No.

70 - December 1992

Jan Hendrik OORT (1900-1992)

Looking Ahead in Wonder
The life of the man I think of as this scenes. His research spans seven de- found (MERCURY, March/April 1992),
century's greatest astronomer ended on cades: from his first paper, in 1922, enti- on "Exploring the Nuclei of Galaxies (In-
5 November 1992, a Iife long, rich, full of tled "Some peculiarities in the motion of c1uding our Own)". Oort normally dealt
arduous labour and marvellous results. stars of high velocities" to the last one I with major themes that he pursued for
Without Jan Oort, ESO would not have
begun when it did, indeed without him
ESO might never have been. Yet our
Organization's birth is but one of his
many achievements and as we grateful-
Iy remember him, his life is an inspiration
unparalleled in our science, an epoch-
making journey of our time.
At Leiden Observatory - de Sterre-
wacht de Leiden - wh ich was Oort's
base for most of his professional en-
deavours, a careful compilation of his
writings, including notes and corre-
spondence, has been prepared and re-
cently published, the archive deposited
with the Leiden University Library, readi-
Iy accessible for historical research. In
1980 friends and colleagues wrote a
book, a fiber amicorum for and about
him, called OORT and the UNfVERSE.
Shortly thereafter Oort himself wrote
one of his scarce autobiographical pa-
pers wh ich appeared in the series "My
life as an Astronomer", in the 1981 issue
of Annuaf Reviews of Astronomy and
Astrophysics. A fascinating biography
remains to be written.
Professor Oort managed in some in-
imitable way to combine his teaching'
and research in the university context
with policy making, programme de-
velopment and organizational actions
on both the national and international J. -H. Oort at the Leiden Observatory, January 1992. Photo: Bert Janssen
years or even decades and to which he caused Oort also to take major in- productivity and unstinting devotion. To
contributed insights wh ich have often itiatives in Dutch space research. think however that this must have been
become authoritative standards in our Oort was in spirit and actions a world a workaholic's life, neglectful of family
science, sometimes the commonly citizen. Aided by his fluency in four and friends, is belied by all of us who
shared features of mankind's worldview. languages, he worked towards interna- knew him from close range. His family
Of the former I remember the influence I tional collaborations, exchange and life was rich, as movingly attested by a
experienced of his classic paper with astronomical pooling of resources son and a granddaughter at the memo-
Walraven on the Crab Nebula in 1956. throughout his career. It was his fate, and rial gathering on 10 November. Mieke
The latter certainly is the case for both the world community's good fortune that and Jan were frequent and warmly
the rotation of the Galaxy and the origin he was Secretary General of the Interna- attentive hosts to innumerable tea- and
of comets. He was often decades ahead tional Astronomical Union in 1938. He dinner guests. Those who discussed
of his time, was for example lecturing on held this office for a decade, carrying the literary works with Jan, rowed with him
dark matter in 1926 ... lAU through those awful times with per- or skated through the wintry polder
Oort cannot be called an observation- sistence, loyalty and the conviction that landscape north of Leiden know how
al astronomer, but neither was he a astronomy defies ideology and is a pre- broad his interests and how varied his
theoretician. He could be more sceptical cious human endeavour. Unlike ESO's, I excertions were.
of clever theories than of even the know of no written account for the de- Nevertheless, things astronomical
shakiest of observations (at least if the velopment of the lAU; it will be very were predominant in his life, especially
latter fitted his intuitive expectations), interesting to learn what its archives can the latest things and the things to come.
his theoretical work was driven and di- reveal of this period in lAU history. The phrase in the heading of this In
rected by empirical evidence, by obser- Adriaan Blaauw's book "ESO's Early Memoriam is the title Oort wrote he
vations, by the phenomena for which he History" has an index where Oort's would have given to the autobiography
had an insatiable appetite. He was the name stands out by its long list of page he did not write. He was forever curious
interpretive astronomer par excellence, references. More than quantity though, about the latest results from telescopes,
able always to discern features in maps it is the substance of Oort's contribu- any telescope, he lived in anticipation of
and in other data sets which those who tions to ESO wh ich is vital and unique. data to come, he hungered for perspec-
had so diligently acquired them had An idea conceived at Leiden in discus- tives in regions where his mind sought
overlooked, could oft barely distinguish sions between Walter Baade and Jan to penetrate; he died, as a well-known
even when he pointed them out. One of Oort in 1953, it took ten years to bring it Dutch weekly headlined its obituary,
the reasons he interacted so intensely to first fruition, marked by the signatory "with a head full of questions" .
with such an inordinate number and var- ceremony of the ESO Convention in The Oort family, in the official
iety of astronomers, in conversation, in Paris on 5 October 1962. In the interval announcement of their husband's
discussions, in correspondence, was this splendid idea of ESO was father's, grandfather's and greatgrand-
surely his overwhelming interest in as- threatened numerous times and it was father's death, cite from Loren Eiseley's
tronomical data, his contageous en- the tenacity of Oort, who untiringly used "Immense Journey" a passage so quint-
thusiasm for observational discoveries his linguistically supported diplomatic essentially focussing his life that I repeat
and his impatience with the construction skills, wh ich ensured that the future re- it here:
of new facilities. The last time I spoke to mained open. Thanks in large measure "Down how many roads among the
him he praised the ND for the SHARP to him, astronomy in Europe today stars must man propel himself in search
pictures of the Galactic Centre (referred possesses the exciting prospects to of the final secret! The joumey is
to in his last article) and wanted a pro- wh ich this quarterly testifies each issue. difficult, immense, at tim es impossible,
gress report on the VLT from which, Overviewing Oort's scientific achieve- yet that will not deter some of us from
especially in its interferometric mode, he ments and the size of his oeuvre, one is attempting it . ..; we will travel as far as
expected wonders. awed by the creativity of his long life. we can, but we cannot in one lifetime
In the Netherlands Oort was the driv- But assessing his organizational and see all that we would like to see or leam
ing force and the guiding spirit of the policy accomplishments is an equally all that we hunger to know. "
team which from the simplest beginning amazing experience. That one man It was our privilege to know Jan Hen-
with the Wurzburg dish at Kootwijk, via should take several major initiatives and drik Oort, to learn from him as we trav-
the Dwingeloo Telescope to the sophis- then lead such a large fraction to suc- eled far with him. It is our privilege to
tication of the Synthesis Radio Tele- cessful maturity is scarcely imaginable. continue his journey.
scope at Westerbork brought radio as- The combination stands out as towering H. VAN DER LAAN
tronomy to its uncontested observation-
al maturity in thirty years of unrivalled
progress. While elsewhere radio en-
gineers and physicists started and oper- ANNOUNCEMENT
ated radio observatories, in Holland an
astronomer from the start determined 2nd Miniworkshop on Large CCDs
the observing programmes, the techni- is planned for Oetober 4-5, 1993 at the ESO Headquarters in Garehing. As it was the
cal priorities and the next telescope's ease for the workshop held in June 1991, ESO solieits the participation of the groups in
configuration. As a result the Dutch Europe who are active in this field and will secure the attendance of a few seleeted
school of astronomy, perhaps before experts from overseas. We expeet also presentations by the companies which are
involved in the production of CCOs for astronomy.
any other, became problem- rather than
Topics to be diseussed are design, manufaeturing and characterization of large-size
technique-oriented, working on as-
CCOs, plans for future devices, control systems and developments related to data
tronomical themes and using whatever preproeessing and data compression.
technique was available, in whatever II you are interested in future announcements, please contact:
wavelength region, as long as it contri- O. Iwert - CCO Workshop
buted to insight in the problems as- Telefax 49-89-3202362
tronomically posed and astrophysically E-Mail: oiwert(U eso.org (Internet)
interpreted. It is this approach wh ich

2
The Idea of the European Southern Observatory
HARRY VAN DER LAAN, ESO's 4th Oirector General

ESO's Mission sensitive, flexible but more complex Key Programmes

equipment. ASO members are them-
Five years, twenty issues of the To counter trends of increasing re-
selves active observers, compete as do
Messenger later, I take this opportunity search fragmentation and, positively, to
community members for observing time
to denote my attitude towards our Or- promote inter-institutional and multi-
in the OPC. There are many collabora-
ganization, my understanding of its mis- national collaborations for ambitious
tions among them and with community
sion, which has consistently guided my strategic goals, the idea of Key Pro-
colleagues, they have an active scien-
actions the years I have held this office grammes was defined, implemented
tific life, with weekly internal research
and excercised its responsibilities. This and tuned. Some two dozen KPs, in-
presentations and frequent colloquia by
is not the time to comprehensively volving more than two hundred as-
visitors. Young people circulate be-
summarize the achievements and dis- tronomers in all member States as weil
tween the community and the ASO,
appointments, which can in any case be as from many other countries are now
spending one or two years as students/
culled from Annual Reports and from running, typically for three to five years.
cooperants or up to three as fellows on
five years of Messengers by perceptive The past sixteen or so issues of this
the mountain, all with service tasks and
readers. journal have seen profiles of these pro-
research in combination. Returning to
For me ESO is the embodiment of an grammes, in order to acquaint the com-
the community, they enhance the con-
idea, conceived in Leiden by Oort and munity at large with the work in pro-
nectivity with ESO of the institutes they
Baade in 1953 and developed in interac- gress, information which itself has influ-
join.
tion by a small group of leading Euro- enced the direction of normal pro-
pean astronomers and a few farsighted grammes and sometimes led to enlarge-
administrators from then till ESO's birth ment of the KP teams.
Activities in the Science Division
in October 1962. The essence of this
idea is to promote astronomical re- This is equally true for the fellows and
Action in the VLT Division
search in the community comprised of students appointed to the Astronomy
the astronomers in the member States. Group of the Science Division. For them In the VLT Division the past five years
That mission has many facets, the the service tasks are more modest and have been turbulent, very full with new
foremost task being the construction they have many opportunities for col- technology and with the learning pro-
and operation of world class observing laborative connections with ESO staff cess of working on the preparation and
facilities for the users from the commun- and with visitors to the Science Division. execution of many institutional and in-
ity. Derivative tasks are evident: to ex- That visitors' programme has been en- dustrial contracts at once. At the same
ploit the facilities so provided to the full, larged the past two years, in both Image time, but after commissioning of the
requires a community that is competent, Processing Group and Astronomy ND largely in the context of VLT pre-
ambitious, interactive, collaborative and Group. Although as a science service paratory activities, work for La Silla con-
competitive. organization ESO's in-house research is tinued. I mention the development of
To stimulate these characteristics a a secondary objective, meant to en- adaptive optics, in a major collaboration
host of activities can be thought of and hance the prime objective, by having with several Frencl, institutions and of
indeed have been deployed: work- critical users in house directly interact- remote control systems, in collaboration
shops, conferences, summer schools, ing with other staff and carrying out part with Trieste. All this in addition to the
fellowships, technical panels and sub- of the service functions themselves, the continual delivery of ever improving op-
disciplinary working groups, telescope in-house research is nevertheless very tical and infrared array detectors and
advisory committees. These are ways extensive. At the present time some associated cameras.
and means to achieve interaction be- seventy-five scientists who do research The VLT programme itself is now
tween ESO and its community and part time or full time, including paid vis- nearing the halfway mark, both in time
among community constituents, across itors, are employed by ESO. Fully half of and in the resources contractually com-
boundaries of nations, languages, tradi- all astronomy publications based on or mitted. The work of the Division is rapid-
tions and subdisciplines. This mission related to La Silla observations and Iy shifting from tendering preparations
sums up to ESO's central characteristic, other ESO services, have at least one to contracts executions. The tendering
namely that of a European astronomy author who is on the ESO payroll! process has been very professionally
service organization. To further develop Our image processing system MIDAS standardized and ESO has engaged
the quality of this mission I have initiated has been drastically improved in these many industries in a remarkably exten-
numerous measures which are now op- years and is now installed at more than sive set of R & 0 contracts and prelimi-
erational. I mention some highlights. 150 institutes. Ways have been de- nary enquiries as preludes to that pro-
veloped to enable community users to cess. An aspect of ESO's mission is to
contribute to MIDAS utilities by paid re- further technology development in Euro-
Astronomy on La Silla
sidence periods in Garching. MIDAS will pean industry, a task systematically de-
On La Silla the astronomy group was be the VL1's data handling system and veloped over the past ten and more
revitalized under new leadership, with is finding its way into La Silla domes years.
improved facilities and with an increase now. The La Silla ASO team is actively
of youthful team members, as the As- contributing to the system. With the
Instrumentation Plan, VLTI and
tronomy Support Department. The ASO stimulus of VLT standardization and the
the Community
has organized itself to cope with the ubiquity of powerful workstations,
introduction and assistance of a grow- MIDAS will serve European astronomers A quite new aspect of ESO interfacing
ing number of visiting astronomers who in the long term, also where institutes with the community has been the de-
come to use a large suite of ever more use several systems side by side. velopment of both the VLT instrumenta-

3
tion plan and of VLT Interferometry. lous application. The reliability and con- the work of the OPC is hard, some
Both were defined with the intense par- sistency of our relations to industry are members say heartrending. The Visiting
ticipation of a community Instrumenta- an important feature of ESO's reputation Astronomers Section in the DG's Office
tion Panel and an Interferometry Panel. as a contractual partner. handle and prepare this semiannual
New ways of collaborating, based on flood for OPC assessment and then pro-
contractual arrangements adapted to cess the decisions by converting them
ESO Public Relations
the new circumstances, were outlined, into a La Silla schedule and a travel
discussed and implemented step by In the Office of the Director General schedule for hundreds of our users.
step. I consider these contracts, wh ich the Information Service has during my Here also the increasing workload had
greatly multiply ESO material and hu- time taken on several additional tasks. led to only a much smaller increase in
man resources by highly ski lied human Press releases and press photos con- staff time and a large increase in pro-
resources from the community, as a ma- tinue to be issued as developments ductivity by further automation, and
jor and successful innovation. For the warrant; we produce no managed news, sheer experience and dedication. This
Instrumentation Plan it is al ready far on no froth. This group, the IPS, has interplay between ESO staff and OPC
the way with a number of contracts, acquired new skills in the production of members is a pleasure to monitor. The
both for predesign and for design and video programmes and video clips, in a OPC has been strengthened by three
construction work, signed and in pro- remarkably short time achieving a level members at large in addition to the na-
gress. For VLTI all preliminary work is of professionalism equal to its more tional representatives, to balance the
complete, the Interferometry Panel has classical photographic forms of expres- committee in special expertise and to
completed its work, its final report is in sion. The travelling exhibitions, also en- cope with the load. Nevertheless each
press and contracts with industry and hanced by ESO videos, were increased member spends between four and six
with community institutes consortia are in number and scope. Part of ESO's working weeks per year for the cause.
in preparation. VLTI promises to be on mission is the dissemination of as- And then the national representatives
the cutting edge of the VLT Observato- tronomical discoveries and insights to have to try and answer the difficult
ry's exploration of new domains in para- the public-at-Iarge: our astronomers' questions of disappointed colleagues as
meter space, with community staff play- explorations are journeys to be shared. to why their brilliant idea did not get the
ing a dominant role in the venture. That the group at the same time mass- telescope time it so evidently deserves.
The VLT programme scientist is a key produces and distributes posters and Because more than half the proposals
figure guarding the science objectives of slides, looks after the Messenger and get no time at all, for the big telescopes
the programme as he monitors all VLT the Annual Report as weil as preprints only one in five is successful. So the
Division activities. A particular set of ac- and conference proceedings is weil frustration is large, the questions are
tivities form the formation and conduct known. Less known but important for tough. Churchill said that democracy is
of Instrument Science Teams, one for the world-wide community is the task the least bad form of government; we
each VLTinstrument, consisting typical- we took on of producing and dis- have each time to convince our friends
Iy of three or four community astronom- seminating the Palomar-ESO Atlas of that peer review is the least bad form of
ers and one staff member from the Sci- the Northern Sky. distributing scarce science resour-
ence Division. These ISTs of which four ces ... The OPC spends, necessarily, a
are now active, are an effective means lot of time on Key Programmes, where I
The Scientific Committees
of exerting the future VLT users' influ- have from the start also involved ref-
ence on the programme as weil as as- The most direct feedback the DG gets erees external to the OPC who send
certaining that knowledge of that pro- about La Silla is from staff and fellows their report to the OPC to complement
gramme can diffuse into user circles. returning from an observing trip and via the members' assessments. The OPC
For VLTI it is intended to form Interfero- the end-of-run reports wh ich I always has again reached the limits of its
metric Imaging Science Groups (1ISGs) read and act upon where necessary. capacity and my successor will either
which will bid to build VLTI instruments Less direct, but comprehensive and offi- have to expand it again or split the task
and commit themselves to help ESO cial is the annual meeting of the Users for several subdiscipline groups as is
commission, tune and operate the VLTI Committee. The UC in my time has be- done for the HST. Whatever is done, the
on Paranal. come more assertive and also more sys- OPC has shown exemplary dedication
tematic in its reporting and advising. For and unfailing professionalism in which it
that the members, one from each has been very rewarding to participate.
Administrative Matters member state, have to stay in touch with The Scientific Technical Committee
One measure of the administrative their national user-colleagues, a tall or- has in these five years seen its role
load of an organization is the amount of der especially in the three large nafions. much enhanced, in part by the VLT pro-
money it spends. The ESO annual The UC has stimulated a lot of activities, gramme which has so much occupied
budget, with the VLT capital programme both on La Silla, e.g. the writing of a its attention, in part by the agreement in
in full swing, is now about twice as high whole series of operating manuals as my first meeting with the STC to not
as it was five years ago. A modest in- weil as the general ESO Users Manual; avoid controversy, to forget politics and
crease in staff, further computerization and at Headquarters, e.g. measures to have substantial, frank science and
and the cumulative experience of the stabilize the MIDAS core. technology exchanges (this in marked
several teams have maintained ESO's The committee with the most hard contrast to the style when I was myself a
reputation of effective administrative labour is the OPC, the Observing Pro- member of the STC). The result has
procedures as the work load grew. Espe- grammes Committee. In my five years been a deeper involvement with much
cially the Contracts and Procurements the OPC adjudicated some four more community input as weil as in-
department is affected by VLT activities. thousand proposals for periods 42 tellectually more rewarding meeting
It has risen to the task with remarkable through 51; for the latter there were 492 days. No doubt this has rather increased
effectiveness, often evoking apprecia- normal proposals plus 8 Key Pro- the feedback to the institutes where
tive remarks from our contractors even gramme proposals. This stream of ideas STC members are active. All in all a
as they squirm under the rigours of our for which telescope time is requested considerable gain in approaching the
contractual conditions and their meticu- far exceeds the capacity of La Silla, so idea of ESO.

4
 Of these three science committees all sional training, as one Council member perceptions of authority, notions of
people asked to serve as members in put it to me, has made me articulate but hierarchy, appreciations of frankness
my time have consented without fail. not very diplomatic. In the end the tre- and openness, that the learning process
This is, I think, a mark of ESO's stature mendous workload and my diplomatic is a long and subtle one. In Chile this is
in our community. weakness, wh ich could perhaps have even more difficult. This culture diversity
been corrected by a much greater time is extremely interesting in its dynamic
investment, time I did not find, resulted patterns; it is extremely difficult to han-
The Member States Delegations
in increasing estrangement between dle managerially and in policy making.
The science committees are from several delegations and myself. Thus Looking back, I am convinced we
member States but the members come the confidence base, essential for suc- have collectively achieved a great deal. I
as scientists, do not represent member cessful continuation, eroded. worked on the premise that all-out ser-
State governments. The members of the The delegations have, for these five vice to the idea of ESO, to the furthering
Finance Committee and of the Council years, persuaded their governments to of research opportunities of the com-
do; we fly the flags when they meet provide ESO with all the means munity for wh ich it exists, was
officially, as they normally do twice per necessary for its mission. The limits of necessary and sufficient. I have no re-
year. Their task and authority are set out our work were in human resources, not grets of being an idealist in this respect.
in the ESO Convention and in the Finan- in funding. Council understandably and As an ESO staff member and advisor
cial Protocol. The Director General re- effectively controls the expenditure to the new Director General, I hope, at
ceives instructions and guidelines from growth by putting ceilings on the num- some distance, to continue to serve and
Council, wh ich also approves the bers of the several categories of staff observe. I look forward to resuming my
budget and major decisions, including that can be on the payroll at the same scholarly work, to meeting community
appointments of senior members of time. That actually determines the astronomers in their own institutes and
staff. scope of ESO's work and the pace of its at conferences. The Council decision
The FC advises Council and exercises VLT programme. The member States' may weil be a blessing in disguise for my
several functions delegated to it by support has been very impressive and personal and our family life. After two
Council, most important of wh ich has relieved us of the constant money activist decades in Leiden and five ex-
perhaps is that of approving executive worries wh ich plague so many other or- citing but exhausting years in ESO, I
proposals to conclude contracts. The ganizations, so that we could fully con- anticipate a welcome change of pace. I
introduction to the Annual Report 1991 centrate on the work itself. That is have not had a chance for full time
gives an interesting example of this ac- ground for appreciation and optimism. study, research and writing since my
tivity in VLT practice. graduate student days in Cambridge
This is not the place to elaborate on thirty years ago!
A Personal Note
the Executive's relations with delega- I express my gratitude to all who have
tions or on the delegations' internal rela- Ending this "farewell article" on a per- made tllese years so fascinating, many
tions. It is clear that there is a great sonal note, I must admit I had underesti- of whom share with me the idea(l) of
variety of interests, national and indi- mated the cultural complexity of ESO at ESO. May it flourish on Paranal, on La
vidual, of personalities and styles, which all levels. In governing bodies, in com- Silla, in Santiago, in Garching and
combine to form a complex and some- mittees, in management teams and throughout Europe's astronomy com-
times unpredictable whole. My profes- among personnei, there are so many munity.

Developments in ESO/Chile

In the course of 1992 important events took place related to ESO activities in Chile. Some of them require
clarification in order to avoid the circulation of unnecessary rumours related to ESO's relations with the
Government of Chile, the local staff and the Paranal site.

Relations with Chile

Concerning the general relations with The offer of membership was trans- Local Statt Matters
Chile, the ESO Council decided in its mitted to the Chilean Government in
67th Meeting on June 4 and 5, 1992, to June this year, followed by some high- Issues raised by the ESO local staff in
offer Chile membership in ESO and in- level meetings with Chilean government Chile concentrate on the recognition
vited a Chilean delegation to start dis- officials in Santiago. Apart from more within ESO of anational syndicate
cussing this issue with ESO in Europe. formal communications confirming the wh ich the Chile local staff has estab-
This offer was made on the background receipt of this offer and its appreciation, lished on the basis of national Chilean
of similar discussions wh ich had already the Chilean side has not yet replied to law and also on the request to reach a
taken place in the 1960s and taking into the invitation to begin discussions salary level comparable to that of the
account the wish of the Chilean as- aimed at ESO membership. international staff.
tronomicat community for closer scien- The ESO Council at its 68th Meeting Like other international organizations,
tific cooperation with ESO, including the on December 1 and 2, 1992, discussed ESO, because of its status, cannot
desire to obtain a fixed percentage of this issue, and a new initiative by ESO is accept national trade union activities
observing time. now in preparation. within the organization.
(Continued on page 8)
5
Paranal
(October 1992) 2

Pieture 1: Paranal as seen from the NIT-peak. The truck, visible at the top, gives an idea about the dimension of Ihe platform. - Pieture 2: The
new shape of the mountain elearly stands out against the deep blue sky. - Pieture 3: Aeeess road to the VL T eontrol building. - Pieture 4: Upper
part of the aeeess road leading to Ihe platform. - Pieture 5: Sunset light illuminat es the wall of an exeavation for a teleseope basement. - Pieture
6: Exeavation for the basement of Teleseope Unit 4 - Pieture 7: Exeavators at work. Photos by H. ZODET, ESO

6
7
 The principles of freedom of associa-
tion for their staff are implemented in
Preparation of Paranal
international organizations exclusively
through their own legal system which, in
case of ESO, recognizes the jurisdiction In November the Interbeton contract about ten times more than those of
of the Administrative Tribunal of the In- for the levelling and landscaping of the massive rocks, remain very small with
ternational Labour Organization in the Paranal site of the VLT Observatory was no consequences for the concrete.
case of disputes between the organiza- completed with the signature of the pro- The stability of the foundation slabs
tion and its staff. tocol of acceptance of the work. with respect to sliding under seismic
At ESO this legal system consists of The top of the mountain now presents effects is widely insured.
the Combined Staff Rules and the Local a plateau 2632 m above sea level in The control building also presents ex-
Staff Regulations wh ich forsee the elec- wh ich specific excavations for the cellent conditions with respect to the
tion of staff representatives for the in- foundation of the four 8-m telescopes small loads to be exerted on the foot-
teraction with the Executive. and the control building were dug out. A ings, and the dip of the rock layers to-
At the same time ESO has no objec- total volume of about 350000 m3 of wards the heart of the slope wh ich is
tion to local staff being members of na- rocks was removed during one year of very favourable.
tional trade unions. Such unions can, hectic activity and the result is illustrated
however, not become the recognized in the pictures presented in this issue of
Mining Activities
discussion partner in matters of the 10- the Messenger. Immediately after the
cal staff. conclusion of the Interbeton work a ESO has been informed of a plan,
It must be emphasized that the Inter- geological and geotechnical investi- exploring the possibility of a large-sur-
national Labour Organization has con- gation of the characteristics of the face salpeter mine to be opened in the
firmed ESO's position. soil at the location of the telescopes south/south-east of Paranal outside the
International organizations employ and control building was started by ESO property at a distance of approxi-
local and international staff. Internation- Prof. Antoine of the University of Gre- mately 21 km from Paranal.
al staff at ESO, as in many other Interna- noble. Explorations have been terminated
tional Organizations, is recruited and re- The main conclusions confirm the and one is waiting now for the invest-
munerated on a different basis to that of early results established in the previous ment decision of the owners of this mine
local staff. At the same time, following a explorations when one considers both before starting possible exploitation.
long-standing Council policy, the re- the geological model for the foundation The possible effects of dust and light
muneration of the ESO local staff is of each telescope and the estimated pollution on Paranal are presently being
based on the level of the best-paying geotechnical characteristics of the rock studied. In this connection it is noted
employers in Chile. masses involved. that 85 % of the wind is in the north-
The Local Staff Regulations are at Foundation conditions are excellent south direction and only a small portion
present under revision and will be dis- for all four telescopes. The presence of of the dust, and under unfavourable
cussed in a specially appointed Working an important strip of much foliated dior- conditions, may drift to the north at al-
Group of the Finance Committee start- ite at the location of telescope No. 4 is titudes which are not yet clearly deter-
ing in January 1993. The proposed revi- not worrying for the stability, even if it is mined.
sion of the Local Staff Regulations has impressive when looking at the map. The mine has al ready informed ESO
been discussed with a special Local The main reasons are, firstly, the strong- that it is willing to discuss protective
Staff Advisory Committee and local staff Iy reinforced concrete foundation slab measures in favour of the observatory,
representatives will participate in the acts as a bridge stepping over the shear should it be decided to start exploitation
work of this Working Group. zone and secondly, the settlements to ofthe mine.
G. BACHMANN, ESO be expected on such a zone, if they are M. TARENGHI, ESO

ESO to Help Central and Eastern European Astronomers

The Council of the European Southern tions with C & EE astronomy under the entifically most active institutes and re-
Observatory 1 , meeting at the ESO recent changes in Europe. At the same search groups in the C&EE be initiated.
Headquarters in Garching on December time, there have been numerous reports The Council agreed that ESO, as the
1-2, 1992, has decided to initiate a about the steadily and dramatically major European astronomy organiza-
Programme by this organization, aimed worsening situation of astronomy in tion, and with its many links to individual
at supporting some of the scientifically these countries, even the possible de- researchers, scientific institutes and ob-
most active and internationally highly mise of some of the C & EE institutes and servatories as weil as to policy makers,
esteemed astronomical institutes and observatories. In many piaces it now is in an optimal position to assess ob-
research groups in Central and Eastern seems that astronomy is in a particularly jectively the very diverse needs and to
Europe (C&EE). difficult situation when compared to provide support to C & EE astronomy in
Earlier this year, the ESO Council es- some of the more applied sciences. a non-bureaucratic and cost-effective
tablished a special Working Group to Following consultations with many in- way.
provide advice about ESO's future rela- dividual C&EE and West European as- The Council resolved that a total of up
tronomers and authorities, the Council to 500,000 DM from the ESO budget will
Working Group concluded that immedi- be made available for this purpose dur-
1 The Council of ESO consists of two represen-
ate action should be taken by ESO. It ing each of the next three years. Still, it
tatives [rom each of lhe eight member Slales. II is
lhe highesl aulhority of lhe organizalion and nor- recommended that a diversified pro- is obvious that ESO within its limited
mally meels lwice a year. gramme of support to some of the sci- means can only muster a small fraction

8
of the total support needed. However,
by assuming the role of a clearing VIDEO FROM THE ESO INFORMATION SERVICE
house, ESO will be able to channel
support from other sources. The ESO Video Collection
The ESO Programme will be strictly is a collection of unedited video footage for broadcast use. It covers the main activities
based on scientific excellence. Applica- of ESO and shows La Silla, Paranal and Garehing. Duration approximately 90 minutes.
tions from C&EE astronomers will be Now available as a VHS tape with LTC timecode (EBU) in vision, as weil as in the
reviewed by the appropriate ESO Com- broadcast systems MII and Betacam-SP.
mittees, acting in close contact with as-
tronomers and institutes in the ESO
member States.
A primary goal is to enable C&EE
astronomers to continue to do good re- The gradual implementation and the More detailed information about this ESO
search while remaining at their home detailed action plan will be worked out Programme will become available in early
institutes, and also to induce young and under the guidance of the new ESO 1993 and will be forwarded to astronomical
promising scientists to stay in this field. Director General, Professor Riccardo institutes/observatories and individual as-
For this reason, the ESO Programme tronomers in C&EE Countries, as far as they
Giacconi (see ESO Press Release 05/
comprises a variety of measures, in par- are known to ESO. In order to ensure the
92), who takes up his duties at ESO on widest possible distribution, all interested
ticular support for collaborative scien- January 1, 1993. It is expected that this parties are herewith invited to express their
tific programmes, including fellowships, new ESO Programme will take effect wish to receive this information by sending a
participation in conferences, shorter- immediately thereafter. short message with their exacl postal ad-
term visits by Western astronomers to dress 10 the ESO C&EE Programme at lhe
C & EE institutes, as weil as transfer of From ESO Press Release 10/92 ESO Headquarters (address. etc. on the last
equipment and publications. (3 Oecember 1992) page of this Messenger issue).

