFebruary 2002. Theredshift is indicatedin the upper left cor-ner of each panel.These spectra arethe average of 5 ex-posures 10 minuteseach with the LRgrism (R ~ 200).

2.2-m TeamL. GERMANY

Welcome to the last (very short) in-stallment of 2p2team news from LaSilla. This is mostly just a farewell mes-sage, as in October we cease to oper-ate as a separate entity and join withthe old NTT and 3.6 teams under thenew guise of Sci-Ops. Never fearthough, the next Messenger will seethis section expanded to include all the

telescopes and instruments on La Silla.The folding of the 2p2team heralds

the end of ESO time at both the ESO1.52 and Danish 1.54-m telescopes.The Boller and Chivens spectrograph isonly available in Brazilian time until theend of 2002, after which time the in-strument will be mothballed and the tel-escope decomissioned. FEROS is

moving to the 2.2-m telescope at theend of Period 69 and we expect it to beup and running in its new home byNovember 2002. The Danish telescopewill continue to operate after October2002, but only in Danish time.

So farewell from the 2p2team andwe'll see you next time as Sci-Ops.