ESA Astronaut Claude Nicollier Visits ESO

On Oecember 7, 1992, Swiss Astronomer and Astronaut Claude Nicollier visited the ESO Headquarters in Garching. At a
special colloquium in the main auditorium, he told the ESO staff about his many exciting experiences, on the ground and in
particular during the recent flight of the space shuttle Atlantis which carried the EURECA platform to its orbit on July 30, 1992.
Or. Nicollier began his career at the Geneva Observatory and is a lang-time friend of our organization. He stayed several times
as visiting astronomer at La Silla, before he moved closer to the stars. He arranged that an ESO flag was carried aloft on the
Atlantis flight; tagether with a flight certificate this flag was handed over to the ESO Oirector General, Professor Harry van der
Laan, immediately after the talk (see the photo). The Oirector General gratefully received this valuable gift which will be displayed
on a prominent place in the ESO Headquarters building.
In his own words, Or. Nicollier enjoyed again being at ESO and among fellow astronomers. We were particularly happy to
leam that he had just been assigned to the shuttle mission, which will perform the crucial repair of the Hubble Space Telescape
in late 1993. It is difficult to imagine a more important service which could be rendered by an astronaut to his "ground-bound"
astronomers!
We wish Or. Nicollier and his astronaut colleagues every success with this daunting endeavour. And we hope that he will again
find time to visit ESo. The Editor

9
ISAAC - Intrared Spectrometer And Array Camera tor
theVLT
A. MOORWOOO, ESO

scales in the range -0.1-0.5 arcsec/ dispersers in the pupil plane. Given the
Overview
pixel. complexity of the basic instrument,
ISAAC is one of the two instruments in - Long slit spectroscopy at resolving however, these additional capabilities
the VLT Instrumentation Plan being de- powers in the range - 300-1 0,000 still have to be carefully traded off
signed and integrated in-house at ESO. with a maximum slit length of 2 arc- against the possible increased technical
Identified formerly as the Medium Reso- min and slit widths of -1-0.2 arcsec. risk and operational complexity.
lution Infrared Spectrometer/lmager it - Polarimetry by combining polarizing ISAAC covers a wide spectral range
will provide mainly for both direct imag- analyzers and filters in the pupil plane. over wh ich the sky and telescope
ing and low and medium resolution At present, the baselined detectors background increases by a factor -10 5
spectroscopy at wavelengths from 1 to are the 256 x 256 arrays already avail- from the shortest to the longest
5 flm and is scheduled to be installed at able. The instrument is being designed wavelength with a corresponding effect
one of the Nasmyth foci of Unit Tele- to accommodate the larger arrays anti- on the achievable performance.
scope 1 in early 1997. We are now in the cipated, however, in wh ich case some Nevertheless, we expect to be able to
detailed design and prototyping phase of these characteristics may change image objects down to magnitude -25
following approval of the instrument somewhat e.g. due to the likely reduc- in the J (1.25 flm) and -15 in the M
Technical Specification and Design and tion in pixel sizes. The design also (4.8 ~lm) bands and to obtain spectra at
Implementation Plan by the ESO Scien- leaves open a number of additional op- resolving powers around 5000 of ob-
tific and Technical Committee in tions for future upgrades e.g. image jects ranging from magnitudes -20 to
November 1991 and the Preliminary De- sharpening by tip-tilt control of the tele- 12 over the same range.
sign Review involving external experts in scope secondary mirror; imaging spec- With regard to the scientific potential
April 1992. troscopy using Fabry Perot etalons and of ISAAC it should be noted that the
echelle spectroscopy using grism cross availability of infrared array detectors
Scientific Capabilities
Infrared observational capabilities
have been revolutionized by the availa-
bility of two-dimensional array detectors
wh ich have made both imaging and the
efficient use of dispersive spectrome-
ters at these wavelengths possible for
the first time. Within the space of a few
years we have evolved from single pixel
photometers and spectrometers to
cameras and spectrometers equipped
with first 64 x 64 and now 256 x 256 ele-
ment arrays. In terms of performance/
pixel there is already little more to gain
for ground-based instruments as the
best of these arrays already exhibit
quantum efficiencies in excess of 80 %,
dark currents below 1eis and read
noises - 20e. Further increases in
size up to formats of 512x512 in the
near future and perhaps eventually
1024 x 1024 or even larger, however, are
now being anticipated.
ISAAC is conceived as one of a new
generation of infrared instruments wh ich
harnesses these new detector
capabilities to the increased light
gathering power of the VLT and pro-
vides the user with the flexibility to com-
bine imaging and spectroscopic obser-
vations in a way not possible previously
in the infrared. The baseline instrument
currently being designed operates from
1 to 5 pm, has a 2 x 2 arcmin field and
provides the following basic observing
modes:
- Direct imaging through broad- and
narrow-band filters with selectable Figure 1: Oplicallayout of ISAAC.

10
 wide range of cosmologically interesting
redshifts.

Optomechanical Design
The optical arrangement of ISAAC is
shown in Figure 1. This concept aims at
minimizing the compromises inherent in
a multimode instrument by providing two
cameras which can be used either to
view the telescope focal plane directly
for imaging or the intermediate spectrum
produced by the grating spectrometer. It
essentially comprises two separate in-
struments therefore wh ich are housed
together and share the same detector
arrays. The two cameras are identical
mechanically but are optimized sepa-
rately for the 1-2.5 J.lm and 2.5-
5 J.lm spectral regions optically and are
each equipped with appropriate filters
and detector arrays with formats of
;::: 256 x 256 pixels. The entrance window
for imaging (L1) also acts as a field lens
producing an image of the telescope
secondary mirror on the cold pupil stops
while the spectroscopic slit is located-4
Figure 2: ISMC cryogenic optical assembly. arcmin off the telescope optical axis be-
hind a plane entrance window (L2). Each
camera comprises a collimator unit (also
used for internal focusing), two filter
has not only c10sed the technical gap troscopy in this range also has much to wheels, a pupil stop and a lens wheel
but has also removed some of the mys- offer therefore beyond its unique roles in carrying the different objectives required
tique wh ich previously separated visible the study of molecular gas and visually to provide magnifications in the range
and infrared astronomy. Observing with obscured sources. Similarly, many im- -0.1-0.5 arcsec/pixel. In the imaging
infrared arrays of CCOs in the visible is aging studies only possible previously in mode these cameras view the telescope
now very similar, and extrapolating from the visible may be usefully extended to focal plane via the plane selector mirrors
the interest currently shown for ground- the near infrared either for astrophysical M5 and M6. In the spectroscopic mode
based infrared imaging and spectros- reasons or simply because the effects of the light entering via the slit is collimated
copy it is expected that ISAAC will be in extinction are much less. Examples in- by the compact three mirror collimator
demand for a wide range of astronom i- clude cluster photometry and mor- (M 1-3) to produce an 80 mm diameter
cal programmes involving observations phological studies of galaxies where beam at the grating unit wh ich carries
of essentially all c1asses of object e.g. apart from much lower extinction two back-to-back mounted plane grat-
known. On the one hand infrared obser- the infrared images are dominated by ings used in Littrow mode. After diffrac-
vations will remain the prime tool for the late-type stars which constitute most of tion at the grating the beam returns via
study of many objects which are either the mass. Where the VLTwill obviously the same collimator unit to form an inter-
too cool or too heavily embedded in make its greatest impact is clearly for mediate spectrum in a plane conjugate
dust to be usefully studied at shorter studies of those faint objects and spec- to the telescope focal plane wh ich is then
wavelengths. These include the solar- tral features which are below the detec- re-imaged by one or other of the two
system objects, cool stars, recently tion limits achievable with smaller tele- cameras. Although the nominal resolving
formed stars in molecular clouds, the scopes. It will be of interest to make power corresponds to a 1-arcsec slit
centre of our own and many other galax- deeper searches e.g. for low-mass stars using the fastest camera objective, the
ies, etc. traditionally associated with in- in clusters and for the elusive brown slower objectives can also be used
frared astronomy. For such studies dwarfs and to extend studies confined allowing a reduction of the slit width and
ISAAC offers a powerful multimode so far to our galaxy to the Magellanic hence increases of up to a factor of -5 in
capability for imaging, photometry, Clouds. It will also substantially increase resolving power while retaining at least
polarimetry and spectroscopy. With re- our ability to detect and study a class of two pixel matching.
gard to the latter it should be noted that infrared object not so far mentioned - External to, but mounted on the in-
its spectral range covers a number of high-redshift galaxies. The stellar light of strument within the adapter flange (not
important spectral features including the nearby 'normal' galaxies peaks around shown in the picture) are a visible slit
well-known 3.28-J.lm PAH feature, the 1 ~lm and galaxies at redshifts z> 1 are viewer and the calibration unit consist-
ro-vibrational molecular hydrogen emis- expected to be more easily detectable ing of an integrating sphere equipped
sion lines, CO and other molecular ab- in the infrared than the visible while im- with spectral line lamps and a con-
sorption bands, many hydrogen and portant "visible" spectral features will tinuum halogen lamp wh ich can be used
helium recombination lines and various only be observable in the infrared. to illuminate the spectrometer slit via
ionic forbidden lines spanning a wide Amongst the most exciting prospects a retractable diverter mirror for
range of ionization potentials from the offered by ISAAC therefore are the new wavelength calibration and flat fielding.
important shock excited [Fe 11] lines to possibilities it offers for surveys and A summary of the main instrument
the [Si VI and VII] coronal lines. Spec- studies of galaxies and clusters over a characteristics is given in Table 1.

11
Table 1. ISAAC Main Characteristics

Wavelength range 1-5 1tm

Field 2x2 aremin.

-
Image seales -0.125, 0.25, 0.5"/pixel

Max. array format -25x25 mm

Pupil diameter (eamera) 25mm

Collimated beam (eamera) 25 mm

Collimated beam (spee.) 80mm

-
Nominal Slit width (2 pixels) 1 arcsec

Slit length (max.) 2 aremin

Resolving power (1"slit) 300-5000

Filters and analyzers 24/eamera

- Figure 3: ISAAC adapter f1ange and vacuum
vessel showing the closed-cycle coolers and
permanently mounted turbomolecular pump
and the cable wind systems

Apart from the slit viewer, calibration flange to provide access to the front
unit and the two entrance windows all flange and to the units attached to it and
optical elements together with their within the adapter flange. The control Fabry Perot etalon yielding R -1000,
mechanical support structure are and data acquisition electronic modules with five selectable magnifications in the
cooled to a temperature of -80K using are located in a temperature controlled range 0.15-1.1 "/pixel and a maximum
a continuous flow liquid nitrogen system cabinet(s) attached to the instrument. circular field of 3" diameter.
and maintained at their normal operat- Cables and the hoses for cooling fluid
ing temperature of 60-80K using the and the closed cycle coolers are wound
Electronics/Software
first stages of two closed-cycle coolers. on guides attached to the adapter
The detectors are cooled to tempera- flange and pass via a length compensa- 80th the function control and detector
tures of between 20 and 60K using the tion system to minimize the torque on electronics will use intelligent VME-
second stages of the closed cycle cool- the rotator during operation. based LCUs (Local Control Units)
ers. Diamond-turned aluminium alloy housed in the temperature-controlled
mirrors and gratings ruled or replicated cabinet(s) attached to the instrument
Array Detectors
on aluminium are used in the cryogenic adapter flange. Each detector will have
optical assembly and all moving func- Two channels are provided in ISAAC its own dedicated "front end" elec-
tions are driven by cryogenic stepper primarily to permit the installation of op- tronics (generating clock patterns and
motors. A simplified view of how the timized detectors for the short (1- voltages, ADC conversion strobes, etc.)
optics are integrated into the mechani- 2.5Ilm) and long (2.5-5IJm) wavelength connected via a fibreoptic transputer
cal support structure is shown in Fig- ranges whose requirements with regard link to a common pre-processor (per-
ure 2. The entire optical/detector as- to dark current, read noise and weil forming number crunching e.g. for multi-
sembly is surrounded by a light tight capacity are different. At present the ple sampling techniques and limited on
radiation shield wh ich is also at 60-80K baseline detectors for the short and long line data reduction such as image co-
and is attached to mechanical support wavelength channels respectively are adding, bad pixel removal, etc.). The
struts via wh ich it is mechanically con- the currently available 256 x 256 pixel control LCUs and the detector pre-pro-
nected to but thermally isolated from the RockweIl NICMOS3 Hg:Cd:Te and cessor will communicate via the VLT
enclosing vacuum vessel. This latter, S8RC InSb arrays. Given the on-going data/control LAN with the host In-
shown in Figure 3, is basically a cylindri- developments in this field, however, the strument Workstation through wh ich
cal tank whose axis is on the horizontal instrument is being designed to the observer will interact with the in-
optical axis and comprises a rigid cen- accommodate larger-format arrays if strument.
tral section which supports the cooled and when they become available in the
optical assembly and is attached to a future.
User Interface
stiff, dome-shaped, adapter flange In order to gain experience with large-
bolted to the Nasmyth rotator. On the format arrays of relevance to ISAAC as ISAAC will be remotely controllable
telescope side it is closed with a plane weil as providing new observing from the Instrument Work Station (IWS)
flange wh ich carries the imaging and capabilities at the present ESO Obser- wh ich could, in principle, be physically
spectroscopic input windows and on vatory on La Silla, a new camera, IRAC2, located at any place which is connected
the other by a light dome providing the and a flexible VME-based acquisition by a suitable computer link. At this IWS
space for, but not supporting part of the system have recently been installed and the observer will interact with the instru-
optical assembly and to wh ich are successfully tested at the 2.2-m tele- ment via User Interface wh ich is com-
attached the two closed-cycle coolers scope (see The Messenger, 69, 61). This mon to all the VLTinstruments and
and the turbomolecular pump used for camera has been equipped initially with through whic', the required observing/
evacuating the vessel. The hinge system a NICMOS3 array and provides for im- calibration modes and parameters will
visible on the right allows the instrument aging through broad- and narrow-band be input. The IWS will also run instru-
to be swivelled away from the adapter filters, including a K band scanning ment specific software providing for a

12
simulation mode, the generation of have to be routed via a cable wind sys- Project and Science Teams
automatic observing sequences, tem wh ich allows for the rotation and
The ISAAC Project Team within ESO is:
maintenance checks and status display. minimizes torque on the adapter. The
A. Moorwood, Instrument Responsiblel
MIDAS will also be available on-line for high background modes of ISAAC also
Scientist
image display and quick-look analysis. place difficult demands on the speed of
P. Ballester, MIDAS reduction software
the data-acquisition system. In order to
P. Biereichei, Control and data acquisi-
meet these various requirements, the
Development Status tion software
preliminary design of ISAAC incor-
J. Brynnel, Control electronics
Detailed design work started after the porates a variety of technologies for
B. Delabre, Optical design
Preliminary Design Review in April 1992 wh ich little practical experience is avail-
G. Finger, Detectors and system perfor-
and is scheduled to be completed with able and for which sound design and
mance
the Critical Design Review in summer analysis alone is not considered suffi-
G. Huster, Mechanical design
1993. ISAAC is a technically complex cient. These include the use of
J.-L. Lizon, Cryogenics, integration,
instrument. Exploiting large array detec- diamond-turned metal mirrors, stepper
tests.
tors on a large telescope requires a motors, position sensors and large-
M. Meyer, Detector electronics
large instrument which has also to be diameter bearings at cryogenic temper-
A. van Dijsseldonk, Instrument. Manager
operated at cryogenic temperatures but atures and under vacuum. In order to
and procurements
still meets the stringent flexure require- minimize risk therefore, we are currently
ments imposed by its rotation on the prototyping the most critical functions Members of the ISAAC external In-
Nasmyth adapter. Because of this rota- for test in a specially designed cry- strumental Science Team wh ich reports
tion not only control and signal cables ogenic test facility before finalizing the to the VLT Programme Scientist are G.
but also the high pressure helium lines design and starting the manufacture Miley (Leiden, Chairman), R. Chini
for the closed-cycle coolers and fluid wh ich will be largely contracted to in- (Bonn), E. Oliva (Florence) and J.-L.
lines for the electronic cooling circuit dustry. Puget (Paris).

UVES, the UV-Visual Echelle Spectrograph for the VLT

H. OEKKER and s. O'OOORICO, ESO

Overview
observing modes which benefits most ter, and the gain in using the VLT be-
UVES is one of the two instruments in from the larger collecting area. The stel- comes very significant. In the observa-
the VLT Instrumentation Plan being de- lar flux is dispersed over a large number tions of brighter objects where the
signed and built by ESO. It is a crossdis- of detector elements and for objects of photon statistics is dominating other
persed echelle spectrograph with a faint magnitudes the shot noise of the sources of noise, the large aperture of
nominal resolution of 40,000 with a 1 signal is comparable to the detector the telescope is still needed to achieve
arcsec slit. This double-beam instru- read-out and dark current noise. In this in reasonable exposure times very high
ment uses 22 x 85 cm mosaic ecllelle regime, the S/N ratio increases with the S/N ratios and to follow spectral varia-
gratings, grating crossdispersers and second power of the telescope diame- tions on short time scales. It is also
thinned CCD detectors with 2048 2 pix-
els each, one for each arm. It will be
mounted at the Nasmyth platform on a
horizontal optical table inside a protec-
tive enclosure (Fig. 1). We are now in the
preliminary design phase following the
approval of the Design and Implementa-
tion Plan by the Scientific Technical
Committee and Council in their May 1
June 1992 round of meetings. The Pre-
liminary Design Review is planned for
20/21 April 1993. UVES will be built in
two copies; the instrument schedule
foresees the installation of UVES1 at the
Nasmyth focus of Unit Telescope 2 in
the second half of 1997, of UVES2 at
UT3 about 12 months later.

Observing Capabilities
Echelle spectrographs are instru-
ments of highest priority in all of the
large telescope projects because high
resolution spectroscopy is one of the Figure 1: 3-D view of UVES with most of the enclosure panels removed for clarity.

13
essential to include in the design provi- The goals of this observing mode re- val. At the magnitudes that one is likely
sions for accurate wavelength and in- main essentially unchanged today. In a to observe, the possibility of accurate
tensity calibration and to minimize the first approximation two types of pro- sky subtraction also becomes essential.
amount of scattered light in the spectro- grammes and corresponding require- A second category of programmes calls
graph. ments on the instrument can be iden- for spectral resolution higher than 10 5 , in
The report of the VLT Group on High tified. First, those which call for observa- more restricted wavelength regions, and
Resolution Spectroscopy (VLT Report tions of the faintest objects over a wide generally, but not always, with very high
No. 50, 1986) includes a review of the spectral range with low to medium S/N S/N ratios. Examples are the studies of
scientific programmes wh ich require ob- ratios and at resolution in the range 10 4 the physical conditions in the interstellar
servations with spectral resolutions in -10 s Examples of this category are the clouds through the observations of the
the range 10 4 -10 6 . They concerned studies of abundances in galactic and equivalent widths and the profiles of
basic studies of the physical conditions extragalactic stars and of the primordial lines of atoms like Na and Ca and
and chemical composition of matter in gas in the universe through QSO ab- molecules as CN and CH, of the abun-
stellar or gaseous bodies. The data to sorption lines. They require an instru- dance of Lithium isotopes in the inter-
be obtained are relevant to any model- ment of high efficiency to take full ad- stellar medium and studies of stellar os-
ling of the past history and the future vantage of the larger telescope size with cillations from the observed variations in
evolution both of our galactic environ- a wide spectral coverage to observe the profiles of lines originating in the
ment and of the universe as a whole. lines spread over a large spectral inter- stellar atmospheres.
In UVES wh ich offers a nominal reso-
lution of 4 x 10 4 for a 1 arcsec slit in a
crossdispersed format, the first cate-
1 (blue) gory is weil covered by the instrument
equipped with the standard camera/de-
4702 ,. tector combinations. However, the con-
cept permits to also attain the higher
20
". resolutions required by the second
.,. D category by using a long camera com-
bined with image slicers. In this case the
separation of the orders is not required
for sky subtraction, but to accommo-
..
40'" .e
'00
0 date the long exit slit of the image slicer.
, 30442

3820
In order to have stable, weil charac-
terized instruments, the most attractive
option seems to be to replace the blue
camera on UVES2 by a high-resolution
-20 camera. The tradeoff is still being anal-
ysed and will be decided upon in 1993.
Factors affecting the decision are on the
900g/mm one hand a detailed investigation of the
optimum spectrum extraction methods
- Ab=375nm
and the final S/N ratio that can be
-20 o 20 40 achieved in this mode (which will be
40

2 (red) 3(red)
" lOri. 3 20
.0
20

.. 4003

-EE '00

'0.
eil:)

6822.

--
~
0 0
0113

-20

-20
600g/mm 316g/mm
Ab=550nm Ab=750nm
- 4 0 l...---'---'-_'--...l.---'----''--...l.---'---'_.l..---'----'-_l.---'---'----'
-40 -20 o 20 40 -20 o 20

x(mm)
Figure 2: Speetral formats with the erossdisperser gratings. These are mounted on turntables so /he eentral wavelength ean be set by the user.
The thin-fine square /he field of /he GGO deteetor with /he FI2 (blue) and F11.25 (red) eameras respeetively. The heavy-line ree/angle shows the
field of the 4 x 1-GGO mosaie with the FI5 eamera.

14
 frame on three spherical supports. The
frame itself rests on three pads on the
Nasmyth platform. The control and CCO
electronics are located in a temperature
controlled cabinet outside the enclo-
sure.
The enclosure consists of a welded
steel frame and isolating panels
mounted on the frame. Thermal stability
is essential to achieve good radial ve-
locity accuracy and a stable focus of the
lens cameras. A preliminary calculation
shows that without any active tempera-
ture control, the temperature of the in-
strument will change by not more than
0.05 deg C/h during typical observing
conditions, which we consider suffi-
cient. The instrument is equipped with
temperature sensors at various loca-
tions on the table and the enclosure.
The calibration unit, containing a 45-
degree mirror, flatfield and ThAr lamps,
is mounted before the F/15 Nasmyth
focal plane. The mirror slide also mounts
an lodine cell which - when inserted into
the telescope beam - produces a dense
forest of absorption features in the ob-
ject spectrum in the region 4800-6000
Angstrom and provides a very stable
reference for radial velocity measure-
ments. Bowen-Walraven image slicers
Figure 3: Plane view of the optical table showing the layout of UVES. Legend: 1 = calibration
mounted on a motorized slide can be
system. 2 = image slicer unit. 3 = image dero ta tor. 4 = filter wheel. 5 = pupil stop. 6 = mode
selector (bluelredldichroic). 7 = slit. 8 = folding mirror. 9 = main collimator. 10 = R4 echelle. placed in the F/15 focal plane.
11 = intermediate spectrum mirror and stray light stop. 12 = pupil transfer collimalor. UVES uses an imaging derotator that
13 = crossdisperser graling unit. 14 = camera. 15 = eeo deleclor head and conlinuous is shared by both arms. The user selects
f10w cryoslal. the arm(s) used with a 4-position slide
that can move from the free (red) posi-
tion to a blue mirror or one of two di-
affected by the spectral format peculiar that of steel, this will reduce the sensitiv- chroics with two different cross-over
to image slicing, wavelength calibration, ity to vertical temperature gradients that points. The collimated beam is focused
detector noise considerations, frequen- might cause the table to bend, wh ich is by red or blue doublets on the corre-
cy of radiation events, etc.), the ex- important since the main dispersion di- sponding slits that are each equipped
pected demand of the blue and long rection is perpendicular to the table sur- with slit viewing cameras. We are inves-
cameras and the properties and ex- face. The table is supported by a welded tigating the impiementation of Atmo-
pected performance of the high resolu-
tion spectrograph for the incoherent
combined focus. The expected perfor- Table 1: Main parameters of UVES
mance that UVES would have with the
different camera options is summarized Red Blue High Resolution
in Table 1 while the spectral formats are
shown in Figure 2. Wavelength range 0.42-1.1 ~lm 0.3-0.52 ~lm 0.3-1.1 ~lm
4 4 4
Resolution-slit product 4 x 10 4 X 10 4 X 10
Optomechanical Design Gamera dioptrie F/1.25 dioptrie F/2 refleetive F/5

The instrument functions are placed GGO 2048 2 , 15 ~lm 2048 2 , 15 ~lm 2048 2 x 8192, 15 ~lm
on a horizontal optical table with a (thinned) (thinned) (thinned mosaic)
height of 1.7 metres above the Nasmyth Typieal wavelength 2500 Angstrom 900 Angstrom 600 Angstrom
platform. Figure 3 shows a plane view of range/frame in 35 orders in 40 orders in 8 orders
the layout on the optical table. Advan-
Pixel matehing .31 aresee/pixel .19 aresee/pixel .06 aresee/pixel
tages of a table are good accessibility
and ease of handling of functions and Max. resolution -5 x 104 -7 X 104 -1.5 X 105
flexibility in view of possible future (slit .6") (slit .4') (slieer slit .2')
changes, for instance in the area of Slit height 15" typ. 10" typ. 10-15"
CCOs and cameras. Only the calibration (slieer 1.7 x 1.7')
unit, image slicer and image derotator Oeteetion effieiency 10% at 600 nm 9% at 400 nm 10% at 600 nm
are mounted on the rotator. We plan to (incl. telescope and slit)
use an optical table with super-Invar top
Magnitude limit 19-20 in V 14-15 in V
and backing sheets. Since Invar has an (S/N=100, 3 h)
(S/N= 10,3 h)
expansion coefficient much lower than

15
spheric Dispersion Compensation
prisms and a Polarization analyser in the
preslit optical train.
The collimator is a new design de-
veloped at ESO that is very weil suited
for crossdispersed echelle spectros-
copy and wh ich in the meantime has
also been adopted by the Munich Ob-
servatory and the Nordic Optical Tele-
scope Group for their fiber-fed echelle
spectrographs. The collimator mirrors
are off-axis parabolas. From the slit
wh ich is mounted at its focus, the first
parabola delivers a collimated beam on
the echelle wh ich operates in Quasi Lit-
trow Mode with only a small off-plane
angle. The dispersed beams are again
collected by the main collimator and
focused at an intermediate focal plane,
after wh ich the pupil transfer collimator Figure 4: Photograph of a recently delivered prototype echelle grating with dimensions
recollimates the beams, at the same 450x 130x 70 mm. The 14-mm gap between (he two segments is due to the manufacturing
time delivering a second "white" pupil procedure followed and would lead to a 2.2 % light loss if also present on the full-size grating.
where the crossdisperser and camera The measured resolution of this grating is 7,10 5, close to the theoretical resolution of a single
are placed. This type of collimator is free segment.
of aberrations while the control over the
second pupil offered by it eliminates of a prototype grating that was recently wavelength range covered is redueed
vignetting at the crossdisperser and delivered to ESO. by a factor 4. Data of the cameras are
camera. The near-Littrow illumination We have extensively investigated given in table 2.
improves echelle efficiency and reduces prism/grism crossdisperser combina-
problems associated with using the tions but prompted by the need for
Detectors
echelle off-Littrow. A stray light dia- large-order separation have finally set-
phragm placed at the location of the tled for standard first-order reflection The baseline deteetor foreseen is a
intermediate spectrum reduces inter- gratings. These are mounted back to 2048 x 2048, 15 micron square pixel de-
order stray light. back on a grating turntable. teetor in a thinned, backside illuminated
The echelle is unusually steep (for as- The regular short cameras are fast version. The specified performance calls
tronomy) and has 31.6 g/mm and a dioptric designs offering a wide field, for a typical ron of 4 electrons, full weil
blaze angle of 76 degrees with dimen- good imaging quality, high optical effi- capacity of more than 105 electrons, and
sions - 220 x 850 x 125 m. Since the ciency and an external focus, important a QE of >30 % at 350 nm and >60 % at
maximum ruled length that can be ob- to interface new detectors. Their field 600 nm. The device should be buttable
tained is 408 mm (determined by avail- size and image quality is compatible on at least two sides to be able to build
able grating ruling engines), a mosaic is with 2048 2 CCDs with 15 Ilm pixels. The up a row of 4 wh ich would cover the
required. The usual technique that has long camera employs 4 mirrors of wh ich 30 x 120 mm field of the long camera.
been employed at ESO and elsewhere is 3 are off-axis aspheres and aecom- Such a CCD is not an off-the-shelf pro-
to mount two single 408 mm gratings on modates a mosaic of 4 of these chips in duct. ESO has started two development
a common substrate. For this instru- a row. Compared with the red F/1.25 programmes to obtain the required CCD
ment we intend to use another mosaick- camera, the long camera has a 4 x within 1993. One contract with Thom-
ing technology wh ich involves replica- larger focal length so the angular fields son CSF in France calls for the develop-
tion by the grating manufacturer of two of long camera and red camera in the ment of a backside-illuminated version
gratings on common substrate with in- dispersion direction are identical. In the of the Thomson 7897M device. A sec-
herent advantages of simplicity and ro- crossdispersion direction the field and ond agreement with the Steward Obser-
bustness. Figure 4 shows a photograph hence the number of orders and vatory of the University of Arizona
foresees the thinning of devices of the
same format as produced by LORAL.
Another thinned CCD wh ich should be
Table 2: Basic camera data
available on the market in 1993 is the
Red short eamera Blue short eamera Long eamera 2048 x 2048, 24 mieron square pixel
CCD from Tektronix. This device would
Type dioptrie dioptrie off-axis aspheres require slower cameras than the Ford or
F/no F/1.25 F/2 F/5 Thomson chips with a curved field
matching the bow of the TEK chips.
Foeal length (mm) 250 400 1000 Butting of the back-up Tektronix detec-
Field (mm) 43.4 mm diam. 43.4 mm diam. 30 x 120 mm tors is presently not possible and we
Wavelength range (nm) 420-1100 nm 300-520 nm 300-1100 nm might have to reconsider the high reso-
lution camera if the baseline CCD
Baek foeal distance (mm) 4 4 -30
cannot be obtained. We will actively
Scale (pm/aresee) 48 78 240 follow the developments in the deteetor
Effieieney -90% -90% -85% area with the aim to make a final selec-
tion of the detectors for UVES towards
Image quality (E ao) -10 ~Im -10 ~lm -15!-lm
the end of 1993. The single chips will be

16
Table 3: Composition of technical project teams at ESO and Trieste Observatory tions. Embedded in the whole VLT soft-
ware, the UVES software will be able to
ESO take advantage of many common
H.Oekker Instrument responsible, gratings procurement and instrument facilities like the Sequencer, wh ich
testing allows to define a sequence of observa-
H. Kotzlowski Mechanical engineering and technical coordination tions corresponding to a complete night
P. Ballester MIOAS reduction software off-line, or the Scheduler, wh ich allows
S.Oeiries Oetector assembly/test
to switch automatically from one ob-
B.Oelabre Optics design and procurement
S. O'Odorico Gommissioning at the telescope
serving programme to another if certain
G. Hess GAO design conditions (e.g. seeing) change during
O.lwert GGO detectors the night.
J. L. Uzen Gomponent testing and optomechanical integration/test The VL T User Interface provides to
A. Longinotti Overall software and liaison with Trieste the user, who may be a service techni-
W. Nees Instrument contral electranics cian, an on-site or remote observer or a
R. Reiss GGO contraI electronics service observer, a transparent com-
E. Zuffanelli Secretary munication interface with all of these
modules at various selectable levels of
Trieste
access authorization, interactivity and
P. Santin Goordination at Trieste and liaison with ESO automation.
A. Balestra Observation Software ESO has recently signed an agree-
M. G. Franchini Observer Support Software
ment with the Observatory of Trieste
G. Vuerli Maintenance Software
under wh ich the latter will contribute
3 man-years in 1993 and 1994 to de-
velop the Observation, Maintenance
mounted in the standard ESO dewar room but it could also be placed next to and Observer Support Software for
that is being developed for a number of the instrument during the testing phase. UVES in collaboration with ESO. The
VLTinstruments while the CCD mosaic The main software modules at LCU agreement may later be extended to the
requires the development of a dedicated level are Instrument Control Software phase of integration, testing and com-
dewar. The dewars will be cooled by a responsible for communication with the missioning of the instrument if this will
continuous flow of liquid nitrogen that is instrument workstation and controlling be in the interest of both parties.
pumped from a nearby large vessel all instrument functions and Detector
through flexible LN2 lines. The auton- Control Software to control all detector
Project and Science Teams
omy time of the system is expected to related LCUs, respectively.
be on the order of weeks. Modules resident in the Instrument The composition of the technical pro-
Workstation are Observation Software ject teams at ESO and of the software
wh ich is responsible for controlling ob- group at Trieste is given in Table 3.
Electronics and Software
servations, from the instrument setup to S. D'Odorico is the instrument scien-
While the preceding description is the storage of the data on tape, Ob- tist at ESO. The project relies also on a
very specific to UVES, the electronics server Support Software wh ich assists team of internal scientists composed
and software architecture will be com- the observer to check important para- of D. Baade, Ph. Crane, G. Mathys,
mon to many VLT instruments so the meters relevant to the observation like L. Pasquini and J. Wampler for advice
following description reflects the overall resolution and expected S/N and on specific scientific/technical issues.
control philosophy of the VLT, not just Maintenance Software to assist the As for the other VLT instruments,
that of UVES. Only abrief description maintenance staff in documenting in- UVES has a seience team composed by
will be given here. strument configuration changes, align- external scientists who are kept in-
The function control and detector ing and doing detailed performance formed of the status of the project and
electronics will use intelligent VME- checks. MIDAS will be available as weil whose advice is sought every time a
based Local Control Units (LCUs) for online data analysis. There will be decision has to be taken which has an
housed in temperature controlled special MIDAS procedures for image impact on the scientific capabilities of
cabinets outside the enclosure. The display, calibration and quick-look data the instrument. They report to the VLT
control and detector LCUs communi- analysis. project scientist J. Beckers. Members of
cate via the VLT Ethernet LAN with the While in stand-alone mode, these the team are B. Gustafsson (Uppsala),
Instrument Workstation. Its physical 10- modules will provide for simple tasks H. Hensberge (Brussels), P. Molaro
cation is typically the main VLT control like the execution of single observa- (Trieste) and P. Nissen (Aarhus).

The Choice of the Telescope Enclosures for the VLT

L.ZAGO, ESO

critical decisions taken in the course of tive to study and design an "open" type
1.lntroduction
the VLT project up to now. of enclosure, in wh ich the telescope
The final choice of the type of tele- Back in 1984, at the start of the pro- would be largely exposed to the undis-
scope enclosure for the VLT unit tele- ject, the work on the definition of the turbed windflow during observations.
scopes was probably one of the most VLT enclosures started with the objec- This option of envisaging an open-air

17
 mirror aspect ratio, the upper limit
specified for wavefront aberrations sets
an allowable limit for the pressure fluc-
tuations on the mirror surface of 1 N/m 2
rms [3].
This issue ultimately drove the choice
of the VLT enclosure towards a type in
which the primary mirror could be effec-
tively protected from any wind pressure
fluctuation larger than the above-men-
tioned value.

2. The Main Options Investigated

for the VLT Enclosures
Figure 1: The first artist 's view of the VL T (1984). The development of the enclosures
had to be done in parallel with that of the
telescope and the mirror support sys-
tem. Therefore, while the problems re-
operation of the VLT unit telescopes had The effects of wind buffeting on the lated with telescope tracking and buffet-
been essentially suggested by the primary mirror, however, were not fully ing on the primary were analysed in
favourable experience with the MMT quantified until quite late in the VLT de- parallel, different enclosure types were
and the ND, which had broken with the velopment. Although a possible criticali- the object of detailed feasibility studies.
conventional dome concept [1]. Indeed ty of this aspect had been recognized at The main options that were considered
all the evidence available from both an earlier stage, a fact that led to the during this preliminary phase are briefly
traditional and innovative telescope en- modified "open" enclosure design in described here.
c10sures points to the fact that letting wh ich nevertheless the lower part of the
some wind flow on the telescope will telescope was relatively weil protected
2. 1 The Retractable Enclosure
reduce or even eliminate dome seeing. in a cylindrical recess (Fig. 2), it was
Besides the reduction of dome seeing, thought that the active mirror support This design represented for a long
another main design driver was the ob- system could be made capable of dy- time the baseline for the VLT enclosure.
jective to drastically lower the cost of namic figuring corrections up to a fre- In its final form (Fig. 2) the retractable
the telescope enclosures, so that the quency of the order of 1 Hz [2]. Unfortu- enclosure consists of a fixed base and a
entire VLT project could be realized nately this ambitious objective turned rotating part. The fixed base is made of
within a budget frame compatible with out to be impossible, due in particular to a metal space frame ring-shaped struc-
what was feit were the financial hardware limitations of some compo- ture and supports the rotating part on a
possibilities of the organization. nents of the mirror supports. Therefore number of roller bearings. The upper
Thus the very first artist's view of the the VLT mirror will have by design only rotating part is made of an approximate-
VLT (Fig. 1) saw the four unit telescopes its own rigidity for reacting against wind Iy cylindrical panel clad space frame,
completely exposed during observa- buffeting and, because of the high which constitutes a wind shielded re-
tions and protected during the day by
movable roll-on/off shelters. A large
wind screen, nevertheless, had the
function of decreasing the wind force on
the telescope. For many reasons this
first enclosure "concept" was not very
practical; however it i1lustrates weil the
objectives that were set for the enclo-
sure with respect to the windflow: the
enclosure should allow on the telescope
as much windflow as required for
eliminating local seeing, while limiting
the amplitude of wind buffeting to levels
acceptable for the optimum tracking
performance of the telescope.
The problem of achieving a good
tracking performance of the VLT also in
presence of strong wind will be solved
by the design of a servo-controlled tilt-
ing secondary mirror which will provide
a dynamic correction of the high fre-
quency telescope oscillations that
cannot be reduced by the main tracking
control loop acting on the main tele-
scope drives. One could indeed demon-
strate that with this system the tele-
scope will be able to achieve a tracking
accuracy better than 0.05 arcsec even
in the worst wind loading case [2]. Figure 2: The retractable enclosure for the VL T (solid shell version).

18
 The VLT Enclosure from the User's Standpoint
Here is abrief description of the selected
VLT enclosure, emphasizing the aspects I
which are likely to be of most interest to ' 5tH QPENING

future users. A schematic cross-section of ~9=

the enclosure is shown in the figure. Access
for personnel to the enclosure will be either
via the underground utility tunnels that con-
nect all the buildings of the telescope area
/ ~'~~~
or anormal door at the ground-floor level. VERTI(AL
=28000
.~~~!':E
Jl
Staircases and a lift will connect all floors of
the enclosure. A large external door at
ground level will allow entry of trucks with
large instruments and goods in the so-
called ground access room, which covers a
quadrant of about 90° at ground level. The
rest of the ground floor is made of exposed
radial walls which support the metal struc-
ture surrounding the telescope room. N
11
At the underground floor a 360° ring of
rooms will surround the telescope pier and
give access to the pier interior where the
coude instruments will be located. Miscel-
laneous service equipment will be installed IUESCOPf.
in these rooms, such as the oil pumps for RQIATING PlA1FQRM (FORK BASE

the telescope bearings, but ample space

will remain for storage of users' items,
wh ich may be quite useful particularly dur-
ing the installation of instruments. Large
equipment items will be lowered down to
the underground floor by the dome crane,
through a hatch in the floor of the ground
access room.
The crane, installed radially just under the
roof of the dome, will be the main handling Schematic cross-section of the VLT enclosure.
tool for all maintenance operations inside
the enclosure and, by rotating the dome, the telescope over a 90° quadrant: this area cool working environment, while the noise
will be able to serve the whole lelescope will be the main access way to the Nasmyth of fans and air treatment units should not
volume except the central region. This instrument for personnel and small equip- exceed the level usual for rooms equipped
crane will be used to mount the Nasmyth ment. Only a narrow circular walkway will with individual air conditioning equipment.
adapters and instruments, to install and run all along the inner wall of the enclosure, In addition to the thermal control system,
remove the secondary mirror unit (with the permitting maintenance access to the the enclosure will include a variety of
telescope in horizontal position), as weil as dome rotation drives and wheels. mechanisms for dome rotation, opening,
to lift the tertiary mirror unit before the exit During the day and in general when the louvers, etc. All these systems will be
of the primary mirror cell on its way to the enclosure is closed, the thermal control managed by a network of computerized
aluminization plant. Another hatch will allow system will keep all internal surfaces inside controllers Iinked both to the Telescope
the crane to pick up loads from the ground the telescope room at a set temperature Control System network and to the Building
access room into the telescope room. close to the predicted value for the coming Management System (which monitors and
Inside the telescope room there will be night: this will prevent, after opening the administers all service supplies on the site).
two tloor levels. The fork base floor, about dome, the rise of convective flows that may Therefore the observer will not only be able
5.2 m above the ground level, will consti- affect lhe seeing quality. This thermal con- to operate from his/her control station all
tute a continuous surface with the rotating ditioning will be achieved by air cooling and the enclosure mechanisms Iinked to tele-
azimuth platform of the telescope. Casse- mixing: in order to achieve the desired heat scope operation (such as dome rotation
grain instruments will be mounted and transfer rates with all surfaces, the mixing and slit opening) but will also be able to
accessed on this floor. The upper floor rate may be set at up to 10 volumes/hour. inquire at any time about the status of all
level, 11 m from the ground level, will be Therefore, daytime users of the enclosure active components of the enclosure.
continuous with the Nasmyth platforms of should expect to find a somewhat (Iiterally) L.ZAGO, ESO

cess in which the lower part of the tele- detailed feasibility study and the inflat- building installed at La Silla (Fig. 4).
scope is contained, topped by a retract- able dome design was also thoroughly While the other enclosure types limit the
able hemispherical dome. Two possibil- tested by building a 15-m prototype observing elevation to 10-15° above
ities for the dome were extensively dome at La Silla (Fig. 3). This dome, the horizon, the ND-type enclosure
studied: an inflatable dome made of a erected in 1988, is now planned to be would allow observation down to the
pressurized double fabric supported by used by Bochum University as the dome horizon. It features large, upside down
rigid hoops, or a dome consisting of for their new Hexapode telescope. L-shaped doors to cover the observing
overlapping shell seetions connected slit as weil as louvers around the
along a common axis to the rotating periphery of the building, wh ich allow
2.2 The NTT-type Enclosure
cylindrical part. some direct ventilation of the telescope
Both enclosure versions with the An alternative enclosure type wh ich at any azimuth. Like for the ND, a semi-
dome in solid shell seetions and the was studied in some detail was a permeable wind screen can be raised
inflatable dome were the object of a scaled-up, simplified version of the ND across the slit.

19
 3. The Final Selection

80th the retractable and the cylindri-

cal enclosures do not present any tech-
nical problems and meet all require-
ments with respect to the protection of
the telescope in the closed enclosure.
Also the estimated manufacturing and
erection costs are too close to be a
deciding factor for the choice.
lndeed the main difference between
the two types is in the different degree
of wind shielding given to the telescope
during observation. The cylindrical en-
c10sure can give the telescope a natural
ventilation which ranges from full pro-
tection to reasonable, but anyway lim-
ited air flow across the telescope vol-
ume. On the contrary, the retractable
enclosure leaves the upper part of the
telescope essentially in open air and can
limit the wind load on the lower part only
Figure 3: The 15-m inflatable dome prototype at La Silla.
up to a certain limit.
Thus the final choice was driven by an
analysis of the impact of the local seeing
The enclosure co-rotates permanently presence of large, upside-down L- and wind loading effects inside the en-
with the telescope but, contrary to the shaped slit doors quite similar to the closure on the overall telescope perfor-
ND building, the Nasmyth rooms are not ND-type. The cylindrical shape of the mance. The seeing aspect would clearly
separated from the telescope volume, "dome" also allows the easy installation favour the retractable enclosure: with
wh ich also results in a considerably sim- of an internal crane. The two-slit doors some simple design precautions, essen-
pler and more reliable thermal control are supported on two protuberances of tially aimed at reducing radiation cooling
system. The disadvantage of an ND- the dome, which also integrate a set of during the night, this enclosure would
type enclosure is that it implies a relative- pneumatically activated bars that con- provide a practically seeing free envi-
ly high rotating mass, wh ich causes de- stitutes a wind screen with different ronment to the telescope. Concerning
sign constraints to structural and levels of wind permeability across the the wind loading aspect, this situation is
mechanical parts and ultimately makes slit. In the dome itself, a large number of also favourable with respect to the
this solution more expensive than the louvers may provide natural ventilation tracking performance: the active sec-
other ones. This concept was therefore in the entire telescope volume. ondary mirror unit would in any case
in the end not retained for the VLT.

2.3 The Cylindrical Enclosure

The drawbacks of the ND-type en-
closure with respect to the VLT require-
ments and the wish for a reasonably
conventional alternative to the retract-
able dome enclosure led to a proposal
for a cylindrical enclosure with a two-
sloped roof (Fig. 4). Here the design
consists of a basement in concrete with
o CJ
a height of about 5 metres from the
ground level, which supports a steel
o CJ
structure that encloses and provides
access to the telescope. The fixed part
) o CJ
of the metal structure rises up to the
level of the telescope Nasmyth platform,
-:l o o
l
which simplifies considerably all
accesses as compared to the two en-
c10sure types previously described.
Near the level of the primary mirror there
are some large ventilation openings
which, together with the mirror door,
may allow some natural ventilation also
on the primary mirror.
The rotating part does not include any
accessible floors and has essentially the
same function as a conventional obser-
vatory dome, from wh ich it differs by its
optimized structural layout and the Figure 4: The cylindrical enclosure {ar the VL T (drawing by E. Janssen).

20
achieve a very good tracking perfor- ing, the retractable enclosure may not similarity laws indicate that, for instance,
mance even in the worst wind condi- provide adequate protection in all if the mirror can be brought at the start
tions. However, the question is much cases, even if it would probably provide of the night within a T of 0.2 0 with
more critical for the 8-m primary mirror. the best seeing conditions. respect to ambient air and then made to
Wind tunnel tests were performed to A "closed" enclosure, that would pro- follow the relatively small (on the aver-
evaluate the air flow patterns in the re- vide under all wind conditions a good age) temperature changes during the
tractable enclosure: these measure- protection of the primary mirror had to night that are experienced at Paranal,
ments showed that the primary mirror is be preferred. Nevertheless, in order to then the mirror seeing of the VLTwill be
located in a recirculation region in which achieve an optimal optical performance limited to about 0.1 -0.2 arcsec in the
the local flow speed will reach up to in all circumstances, it was deemed de- worst cases and be reduced to some-
3 m/s when the wind blows outside with sirable to keep the possibility of some thing like 0.03 arcsec, if and when natur-
a speed of 18 m/s (the maximum opera- degree of natural ventilation of the tele- al ventilation of the primary has been
tional mean wind speed for the VLT). Air scope volume. Therefore, the selected optimally trimmed.
flows of 3 m/s would be considered in cylindrical enclosure includes a number
other circumstances a light and wel- of flexible ventilation possibilities with a
come breeze but here it has to be con- sem i-permeable wind screen across the
sidered that this will already cause slit, louvers in the upper part and some References
pressure fluctuations on the primary up large opening in the lower fixed part.
[1] Zago L., Environmental effects and enclo-
to about 4.5 N/m 2 rms depending on Wind tunnel tests have shown that the
sure design for large telescopes, Proc.
mirror orientation. This level of pressure critical speed range with respect to ESO Conf. on Very Large Telescopes and
fluctuations does not cause any prob- pressure fluctuations on the mirror their Instrumentation, pp. 855-866,
lems for conventional 4-m class mirrors, starts al ready between 1.5 and 2.5 m/s. Garching, March 1988.
but the aspect ratio of the 8-m VLT Therefore, it is clear that the margin for [2] Quattri M., Zago L. and Plätz F, Design
primary is so large (as a comparison getting some useful natural ventilation is evolution and performance evaluation of
term, the VLT primary is intrinsically 37 smalI, although it will exist in some cir- the VLT telescope structure, Proc. ESO
times less rigid than the 3.5-m ND cumstances. Conf. on Very Large Telescopes and their
Instrumentation, pp. 127 -146, Garching,
mirror) that it can maintain an optimal In general, however, the VLTwill be
Marell 1988.
figure only under pressure fluctuations able to achieve a consistently low mirror
[3) Noethe L., Cui X. and Stanghellini S., ESO
of up to about 1 N/m 2 rms. The conclu- seeing only by means of a tight temper- VLT - Primary Mirror Support System,
sions of these analyses were rather ob- ature control of the primary. Computa- Proc. ESO Conf. on Very Large Tele-
vious: because of the high sensitivity of tions based on reduced scale experi- scopes and their Instrumentation, Garch-
the VLT primary mirrors to wind buffet- ments and the application of relevant ing, April 1992.

Something is Going On in the ESO-Libraries

u. MICHOLO, ESO-Library, Garehing
Did you happen to ments regarding features and function- the system came to an end in Sep-
visit the ESO-Li- ality, ease of use, and compatibility with tember, when the whole database and
braries lately? And the ESO computer environment. The every modification we had made so far
did you notice the li- name of the software is Unicorn, and we was deleted. Since then it has been
brarians sitting in expect it to turn a myth into a legend, as "sink or swim", any mistake we make
front of their com- the vendor claims in his advertisement. from now on will have an impact on our
puter terminals, star- In July 1992 the software was in- own database (although everything re-
Thc UNICORN ing at the screen, stalled on ESO's Sun-machine nsO. garding setting up policies, entering and
'olleclion I\hnagclTlcnt SySlCIII sometimes smiling From the start, Miguel Albrecht kindly deleting data, etc. can be changed later
as if in a trance or - on the contrary - took care of all technical aspects includ- if it turns out not to be the right deci-
sighing deeply? Looking at this unusual ing security and back-ups. At the begin- sion).
scene, you might have wondered what ning of August all librarians from Garch- Our new colleague, Uwe Glas, took
has changed, and then come to the ing and La Silla attended a 5-day train- up work in mid-September. In early
conclusion: There is something going on ing course in Garching. After this inten- November we are approaching 2,000
in the ESO-Libraries. sive learning, we knew how to use all online bibliographic records already!
You are right. Actually, we are in the modules of the Unicorn system, and Believe it or not, it's so much fun to see
middle of an important project: the com- fortunately we were able to test every- your "own" database grow - and it
puterization of the ESO-Libraries. thing on a trial database first. At this makes your incredibly proud! Now you
time we also started to look for a con- might think that it's not the purpose of a
tractor who could carry out the retro- library system to make the librarians feel
The Start: Just Pretending
spective conversion of the existing card proud - and again you're right. So why
A move from the traditional way of catalogue. all this activity?
operating a library to an integrated com-
puterized library system had been in-
Now it's for Real Why it is Worthwhile
tended for some time al ready. Early this
year, we eventually found an automated The "Iuxury" of being "happy-go- An automated library system means a
system that meets nearly all our require- lucky" and doing whatever we liked on lot of advantages. Let me describe

21
some of the improvements to explain HELP GOBACK
EOOlB END
why it is worthwhile committing a large
amount of man power to getting the new UNICORN COLLECTION MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
system running. THE EUROPEAN SOUTHERN OBSERVATORY AT GARCHING
Unicorn Is very sImple to use.
Online Access Above the line are buttons such as HELP and BEGIN.
One of the main advantages is the Slmply select a button using the TAB key, then press RETURN or ENTER.
online accessibility of the wh oie library Or Just type the first letter of a button.
catalogue. Via the so-called OPAC (On-
line Public Access Catalogue) users will With some buttons you may also choose a number from a lIst
using the up and down arrow keys or by typing the number.
have access to the catalogue from their
own terminals. No knowledge of any Ever ou know what the buttons can do.
retrieval language will be required be-
••
Figure 1: UNICORN ColJeetion Management System weleoming sereen.
cause of a self-explanatory, menu-driv-
en user interface. All available options
will be displayed on the screen, the user
only has to choose one and enter his
HELP GOBACK STARTOVER
search terms. In addition to this well- ~1_

guided query mode, experienced users

PUBLIC ACCESS CHOICES:
may search in a more sophisticated
way, e.g. using Boolean operators
(AND, OR, NOT), proximity searching
(words within a specified distance) and 2) BULLETIN BOARD
other options. 3) USER STATUS
The bibliographie record of every "hit"
wh ich has been retrieved can be dis-
played and will give details about the
item including information about the
status (on shelflon loan). This facility
reduces the time library users have to M·X;·P..'fH..... Q.i.'II#" ••i.
spend at present on their search: Often Figure 2: Starting a sampie in the Library Catalogue.
they go to the trouble of finding out the
exact shelf number of the required item,
only to find out that it is already on loan.
HELP
~1_
GOBACK STARTOVER
Retrieving Items
LOOKUP IN CATALOG BY:
You will probably know that at pre-
sent you should better come prepared
with exact bibliographie data if you want
to be sure of finding an item that is 2) AUTHOR
actually available in the library. If so, you 3) TITLE
can use the card catalogue and look up 4) SUBJECT
e.g. the author's name.
5) AUTHOR WITH TITLE
If you are looking for literature related
to a given sUbject, it will be harder to 6) OTHER COMBINATIONS
find appropriate items. No keyword in- 7) BROWSING
dexing is provided at the moment, and
the only access to the contents of a Figure 3: Lookup in Catalogue by words or phrase.
book is via the ESO classification sys-
tem. This classification system has been
developed in-house over the years, and
it is neither very detailed nor up-to-date puterized library catalogues is the con- Items can be retrieved not only once
regarding several of the sub-divisions. cern that users have about being forced they have arrived in the library, but as
Therefore, users often browse directly to follow the rules of the system when soon as any data have been entered into
through the books on shelf, hoping to searching and not being able to switch the database, e.g. for acquisition pur-
find interesting items just by chance. between several enquiries intuitively. To poses. Thus, users can check whether a
Unfortunately, the chanees are not very .ensure a really convenient way of book is already on order.
high, since books on similar subjects searching, we have chosen a software
might be spread over several classifica- that makes use of an application of
Information About New
tion groups. the hypertext technique. Hypertext
Acquisitions
This situation will improve to a large simulates the way users usually search
extent. The computerized system will by allowing to "browse and navigate" At any time, users will be able to ob-
offer access to every word or phrase in through the database intuitively. Based tain information about the latest acquisi-
the bibliographie record, regardless of on hits the user has already retrieved, he tions in the libraries. The "Bulletin
whether it appears in the subtitle, in the can continue the search under a differ- Board" will offer lists of new items avail-
General-notes-field or somewhere else. ent aspect without having to leave sev- able in Garching, La Silla, La Serena,
A major argument against com- eral sub-menus to start again. and later also Paranal. Of course, these

22
HELP GO BACK STARTOVER to control circulation actions or chase
liW OPTIONS
missing issues. How does it work at the
CATALOG LOOKUP BY WORDS OR PHRASE moment?
- Borrowers have to sign book cards if
they want to lend a book. One of
words or phrase ====)9~ij~~~.Wli~~.~@~.~.I##·I· .
these cards will be put in the shelf to
replace the book. If the card is re-
library ====)MAIN moved from there, it is very difficult to
trace to whom an item has been
issued
Enquiries of patrons regarding a com-
plete list of books they have borrowed
I#IIP-A.,'J.-j_;·i;.i·'W"'·i. cannot be answered easily
Renewals require the filling out again
Figure 4: Searehing Ihe dalabase for Ihe word SPECTROSCOP$ (ineludes speelroseopy,
speelroseopieal, eie. of all relevant book cards
- There is no control over wh ich items
are borrowed and for how long.
Users usually consider the circulation
BACKWARD HELP GOBACK STARTOVER process to be an interruption of their
mm1=- JUMP TO: work, and taking into account the sever-
YOU FOUND 6 ITEMS IN THE CATALOG al steps they have to follow at present,
3) Supernovae spectra copies: 1 (SHELVES) we understand their annoyance. There-
Meyerott, Roland at: MAIN and others
A 19-7 / 20 pubyear: 1980 fore, improving this situation had a high
4) Nuclear spectroscopy of astrophysical sour copies: 1 (SHELVES) priority when we compared the library
Gehreis, NeU at: MAIN and others systems that are currently on the mar-
A 9-3 / 18 pubyear: 1988
ket. We want to turn the circulation ac-
'.",.;.i.iQ.i.mik'4W·M#i·1444;·@4·
i mM.i.'.M.#.";.i.'i?-MlM@;'!IW~1] tivity into a process as smooth and pain-
McCarthy, John Franc at: MAIN
A 20-3 / 10 pubyear: 1980 less as possible. Probably in the course
of next year, all items will be equipped
6) IR. Theory and practice of infrared spectr copies: 1 (SHELVES)
Alpert, Nelson L. at: MAIN and others with barcode labels, and barcode read-
PH 13-2 / 2 pubyear: 1973
M·r;MA.,"WIIi·';·i·'ial··i, .. im"_ ers will be attached to terminals in the
libraries. Reading in item and user num-
Figure 5: Choosing item 5 of 6 retrieved items.
bers will then be enough to circulate an
item.
Of course, these changes won't save
~ 8ACKWARD HELP GOBACK STARTOVER us from missing one book or another,
REOUEST: LIKE OPTIONS because a user has taken it out of the
THIS IS RECORD NUMBER 5 OF THE 6 YOU FOUND IN THE CATALOG library without checking it out properly -
A 20-3 / 10 either by mistake or willingly. There
ESO class mark: A 20-3 / 10
Personal author: McCarthy, John Francis won't be a robot crawling through the
Title: Airborne infrared spectroscopy of ionized hydrogen offices every morning, trying to find
regions and the galactic center
Publisher: Ithaca: Cornell University, 1980 hidden books that ought to be in the
Physical description: 203 p. library, nowhere else. A library that is
Series vol no: Ph.D.-Thesis
open 24 hours a day has to count on the
number of volumes:1 honesty and solidarity of the users. But
1) A 20-3 / 10 copies:1 library:MAIN maybe our users will like the new sys-
copy:1 id:ML 269/82 BOOK (SHELVES tem so much that they enjoy the fun of
using it and no longer feel that having to
1#"X;-ga.i'4-",W••i4.i.iJ#I,••i. jl"3g_ behave according to the rules causes
Figure 6: Displaying ilem 5 in full. them pain ...

Still a Long Way to Go

books are also retrievable via the normal Using Research Results We have achieved a lot in a relatively
library catalogue. short time during the last months.
If you don't need a retrieved item right Nevertheless, there is still a long way to
In addition, the catalogue will inform
now, but would like to keep the refer-
you about the latest issues of journals go before the database is completed
ence, it will be possible to print search and finally accessible for everybody. We
that have been received in one of the
results or send and file to your account hope to finish retrospective conversion
libraries.
for further usage. in the first half of next year, and further
tasks, Iike creating user records, con-
Placing Reservations verting the current circulation manage-
Circulation
If a required item is on loan at the ment into machine-readable form,
moment, users might want to place a The present circulation system in the assigning special locations to particular
reservation on it. For this purpose, a ESO-Libraries is not at all sufficient. It is items, etc. can easily be foreseen.
REQUEST-option will be available wh ich time-intensive and inefficient for the us- Until now, we have had to cope only
reserves an item instantaneously. The ers as weil as for the librarians. To tell with rather small difficulties, but accord-
user will be notified as soon as the item you the truth, it doesn't even provide us ing to the experience of several col-
has been returned to the library. with the necessary data we would need leagues, it is quite normal to have to

23
 SEST Users Meeting
The third SEST Users Meeting will be
held in Onsala, Sweden, on 18-19
March 1993. Those wishing to attend
should write to:
SEST Users Meeting
Onsala Space Observatory
S-43900 Onsala
Sweden

face major problems in the course of

changing to automated library manage-
ment. Of course, we are sticking to
"positive thinking" and are keeping our On October 28, a three-chi/d delegation walked into the Oirector Genera/'s office to
talk about the Chi/dren's Christmas Party. Of the concessions they pressed for, the
fingers crossed that the going won't get
request to invite Saint Nicolas to participate in person was foremost and the OG was
extremely tough. However, it will be
left IiWe choice but to grant this.
worthwhile to concentrate forces on this Judging by the picture, showing from left to right Cornee Ravensbergen, Harry van
project in order to make life easier and der Laan, Nadja Oekker and Adriaan van Oijsseldonk, al! were happy with the agree-
much more efficient for both librarians ment reached! Photo: H.-H. Heyer
and library users.

"Exploring the Universe" trom the Desert Gate

Antofagasta describes itself as "Gate The ESO exhibition occupied two for the 2nd region, Don Blas Espinoza,
to the Desert, Window on the Sea". For floors, one devoted to astronomy and and the Mayor of Antofagasta, Pedro
17 days a window on the Universe was one to ESO and its activities, including a Araya Ortiz, listened to speeches by
opened for the population as ESO in presentation of the VLT and Paranal. It is Don Jorge Peralta Hidalgo, Rector of the
collaboration with the University of An- the first time that the ambitious VLT University, and Jorge Melnick, after
tofagasta opened its travelling exhibi- plans were presented to the local popu- which they enjoyed a guided tour
tion at the foyer of the Municipal Theatre lation, and the ESO exhibition was met through the exhibition, with the small
right in the centre of the town. by a wide-spread interest. This was evi- corps of student-guides demonstrating
Days before the opening, a group of dent already at a well-attended press their skills in a very convincing way.
enthusiastic students from the Universi- conference, wh ich was held in the After being dismantled in Antofagas-
ty of Antofagasta went through an as- morning of October 27, the day of the ta, the ESO travelling exhibition will take
tronomy crash-course including a visit inauguration. Jorge Melnick, Patrice a small break for the (southern) summer.
to La Silla, ending with an "exam" con- Bouchet and ESO Administrator Armelle However, ESO has received a number of
ducted by the Head of the La Silla As- Cabillic answered a whole range of invitations for new exhibitions, among
tronomy group, Jorge Melnick. The stu- questions. others from the University of Concep-
dents then took over the job as exhibi- At the inauguration, a large number of ci6n.
tion guides. invited guests, including the Intendente C. MADSEN, ESO

Figure 1: From the Antofagasta press conference: Jorge Melnick Figure 2: A student explains the wonders of the Mi/ky Way to the
presents the VL T project to the press. invited guests at the inauguration.

24
Je 1396
The southern part of the large diffuse nebula IC 1396 in the northern Milky Way band in the constellation Cepheus is full of dark and dense
areas where stars are now being born. The 6th-magnitude star HR 8281 near the centre is of the hot 06-type; it is also a visual double star. The
area is about 13° North-East or the well-known North America Nebula. This masked and enhanced monochrome reproduction was made at the
photographic laboratories at the ESO Headquarters rrom a blue-sensitive plate (lIIa-J emulsion) obtained with the 48-inch Oshin telescope at
Palomar ror the Second Palomar Survey, now being reproduced at ESO. Photographic work by H.-H. Heyer, ESO.

25
ESO in Milan
Some Notes on the Assembly 01 an ESO Exhibition

The attentive reader of the at least what concerns the larger ele- Moreover, certain elements like the Mil-
Messenger may have noticed over the ments, appraaching the final shape. ky Way panorama and sets for video
past years some articles dealing with presentation must be connected to the
the travelling ESO exhibition. Most re- power net. Soon the house electrician
Day 4: the Day of "First Light"
cently, on September 21, 1992, our ex- realizes that three things are required:
hibition was opened at the Museo Although many exhibition sites have many metres of additional cable, larger
Nazionale della Scienzia edella Tecnica their own system of illumination, the fuses and, most of all, more time. In
in Milan, Italy. This time we would like to ESO stand uses its own, specially de- view of the many expected visitors,
tell you how the assembly of an exhibi- signed lamps to give the right ambience. electrical safety requirements must be
tion is done. Few people realize how
much time and work is needed to put
together a 200 m2 exhibition. As usual it
begins five days prior to the official
opening ceremony.

Day 1: The Material Arrives

The most important thing on this day
is to find the lost expo! This may sound
somewhat strange, but experience has
shown that, for various reasons, the
expo lorry carrying all the exhibition
material fram Munich to the exhibition
site is almost always delayed. After a lot
of telephone calls it soon becomes
known that the lorry neither got stuck in
a traffic jam nor had to fight its way
thraugh an endless maze of one-way
streets but had been subject to a very Figure 1: Press conference at the opening of the ESO Exhibition in the Museo Nazionale della
thoraugh customs contraI at the Aus- Scienzia edella Tecnica, Milan, on September 21, 1992. From left to right at the table: Prof. P.
trian-Italian border. Finally it arrives at Tucci, Director of the Museum, Mr. de Mattei, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the
the museum and thanks to the perfect Museum, Prof. H. van der Laan, ESO Director General, Prof. G. Setti, Director of the Institute of
equipment and efficient work of the Radioastronomy, Bologna, and Prof. G. Chincarini, Director of Milan Astronomical Observatory
museum people, more than a dozen (Brera).
heavy and bulky boxes are unloaded in
less than two hours. They are then
transported to the exhibition hall where
a preliminary check of the material is the
last action of that day. Fortunately, there
seems to be no damage.

Days 2 and 3: the Exhibition

Begins to Take Shape
In the morning of the second day we
begin to unpack the many crates. Soon
the enormous volume of photos, panels,
light boxes and other material spreads
on the floor and threatens to create a
real mess. Order is now required! At this
stage the work changes fram the trans-
port of bulky and dirty boxes to the
careful handling of fragile exhibition
material. Meticulously following the
careful assembly plans wh ich have been
worked out before at ESO in Munich, the
exhibition bottom panels are built up.
Thanks to the skillful and friendly
museum staff this work progresses
rapidly. In the late evening of the third
day the earlier disorder has given way to Figure 2: AI the opening of the ESO Exhibition in Milan: from left to right: P. Tucci, H. van der
some system and the exhibition is now, Laan, G. Setti, G. Chincarini.

26
scrupulously fulfilled. The work pro-
gresses slowly and one by one the many NEW ESO PUBLICATION
cables are connected and disappear
The Proceedings 01 the ESO Conlerence on
behind the panels. Finally, just before
sunset the electrician finishes with his
work and we have the "first light".
Progress in Telescope
and Instrumentation Technologies
Day 5: Fine Tuning and Growing are now available. The price 01 this 777-page volume, edited by M.-H. Ulrich, is DM
90.00 (prepayment required).
Excitement
Payments have to be made to the ESO bank account 2102002 with Commerzbank
The last day before the opening is the München, or by cheque, addressed to the attention 01
most important for the expo team. It ESO, Financial Services
includes a thorough contral of all ele- Karl-Scllwarzschild-Str. 2
0-8046 Garching bei München, Germany
ments, small changes in the basic layout
Please do not lorget to indicate your complete address and the title 01 the Proceedings.
due to requirements of the hall and the
preparation of information material for
the visitors. Again the collaboration is
excellent and at the end of this day all
the persons who worked on the exhibi-
tion have one common thought: the the ESO Director General and more than and questions are asked. Finally, the
anticipation of the visitors' reaction! 200 invited guests. A press conference traditional walk thraugh the exhibition
In the evening, the ESO Milan exhibi- is held in the ball-room of a full-size takes place. Few of the participants may
tion is opened in the presence of high model of the central section of a be aware of the stress of the past five
city officials, the Board of the Museum, passenger ship. Speeches are given days! H. ZODET, ESO

Professor Lodewijk Woltjer Elected to the French Academy of Sciences

Prolessor Lodewijk Woltjer, Oirector Gen- Italy and Switzerland into this organization 01 has given to the collaboration with the au-
eral 01 ESO (1975 - 1987), has just been unequalIed scientific and technological po- thorities in various European countries, in
elected Associate Foreign Member 01 the tential; stimulating the conception 01 the VLT particular in France, by providing wise and
French Academy 01 Sciences, one of the live project and carrying through rapidly and effi- useful analysis 01 the desired evolution 01
Academies which constitute l'lnstitut de ciently the negoliations with the ESO national astronomy policies.
France. Prolessor Woltjer is already a Corre- member States which led to the decision to Professor Woltjer has also recently been
sponding Member of several other European build the VLT, thereby re-establishing nominated Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur,
Academies (The Netherlands, Belgium, UK) Europe's central position in optical as- the lirst grade of the supreme dislinction
and a Member 01 the Royal Academy 01 tronomy wh ich it had lost since the beginning which is granted by France.
Sweden. 01 this century. P. LENA,
This election honours first of all his scien- Prolessor Woltjer's international role as lu- Member of the Academy of Sciences, France
tific research Irom the study 01 the Supernova ture President 01 the International Astronomi-
in the Crab Nebula to Quasars: his major role cal Union testifies to the wide-spread esteem
in the renaissance of European optical as- in which he is held. The French Academy 01
tronomy: assuming Ule leadership 01 ESO Sciences has been very appreciative of the
during 13 years, while ensuring the entry by continued attention which Prolessor Woltjer

STAFF MOVEMENTS
Arrivals
Europe
Two European Astronomy Encounters in 1993 AITKEN, George (GB), Technical Editor
JABLONKA, Pascale (F), Fellow
The situation in Europe is changing and so is European astronomy. The next years KOTILAINEN, Jari (SF), Fellow
are bound to see an increasingly intense and Iruitful interaction between astronomers TINNEY, Christopher(AUS), Fellow
lrom all regions 01 Europe. ZIJLSTRA, Albert (NL), Fellow
The organizers 01 several astronomical meetings in Europe in 1993 are taking active
measures aimed at promoting such connections, especially between West and East Chile
European astronomers. This is particularly true lor two meetings wh ich will be held in ABBOn, Timothy (GB), Fellow
consecutive weeks in the second half of August 1993 and at a short geographical OE BRUIN, Peter (S), Associate (SEST)
distance. This may induce some astronomers to participate in both and save some
travel costs. Support lor local expenses is also being generated. Departures
The next meeting of the European Astronomical Society (EAS) "Extragalactic
Astronomy and Observational Cosmology" will take place in Torun, Poland, Irom
18-21 August 1993. It is followed by lAU Symposium 161 "Astronomy lrom Wide-Field Europe
Imaging" in Potsdam near Berlin, Germany, from 23-27 August 1993. JORISSEN, Alain (B), Fellow
For lurther inlormation about the EAS meeting, please contact Richard Wielebinski LOUSTALOT, Florence (F), Secretary to
(Chairman 01 SOG), MPI für Radioastronomie, Auf dem Hügel 69, 0-5300 Bonn, the Head 01 Administration
Germany, or Jan Palous, EAS Secretary, Astronomicallnstitute, Budecska 6, CS-12023 M0LLER, Palle (OK), Associate
Prague 2, Czechoslovakia (e-mail: ASTOSS(l1 CSEARN.bitnet). For the Wide-lield meet- PAOOVANI, Paolo (I), Fellow
ing, the address is: Astrophysikalisches Institut Potsdam (lAU Symposium 161), An der PELETIER, Reynier (NL), Fellow
Sternwarte 16, 0-0-1591 Potsdam, Germany (e-mail: Iri({lbabel.aip.wtza-berlin.de). SCHWEMMER, Erika (0), Administrative
Clerk (Personnei)

27
PROFILE OF AN ESO KEY PROGRAMME

Standard Stars for the Infrared Space Observatory, ISO

N.S. VAN DER BUEK 1, P. BOUCHET2, H.J. HABING 1, M. JOURDAIN OE MUIZON 3 , 1,
D. E. BLACKWELL 4, B. GUSTAFSSON 5, P. L. HAMMERSLEy6, M.F. KESSLER~ T.L. UMS,
J. MANFROID 9, L. METCALFE~ A. SALAMA 7
1Leiden Observatory, the Nether/ands; 2 ESO, La Silla; 3Paris Observatory, France; 4 University of Oxford, Eng/and;

5Uppsa/a Observatory, Sweden; 6/AC, Tenerife, Spain; 7ESA-ESTEC, The Nether/ands; 8/mperia/ College, London,
Eng/and; 9/nstitut d'Astrophysique de Liege, Be/gium

The Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) volves the use both of internal calibra- servational programmes, but also es-
is a European Space Agency (ESA) tion sources and a range of astronom i- tablished a collaboration with Black-
satellite to be launched in 1995. Operat- cal reference sources (i. e. stars and as- well's group (Oxford) and with Gustafs-
ing at wavelengths ranging from 2.5 to teroids for the photometrie calibration son's group (Uppsala) to carry out the
200 ~lm (Kessler, 1992), ISO will be a and planetary nebulae or HII regions for theoretical part of the project: determin-
unique facility with wh ich to explore the the spectroscopic calibration). ing fundamental parameters of the stars
universe. Its targets will range from ob- A full description of the plans for the and modeling their far-infrared spectra.
jects in the solar system, at one ex- in-flight calibration of the ISO instru- The goal of the working group is to
treme, to distant extragalactic sourees, ments can be found in the "ISO In Orbit deliver a database of standard stars and
at the other extreme. ISO will operate as Calibration Requirements Document", fluxes to the ISO Science Operations
an observatory with 65% of its observ- wh ich is regularly updated by ESA in Team weil before the launch of ISO.
ing time open to the general astronom i- consultation with the instrument con-
cal community. Observations will be sortia.
Selecting the Stars
selected by proposal submission and
peer review. For an efficient calibration of observa-
Stars as Calibrators, the ESO Key
The satellite will carry on board a 60- tions by ISO, i. e. to minimize the slewing
Programme
cm telescope and four scientific instru- time of the telescope, there should be at
ments, mounted inside a 2300-litre The most suitable sources for the least 1 standard star per hundred
superfluid Helium cryostat and operat- photometrie calibration of ISOCAM and square degrees. In other words, the set
ing at a temperature of around 3 K. The the shorter wavelength region of of standard stars for ISO has to contain
instruments are: ISOPHOT are stars with well-known at least 400 stars, evenly spread over
1. ISOCAM, a two-channel camera, monochromatic fluxes. Stars can also the sky.
operating between 2.5 and 17 Ilm, be used as photometrie standards for In fact, several conditions have to be
with a 32 x 32-element detector array SWS and for the short wavelength re- met by a set of standard stars for ISO.
in each channel; gion of LWS, and for correlating SWS Since they will be used as standards for
2. ISOPHOT, a broad-band multi-filter and LWS spectra. However, a different instruments of ISO, the stars
photo-polarimeter, covering the homogeneous set of standard stars should cover a wide range of mag-
wavelengths between 2 and 200 Ilm, suitable for wavelengths up to at least nitudes as weil as a wide range of spec-
with a low-resolution spectrometer, 50 ~lm does not exist! tral types. In summary, the setected
covering the wavelength ranges 2.5 to The ESO Key Programme, "Infrared stars should be:
5 Ilm and 6 to 12 Ilm; Standards for ISO", is a first step to- 1. non variable stars;
3. SWS, the short wavelength spec- wards the setting up of such a system of 2. single stars;
trometer, offering resolutions in the standard stars. 3. stars without an infrared excess;
range 1 000 to 20,000, for In order to make it possible to use 4. brighter than K = 12, and fainter than
wavelengths between 2.4 and 44 Ilm; stars as calibrators up to these K = 0;
4. LWS, the long wavelength spec- wavelengths, their far-infrared f1uxes 5. evenly distributed over spectral type
trometer, offering resolutions in the must be known, on the basis of photo- and magnitude;
range 100 to 10,000, for wavelengths metrie and spectroscopic data obtained 6. homogeneously spread over the sky.
between 45 and 180 Ilm. from the ground in combination with The ESO Key Programme covers the
These instruments are being built by stellar model atmospheres. The aim of observations for the southern hemi-
four independent consortia from ESA this Key Programme is to obtain near- sphere. We selected stars from the in-
member States, using national funding. infrared (NIR) and mid-infrared (MIR, at frared standard star lists of ESO
ESA is responsible for the development 10 and 20 Ilm) photometrie data and NIR (Bouchet et al., 1991), SAAO (Carter,
and launch of the satellite, and for the spectroscopic data of the stars selected 1990), AAO (Allen and Cragg, 1983), and
observatory operations, which end in the southern hemisphere. Similar CTIO (Elias and Frogel, 1983). We ex-
when the liquid Helium cryogen is ex- efforts are being undertaken in the tended the sam pie by selecting stars
hausted, i. e. after a baseline lifetime of northern hemisphere by the IAC from the Bright Star Catalogue (Hoffleit,
at least 18 months. (Tenerife) and Imperial College (Lon- 1982) and the Henry Draper Catalogue.
One of the major concerns for such a don). The project, as a whole, runs We used both catalogues and the
mission is the calibration of the instru- under auspices of the ISO Ground Hipparcos Input Catalogue to discard
ments and thus of the scientific data Based Preparatory Programme working multiple and variable stars. In addition,
products. In addition to the pre-Iaunch group (Jourdain de Muizon and Habing, we used the IRAS catalogue to check
on-ground calibration and characteriza- 1992), wh ich was formed on the initia- that the spectra of the selected stars do
tion of the instruments, the observatory tive of the ISO Science Team. This not show an infrared excess. The sam-
must be calibrated in-flight. This in- working group not only initiated the ob- pie contains 300 stars (see Fig. 1), of

28
 - the existing set of standard stars for
broad-band NIR photometry will be
extended with standard stars having
K magnitudes of up to 12;
0
0 - a system of standard stars for
o~

0 .
0

0
0
narrow-band NIR photometry will be
defined;
.. ..
00 0" 0 0

.... ··· ..
0 0

.. . - a system of standard stars for MIR

• .1' •
;
..
.... .
0

0
•• 0
'j> photometry at 10 and 20 ~m will be
'\,

·
0
0' set up.
.
·0
<I'

. . :. · i
6 0
0

·.
"'.
. We reduee the photometrie data with
. ...
0
~ -30 -30
IR SNOPY, a reduetion programme
ci
" .. .. .. ... g
8·
S
. . ··0
·8 ~
available at La Silla. For the narrow-

....-
-0 I.

. :° ·00
#
'" band NIR photometry and the MIR pho-

.'" tometry this is a preliminary reduetion

o fSlo'
0

o QO CI
only: the sets of standard stars first have

·.
0
-60 60
to be established. Therefore we will rede
.. 8
the reduetion, when all photometrie data
have been eolleeted, using a "global
method", namely the one developed by
Manfroid (1985). This method skips en-
-90 90
24 20 16 12 B 0 tirely the eolour-transformation prob-
1'.6. (2000.0)
lem, i. e., only zero points are eomputed,
Figure 1: Distribution of the stars over the southern hemisphere. In the present sampie only instead of eomplete eolour transforma-
very few stars have declinations smaller than 75°. We will therefore add some stars to the tions. The method is ideally suited for
sampie which are located in the polar region. setting up a new photometrie system.
For a large data set this method pro-
vides aeeuraeies better than 0.01 mag
for the broad-band NIR photometry, and
whieh the 200 most suitable stars will predieted by theoretieal atmosphere 0.005 mag for the narrow-band NIR
be used as southern standard stars for models. photometry. For the MIR photometry
ISO. Clearly this key programme will yield aeeuraeies better than 0.01 mag in Ni
several by-produets, whieh are useful and N2, 0.02 in N3, and 0.05 at 00 ean
for ground-based work: be reaehed.
Photometry
For the entire set of stars we are
aequiring J,H,K and L broad-band pho- Table 1: The Royal Standard Stars
tometry as weil as narrow-band NIR
photometry. The narrow-band filters are Spectral type RA (2000) Dec (2000)
CVF filters eentred on 1.58 ~lm (H band),
2.16 ~lm (Bry), 2.22 ~m (K band), A-type stars
2.29 ~m (CO) and 3.70 ~m (L band). The HR2421, Y Gem, Alhena AOIV 06 37 42.7 +16 23 57
use of sueh narrow-band filters im- HR2491, a CMa, Sirius A1Vm 06 45 08.9 -16 42 58
proves the aeeuraey of the photometry HR3314, C Hya AOV 08 25 39.6 -03 54 23
in two ways: 1. the narrow-band filters HR7069, 111 Her A5111 18 47 01.2 +18 10 53
have pass-bands weil within the atmo- HR7557, a Aql, Altair A7V 19 50 46.9 +08 52 06
spherie windows: their profiles are not
defined by the edges of the atmospherie Early F-type stars
windows, and are therefore not ehanged HR0740, 0 Ceti F41V 02 32 05.1 -15 14 41
by variations in the atmospherie trans- HR5570, 16 Lib FOV 14 57 10.9 -04 20 47
pareney; 2. atmospherie extinetion is HR7469, 0 Cyg F4V 19 36 26.4 +50 13 16
eolour dependent: narrow-band mea- HR7936, )1' Cap F4V 20 46 05.6 -25 16 16
sures will be less affeeted by extinetion
variation than broad-band measures. Solar-type stars
Furthermore, the theoretieal interpreta- HR0098, ß Hyi G21V 00 25 45.3 -77 15 16
tion of narrow-band photometrie data is HR0448 G21V 01 33 42.8 -07 01 31
more straightforward. HR0509, t Cet G8V 01 44 04.0 -15 56 15
Additionally, we are obtaining MIR HRll0l, 10 Tau F9V 03 36 52.3 +00 24 06
photometry at 10 and 20 ~m for the HR1983, Y Lep F6V 05 44 27.8 -22 26 54
HR4903 G1V 12 54 58.4 -44 09 07
brightest stars (L:S 2) of the sam pie. For
HR4989 F71V 13 14 14.7 -59 06 12
1O-~m photometry we use the standard
HR5996 G4IV-V 16 07 03.3 -14 04 16
filters Ni (1..0 = 8.36 ~m; I.. = 0.85 ~m),
N2 (1.. 0 =9.67 ~m; ~A= 1.65 ~m), and N3
Red Giants
(1.. 0 =12.89 ~m; ~A=3.7 ~m). We will use
these data to investigate the presenee HRl136, b Eri KOIV 03 43 14.8 -09 45 48
of SiO and Sie features in the speetra HR1907, ep 2 Ori KOlllbCN-2 05 36 54.3 +09 17 26
HR2990, ß Gem, Pollux KOlilb 07 45 18.9 +28 01 34
of these stars. The 20-~m photometry
HR4232, v Hya K2111 10 49 37.4 -16 11 37
(00; 1..0 =18.56 ~m; ~A=5.6 ~lm) will be HR5340, a Boa, Arcturus K1111bCN-1 14 15 39.6 +19 10 57
used to eheek the far-infrared fluxes as

29
Spectroscopy Fundamental Parameters, Acknowledgements
Model Atmospheres and Far IR
Up to now we have obtained full We are very grateful to ESO and to the
Fluxes
IRSPEC spectra in the J,H,K, and L Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie,
bands for 30 stars of spectral type A to We use the NIR photometry as input represented by Professor Elsässer, for
K. These spectra are of medium resolu- for the "Infrared Flux Method" (Black- the numerous nights of observing time
tion (IJ 6."- = 2 500) and span the follow- weil, 1986) and determine the effective allocated to this programme. We would
ing wavelength regions: 1.05-1 .35 ~lm, temperatures and angular diameters of like to thank the infrared team at La Silla
1.54 - 1.75 fAm, 2.05-2.40 ~lm and the stars. Independently we shall deter- for their assistance during the obser-
3.45-4.05 fAm. To cover these four at- mine effective temperatures and vations, with our special thanks to
mospheric windows, a total of 63 gravities of the stars by comparing the Rolando Vega. We also thank C. Turon
IRSPEC spectra need to be taken for observed and theoretical infrared col- and D. Morin for helping us with the
each star. They are the first complete ours, as described by Bell and Gustafs- Hipparcos Input Catalogue before publi-
stellar spectra taken in the J,H,K and L son (1989). To be able to compare the cation.
bands and they will provide new con- NIR data obtained at ESO with theoreti-
straints on the modeling of stellar atmo- cal infrared colours, we will extend the
spheres. We reduce the spectra with work by Bell and Gustafsson for both
MIDAS and routines especially de- the ESO J,H,K and L filters and the References
veloped for the reduction of IRSPEC narrow-band NIR filters, described be-
Allen, DA, and Cragg, T.A., 1983. MNRAS,
data (see also the article by R. Gredel in fore. 203,777.
this issue of the Messengel). We will use the fundamental parame- Bell, R.A. and Gustafsson, B., 1989. MNRAS,
ters as input for model atmospheres: 236,653.
recent versions of the Kurucz models Blaekwell, D. E., Booth, A.J., Petford, A. D.,
The "Royal Standard Stars" Leggelt, S. K., Mountain, C. M. & Selby,
(Kurucz, 1991) for the hotter stars, and
The prediction of absolute fluxes of recent models from the Uppsala model M.J., 1986. MNRAS, 221, 427.
these standard stars will be subject to atmosphere codes (updated versions of Bouehet, P., Manfroid, J., Sehmider, F.-X.,
1991. A&ASS, 91, 409.
severe uncertainties in model atmo- Gustafsson et al., 1975, with the Kurucz
Carter, B.S., 1990. MNRAS, 242, 1.
spheres. These uncertainties, wh ich [1991] atomic line lists implemented) for
Elias, J. H., Frogel, J.A., Hyland, A. R. and
may lead to systematic errors in the the cooler stars. We will extend model Jones, T.J., 1983. ApJ, 88,1027.
calibration of ISO fluxes of more than atmosphere codes into the infrared, and Gredel, R., 1992. The Messenger, 70, 62.
10%, are in particular errors in funda- use them in combination with the NIR Gustafsson, B., Bell, RA, Eriksson, K.,
mental parameters, in temperature data to predict infrared fluxes for the Nordlund, A. 1975. A&A, 42, 407.
structure and in continuous and complete set of standard stars. The HoHleit, D., 1982. The Bright Star Catalogue
molecular opacities. In order to get a stars with K > 6 will be used as a (4th revised edition), Yale University Ob-
handle on these uncertainties, we are standard system for the short servatory, New Haven.
Salama, A. and Metcalfe, L., 1992. ISO In
studying the effects of perturbations of wavelength range of ISO, up to 20 ~lm.
Orbit Calibration Requirements Document:
the above-mentioned parameters on the The stars with K :5 6 will be used as ISO - SSD - 9003, Issue 1.0, 01-07-92.
far infrared spectra of model atmo- calibrators up to at least 50 fAm. Jourdain de Muizon, M., Habing, H. J., 1992.
spheres. To improve the calibration, we The aim of the project is to predict the In Infrared Astronomy with ISO, eds.
also will make a detailed comparison of infrared fluxes of the complete sam pie Th. Enerenaz and M. F. Kessler (New York:
observed and synthetic spectra and of stars, with accuracies better than Nova Seience), p. 129.
fluxes of a sam pie of stars, selected to 10% for flux densities ;::: 1 Jy and to Kessler, M.F., 1992. In Infrared Astronomy
be representative for the full set of stan- compile a list of standard stars which with ISO, eds. Th. Enerenaz and M. F.
dard stars. We selected 22 such stars, are suitable for wavelengths up to Kessler (New York: Nova Seience), p. 3.
Koornneef, J., 1983. A&A, 128, 84.
named "Royal Standard Stars": 5 A-type 50 ~lm. The working group plans to
Kuruez, R. L. 1991. In lAU Symp. 149: The
stars, 4 early F stars, 8 solar-type stars deliver a database of standard stars
stellar populations of galaxies, eds. B. Bar-
and 5 K giants (see Table 1). These Roy- and infrared fluxes to the ISO Science buy and A. Renzini (Dordreeht: Kluwer
al Standard Stars will serve as a basic Operations Team weil before the Aeademie Publishers), p. 225.
set for checking the calibration of the launch of ISO, presently scheduled Manfroid, J. 1985. Habili!. Thesis, Universite
entire sam pie of standard stars. for 1995. de Liege.

SUSI Discovers Proper Motion and Identifies Geminga

G.F. BIGNAMI 2 , 1, P.A. CARAVEOL 1 and S. MEREGHETTI 1
11stituto di Fisica Cosmica deI CNR, Milano, Italy; 20ipartimento di Ingegneria Industriale, Universita di Cassino,
Cassino, Italy

Twenty years have gone by since the this puzzling object first in the y-ray using all the big telescopes of the world.
discovery of the y-ray source 195+5, the domain, with the ESA COS-B satellite Unfortunately, every step down in ener-
first UGO (Unidentified Gamma Object) (1975-82), then in the X-ray domain, gy cost a factor of 1000 in the source
seen by the NASA SAS-2 satellite. with the NASA Einstein Observatory strength (see table) and, adjusting the
These years have been characterized by (78-81) and ESA EXOSAT (83-86) mis- observing time, we ended up with
an endless quest for an identification of sions, finally in the optical (1983-today) -1000 photons in each energy range.

30
While wading through the intricacies of Energetics
multiwavelength astronomy, the source
Name \' # photons Obs. time Flux
acquired its multi-language name
erg/cm 2 sec
GEMINGA, officially for GAmma source
in GEMINi, in reality a pun from the Geminga y-ray -1,000 80 days 2 10-9
Milanese argot*, making Geminga the
first celestial object named in a dialect. 1972--->
The 90's found the strong gamma-
1 E 0630+178 X-ray 800+200 10,000 sec 2 10- 12
ray source GEMINGA associated with
1E 0630+178, a peculiar X-ray source 1983--->
(Bignami et al., 1983), and (tentatively)
with a very faint optical object G", first G" optical 1,600 lew hours 3 10- 16
seen with the CFHT and confirmed with
the ESO 3.6 (Bignami et al., 1987, 1988) 1987--->
and with the 5-m Palomar (Halpern and -------- radio 21 cm ------ deep search < 5 10-20
Tytler, 1988), where the y-X association
rested on the strong similarity with the
Vela pulsar and the X-optical one on the
peculiar colour of G". Geminga was ties normal for pulsars, a measure of the supplied to us by D. Golombek, we have
supposed to be an isolated neutron star, proper motion (~l = 0.2 . V100 . d-,'oo "/yr, computed the coordinates of G" at the
since only this object could explain at with v in units of 100 km/sec and d in three epochs. A linear fit to the derived
once the strong y emission and the units of 100 pc) was the next sensible coordinates gives the following compo-
faintness of the optical counterpart in thing to do, as suggested by Bignami nents for the proper motion of G"
spite of the X-ray emission. Back in and Caraveo (1992). ~u= 0.14"/y ~lll=0.1 O"/y
1983, we had also proposed that it The ESO Director General granted for and a total of ~ = 0.17"/y ± 0.05"/y
ought to be very dose, -100 pc this project one ND night which, thanks The reported evidence for a large
(Bignami, Caraveo, Lamb, 1983). All this to J. Breysacher, was split into two proper motion of G" (mv = 25.5) can only
was very reasonable but rested purely halfs: one in November 92 and one in be interpreted in two ways: either the
on astrophysical ideas, not on hard January 93. This arrangement turned object is a solar-system body (asteroid,
facts. During 1992, however, new y-X out to be a very successful one and, on comet, whatnot), or it is a subluminous,
and optical observations provided the November 4-5, the Geminga fjeld was truly faint star. The first possibility
facts needed to secure the identification observed, in service mode, by A. Smet- cannot be discarded lightly, in view of
of Geminga. te. Ten SUSI V frames, of 15 minutes the low ecliptic latitude of Geminga.
First came the discovery of the 237- each, were secured under very good Strongly against it, however, are the ex-
msec periodicity in the ROSAT X-ray seeing conditions (0.6-0.8"). A. Moneti tremely slow motion (for a solar-system
data (Halpern and Holt, 1992). The same combined the images right away and body) at a large angle with the ecliptic
periodicity was immediately found in the FTPed the sum to Milano. plane and, of course, the low probability
contemporary GRO/EGRET y-ray data The resulting image was compared of the event, in view of the very small
(Bertsch et al., 1992) and in the old with two others of the same field, ob- area considered.
archived COS-B data (Bignami and tained respectively at the CFHT 3.5-m Interpreting G" as astar, for a dis-
Caraveo, 1992) which, covering a long instrument in January 84 and at the ESO placement similar to that observed, one
time span, provided the best estimate of 3.6-m in January 87 (Bignami et al., obtains a round distance figure of 100
the P = 1.099 10'4 s/s. Apart from 1987, 1988). Figure 1 shows a compo- pc for a velocity in the plane of the sky of
clinching the identification of Geminga site of the three images, where the 84 100 km/sec, not far from the mean for
with 1E 0630+178, this is what is and 87 ones have been re-binned and radio pulsars (see e.g. Lyne et al., 1982).
needed to compute the parameters of tilted to match the scale and orientation At 100 pc, the object would have an Mv
the rotating neutron star responsible for of the ESO 92 frame. The motion of G" = 20.5, to be compared, e.g., with the
the Xly-ray emission. The magnetic field to the NE is apparent, showing an Vela pulsar's 15, i.e. with an "under-
turns out to be 1.5 10'2 G, a rather 84-92 displacement of about 12 pixels, luminosity" only comprehensible for a
normal value, while the standard formu- with the 87 data at the correct angle and neutron star. Anything more luminous
la E = IQQ gives 3.2 1034 erg/sec for position. would have to be correspondingly more
the overall rotational energy loss of the To assess the effect more quantita- distant and thus faster. For comparison,
pulsar. tively, and to exclude any possible sys- the Vela pulsar, at an accepted distance
This brings up the matter of distance: tematic error, the positions of several of 450 pc, has been measured to have
from the value of E one can immediately faint stars, beside G", were compared in a proper motion of about 0.05"/y
derive an absolute upper limit to the the three frames used. The pixel posi- (Bignami and Caraveo, 1988; Bailes et
distance, in the assumption that all E tions of 19 faint objects were measured al., 1989; Ogelman et al.; 1989) Late-
goes into y-rays. This upper limit is in each image, then, for each star, a type extreme subdwarfs with large
-300 parsecs, and for a y-ray produc-. mean position was computed, and devi- transverse velocities and with absolute
tion efficiency of, e.g. 10-2 similar to that ations from this mean are plotted in magnitudes as faint as Mv = 15 (Monet
of PSR 0833-45 (see e.g. Bignami and Figure 2 in units of pixel (0.13") for the X et al., 1992), could mimic the apparent
Hermsen, 1982), this would imply that and Y axis. While the comparison ob- magnitude, as weil as proper motion, of
Geminga is about 30 pc from uso Thus jects appear to lie weil within the cen- G" only for extreme velocity values.
Geminga could be the neutron star tring errors (typically < 1 pixel) in each Moreover, this possibility, unlikely in
nearest to us and, given the high veloci- image, G" stands quite apart showing a view of the very small area considered,
clear NE displacement. is definitely ruled out by the colour of
Using as reference star positions ex- G". Altogether, no known object other
• Gh'e minga means "is not there" to most northern tracted from the original Hubble Space than a neutron star can explain the
Italians. Telescope Guide Star Catalogue, kindly properties of G". lt is thus unavoidable

31
 to conclude that the observed motion is
proof of the optical identification of
(a) GII Geminga, the neutron star nature of

c
0
...
üi0
420

400
®

0 G'
o ~ 0<
wh ich is by now firmly established from
the gammaIX-ray data.
Geminga then becomes the third
neutron star identified in the optical, af-
ter the Crab and Vela pulsars. The
LMC pulsar 0540-69, although definitely
a.. seen to pulsate at optical wavelengths
(Middleditch et al., 1987), has so far only
CJ a probable identification through imag-
380 ing (Caraveo et al., 1992a and b).
Geminga is the first object discovered
and identified through its gamma-ray
Nov 92
emission and the first isolated neutron
400 450 500
star studied without the help of radio
Pos I 1.1 on
astronomy, and is surely the prototype
of a class whose properties are now
open for a better understanding.
It may be of interest to speculate on
(b ) the birthplace of Geminga, now that its
GII
@
420
direction of motion and angular velocity
~ are known. If its age is really 370,000
years, as suggested by its period de-
c
0 ~f3 rivative value, the object comes from a
... 400 point about 16 deg roughly to the SW of
üi0
a.. G' its present position. Such hypothetical
birthplace appears to be weil outside
the boundaries of the Gemini constella-
tion, so that the present name could not
380
have been given at birth. In view of the
small distance involved, it is probably
Jan 87 difficult to search for a SN remnant
which may now weil include the Earth.
400 450 500 But if Geminga was indeed generated in
Poslt.lon aSN event, it may be more interesting to
speculate on the possible environmental
effects of an event wh ich would have
(C) liberated a huge amount of energy at
GII

©
420 100 pe or so from the Earth.
® As to the physical nature of the optical

~
emission, the data presented above do
not add information, except for the pos-
c
0 sible constraint on Geminga's absolute
... 400 magnitude. As discussed in the litera-
III
0
a.. G' ture, thermal as weil as non thermal
mechanisms may contribute to the
emission, which could be pulsed at 237
380
msec, with a still unknown duty cycle.
The period-Iuminosity dependence orig-
inally proposed by Pacini (1971), and
Jan 84 rediscussed more recently (Pacini and
Salvati, 1987), can be applied, assuming
400 450 500
POSI1.lon

Figure 1: Gontour plots of the three data sets used, showing the motion of G" over -8.8 years. The overall displacement between the first and
the last observation is -12 SUSI pixel (0.13" each), with the 87 data set showing G" at an intermediate position.
(a) November 4, 1992 data. Stack of 10 Vexposures of 15 min each, taken at the ESO NIT with SUSI. Seeing conditions were very good (0.6-
0.8'? G" is detected at: R.A. (1950) = 6h 30m 59. 15s; Decl. (1950) = 1r 48' 33.6" ± 0.16". The orientation is roughly NE (an eastward tilt of
_3° is present but has not been corrected for to preserve the excellent quality of the image).
(b) January 28, 1987 data. Stack of 8 V exposures of 15 min each, taken at the ESO 3.6-m equipped with EFOSG (pixel size 0.675'? Seeing
conditions were mediocre -1.6". The original data have been rebinned and tilted to match the SUSI field. The best position of G" is RA (1950)
= 6h 30m 59. 1Os; Decl. (1950) = 1r 48' 33. O"± O. 68".
(c) January 7, 1984 data. Stack of 12 rexposures of 15 min each, taken under good seeing conditions (O.9'? at the GFHT. The original data (with
a pixel size of 0.412'? have been rebinned and ti/ted to match the SUSI field. G" was seen for the first time in this observation (Bignami et al.,
1987) and its position is: R.A. (1950) = 6h 30m 59.06s; Dec/. (1950) = 1r 48' 32.7"± 0.46"
All the above coordinates have been computed in the original (not rebinned) data. The quoted uncertainties take into account the r.m.s. of the
astrometry fit (0.10", 0.12", and 0.19", respectively in the 1992, 1987 and 1984 data) and the error in the centring of G" (-1 pixel in each
data set).

32
 I!l star KGG
6 6 • star 140
+ star 138
)(
~
)(
~
• G'
4 4 11
G
c: c:
0
:;:; ~ c star 31
'e;; 'e;;
0
Co
0
Co
star 130
c:
2 c: 2 A star 132
'"
GI
E
'"
GI
E 11
11 star 133
E
0 I E •• !\I
+ star 155
~ I!l ~
0 i
M
I 11
star 146
C
GI
• C
GI
a
)(
star 137
E E M
star 139
GI ·2 -2
.
GI
u u 51
'"
Q. '"
Q.
55
.!!! Ul
"t:l "t:l
57
>< ·4 > -4 I!l 511
• 512
a 514
-6 -6 11 G".
1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994
YEAR YEAR

Figure 2: X and Y displacements (in unils of 0.13" pixels) from the mean position of G" together with 19 faint comparison objects. These are
stars G, G', 31, 130, 132, 133, 137, 138, 139, 140, 146, and 155 (following the numbering given in Halpern and Tytler, 1988), plus other fainter
ones visible in our three data sets. For each object, the positions obtained in the three frames were averaged and the three X and Y devialions
from such a mean were computed and plotted in a and b.
No systemalic motion is present for the comparison objects, whose devialions appear to lie weil within the centring errors (typically < 1 pixel) in
each image.
G" (.) stands quite apart showing a clear NE displacement. The linear fits to the X and Y displacements of G" from the mean are also shown.

for Geminga an optieal duty eyele simi- months apart, something whieh eannot Bignami, G.F., Caraveo., PA Paul JA Astr.
lar to that of the Vela pulsar, as has been be easily done from the ground, might Ap. 202, L1 (1988).
seen to be the ease at higher energies. eoneeivably lead to a parallax measure· Bignami, G.F., Caraveo., PA Ap.J. Lett 325,
This yields an Mv -28 wh ich would ments, thus also bringing to an end the L5 (1988).
plaee Geminga at - 3 pe. Bignami, G.F. and Caraveo PA Nature 357,
distanee problem.
287 (1992).
The observed motion of G" eould also So far, 1992 has been a magie year
Caraveo PA, Bignami, G.F., Mereghetti S.,
have a bearing in explaining some of the for the understanding of Geminga and Mombelli M. Ap.J. Lett 395, L103 (1992a).
diffieulties eneountered reeently with Deeember should bring more erueial Caraveo PA, Bignami, G.F., Mereghetti S.
the timing parameters of the objeet (see data. Mombelli M. The Messenger, No. 68, 30
lAU Cire 5649). In partieular, the seeond Aeeording to Trimble (1991), 20 years (1992b).
derivative of the period, when eomputed are not an unreasonable time between Halpern, J.H. and Tyl/er D. Ap.J., 330, 201
over a long time history to inelude both the diseovery and the understanding of (1988).
GRO and COS-B data (1991-1975), an astrophysieal phenomenon. Are we Halpern, J.P. and Holt S.S., Nature 357, 222
might be affeeted not only by period (1992).
at the end of our quest?
Lyne A. G., Anderson B., Salter M.J.
glitehes, but also by a different position.
M.N.R.A.S. 201, 503 (1982).
What next? The parallax measure- Middleditch, J., Pennypacker, C.R and
ment (e.g. 0.02" for 100 pe) is then the References Burns, M.S. Ap. J. 315,142 (1987).
next challenge awaiting the Geminga Bailes M., Manchester RN., Kesteven, M.J., Monet D.G. et al. A.J. 103, 638 (1992).
afieionados. Norris RP., and Reynolds J.E. Ap.J. 343, Ogelman H., Koch-Miramond, L., Auriere M.
Direetor Diseretionary time has been L53 (1989), Ap.J. 342, L83 (1989).
granted for the observation of Geminga Bertsch et al. Nature 357,306 (1992). Pacini, F., Ap. J. Letters 163, L17 (1971).
Bignami, G.F. and Hermsen W., Ann. Rev. Pacini, F., and Salvati, M., Ap.J. 321, 447
with the Planetary Camera on the HST.
Astr. Ap. 21, 67 (1983). (1987).
The observation is planned for De-
Bignami, G.F., Caraveo, PA, Lamb, RC. Ap. Trimble V. in "Gamma-Ray Bursts" eds. Ho,
eember, with the purpose of pinpointing J. Letl. 272, L9 (1983). Epstein and Fenimore, p. 479 (1991).
the position of G" to the best possible Bignami, G.F., Caraveo, PA, Paul, JA,
aeeuraey allowed by the eurrent PSF. Salotti, L. and Vigroux, L. Ap.J. 319, 359
Repeating such measurements six (1987).

New Object at the Edge of the Solar System

R. M. WEST and 0. HAINAUT, ESO
Discovery and Follow-up
A new objeet, wh ich is probably a rate determination of the orbit, it
Observations
minor planet, has been found in the out- appears that it is situated at the reeord
er solar system. Although the available distanee of about 41 AU, i.e. just outside The new objeet, wh ich reeeived the
observations do not yet allow an aeeu- the orbit of Pluto. provisional designation 1992 081, was

33
 heliocentric distance would have been
only about 8 AU in 1930.
Lutz Schmadel of the Astronomisches
Rechen-Institut in Heidelberg forwarded
these plates to uso They were photo-
graphically enhanced in the ESO photo-
graphical laboratory in Garching by
Hans-Hermann Heyer. Alas, a c10ser in-
spection then showed that on one plate,
the image of "1930 OV" was pointlike
and therefore did not move at all. It did
not correspond to any object on the
Palomar Atlas, but since there are other
similar images in the vicinity, it is prob-
ably a plate fault. On the other plate of
the pair, the "trail" was too faint to be
measurable and could very weil be the
result of some slight emulsion uneven-
ness. The reality of 1930 OV is therefore
very doubtful and it would not be
reasonable to try to identify it with 1992
OB1.

The Nature of 1992 QB1

On the assumption that 1992 OB 1
moves in a circular orbit around the Sun,
Brian Marsden estimates its distance
from the Sun to be about 41 Astronomi-
cal Units (AU); this would correspond to
aperiod of revolution around the Sun of
262 years. However, it cannot be entire-
Iy excluded that 1992 OB1 moves in an
eccentric orbit and that the period is
therefore significantly different. At this
distance, and at this very slow rate of
motion, it may take another couple of
months, before accurate astrometric
observations will be able to tell the
difference.
Assuming a reasonable albedo
Figure 1: A eomposite of three 5-min exposures of 1992 OB 1, made on September 27 and 28, (5 - 10%), the diameter of 1992 OB1
1992, with EMMI at the ESO 3.5-m New Teehnology Teleseope al La Silla by Alain Smette may be estimated at around 200 km.
(ESO) and Christian Vanderriest (Observatoire de Meudon, Paris). The fainl image of the 23- Although it is initially classified as a
magnitude objeels is indiealed by eircles. Norlh is up and easl is to the left. minor planet (the provisional designa-
tion shows that), it cannot at this mo-
first seen by Oavid Jewitt and Jane Luu, These images were transmitted via ment be entirely excluded that the new
working with the University of Hawaii the permanent satellite data link to the object is an extremely distant comet
2.2-metre telescope at Mauna Kea. ESO Headquarters in Garching, where that may have undergone an outburst,
They noticed the faint, moving star-like we measured the accurate positions of similar to that of Comet Halley in early
image on August 30, 1992 and again the slowly moving planet. With the help 1991. It might even be the first ever
on the two following nights, in the of the new positions, including some observed object belonging to the hy-
constellation of Pisces. The bright- further ones from Hawaii, Brian Marsden pothetical inner comet cloud, known as
ness was about 23 and the colour was was able to confirm the great distance the Kuiper belt.
reddish. of 1992 OB1. Whatever it may be, there is no doubt
An excellent extrapolation of the mo- that 1992 OB1 is an extremely interest-
tion by Brian Marsden of the lAU Minor ing object and that it will be intensively
Was 1992 QB1 Observed in 1930?
Planet Centre permitted renewed obser- observed with large telescopes during
vations of 1992 OB1 after the full-moon At one moment, it was thought that the coming months, at ESO as weil as at
period in mid-September. At La Silla, 1992 OB1 may possibly have been ob- a few other observatories.
Alain Smette (ESO) and Christian Van- served already in 1930, on a pair of
derriest (Observatoire de Meudon, photographic plates obtained at the
Latest News (December 4,1992)
France), obtained three EMMI CCO Heidelberg Observatory in Germany.
frames with the 3.5-m New Technology Brian Marsden found that it was possi- 1992 OB1 was observed again with
Telescope on September 27 and 28. ble to "connect" the measured position the NTT in late November. Pending fur-
These frames are shown in Figure 1. The and motion of the once-observed object ther observations, it now looks as if
brightness was about the same as at the 1930 OV with those of 1992 OB 1 in small-to-moderate perihel distances
time of the Hawaii observations, one 1992. In that case the orbit would have can be ruled out but the orbit may still
month earlier. been extremely eccentric and the be Uranus-crossing.

34
Long-Term Stability in Classical Photometry
H. HENSBERGE, Koninklijke Sterrenwacht van Belgie, Brussel, Belgium
J. MANFROIO, Institut d'Astrophysique, Universite de Liege, Belgium
c. STERKEN, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium

Introduetion
from one system to another (see extrapolated. Again, differential pho-
Since October 1982, the Long-Term Sterken and Manfroid, 1987). The latter tometry does not help, since the effects
Photometry of Variables project (LT PV, are of a purely methodological nature. do not show up for the comparison stars
see e.g. Sterken, 1983, Manfroid et al., Manfroid (1992) demonstrates that (if their colour indices belong to the
1991) is operational at ESO. Initially, conformity errors have adetrimental range of indices of standard stars).
several small photometric telescopes effect on the reddening vector, and con- Since usual schemes of colour transfor-
were used according to conditions of sequently on the reddening-free indices, mation do not adequately represent the
availability. Gradually, the need for one and that such is also the case when effects of interstellar reddening
stable instrument was recognized, and colour indices of composite objects (Manfroid, 1992), the application of a
today all observations are collected with (binaries) are transformed. Let us also variety of differing colour trans-
the Danish 50-cm SAT. Among the large point out that deviations from conformi- formation schemes must lead to prob-
number of variable objects in the pro- ty will reflect in the derived extinction lems.
gramme, there are some bright stars coefficients. As a consequence, we limit the dis-
that are suspected of being microvar- One must not forget that conformity cussion hereafter to observations ob-
iables on very long time-scales. It con- errors are often unavoidable, since pre- tained within one single version of the
cerns magnetic CP stars for which there scriptions of a purely practical origin Strömgren system, viz. to simultaneous
is evidence that the rotation period (such as the availability of a given uvby photometry obtained with the Dan-
might be longer than 100 days, even as photometric system at La Silla) may ish 50-cm SAT telescope. From a care-
long as several tens of years. These force the investigators to rely on data ful analysis of non-differential mag-
stars show light variability that is mod- coming from different such systems. nitudes and colours in a large sam pie of
ulated with the rotation period because Reduction errors can be of two kinds: standard stars and numerous reference
the variation is due to their atmo- one class is due to the limited range of (comparison) stars, it seems that the
sphere's structure and composition stellar types used in the colour-transfor- coefficients of the transformation equa-
wh ich is not homogeneous over its sur- mation procedure, and the other cate- tions to the standard system do not
face. The amplitude of the light varia- gory are those errors that result when show long-term trends. We neverthe-
tions in the better known - somewhat different transformation schemes are less prefer to present the lightcurves of
faster rotating - CP stars is, in general, a applied (see Manfroid et al., 1992). Re- CP stars in the instrumental system, be-
few hundredths of a magnitude in the duction errors of the first category are cause we wish to avoid loss of informa-
Strömgren photometric system. It is evi- typical for batches of data that are tion in the case that the shape of the
dent that the search for such variations treated with a consistent method of re- lightcurve is considerably wavelength-
over many years requires a differential duction, as is the case in our long-term dependent. It is known that in such
approach, stable instrumentation, and a project. Some of the parameters in the cases (see Manfroid, 1992, Hensberge,
consistent observing and reduction pro- reduction schemes have larger errors 1993) the transformation equations may
cedure. This paper comments on our than others (for example, in Strömgren induce changes of non-physical origin in
experience with stability of instrumenta- photometry the ratio of the uncertainties the shape of the (transformed) light-
tion and on the detection of light varia- of the coefficients in the transformation curves.
tions in y Equulei, the slowest-rotating equation of m, to the coefficient related The only instrumental trend of long-
CP star known. According to magnetic to the b-y transformation mayamount term character has been detected at the
observations (Mathys, 1990), this star is to a factor of five), and the resulting level of the dead-time correction associ-
believed to rotate only once per century. errors are appreciably large for stars ated with the v passband. That such an
Results on other CP stars, with periods with extreme colour indices. Such effect was present, was readily apparent
ranging from 5 months to 10 years, are effects are random shifts that affect all in our v-data (and in the colour indices
presented elsewhere (Hensberge, measurements of a given star by a same involving the v passband), of couples of
1993). amount (during a specific observing comparison stars of considerably differ-
run). Reduction errors of the second ing magnitudes. The effect was con-
type are extrapolation errors that occur firmed when we checked the non-differ-
Photometrie Stability
when different schemes of transforma- ential results on bright stars afterwards.
Several recent papers refer to the loss tions are applied. Such situations typi- The nominal value for the deadtime,
of information resulting from the use of cally occur when data, obtained and 8.8 10-8 s, changed at a rate of
non-compatible versions ("clones", see reduced by individualobservers, are be- 1.7 10-8 s per 1 000 days, resulting in a
Sterken, 1992) of a same photometric ing taken from the literature and are change of about 35 % over the last 5
system and from the application of non- combined in quasi-homogeneous years! An example of a spurious effect
congruent transformation equations. datasets. These errors may be of the produced by this drift is shown in Figure
Manfroid and Sterken (1992), for exam- order of several tenths of a magnitude 1, that illustrates the case for two con-
pie, discern conformity errors and re- (see Manfroid et al. 1992) and appear as stant comparison stars that have sub-
duction errors. The former arise from the method-dependent shifts. They show stantially different apparent magnitude.
fact that the photometric systems have up most clearly for stars having colour Once this trend is taken out, the sta-
mutually different passbands, and that indices that fall outside the range of bility of the differential results is quite
there is no way to evaluate the correc- standard values, where the colour- satisfactorily. Checks for presumably
tions needed to properly transform data transformation relations are necessarily spurious long-term trends or instabi

35
 I I I I I days they amount to 2 ± 004 in b-y,
-0.04 4.5±0.2 in v-b and -5±0.7 in u-v. In

f"r~~~.
spite of the caution to be taken when
making comparisons with data from
-0.02
other sourees, it is clear that the colours
M -0.02 observed by Wolff and Morrison (1973)
<0
<0 in 1963 and 1970-1971 are sufficiently
iii
0

..
<0
0 similar to our results in order to suggest
c v-b -0.0132
that these colour gradients most prob-
·······,·r~··
:I:
I 0.00 0.00
C\I ably have changed during the two de-

-
t-
<0
<0
0 # cades covered by the data.

':~:~'~~'$,
c
:I:
0.02 Conclusions
0.02 Besides obvious disadvantages with
respect to CCO photometry in applica-
0.04 tions in crowded fields or in fields with a
complicated background, the relative
I I I I I
simplicity of classical photomultiplier-
6500 7000 7500 8000 8500 6500 7000 7500 8000 8500
julian day julian day based photometrie equipment certainly
has advantages in applications that rely
Figure 1: Spurious eflect produced by the drift in dead-time correction for the v-channel of the on long-term stability requirements
SA T telescope: differential photometry for two constant comparison stars of different bright- (though, it must be stressed, CCO sys-
ness. The vertical scale is a relative scale; the mean magnitude and colour-index values are tems mayaiso prove to be very stable).
indicated. Using small telescopes, and simple -
but consistent - reduction efforts, the
accuracy limits that are obtainable open
lities, over the 8 years covered, the time interval covered by our obser- interesting research possibilities in sev-
exclude effects exceeding a few vations (see Fig. 2). The error bars refer eral fjelds demanding high-precision
thousands of a magnitude (it should be to "internal error" estimates; there are photometry over long time-intervals.
stressed, however, that comparison and indications that external errors are sig- The necessary condition, of course, is
programme stars were never very differ- nificantly larger (25 %) only when u is that one has access to the same in-
ent in spectral type, the extreme case involved. strumentation during the whole time in-
being the comparison between a late B The inferred rate of change is largest terval covered by the project. The
and an early F-type star). in the v passband (8 ± 0.6 mmag per necessity for one or more observers
1000 days), a very common characteris- to reside quasi-permanently on site is
tic for late-A peculiar stars, but is also avoided by the elegant solution of cen-
y Equulei
present in the other channels. Oue to the tral coordination of service observing for
y Equ is an extreme sharp-lined late A simultaneous character of our photo- several such programmes inside one
star with a spectrum characterized by metry, the very small colour changes are global project. The LTPV approach, ap-
strong Sr lines and by a magnetic field detectable: in units of mmag per 1 000 plied at La Silla for more than a decade,
with a strength of several kG. The litera-
ture on this star contains, from 1967 on,
very different suggestions for the period
of magnetic variations and light varia- I I I I I
tions, including 9 days, 17.5 days, 10.5 -0.04
months, almost 5 years, and 72 years b-y 0.1332

*··t····t~··r··C.•.
(see references in Catalano and Renson,
-0.02
1984). The discussed light variations,
which are of very small amplitude, were -0.02
- to our opinion - at best disputable or
inconclusive. In addition, fast oscilla-

.........**.. ~ .•....
tions (period of about 12 minutes) have v-b 0.2192 ,
been detected (Kurtz, 1983) with 9n am- 0.00 0.00
plitude not exceeding 1 mmag. All the
evidence on the magnetic field, col- • t* *
lected from 1946 on at Liek, Mauna Kea,
Tautenburg and La Silla Observatories 0.02
l~ ~
(see Mathys, 1990), supports a very
slow change of the integrated longitudi-
nal component of the magnetic field
0.02
Illtjlp
~ tfti
with a
1970-1971.
polarity reversal around 0.04

I
u-v -0.1684'
I I I
'1
I
Now that a homogeneous set .cf
6500 7000 7500 8000 8500 6500 7000 7500 8000 8500
photometrie data becomes available in
julian day julian day
the LTPV project, we can deduce with
confidence that the star gradually Figure 2: Magnitude and colour changes on time scales that exceed the actual coverage of the
changes magnitude and colour on a LTPV project: differential photometry of y Equ (HO 201601) relative to HO 201616. The vertical
time scale which is much longer than scale is a relative scale; the mean magnitude and colour-index values are indicated.

36
not only widened the scope of photo- Peculiar versus normal phenomena in A- Project (1982-1986), ESO Scientific Re-
metrie precision, it also yielded a con- type and related stars, eds. M. Dworetsky, port No. 8.
siderable amount of new astrophysical F. Castelli; Kluwer Academic Publishers, Manfroid, J., Sterken, C. 1992, A&A 258,
discoveries combined with novel in- Dordrecht (in press). 600.
sights in handling of photometrie data Kurtz, D. 1983, MNRAS 202, 1. Manfroid, J., Sterken, C., Gosset, E. 1992,
Manfroid, J. 1992, A&A 260,517. A&A 264, 345.
and a broader understanding of instru-
Manfroid, J., Sterken, C., Bruch, A., Burger, Mathys G. 1990, A&A 232,151.
mental performance at an unpre- M., de Groot, M., Duerbeck, H. W., Sterken, C. 1983, The Messenger 33, 10.
cedented high level of cost-effective- Duemmler, R., Figer, A., Hageman, T., Sterken, C., Manfroid, J. 1987, Proc. 27th
ness. Hensberge, H., Jorissen, A., Madejsky, R., Liege International Astrophysical Collo-
Mandel, H., Ott, H.-A., Reitermann, A., quium, 55.
Schulte-Ladbeck, R. E., Stahl, 0., Steen- Sterken, C. 1992, Vistas in Astronomy 35,
References man, H., va nder Linden, 0., Zickgraf, F.-J. 139.
Catalano F., Renson P. 1984, A&AS 55, 371. 1991, First Catalogue of Stars Measured in Wolft S.C., Morrison N.D. 1973, PASP 85,
Hensberge, H. 1993, in: Proc. lAU Coll. 138 the Long-term Photometry of Variables 141.

The Contribution of Detailed Analyses of F, G

and K Stars to the Knowledge of the Stellar Populations
of the Galactic Disk
G. CA YREL OE STROBEL, Observatoire de Paris, Meudon, France

Introduction
to 18 Gy). If we want to attribute a turn- abundance gradients across the Galac-
Five subsystems of stars have been off age to astar, the star must, first, be tic Disk, the constraints on primordial
clearly identified in the Galaxy: the Halo, in its "turn-off" stage of evolution, and, nucleosynthesis imposed by the chemi-
the Thick Disk, the Thin Disk, the Spiral second, must fit a reliable isochrone, cal composition of extremely metal defi-
Arms and the Galactic Bulge. The stars constructed with the help of a grid of cient objects, the connection between
which populate the Halo are very old evolutionary models computed with a kinematic and dynamic evolution of our
and are known also as Population I1 good input physics, and having very Galaxy and of other galaxies. F, G and K
(Pop. 11). Those of the Thick Disk are old similar chemical composition (X, Y, Z), stars have also another advantage: their
stars, almost as old as the Halo stars, as that of the star to be dated. spectra are easier to analyse than the
and are known as intermediate Pop. I The study of the chemical composi- spectra of hotter stars with broadened
stars. The stars of the Thin Disk, wh ich tion of stars belonging to different sub- spectral lines and wh ich require analy-
are true Pop. I stars, may have any age systems is of great importance, be- ses based on Non-LTE (Local Ther-
between 0 and 10 Gy (10 x 109 years), or cause the variation of metallicity as a modynamic Equilibrium) model atmo-
even more. The Thin Disk population function of space and time is a central sphere computations, and of cooler
may be split in "young" Thin Disk, and in problem for the knowledge of the chem- stars in which molecular bands become
"old" Thin Disk Pop I stars (Nissen and ical evolution of our Galaxy and of other a serious problem.
Schuster 1991). The youngest Pop. I galaxies. We use as a metal abundance indi-
stars are found in the Spiral Arms. In the Very interesting is the help we can cator, the well-known parameter:
Galactic Bulge exists the full span of derive from long-lived low-mass stars, (Fe/H] = log (Fe/H)' -log (Fe/H)
populations and of stellar ages. The evolving slowly, for the study of the wh ich represents the logarithmic differ-
Halo and the Bulge are called the chemical evolution of the Galaxy. In- ence between the relative abundance of
spheroidal stellar components of the deed, it is among late F, G and K stars, iron with respect to hydrogen in the
Galaxy; their spatial distribution is having effective temperatures between atmosphere of astar, and the relative
strongly centrally concentrated, in con- 6000 K and 4000 K, that evolution has abundance of iron with respect to hy-
trast with the Disk and Spiral Arm popu- not depleted the initial stellar popula- drogen in a standard star. Following Gil-
lations. tions of the Galaxy, and that the full more and Reid (1983), Gilmore and
The knowledge of the age, the span of stellar ages is still present. The Wyse (1985), Rich (1990), we define
kinematics, and the chemical composi- extended convective zones of low-mass in Table 1 four abundance intervals
tion of a star is essential for determining stars prevent the formation of peculiar ß (Fe/H] constructed with stars belong-
the subsystem to wh ich the star be- abundances at their surface, with, how- ing to different subsystems.
longs. Unfortunately, the age of a star is ever, the exception of lithium for some F However, if these four population
not an easy parameter to determine, too stars and hotter G stars. Therefore, the criteria are defined kinematically, and
many assumptions on the internal struc- abundances of the elements found in non-chemically, each of them has a
ture and the state of evolution of the star analysing in detail an atmosphere of a spread in metallicity, and there is some
must be made, before being able to low-mass star give direct information overlapping in their metallicity distribu-
attribute an age to astar. We are still about the chemical composition of the tion (Laird et al. 1989). The best way to
arguing about the age of the oldest stars interstellar cloud out of which the star differentiate a Halo from a Thick Disk
of the Halo, born soon after the Uni- was formed. star having the same (Fe/H] value, say,
verse. The age of the oldest stars lies In general, late F, G and K stars are 1.2 dex, is the analysis of their galactic
inside a bracket of at least 5 Gy (from 13 used to study stellar populations, the orbits. Indeed, both chemical composi-

37
Table 1: Abundance interva/s of F, G and K stars be/anging to fo ur different ga/actic Having given the recipe of how to
subsystems: perform a reliable detailed spectros-
copic analysis, we now present some of
Halo (Pop 11): -4.5 < [Fe/H) < -1.0
Thick Disk (intermediate Pop. I): -1.0 < [Fe/H) < -OA our research programmes and the sub-
Thin Disk (Pop I): -OA < [Fe/H) < +0.25 sequent results. These results are given
Bulge: -1.5 < [Fe/H) < +0.7 in Table 2. They concern the gravity, the
iron abundance, the bolometric mag-
nitude, the effective temperature of the
observed stars. We thought it useful to
also add distance, kinematics, colour
tion and galactic orbits have to be taken puted using a grid of LTE model atmo- and spectral type results extracted from
into account to disentangle stellar popu- spheres, of various effective tempera- the literature. The last column of Table 2
lations (Nissen and Schuster 1991). The tures, gravities and metallicities, suit- indicates the observatory at wh ich our
astrometric and kinematic properties of able for F, G and K dwarfs and sub- observations have been made. In Ta-
a given star play an important role in the giants, kindly provided by B. Gustafsson ble 2 the values attributed to the paral-
recognition to wh ich population this star in 1981. The Sun (sky light or Moon) is laxes of 16 Cyg A and B, and to those of
belongs. adopted as comparison star. Depar- HD 1835, HD 20630, and HD 76151 are
Hereafter, we would like to present tu res from LTE in the atmospheres of not extracted from the Catalogue of
and discuss some results we have ob- the programme stars are not very dis- Gliese (1969), but have been kindly sent
tained on the atmospheric parameters turbing, because, in solar-like stars, as to the author by C. Dahn in 1991.
and, in particular, on the chemical com- those we are discussing, the atmo-
position, of F, G, and K stars belonging spheric structure is similar to that of the
F, G and K Weil Separated Visual
to the Thin and Thick Galactic Disk, Sun. Therefore, in a differential analysis
Binaries, or Visual Multiple Stars
located in the near solar neighbourhood, with respect to the Sun, the Non-LTE
with Good Parallaxes
(:rr: < 25 pc). departures in the analysed star and in
the comparison star largely cancel out. Nearby visual double or multiple stars
It is important to remark that reliable do not only inform us about the kinema-
High Resolution, High S/N Spec-
stellar abundance determinations are tics and the chemical composition of the
troscopic Observations of Disk
possible only if we have previously de- Solar neighbourhood, as do single stars,
Stars in the Solar Neighbourhood
termined, with great care, the funda- but also give information about stellar
and Corresponding Results
mental physical parameters of the star masses near the Sun. If one of the com-
The solar neighbourhood is com- to be analysed: its effective tempera- ponents or both are slightly evolved,
posed of a mixture of stars at different ture, surface gravity, microturbulence, their age can also be estimated with the
stages of evolution. A few of them are rotational velocity, etc. For the knowl- help of a grid of theoretical isochrones.
Pop. 11 stars, coming from the interpene- edge of the chemical composition of a After having determined the effective
trating spheroidal component, but the star, it is as important to improve the temperature and bolometric magnitude
majority are F, G, and K stars belonging determination of Teff and log g, as the of each component we can draw a (log
to the Thin Disk population. model atmosphere computation. Teff , M bol ) diagram representing a portion
For astronomers interested in both The effective temperatures, Teff , of a of the observational isochrone con-
high-resolution spectroscopic analyses programme star is derived on purely structed with two, three, or more com-
and the chemical evolution of the spectroscopic grounds from the depth ponents of the visual system. The ob-
Galaxy, the study of disk stars of differ- of its H" wings (set at 4 A from the H" servational isochrone can then be com-
ent ages in the solar neighbourhood is core) relative to the continuum, and / or pared with a grid of theoretical iso-
interesting, because, owing to the prox- from the observed ratio of the stellar chrones computed with the same metal
imity, and therefore the brightness of the spectrum to the sunlight spectrum near abundance, Z, as the one previously
objects, they can be observed with rela- H" as compared to computed ratios. found in analysing in detail the stars of
tively small telescopes at high resolution The gravity, log g, is determined from the system, but with different He abun-
and high S/N ratios. the ionization equilibrium. dances, Y. In such a way, if we know the
Our observations of stars belonging The "microturbulence", St (km S-1) is metal content of the observational iso-
to the Thick and Thin Disks are obtained derived from an absolute curve of chrone (from the chemical analysis of its
by means of high resolution (between growth of the Sun with equivalent stars), the He content can be estimated
40,000 and 80,000), high S/N (between widths coming from the same observa- from the theoretical isochrone wh ich
200 and 800), solid state spectroscopy tional material as that of the stars. best fits the observational isochrone
(Reticon and CCD), mostly at the 1.4-m The chromospheric activity is qualita- (Perrin et al. 1977). This procedure per-
CAT of ESO, but also at the 3.6-m of tively estimated from the central inten- mits to estimate the He content of G and
CFHT, and at the 1.52-m of OHP. Our sity of two lines of the Ca " triplet at K stars too cold to show He lines in their
final aim is to establish for this sam pie of 8550 A. spectra. If a computation of the orbit of
Disk stars a homogeneous set of results The metal abundance is determined a multiple system exists, the masses of
of chemical composition, effective tem- by matching equivalent widths in the the components are known. These
perature and state of evolution. observed spectrum of a programme star masses can be compared with those
Prior to the discussion here is a short to those of a model computed with the determined by internal structure compu-
reminder of the methods we have used most appropriate Teff , log g, and St previ- tations. This is a way to check if the
to derive such data rigorously. ously found for this star. physical input of the internal structure
The spectra of the programme stars To ensure the differential character of computations is correct.
are interpreted by a detailed differential the analysis, it is essential that the mod- We have already applied this proce-
curve of growth analysis. The theoretical els used for all the programme stars, dure to near visual binaries or multiple
equivalent widths of the spectral lines including the comparison star, in our systems (Cayrel et al. 1988, Cayrel de
and the theoretical curve of growth of case the Sun, come from one and the Strobel et al. 1989, Chmielewski et al.
the analysed stellar spectra are com- same grid of model atmospheres. 1991, Chmielewski et al. 1992, Friel et

38
Table 2: Basic parameters far same nearby Thin and Thick Disk stars

HO V B-V Sp j'ttrlg U V W log g [Fe/H] Mbol Teff Obs

The tripie system: 36 Ophiuci

155886 A 5.05 0.86j KOV 0.188 ± 0.008 +8 -19 +1 4.60±0.20 -0.29±0.06 6.23±0.12 5125 ±30 ESO
155885 B 5.08 0.86j K1V 0.188 ± 0.008 +9 -19 +1 4.6 _0.20 -0.31 ± 0.05 6.25±0.13 5100±50 ESO
156026 C 6.34 1.16 K5V 0.183 ± 0.007 +8 -19 +1 4.70 ± 0.30 -0.36±0.12 7.12 ± 0.12 4550±75 ESO

The tripie system: HO 53705. HO 53706. HO 53680

53705 A 5.56 0.64 G2V 0.057 _ 0.006 -46 -59 -14 4.30±0.20 -0.25 ± 0.05 4.60±0.10 5870±40 ESO
53706 B 6.79 0.80 KOV 0.057 ± 0.006 -47 -63 -15 4.50±0.20 -0.28±0.06 5.83±0.10 5290±60 ESO
53680 C 8.64 1.18 K5V 0.057 ± 0.006 -48 -61 -14 - - 6.75±0.15 - -
The UMa stream - visual binary: y Lep

38393 A 3.60 0.47 F6V 0.127 ± 0.005 +26 +17 -3 4.3±0.25 -0.14±0.04 4.05±0.12 6200±40 CFHT
38392 B 6.15 0.94 K2V 0.127 ± 0.005 +26 +18 -4 4.5±0.25 +0.02 ± 0.10 6.41 ±0.12 4950±70 CFHT

U Ma stream dwarfs

115043 6.85 0.60 G1V 0.049 ± 0.015 +24 +13 0 4.5±0.25 -0.03±0.06 5.22 _ 0.60 5830±60 CFHT
72905 5.64 0.62 GOV 0.073 ± 0.006 +19 +13 -3 4.5±0.25 -0.01 ±0.06 4.90 _0.25 5850± 50 CFHT
41593 7.23 0.81 KOV 0.066 ± 0.010 +22 +12 -5 4.5±0.25 +0.08±0.08 6.18_0.50 5350± 60 CFHT

The visual binary: 16 Cyg

186408 A 5.96 0.64 G1.5V 0.047 ± 0.002 +26 -17 +8 4.28±0.20 +0.06±0.04 4.27 ±0.06 5785±40 OHP
186427 B 6.23 0.66 G2.5V 0.047 ± 0.002 +26 -19 +6 4.40± 0.20 +0.04 ±0.04 4.53±0.06 5770±40 OHP

The visual binary: 39 Eridani

26846 A 4.87 1.17 K3111 0.013 ± 0.010 +43 -31 -20 2.70 _ 0.30 +0.21 ±0.06 +0.09± 1.20 4600±40 CFHT
26846 B 8.57 G2V 0.013 ± 0.010 +43 -31 -20 4.10±0.20 +0.19 ± 0.03 4.07 ± 1.20 5830±50 CFHT

The a Centauri system

128620 A -0.01 0.68 G2V 0.743 ± 0.007 -20 +13 +21 4.31 ±0.20 +0.22 ± 0.02 4.27±0.02 5800±25 ESO
128621 B +1.33 0.895 K1V 0.743 _ 0.007 -20 +13 +21 4.58±0.20 +0.26±0.04 5.54 ±0.03 5325±50 ESO

Very nearby G and K dwarfs

156384 A 6.10 1.04 K3V 0.140 ± 0.006 +13 +30 -29 4.50±0.20 -0.59±0.07 6.59±0.12 4930±50 ESO
100623 5.27 0.83 KOV 0.103 ± 0.008 -39 +32 +17 4.60±0.20 -0.38± 0.06 6.00±0.20 5232 ±45 ESO
156274 A 5.53 0.80 G8V 0.133 ± 0.007 +38 +31 -20 4.50±0.20 -0.35± 0.06 4.91 ±0.12 5295±45 ESO
4628 5.76 0.88 K2V 0.137 _ 0.004 + 9 -33 - 3 4.60±0.20 -0.29± 0.07 6.20 ± 0.08 4940±50 ESO
115617 4.74 0.71 G6V 0.113±0.007 -14 -35 -24 4.5±0.20 -0.02± 0.07 4.93±0.10 5585±40 ESO
20630 4.85 0.68 G5V 0.109 ± 0.002 -14 + 8 + 2 4.50±0.20 +0.04±0.06 5.10±0.07 5630_40 CFHT
76151 6.00 0.67 G3V 0.056 ± 0.002 -22 - 6 + 1 4.5_0.20 +0.06 ± 0.03 4.65±0.08 5710±40 ESO
76151 6.00 0.67 G3V 0.056 _ 0.002 -22 - 6 + 1 4.5±0.20 +0.07 ± 0.05 4.65±0.08 5710±40 CFHT
17925 6.04 0.85 K2V 0.127±0.006 - 6 - 4 - 4 4.6_0.20 +0.10± 0.05 6.36±0.13 5090±35 ESO
125072 6.66 1.03 K3V 0.106 _ 0.007 -24 0 -22 4.5_0.20 +0.26±0.08 6.55 ± 0.20 4965±50 ESO
Grb 1830 6.45 0.75 G9VI 0.103 _ 0.006 +280 -141 - 8 4.5±0.10 -1.30±0.06 6.34 ±0.20 5170±60 Mc Oonald

Some proposed Solar analogues

Sun -26.74 G2V - + 9 +12 + 7 4.44 0.00 4.75 5770 -

44594 6.60 0.66 G3V 0.041 ±0.014 +38 +51 + 2 4.50±0.20 +0.17±0.05 4.59± 1.0 5770±40 ESO
44594 6.60 0.66 G3V 0.041 ±0.014 +38 +51 + 2 4.50±0.20 +0.13_0.06 4.59± 1.0 5770±40 CFHT
186427 B 6.23 0.66 G2.5V 0.047 _ 0.001 +26 -19 + 6 4.40 ± 0.20 +0.04 ± 0.04 4.53±0.06 5770±40 OHP
16 Cyg B
28099 8.12 0.66 G2V 0.023 ± 0.004 -32 - 7 + 5 4.50_0.20 +0.14±0.04 4.80±0.08 5770±40 CFHT
Hyades cluster
1835 6.39 0.66 G2V 0.044 ± 0.006 -27 - 3 + 9 4.50±0.20 +0.17±0.04 +4.77 _ 0.07 5770±40 CFHT

al. 1992). The results are given in Ta- sampie, HO 53705, 53706, and 53680, their metaliicity, in the sense that old
ble 2. Although these results concern 16 Cyg A and S, a Cen A and S, the stars can be metal rich, as is the case of
only 6 multiple visual systems (among first in the list is metal deficient by a aCenA and aCenS. Concerning
them the UMa stream binary, yLep, and factor of 2, the second is metal normal, kinematic results of the stars in Table 2,
three stars of the UMa stream), the and the third is metal rich by a factor we see that the space velocity vectors
abundance range found for the six sys- of 2. U, V, W, of the stars of the 36 Oph
tems is as large as that of the Thin Oisk We have also found that there is no system are very different from those of
population given in Table 1. Among the abundance correlation between the the HO 53705 system, in spite of their
three oldest visual systems of the "turn-off age" of the visual systems and identical metallicities.

39
High Resolution, High S/N Survey higher than 4000 K, and wh ich are near- If we consider the [Fe/H] values, rela-
of F, G and K Stars er than 10 parsecs from the Sun. Four of tive to the 16 stars nearer than 10
within 10 Parsecs of the Sun these stars are Astars, five are F stars parsecs fram the Sun, contained in
and the remaining 60 are G and K Table 2, we find that the range of their
The "Catalogue of Nearby Stars" of
dwarfs and slightly evolved subgiants. A metallicities is surprisingly large, fram
Gliese (1969) contains 69 non-degener-
few years ago, we decided to obtain for -0.59 dex to +0.26 dex, in this randomly
ate stars with effective temperatures
these stars a homogeneous set of weil selected, small sampie of stars. This
determined physical parameters: chem- prabably means that the nearest solar
ical composition, effective temperature, neighbourhood is populated with stars
spectroscopic gravity, micraturbulence, belonging to the Thick and the Thin
and if possible, age and mass. We hope Galactic Disk populations. By the way,
that these results on the physical para- there exists also one Halo star, Groom-
~0.8
meters of the nearest F, G, and K stars bridge 1830, nearer than 10 parsecs
5 will be ready at the same time as their fram the Sun and hotter than 4000 K.
~0.6
~ revised parallaxes resulting fram the We thought that it would be interesting
g Hipparcos observations. Then, we shall for the reader to give in Table 2 for this
t' have at our disposal reliable results star the same parameters as those giv-
wh ich will allow to better understand the en for the Disk stars. The stellar atmo-
state of evolution and the chemical sphere parameters for Grb 1830 were
composition of our nearest stellar neigh- taken fram Smith et al. (1992).
bours. We are currently taking at ESO The values of the space velocity com-
and OHP observatories high resolution, ponents U (in the direction to the galac-
high S/N spectragrams of those stars in tic centre) V (in the direction of galactic
0.6
the sam pie of 69 for wh ich only poor rotation), W (in the direction of the north
spectrascopic data, or no data at all, are galactic pole) are given in columns 6, 7,
0.'
available (Perrin et al. 1988). 8, of Table 2. The U, V, W of the 16

36 Oph A

06 o'"

O' 10
ci

ci

10

08 ci

06 ...
ci HO 4628
;./"

<0
ci

10
ci

8500 8~20

WAv(LCNCHI (A)

Figure 1: Observed profiles of two of the

Ca 11 infrared triplet lines (A 8498.06 A and
~
....0
~
...
..
... ... ~::J
.
... .
... u
0
Vi
...
on ....
.... .... '"
on'"
N Cl N
ci 00 on "'Cl 10 Cl!
A 8542.14 A) of six early K dwarfs, listed in ,.; tO ..; .n ,...:,..: ci ,.;
Table 2, having about the same effective '"
10
10
'"
00
10
... ...
0
10
0
10
......
00
1000
;::
.10
...
10
;::
10
...
N
10

temperature. The central depths of these

fines are excellent chromospheric activity in- 6700 6710· 6720 E.
dicators: the more shallow the lines are in the
spectrum of astar, the more active is the Figure 2: ESO CAT-CES spectrum of HO 1792 K2V of the Li region as compared to the same
chromosphere of this star. Please note the region of two early K dwarfs: 36 Oph A KOV (upper spectrum) and HO 4628 K2V (Iower
difference between the profiles of HO 100623 spectrum). Please note (he very strong Li line in HO 17925. No lithium is visible in 36 Oph A and
and HO 17925. in HO 4628. The feature just to the blue of the Li line is primarily due to Fe I (A=6707.4 A).

40
 HO 17925 is consistent with its high
chromospheric activity, as shown in Fig-
M bol +-----81809 ure 1 by the shallow central depths of its
____ 89010 Ca I1 triplet lines. Observations with still
higher spectral resolution are planned to
+ study the structures of the cores of
• 78418
these lines.
4 +/ a CenA Where does such a young star come

~Xe.~6427
from? We have investigated what could
be the place of origin of HO 17925 using
95128 • Contopoulos and Strömgren (1965) pro-
10307 ~ ~ 44594
72905~~~1835
jected orbits of stars. We think that the
star comes from the Scorpio-Centaurus
71148/'/" SUN complex, where it was formed a few
5 52711/~ +~~VB64 million years ago
30495/ 76151
193664 x •
115053 ~ 20630 Photometrie Solar Analogues
Versus High-Resolution Spee-
• troseopie Solar Analogues

6 This research (Cayrel de Strobel et al.

1981, Cayrel de Strobel and Bentolila
1989, Friel et al. 1992) has primarily
• been concerned with the question of
whether photometric solar analogues
remain such when submitted to detailed
spectroscopic analysis. In other words,
7 whether the physical parameters, like
3.9 3.8 3.7 3.6 log Teff chemical composition, effective temper-
ature, gravity, chromospheric activity,
Figure 3: Positions oeeupied in the (log Telf, Mbo ,) diagram by solar analogues eontained in etc. as derived from a detailed spectro-
Tables 3 and 4 o( Gayrel de Strobel (1990). Plusses are stars (rom Table 3, and erosses stars scopic analysis of a photometric solar
(rom Table 4. Blaek eireles are evolutionary models eomputed by Lebreton (Gayrel de Strobel
analogue, will be identical, or at least
et al. 1989) representing a theoretieal ZAMS, (Z=0.02, Y=0.287, a=2.18).
very similar to those of the Sun? For
example, the photometric solar ana-
nearest Oisk stars exemplify the Are there Very Young Stars logue, the Hyades dwarf VB 64, while
kinematic variety found in the solar in the Solar Neighbourhood? having the same Tetr as the Sun (Cayrel
neighbourhood. Yes, an Example: HO 17925 et al. 1985), is certainly not a real solar
A parameter wh ich shows that the twin, because the age (0.7 Gy versus 4.5
nearest solar neighbourhood is built up Nearly 98 % of the stars in the solar Gy) and chromospheric activity of the
by young and old Oisk stars is the neighbourhood belong to the Thin Oisk Sun and VB 64 are very different. Also
strength of their chromospheric activity. Population (Nissen and Schuster 1991). the chemical composition is different
Such activity is tightly connected to the Most of the field stars we have analysed [Fe/ H] ~ = +0.15 ± 0.03 dex, and so is
age of astar. The central depths of the and presented in Table 1 belong to the their state of evolution, the Sun being
Ca 11 doublet lines at ,,3933.6 and "old" Thin Oisk population, having ages slightly more evolved than the much
3968.5 A and those of the Ca 11 triplet between solar and twice solar, approxi- younger Hyades star.
lines at " 8498.0, 8542.1 and 8662.1 A mately, whereas the U Ma and the Hy- Photometric solar analogues have
are excellent indicators of chromo- ades cluster stars belong to the "young" been proposed by different authors, and
spheric activity: the more shallow these Thin Oisk population, with ages between the lists can be found in Cayrel de
lines are in the spectrum of astar, the 0.2 and 0.7 Gy. Strobel (1990; Table 3 and 4). Figure 3
more active is its chromosphere and the Ouring one of our recent observing shows the position of the Sun and of
younger is the star. We have used the runs at ESO, we found in the spectrum some photometric solar analogues in a
first two of the infrared lines of the Ca II of a nearby (7.9 parsecs) K2V dwarf a theoretical (log Tetr , M bol ) diagram. Oe-
triplet (we could not observe the three very strong lithium line (Cayrel de tailed spectroscopic analyses of the
lines together in a same spectral interval Strobel and Cayrel 1989). The presence stars in Figure 3 have shown that none
using high spectral resolution) for rank- of such a strong Li line in this low-mass of them is a real solar twin.
ing the age of the observed Oisk stars. star (M = 0.8 MG' Tetr = 5090) indicates The two stars which most ressemble
In Figure 1 are represented the infrared that HO 17925 must be very young. the Sun, are 16CygB in the northern
profiles of these Iines for six of our pro- Figure 2 reproduces ESO CAT-CES hemisphere, and the photometric ana-
gramme stars. In this figure we see that spectra of the Li region of HO 17925 as logue, H044594, discovered by Hardorp
the central depth of the Ca I1 lines is compared to the same region of two (1978), in the southern hemisphere. The
deep for the first two stars, and be- early K dwarfs. No lithium is visible in 36 Ca II infrared profiles of these two stars
comes more shallow for the last stars. Oph A (KOV) and in HO 4628 (K2V). Even together with those of the Sun and the
This shows the great difference in age in the comparatively young Hyades Hyades dwarf, VB 64, are reproduced in
between the first star, wh ich is several dwarfs, Li is al ready totally depleted in Figure 4. The central depths of the Ca II
billion years old, and the last star, only a dwarf members with effective tempera- profiles of the first three stars are very
few million years old. tu res around 5200 K. The small age of similar, indicating that the three of them

41
have very low chromospheric activity. SMR Disk Stars Versus SMR some of the above-discussed stars will
The central depths of the Ca 1I profiles of Bulge Stars be known in a detail that is comparable
VB 64 are smaller than those of the first to that available for the Sun.
stars indicating a substantial difference New spectroscopic CCO and Reticon
in chromospheric activity, hence in age, observations have confirmed the exist-
between VB 64 and the other three ence of nearby G and K stars with References
stars. metallicities higher than those of the Hy- Cayrel de Strobel, G., Knowles, N., Hernan-
ades, the so-calied SMR (super metal dez, G., Bentolila, C.: 1981 A&A 94, 1.
rich) stars. A good example of them are Cayrel, R., Cayrel de Strobel, G., Campbell,
the stars in the binary system a Cen A B.: 1985 A&A 146, 249.
and B, our nearest neighbours (see in Cayrel, R., Cayrel de Strobel, G., Campbell,
Table 2 the values of their (Fe/H)). B.: 1988, in lAU Symp. 132, p. 449.
A few years ago, we determined with Cayrel de Strobel, G., Bentolila, C.: 1989,
16 CY9 B
211,324.
the help of the (Fe/H] Catalogue (Cayrel
Cayrel de Strobel, G., Cayrel, R.: 1989, A&A
de Strobel 1992), the "turn-off age" of a 218, L9.
sampie of slightly evolved SMR sub- Cayrel de Strobel, G., Perrin, M.N., Cayrel, R,
giants. We found a great spread of age Lebreton, Y.: 1989, A&A 225,369.
between the oldest and the youngest Cayrel de Strobel, G.: in XI 1h European Re-
SMR stars. We constructed for these gionallAU Astronomy Meeting, Cambridge
SMR subgiants an age versus (Fe/H] University Press, Eds. F. Sanches and M.
relation, and found that the slope of the Vazquez, p. 195.
Cayrel de Strobel, G., Hauck, B., Fran<;:ois, P.,
relation was slightly negative for
Thevenin, F., Friel, Mermilliod, M., Borde,
younger ages of SMR stars. This could
S., 1992, A&AS95, 273.
be an indication that the SMR phenome- Chmielewski, Y., Cayrel de Strobel, G.,
non was more active in the past than it is Lebreton, Y., Bentolila: 1991, A&A 247,
now, but has always existed in the Thin 386.
0.6
Oisk Population. The discovery by With- Chmielewski, Y., Friel, E., Cayrel de Strobel,
ford and Rich (1983) of a group of very G., Bentolila, C.: 1992, A&A 263,219.
0.'
metal rich stars in the Bulge of our Contopoulos, G., Strömgren, B.: 1965, Ta-
Galaxy with metal abundances more bles of Plane Galactic Orbits, Goddard
than 3 times that of the Sun, may Space Flight Center, NASA.
"OON
Friel, E., Cayrel de Strobel, G., Chmielewski,
support the existence of a very metal
Y., Spite, M., Lebre, E., Bentolila, C.: 1992,
rich population of stars in the Galactic in preparation for A&A.
0.8
Bulge (Rich 1990a, Rich 1990b). Gilmore, G., Reid, N.: 1983 MNRAS207, 223.
Gilmore, G., Wyse, R. F.: 1985 AJ 90, 201.
0.6
Gliese, W.: 1969, Catalogue of nearby stars,
Conclusion
Veröff. Astron. Rechen-Inst. Heidelberg,
0.4
In this article, after having briefly intro- No. 22.
duced the concept of galactic subsys- Hardorp, J.: 1978, A&A 63,383.
tems or stellar populations, we have dis- Laird, J. B, Rupen, M. P., Carney, B. W.,
Latham, D. W.: 1989, in: "The abundance
cussed Oisk stars, belonging to the so-
spread within globular clusters" lAU Joint
lar neighbourhood. The physical para- Comm. Meeting No. 5. Eds: G. Cayrel de
0.8 meters: chemical composition, effective Strobel, M. Spite, T. lIoyd Evans; Pub. by
temperature spectroscopic gravity, mi- Obs. de Paris p. 37.
0.6 croturbulence, have been determined in Nissen P. E., Schuster, W. J.: 1991, A&A 251,
a very homogeneous way and are based 457.
on excellent observational material, of Perrin M. N., Hejlesen, P. M., Cayrel de
wh ich more than half comes from ESO Strobel, G., Cayrel, R.: 1977, A&A 54,779.
8~20

WAV(LOlCTH (A) observations. The results show that the Perrin, M. N., Cayrel de Strobel, G., Den-
nefeld, M.: 1988, A&A 191, 237.
solar neighbourhood is populated with a
Figure 4: Observed profiles of two of the Ca " Smith, G., Lambert, D. L., Ruck, M. J.: 1992,
infrared triplet lines of three solar analogues
great variety of objects. We hope that by A&A 263, 249.
and that of sunlight (Moon). The best solar combining space observations with Rich, R. M.: 1990a First ESO/CTIO Confer-
analogues, 16 Cyg Band HO 44594 have ground-based observations and im- ence: Galactic Bulges, Eds. B. J. Jarvis, D.
also Ca " profiles which are very similar to proving our methods of reduction and M. Terndrup, La Serena, Chili p. 65.
those of the Sun. interpretation, the physical status of Rich, R. M.: 1990b, Ap. J. 362, 604.

New ESO Preprints

(September-November 1992)
Scientific Preprints 863. L.B. Lucy and D.C. Abbott: Multiline M. Mayor: Orbital Elements of a New
Transfer and the Dynamics of Wolf- Sampie of Barium Stars. Paper pre-
861. Roland Gredel et al.: An Optical/ln- Rayet Winds. Astrophysical Journal. sented at the 2nd International Sym-
frared Millimeter Study of HH 90/91. 864. A. Jorissen: Infrared Colors of S Stars posium of Nuclear Astrophysics, Karls-
Astronomy and Astrophysics. and the BinarylTc Connection. Paper ruhe (Germany), July 6-10, 1992. Nu-
862. Bo Reipurth et al.: Cold Dust Around presented at the Symposium "Origin clei in the Cosmos, ed. F. Käppeler, Insti-
Herbig-Haro Energy Sources: A 1300 and Evolution of the Elements", Paris, tute of Physics Publishing, Bristol, U.K.
f.lm Survey. Astronomy and Astrophy- June 22-25, 1992. Ed. N. Prantzos, 865. W.W. Zeilinger et al.: Multi-Colour Sur-
sics. Cambridge Univ. Press. A Jorissen and face Photometry of NGC 4486 (M87)

42
 and its Jet. Monthly Notices of the Roy- "Structure, Dynamics and Chemical Summer Workshop "The Globular Clus-
al Astronomical Society. Evolution of Early-Type Galaxies", Elba, ter - Galaxy Connection", ed. G. Smith
866. O. von der Lühe: Speckle Imaging of May 25-30, 1992. and J.P. Brodie (San Francisco: As-
Solar Small Scale Structure: I. Methods. 873. G. Ghisellini et al.: Relativistic Bulk Mo- tronomical Society of the Pacific).
Astronomy and Astrophysics. tion in Active Galactic Nuclei. Astrophy- 881. F. Bertola et al.: The External Origin of
867. M. Turatto et al.: The Type 11 SN 1988Z sieal Journal. the Gas in SO Galaxies. Astrophysical
in MCG +03-28-022. Monthly Notices 874. G. Mathys: Magnetic Field Diagnosis Journal, Letters.
of the Royal Astronomical Society. Through Spectropolarimetry. Invited 882. B. Garilli et al.: Galaxy Velocities in
868. R.M. West: Asteroids and Comets from paper presented at lAU Colloquium No. Eight Southern Clusters. Astronomy
Space. To be published in the Proceed- 138, "Peculiar versus Normal and Astrophysics Supplement Series.
ings of the 30th Liege Colloqiuum, held Phenomena in A-Type and Related 883. H.U. Käut!: Infrared Observations of
in June 1992. Stars, Trieste, July 6-10, 1992. Atomic Hydrogen Lines in ~ Puppis.
869. MA Albrecht and E. Raimond: Analys- 875. R. Hes and R.F. Peletier: The Bulge of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Research
ing Telescope Performance: An Archive M104: Stellar Content and Kinematics. Note.
Result. Proc. Conf. "Astronomy from Astronomy and Astrophysies. 884. R.A.E. Fosbury: Evidence for Anisot-
Large Databases 11", Septem- 876. Xiao-wei Liu and J. Danziger: Observa- ropy and Unification. Invited paper pre-
ber 14-16, 1992, Haguenau, France. tions of the Bowen Fluorescence sented at the 33rd Herstmonceux Con-
870. H.E. Schwarz and R.L.M. Corradi: BI Mechanism and Charge Transfer in ference "The Nature of Compact Ob-
Crucis: A Post-PN Nebula? R.L.M. Planetary Nebulae I. Submitted to jects in AGB". Cambridge, July 16-22,
Corradi and H.E. Schwarz: Bipolar Monthly Notices of the Royal As- 1992.
Nebulae and Binary Stars: The Family tronomical Society. 885. R. Siebenmorgen: The Spectral Energy
of Crabs He2-104, BI Cru, and My CN 877. J.M. Beckers: Adaptive Optics for As- Distribution of Star Forming Regions.
18. Astronomy and Astrophysies. tronomy Principles, Performance and The Astrophysieal Journal.
871. H.-M. Adorf: How to Be Choosy and Applications. Annual Reviews of As- 886. L. Greggio et al.: Star Formation in
Successful at the Same Time: Statisti- tronomy and Astrophysics. Dwarf Irregular Galaxies: 000 210 and
cal Classification of Large Datasets. 878. B. Barbanis: A Multi-Spiral Set of Solu- NGC 3109. The Astronomical Journal.
R. Albrecht: Research Oriented Inter- tions of a 3-D Hamiltonian System. Ce-
faces to Large Database. lestial Mechanics.
Proc. Conf. "Astronomy from Large 879. R.L.M. Corradi and H.E. Schwarz: The Technical Preprint
Databases 11", Sept. 14-16, 1992, Ha- Kinematics of the High Velocity Bipolar
guenau, France. Nebulae NGC 6537 and Hb5. As- 49. R.N. Wilson et al.: Active Correction of
872. R.F. Peletier: Stellar Population Gra- tronomy and Astrophysics. Wind-Buffeting Deformations of Thin
dients in Early-Type Galaxies: from 880. G. Meylan: The Properties of 30 Telescope Primaries in the Extended
Dwarfs to cD's. Invited review pre- Doradus. Invited review to be published Active Optics Bandpass. Submitted to
sented at the ESO/EIPC Workshop in the Proc. of the 11 th Santa Cruz Journal of Modern Optics.

A Study of T Tauri Stars and Li-Rich Giant Star

Candidates
B. BARBUY, J. GREGORIO-HETEM, B. V. CASTILHO, University of Säo Paulo, Brazil

We have reeently started a pro- Henize 1, a high galaetie latitude T Tauri obtained its parameters, [Fe/H] = -1.0
gramme to analyse low veiling T Tauri star, loeated far from any star-formation and 12C:13C= 10, i.e. typieal of an
stars. Earlier work was done on the site; one of the interests of the LNA asymptotie giant braneh (AGB) star. It
basis of data obtained in 1986 by U. survey is to look for isolated groups of T shows a Li abundanee of log E(Li) =
1.3.
Finkenzeller (Finkenzeller and Basri, Tauri stars, Iike the TW Hya group (de la If its AGB nature is eonfirmed, then this
1987) at the 3.6-m ESO teleseope, while Reza et al. , 1989). Li abundanee must be eonsidered very
we eomputed synthetie speetra of In these studies, we intend to eom- high. H. Lindgren measured the radial
moleeular bands (Batalha, Gregorio- pute moleeular bands and eontribution veloeity with Coravel and found Vr = 71
Hetem and Barbuy, 1992). funetions to better understand the at- km S-1, at the lower limit of what ean be
We are now studying T Tauri stars mospherie strueture of these stars, to eonsidered a halo star.
listed in the paper by Gregorio-Hetem et better define stellar parameters and to In order to better understand Li-rieh
al. (1992) who used the IRAS Point understand, for example, the reasons giants, we have plotted the IRAS eol-
Souree Catalogue to seleet eandidates for their high Li-abundanees (in some ours of the Li-rieh giants given in the
to be T Tauri stars by means of speeial eases higher than in the ISM). literature: the result is that they are in-
eolour eriteria. These eandidates were Another interesting objeet we ob- deed eonfined in a small range of eol-
systematieally observed in the served is CPD - 55° 395, loeated elose ours. Further studies may indieate the
Laborat6rio Naeional de Astrofisiea to Hen 1, a Li-rieh metal-poor giant. In possible eause of the Li enriehment in
(LNA), Brazil, in the Ha + Li wavelength order to learn whether this star, whieh these stars, and the evolutionary stage
region. We also used the 1024 x 640 shows a strong Li line and Ha and [01) where this oeeurs. This might allow us to
ESO # 9 CCD and the short eamera at lines in absorption, might be a post T understand the Li-enriehment in our
the 1 A-m CAT teleseope to observe a Tauri star or a Li-rieh giant, we observed Galaxy. We reeall that a eontroversy ex-
few T Tauri stars in various wavelength it in several wavelength ranges and ists eoneerning the identifieation of the
ranges. In partieular, we observed earried out a detailed analysis. We have eosmologieal lithium abundanee and

43
the population I or population II stars These Li-rich giants are perhaps the Li Finkenzeller, U., Basri, G.: 1987, ApJ 318,
measurements. If the population I1 value enriching agent in the Galaxy. 823.
of log N(Li) = 2 (Spite and Spite, 1982) Gregorio-Hetem, J., Lepine, J. R. D., Quast,
represents the cosmological value, a G.R., Torres, G.Ä.O, de la Reza, R.: 1992,
AJ 103,549.
model is necessary to explain the values References de la Reza, R., Torres, G.Ä.O., Quast, G.,
of log N(Li) = 3 found in disk popula- Batalha, G., Gregorio-Hetem, J., Barbuy, B.: Gastilho, B. V., Vieira, G. L.: 1989, ApJ 343,
tion I stars (Boesgaard and Steigman, 1992, in preparation. L61.
1985), wh ich means an enrichment of a Boesgaard, Ä. M., Steigman, G.: 1985, Spite, F., Spite, M.: 1982, A&A 115, 357.
factor 10 between the two populations. ARA & A 23,319.

IR Stellar Photometry in Globular Clusters Using IRAC2

M.O. GUARNIERI 1,2, A. MONET/3, v. TESTA 4, L. ORIGLlA 5 ,2, F.R. FERRAR0 6, F. FUSI PECCI 6
l'stituto di Fisica Generale, Universita di Torino, Italy; 20sservatorio Astronomico, Torino, Italy; 3European Southem
Observatory, La Silla, Chile; 40iparlimento di Astronomia, Universita di Bologna, Italy; 50iparlimento di Astronomia,
Universita di Firenze, Italy; 60sservatorio Astronomico, Bologna, Italy

1. Introduction
the available detectors (single-channel cameras, based on 256 x 256 arrays
Globular clusters represent the ald- aperture photometers) have unfortu- having pixel sizes and performances
est, simple population in galaxies. nately restricted in the past the observa- c10se to those of optical CCO's, will
Hence, the study of their properties tions to a few bright stars in the external surely exploit soon the great potential
yields crucial information on the early regions of a small sampie of clusters impact of IR observations of large sam-
evolutionary phases of the parent (Frogel et al. 1983, Arribas et al. 1991 pies of globular cluster stars.
galaxy. Moreover, they are the best and references therein). We present here the main outlines of
labaratary to study stellar evolution and The recent introduction of the IR our global project and the first results of
one of the most powerful tools to grasp arrays has opened new perspectives. In a photometrie survey of Galactic globu-
basic cosmological problems, like for particular, the availability of new lar clusters started with IRAC2, the new
instance the definition of the distance
and time scales.
In fact, on the one hand, the detailed
comparison between stellar evolution-
ary tracks and observed colour-mag-
nitude (c-m) and colour-colour (c-c)
diagrams allows us to check the reliabil-
ity of the theoretical models (wh ich ac-
tually are the engine of the stellar clack)
and, on the other, the correct measure
of the turn-off luminosity of the main
sequence in individual clusters wh ich is
the crucial item to determine precisely
their ages and, thus, to put significant
constraints to the age of the Universe.
The availability of infrared (IR) mag-
nitudes may be extremely useful in this
task, particularly if combined with opti-
cal data. For instance, the V-K colour is
an excellent indicator of effective tem-
perature (Teff). being relatively insensitive
to metallicity and having a long
wavelength baseline. Besides, extinc-
tion is much lower in the IR than in the
optical bands. Finally, in the IR the con-
trast between stars to measure and the
unresolved background is different and
in particular, for stars populating the
giant branch, is greater than in any opti-
cal region.
Though the significant advantages of
observing individual globular cluster
stars in the near IR are weil known for
many years (see for references Frogel et
al. , 1983), the technical limits intrinsic to Figure 1: M69 Gentral Region as observed with IRAC2, 0.27"/px mode, field size -70x 70".

44
 I I I I ters. Thus, a completely new window
can be opened on the problem of the
(a) determination of cluster distances and
21.6 - - ages. In this respect, it is also important
to recall that the conversion of two sets
:;7
Vl
• • of the most frequently used isochrones
0
(J 21.4 • • • in the IR planes carried out by Bell
• (1992) will permit a direct, stringent
• comparison between the observed and
- theoretical quantities.
21.2 i-

I I I I
Within this new exciting scenario, and
exploiting the exceptional capabilities
0 -0.2 -0.4 -0.6 offered by IRAC2, we have started a
j-k long-term project intended to secure
near IR photometry (JHK) of very wide
sam pies of stars in many Galactic
globular clusters down to the main se-
I I
quence with the specific aim of touching
upon the following items:
• (i) The aetual extent in luminosity and
the loeation in temperature of the giant
braneh. This can give a quantitative de-

•
. • termination of the luminosity of the stars
at the helium flash with varying metal-
Iicity, and set strong constraints on
mass loss and on the masses of current-
Iy forming White Dwarfs. Moreover, one
I I could also check the reliability of the
-0.2 -0.4 location of theoretical models in the ob-
j-k servational plane and eventually their
scaling with metallicity, getting for in-
Figure 2 a, b: Provisional calibration curves. stance direct tests of the dependence of
the mixing length parameter a and col-
our-temperature transformations on
highly performing IR camera developed measurements of the cluster as a whole metaliicity. Incidentally, one will also get
at ESO. In particular, we show the pre- correlate with the cluster parameters a consistency check of the various
liminary results obtained for the low- determined from measurements of its metallicity scales, and an indirect esti-
latitude, metal rich-cluster M69 = NGC brightest individual members in a way mate of the actual influence of the hori-
6637. Since JHK data obtained using a that can be understood within the cur- zontal branch morphology on the
RockweIl 256 x 256 NICMOS3 array at rent knowledge of stellar evolution. metaliicity derived from integrated clus-
the 3.6-m CFHT have already been re- Based on these facts, the same group ter observations (see Zinn and West,
ported for this cluster by Davidge and has also systematically used integrated 1984).
Si mons (1991), we decided to observe it near-IR data for a sam pie of globular • (ii) The ealibration of a new, very
first and reduce immediately the data for clusters in the Milky Way, in the aceurate method for the determination
making useful comparisons and to im- Magellanic Clouds, and in M31 to inves- of the cluster distance scale. Once the
prove at best our observing and reduc- tigate their stellar content and to com- small number effects disappear, thanks
tion procedures. pare them with elliptical galaxies. to the complete observations of the
A complete presentation of the obser- Though very important, the data-base giant branch stars in the cluster cores,
vational strategy and data reduction used by Frogel and co-workers includes the luminosities of the brightest objects
techniques will be given in a forthcom- however only about 350 stars in total. are bona fide indicators of the actual
ing paper (Guarnieri et al., 1993) to- Therefore, due to the small number of giant branch tip whose absolute
gether with a preliminary discussion of stars observed in each cluster, the sig- luminosity is expected to be constant
the results. nificance of some results is somewhat for fixed chemical composition (see the
reduced, and problems like the precise Sweigart and Gross [1978] models).
estimate of the giant tip luminosity and Hence, very accurate relative distance
2. Main Outlines of the Project
the determination of an accurate mean moduli (to better than ±0.1 mag) can be
and Observational Strategy
ridge li ne down to the turnoff could obtained by simply imposing the coinci-
From the IR survey of the brightest hardly be faced. dence of the RGB tips in clusters having
stars in about 30 Galactic globular clus- Hence, the first obvious use of the similar abundances (Crocker and Rood,
ters, Frogel et al. (1983) got the first new IR imagers is to sec ure observa- 1984). For instance, this will probably
quantitative, detailed description of their tions of much wider sampies of stars in yield the solution of the long-standing
upper giant branches with varying metal many clusters with varying cluster problem of the second parameter (clus-
content. In summary, they showed that metallicity, galactocentric location, age, ters with similar metaliicity but very dif-
the absolute locations of the globular etc. Moreover, it has been shown (Long- ferent HB morphologies). Moreover, the
cluster giant branches correlate with more et al., 1990; Buckley and Long- use of the various c-c diagrams will
metallicity, the observed luminosities of more, 1992) that it will now be possible illuminate the origin of the discrepancy,
the brightest giants are in agreement to obtain fairly accurate and very deep if any. It will also be possible to use the
with the theoretical model predictions, IR photometry (2- 3 mag below the so-calied "IR flux method" (Blackwell
and, finally, that the integrated light turnoff, at K - 20) in the closest clus- and Shallis, 1977, Blackwell et al.,

45
 bility of the IR colours will clarify this
issue or other similar ones because V-K
o is an excellent indicator of effective tem-
8.0 o

.. perature and the various c-c diagrams

will give hints on the cause of the shift, if
8 any.
0 00
• (iv) The study of the eontribution of
0
00 the various evolutionary stages to the
cluster integrated light in eaeh photo-
10.0
metrie band and bolometrieally. A prop-
o er examination of this item requires the
use of very populous and eomplete
o
sampies wh ich can only be achieved by
o
mapping with the new large arrays vast
areas of the cluster, including the central
12.0 regions. This represents a big observa-
o tional and reductional effort, but it is
o very important in view of the use of
0'C o
o globular clusters as templates in the
00 0
o ~o~ 0 0 stellar population synthesis techniques.
80
o 0
6'0
0
0 80 0 {1
0 In particular, the IR observations are
14.0 o rfOeP 6' 'iI\)~8 0
000
0 essential when observing very metaI-
o o
o o
o 0 0 0 0 0 0° rich clusters. These clusters are pro-
jected onto the Galactic bulge and are
o
unique homogeneous sam pies of bulge
population. Their optical c-m diagrams
are dominated by blanketing effects giv-
0.5 1 1.5 ing origin to a turnover on the giant
J-K branches (Ortolan i et al., 1990). At pre-
sent there are no models that correctly
Figure 3: M69 C%ur-Magnitude diagram of the high-resolution centra/ region.
fit these features in spite of recent
efforts to produce new isochrones for
solar abundance low-mass stars. The
1980 and Arribas and Martinez Roger, transformations between the two planes major difficulty seems to be the transfor-
1987) to get an independent estimate of or to the models themselves. The availa- mation from the theoretical to the obser-
the distance for comparison .
• (iii) The study of the turnoff region and
the age. It is weil known that the
luminosity and the temperature of the K K
main-sequence turnoff in the c-m dia- 8 M 69 o
ß
0 M 69 ( r < 40") 00
8
gram are very sensitive to the absolute 1494 stars 000
:;°0 '0 519 stars 0
.. 0
age, but they depend also on the chemi-
10 °o~ c3> 10
cal composition and mixing length. It is e
0

also known that a major uncertainty in

the age determination is related to the 12 12
knowledge of the distance (Renzini, 0 0
0
1991), often further complicated by an 0

insufficiently accurate measure of the 14 8 14

00 0
interstellar reddening. Taking into
account the results achieved from point 16 16
(ii) above and, as discussed in detail by o 0

Longmore et al. (1990), Bell (1992),

Buckley and Longmore, (1992), by com- K K
bining optical and IR magnitudes of 8 M 69 ( 40" <r < 78")
0
M 69 ( r > 78") 8
equivalent photometric accuracy it will o 00
535 stars 0
0 440 stars
be feasible to constrain significantly the
possible range of the various parame- 10 o 0
0
10
CI6
ters involved (for instance via the com-

la-
°k o 0 Q, r:t>

parison and compatibility tests of the °00 ! 0

o 00

12 <p$'!f o
o 0 0
e0
°8 00
12
various c-m and c-c diagrams). The
long-standing problem that the most
o \\",08 ~
0
1>$>0", 'eS'
frequently used isochrones computed 14 o o0 o~
o '" 0 0 0 14

~ ~~l'iI°O;oooci\~
by VandenBerg and Bell (1985) trans- o ~ 0 0
00
0 ß 0 0 0 0

formed into the observational plane o 't'& 0",

'lP6 00'11~~~
0

seem to show a systematic shift of 16 0 o

o
00
0
00
0
'1,0
0
000 16
00 0 0
0.02-0.03 mag blueward in B-V (Van-
1
denBerg, 1986) could be eventually
solved. In particular, it is not clear
whether the shift could be due to poor Figure 4a-d: M69 Composite C%ur-Magnitude diagrams from the mosaicked fie/ds.

46
 observations were carried out close to
0.4 (a) the zenith and with photometric sky;
the average seeing was slightly less
b~ 00 than 1".
0.2 Source images were reduced by sub-
tracting the corresponding sky and with
9 it the fixed pattern (or bias) and dark
10 12 14 16 current. When several sky frames were
available, these were combined via a
J
stack median filter to remove field stars.
These difference images were then di-
0.4 vided by a normalized flat field.
Photometry was carried out using
ROMAFOT (Buonanno et al., 1979,
b
'" 0.2 1983), a crowded field photometry
package. ROMAFOT fits a Moffat func-
tion to the stellar profile in order to de-
termine its volume and hence the instru-
8 10 12 14 16 mental magnitude
K
Minsl. = -2.5 x log(Volume)
Figure 5a, b: Internal errors overall b'8haviour.
That is:

M;nsl. = -2.5 x log(Volume) =

vational plane due to the heavy blanket- cient spatial resolution and photometric -2.5 x log[(nh 2 o)/(ß - 1)]
ing effect. It is clear that only bolometric sampling to deal with the central where
luminosities and effective temperature crowded regions. Moreover, the availa- h = height of the stellar component
determinations via combined optical-IR
measurements can improve the current
bility of overlapping areas will allow us
to carry out various tests about the
° and ß = Moffat function parameters.
The zero point of the calibrations was
theoretical research in this field. photometric accuracy and the degree of obtained by making aperture photome-
Concerning the observational stra- completeness actually achieved in the try on an uncrowded sam pie of bright
tegy, as said, the IR arrays provide the reductions. stars located in the outer regions of the
best way to get unbiased sampies of fields and matched to 8 SAAO stan-
stars over a wide range of magnitude. In dards observed in the same nlghts with
particular, IRAC2 is optimal to study the the same set-up. They have been re-
3. Observations and Data
Galactic globular clusters offering tlle peatedly observed during the same
Reduction
facility to vary the pixel scale. Therefore, night, yielding a r.m.s scatter always
for each cluster we have planned to take The observations of M69 described less than 0.02 mag. In particular, two of
a mosaic exposure made by one field here were made on June 10, 1992 with them have been observed also in the
centred on the cluster observed with the newly commissioned "IRAC2" other 3 nights. The internat scatter of the
high spatial resolution (0.27 "/px) plus mounted on the ESO/MPI 2.2-m tele- various measures is very low. For the
four fields with a common vertex in the scope. For a detailed description of star HO 202964 we got 0K = 0.008 and
cluster centre, partially overlapping one IRAC2 see Moorwood et al. (1992). 0J = 0.014 mag, while for HO 194107
each other and with the central field. The following observations were per- we had 0.032 and 0.011 mag,
Moreover, to reach the faintest possible formed: (i) high resolution (0.27" / pixel) respectively.
magnitude limit in the K-band, we have J and K images of the cluster centre; (ii) Concerning the calibration of the cen-
selected one of the four fields off centre 4 fields centred on the corners of tral high-resolution field, since no safe
and planned to secure further specific a - 100" x 100" square in J and K at bright uncrowded stars were available,
exposures. Finally, for each cluster a medium resolution (0.49"/pixel). Integra- we have used the stars in common with
few other fjelds will be observed to sur- tion times were 60 co-adds x 1 sec for the overlapping low-resolution regions
vey the stars already observed by Frogel both (I) and (ii). Separate sky frames to transfer the calibration.
and collaborators for comparison. were obtained with the same integration The complete description of the cali-
In summary, the brightest stars in times - 10' away from the cluster bration will be given in the full paper in
most of the clusters we have planned to centre. Figure 1 shows a plot of the preparation. Figure 2 presents the cali-
observe have magnitudes V - 11 -12 central frame obtained in the K-band. bration curves used to determine the
and colours V-K - 2-4; the faintest Faint photometric standard stars photometric zero-point here provision-
objects are about 9 magnitudes fainter. (from SMO, kindly provided by Or. lan allyadopted.
Hence, assuming that about 20-50 Glass) were observed for calibration,
stars populate the upper 1.5-mag region and flat fields were obtained on the fad-
4. The Preliminary IR Colour-
of the giant branch in each cluster (this ing or brightening sky at sunset and at
Magnitude Diagrams
number has been computed taking into sunrise. For each filter / lens combina-
account the integrated luminosity of the tion, several images were obtained with The IR c-m diagram we present in
clusters and the giant branch evolution- a fixed integration time, and an image Figure 3 includes the stars identified in
ary phases, see Renzini and Fusi Pecci, with little signal was subtracted from an the central field and observed with the
1988), we can get sufficiently populous image with high signal in order to sub- best pixel-scale (0.27" /px). By inspect-
sam pies and guarantee good statistics. tract possible signal arising from the ing the plot, we see immediately that the
On the other hand, thanks to the possi- instrument and/or the telescope and to giant branch is highly populated and
bility of varying the scale of the camera, be left with an image of pure flat field weil defined. In fact, even observing the
this procedure guarantees also a suffi- (see also Moorwood et al., 1992). All very central crowded regions of the

47
 et al. (1991) and plotted versus the final
0.4 (a) 0 J and K magnitudes obtained for each
0
0.2 star. No specific segregation has been
...., 00 0 0 0
<I 0.0 0
made among crowded and uncrowded
0
images. As can be seen, most of the
-0.2
stars display errors less than 0.1 mag
-0.4 even at quite faint magnitudes, and even
10 12 14 16 on the crowded objects the internal
J errors are smaller than 0.2 mag.
The results of another interesting test
carried out using the available data are
0.4 (b) 0 shown in Figure 6. There, we report the
o 0
0.2 00 plots of the residuals of the magnitudes
0 0 0
::.:: 0.0 0 00 <S' obtained in the same band for the stars
<I 0 0 00 0
0 00000 in common in the overlapping central
-0.2 00
regions observed with the two different
0
-0.4 pixel-scales. From the plot, the exist-
8 10 12 14 ence of a scatter becomes evident
K which tends to increase up to 0.3-0.4
magnitudes at the faint limits. The size
Figure 6a, b: Plot of the residuals in magnitude for the stars measured on both high-resolution of these residuals is quite high and it
cen/ral region and low-resolution mosaicked fields. would require a further, more detailed
analysis. However, a quick preliminary
inspection has already revealed that the
distribution of the residuals is essentially
cluster, it is now possible to determine a achievable with this new IR c-m dia- driven by the relative depth of the used
reliable mean ridge line up to the giant grams, it mayaiso be noted that a hint exposures (the high-resolution ones are
branch tip. Note that also the Horizontal for the presence of the expected RGB- less deep) and by three basic groups of
Branch (HB) has c1early been reached in bump (see Fusi Pecci et al., 1990) can stars, i.e. (1) the sufficiently bright and
this central quite short exposures, and a already be found in the present prelimi- uncrowded objects, which yield very
mean locus could already be drawn us- nary study at K - 13.55. small residuals; (2) the very crowded
ing only these data. A complete analysis and discussion of objects, wh ich usually lead to high val-
In Figure 4a-d, we present the IR c-m these data will be the subject of the ues for the residuals independent of the
diagrams obtained from the reduction of forth-coming paper (Guarnieri et al., brightness; (3) the faint objects, whose
the four mosaicked fields observed with 1993). residuals may be large or small depend-
the larger pixel-scale, including also the ing on their location with respect to
central region overlapping the high-res- brighter nearby companions. This over-
5. Photometrie Errors and Com-
olution central survey. As said, these all trend clearly indicates that the use of
parison with Previous IR Data
exposures are deeper and, hence, a a higher spatial resolution in the central
deeper K-limit has been reached, al- The preliminary analysis we per- regions may be crucial to manage the
most close to the expected turnoff re- formed here shows quite convincingly crowded objects as, besides the inci-
gion. that, by using IRAC2, it will be possible dence on the degree of completeness
In particular, in Figure 4 a we present to carry out a wide and very accurate (still to test however), it may affect the
the c-m diagram for all the 1497 meas- new IR survey in the Galactic globular obtained magnitudes for the most
ured stars (no completeness tests have clusters, measuring very wide sampies crowded objects up to a few tenths of a
been carried out yet), while c-m dia- of post-Main Sequence stars up to the magnitude.
grams for radial bins are shown in Figure cluster centre (at least for the clusters Finally, to have an independent check
4b,c,d. with low and intermediate concentra- of the reliability of the magnitudes and
These IR c-m diagrams seem to be tion). Moreover, taking advantage of the colours obtained from these preliminary
suitable to carry out the kind of analysis possibility of varying the pixel-scale, it reductions, we have compared our re-
we aimed at. In particular, the Red Giant will also be possible to study the radial sults with those presented by Davidge
Branch (RGB) is weil traced up to the tip, behaviour of the photometric errors and and Si mons (1991) for the stars in com-
and it can also be possible to locate the of the degree of completeness. This mon. To carry out this preliminary com-
Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) as a item is crucial for getting statistically parison we have not aimed at getting a
quite scattered distribution of stars significant luminosity functions for com- complete overlay (which is currently in
above the HB and bluer than the RGB. parisons with the theoretical models. progress), but we have simply identified
Note that in these plots the HB is tightly For sake of example, we report here a first subset of stars produced by mak-
defined and narrow, yielding a very pre- two plots to show the variation of the ing a rough coincidence of their pub-
cise average luminosity, K = 13.4 ± estimated internal photometric errors lished coordinates transformed to our
0.05. It is very red and stubby, as ex- with varying magnitude and pixel size. internal reference system. This implies
pected for metal rich globular clusters. Then, we present a comparison of our that we cannot yet say anything about
The Subgiant Branch (SGB) is wide due magnitudes with those listed by the relative degree of completeness, nor
to the increasing photometric scatter Davidge and Simons (1991) for a subset on the actual ability to resolve blended
and to the possible presence of field of stars in common. images. However, the results of the pre-
objects wh ich can also be found at Figure 5 presents the distributions of liminary comparisons shown in Figure 7
brighter magnitude levels, located out- the internal errors in the photometry of a-c are al ready very encouraging. The
side the main branches (but their pho- the stars located in the overlapping agreement between the two sets of
tometry will be specifically checked). To areas of the mosaicked fields, com- measurements is excellent for the bright
confirm the high statistical significance puted using the formula given in Ferraro stars both in J and in K, and it is still

48
good down to the HB level. Taking into
account the fact that the data presented (a)
0.2 0 0
by Oavidge and Si mons (1991) reach a 00
...., 0
00
0
000 o·
0
magnitude limit brighter than the <] 0 0 0
0 0 0
~o
measures here presented, the above 0
0 o 0
0
0
0
comparisons seem to indicate that for -0.2 0 c9 o Gl
the stars in common displaying a suffi- 8
cient S/N in both photometries, the 8 10 12 14
computed magnitudes agree very weil. Jour
Moreover, although we have not ex-
amined the issue in detail, it seems also
that the agreement is quite independent (b)
0.2
of the crowding. Since both observa- 0 0
0 0
tions were carried out with similar scales ::<: 0 oPo
<] 0 0
~ '0
0 00 0
0
(0.27 and 0.29"/px here and OS, respec- 0 0
0
tively), it mayaiso suggest that crowd- -0.2 cP:<J 0

ing problems have been similarly dealt 0

with in the two studies. 8 10 12 14

The colour comparison (see Fig. 7c) is Kour
slightly less good. There is some indica-
tion for the existence of a weak sys-
0
tematic trend which has to be further (c)
0.2 {fooo 0
studied. It has certainly to be ascribed Q 0
'0 <0°0~00 0
to the different observational set-up and I
0
0
2- o 0 0 0 0
standard stars used, and further meas- <] o cP~8Eo 0 000 I;l <co '6
0
o 0 0 GO 00 0
urements of many more standards are -0.2 00
0
necessary to determine a reliable colour
transformation fram one system to the 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.2
other. (J - K)our
Figure 7 a-c: Plot of the residuals (Davidge and Simons - Ours) versus our values for the
6. Preliminary Conclusions and subset of common stars.
Future Prospects
The present preliminary study has Referen ces
confirmed that the new infrared camera Arribas, S. and Martinez Roger C. 1987 As- and Buonanno, R. 1991. Mon. Not. R. Astr.
IRAC2 now available for use at ESO is tron. Astrophys. 178,106. Soc., 252, 357.
perfectly suitable to satisfy all the basic Arribas, S., Caputo, F. and Martinez Roger C. Fragei, JA, Cohen, J.G. and Persson, S.E.
requirements put forward by a very 1991 Astron. Astrophys. Suppl. Ser., 88, 1983. Astrophys. J, 275, 773.
19. Fusi Pecci, F., Ferraro, F.R., Crocker, DA,
accurate and deep IR photometry of
Bell, RA 1992, Mon. Not. R. Astr. Soc. 257, Rood, R.T. and Buonanno, R. 1990. As-
wide sampies of individual stars, even in 423. lfon. ASlfOphys. 238, 95.
the central regions of most of the Galac- Blackwell, D.E. and Shallis, M.J. 1977, Mon. Guarnieri, M.D., et. al., 1993. In preparation.
tic globular clusters. Not. R. Astr. Soc. 180, 177. Longmore, AJ., Dixon, R.1. and Guarnieri,
After securing a proper set of frames Blackwell, OE, Pedford, AD. and Shallis, M.D. 1990, in Astrophysics with Infrared
and using a reduction package pur- M.J. 1980. Astron. Astrophys., 82, 249. Arrays, ed. R. Elston, A.S.P. Conf. 14, 121.
posely aimed at dealing with crawded Buckley, D.R.V. and Longmore, AJ. 1992. Moorwood A, et. al. 1992. The Messenger,
fields (Iike ROMAFOT or OAOPHOT), we Mon. Not. R. Astr. Soc., 257, 731. 69,61.
believe it is now possible to obtain the Buonanno, R., Corsi, C.E., Oe Biase, GA Ortolani, S., Barbuy, B. and Bica, E. 1990.
and Ferraro, I. 1979. In Image processing Astron. Astrophys., 236, 362.
description of the whole c-m diagram of
in Astronomy, eds. G. Sedmak, M. Renzini, A., 1991. In Observational Tests of
the cluster in the IR and also in the Capaccioli and R. J. Allen, Trieste Obs., Cosmological Inflation, NATO ASI Series
combined IR-optical planes down to p.354. C, Vol. 348, 131.
a few magnitudes below the turnoff Buonanno, R., Buscema, G., Corsi, C.E., Renzini, A and Fusi Pecci, F. 1988. Ann. Rev.
with a remarkable internal accuracy Ferraro, I. and lannicola, G. 1983. Astron. Astron. Astrophys., 26, 199.
(-0.1 mag) at K-20. Astrophys., 126, 278. Sweigart, A. V. and Gross, P. G. 1978. Astro-
A variety of problems related to a Crocker, DA and Rood. R.T. 1984. in Obser- phys. J Suppl., 36, 405.
quantitative check of the stellar vational Tests of the Stellar Evolution VandenBerg, D. A. and Bell, R. A 1985. Astro-
evolutionary models and to a significant Theory, eds. A Maeder and A Renzini, phys. J Suppl., 58, 561.
(Reidel: Dordrecht), p. 159. VandenBerg, DA 1986. Mem. S. A.lt., 57,
improvement in the cluster distance and
Davidge, T.J. and Simons, DA 1991. Astron. 373.
age determinations can now be suc- J,101,1720. Zinn, R.J. and West, M.J. 1984. Astrophys. J
cessfully addressed. Ferrara, F.R., Clementini, G., Fusi Pecci, F. Suppl., 55, 45.

Acknowledgements
ASTRONOMY FROM LARGE DATA BASES 11
We would like to thank the ESO or-
The Praceedings of this Workshop, held at Haguenau, France, fram September 14 to 16,
ganization for the allocation of observ- have just been delivered. The 534-page volume, edited by A. Heck and F. Murtagh, is
ing time and for giving us the chance to available at a price of DM 70,- (prepayment required).
be the first IRAC2 users. We also thank Payments have to be made to the ESO bank account 2102002 with Commerzbank
München, or by cheque, addressed to the attention of ESO, Financial Services, Karl-
Hans Gemperlein for the help during the Schwarzschild-Str. 2, Garching bei München, Germany.
observing run.

49
Distances to Extragalactic RR Lyrae Stars Using IRAC2
J. STORM and A. MONETI, ESO La Silla

1. Introduction frames whereby the bad pixels were ef- 3. Results

Extragalactic distances based on ficiently eliminated except for the bad Walker (1990) determined the periods
Pop-li stars are of great importance to rows at the lower left. The final image for these stars and using these periods
check the Cepheid distance scale and comprises the area in common to the six together with the K magnitudes derived
its zero point since Pop-li objects like frames and the FWHM of the stars is a here, we can construct a (K) -log P dia-
RR Lyrae stars are not calibrated using mediocre 1.4". gram (Fig. 2). Although we have not ob-
the distance to the PIeiades but provide Although we could not identify the served the mean K magnitude, (K), but
a truly independent approach. RR Lyrae stars in the individual frames, just the K magnitude at a random phase
Longmore et al. (1986) showed that DAOPHOT succeeded in finding 11 of for each star, the uncertainty introduced
there exists a well-defined Period- the variables in the stacked frame. The on each datum from this simple ap-
Luminosity relation for RR Lyrae stars DAOPHOT ALLSTAR programme fur- proach is less than 0.2 mag for each
when using the mean K magnitude as thermore succeeded in measuring stars point because the amplitude in the K
the luminosity indicator, and Longmore down to 19.5 mag and the estimated band is only about 0.3 mag peak-to-
et. al. (1990) have made extensive inves- uncertainty of an 18.5 mag star is about peak. From the typical shape of the K
tigations of RR Lyrae stars in Galactic 0.2 mag. light curve for these stars, it is expected
globular clusters. The K band is an ex- The instrumental magnitudes were that most of the stars will be slightly
cellent band to use for distance es- transformed to the standard system us- brighter ("'" 0.1 mag) than the mean val-
timates because it is fairly insensitive to ing a number of faint standard stars (8 < ue and a few stars will be significantly
metallicity and to uncertainties in the K < 9.5) and corrected for extinction fainter ("'" 0.2 mag). The large number of
reddening, two problems wh ich haunt assuming E(B - V) = 0.18, following stars helps to average out this error and
most optical calibrators. Walker (1990), giving AK = 0.1 x 3.1 the resulting relation can be established
IRAC2 mounted on the 2.2-m ESO/ E(B - V) = 0.06 mag. This low value of reasonably weil. We find a best fitting
MPI telescope has enabled us to ob- the absorption illustrates one of the im- straight line of the form
serve stars down to about 19th mag- portant features of the infrared Period-
nitude in about an hour (half of the time Luminosity relation,' namely the weak
is spent on sky measurements) making sensitivity to uncertainties in the red- (K) = -2.3(±0.5)log P + 17.06(±0.1 0).
it feasible to observe RR Lyrae stars in dening estimates. (1 )
the LMC. The big field (2' x 2') com-
pared to previous cameras also enables
us to cover a significant part of globular
clusters in the LMC and thus to observe
several RR Lyrae stars simultaneously.
We describe here some test observa-
tions on the old LMC globular cluster
NGC1841 (Walker 1990), in wh ich we
successfully measured 11 RR Lyrae
stars in a single field, and we present
some preliminary results.

2. Observations and Photometry

On September 9, 1992 we obtained
six images of the cluster shifted ran-
domly within a "'" 25" diameter region.
The exact position was chosen with the
help of a finding chart from Walker
(1990) in such a way as to maximize the
number of RR Lyrae stars in the field of
view, and also making certain that we
included stars covering a large range in
period. Each image was actually an av-
erage of ninety 3-sec images, and was
followed by a similar integration on a
sky position about 200" south of the
cluster.
From each source image we sub-
tracted the average of the bracketing
sky frames and then rebinned the image Figure 1: K-band image of NGC1841 as seen by IRAC2 with the measured RR Lyrae stars
by a factor of two before shifting and marked. The image is made of a stack of 6 individual frames each of which is made up of ninety
stacking the results to produce the im- 3-sec integrations giving a total of 27 minutes of integration. The frame contains only the area
age shown in Figure 1. The frames were covered by all six frames (= 110"x 110') and is thus slightly smaller than the field covered by a
stacked by taking the median of the six single exposure.

50
 points see e.g. Carney et al. (1992) and
Cacciari et al. (1992).
NGC1841, being located almost 15

t degrees from the bar, is known to be far

17.5
n from the centre of the LMC. Walker
(1990) argues that NGC1841 is approxi-
mately 0.3 mag closer than the LMC
centre and adding in this offset leads to
a modulus of 18.24 to the centre of the

18
1 LMC. This is about 0.3 mag closer than
suggested by the most recent Cepheid
calibration (see Feast 1991), but in good
agreement with other LMC RR Lyrae
data (e.g. Walker 1992). A similar differ-
ence between distances based on RR
Lyrae's and Cepheid's found by Saha et
18.5 al. (1992) in the Local Group galaxy
IC1613, suggest that there is a problem
either with the zero point of one or both
-.5 -.4 -.3 -.2 -.1 of the methods or that there are still
log(P) effects like differences in chemistry
wh ich are not taken properly into
Figure 2: The Infrared Period-Luminosity relation as derived from the RR Lyrae stars of account in the various methods.
NGC1841. The fine is the best fitting fine through the weighted data points. In conclusion we must stress the im-
portance of the big efforts that are cur-
rently being put into the better under-
This result is in excellent agreement Walker (1990) when adjusted to a com-
standing of the various distance cali-
with the relation found for galactic RR mon zero point. He derives a value of
brators as weil as their zero points.
Lyrae stars by Jones et al. (1992) using 18.19 from the (Mv)-[Fe/H] relation
the Baade-Wesselink method, wh ich is assuming a value of +0.5 mag for (Mv)
Referen ces
at (FeIH] of -2.2 dex. Jones et al.
(M K ) = -2.33(±0.20)log P (1992), on the other hand, find a value of Cacciari, C., Clementini, G., Fernley, J. A.;
ApJ, 396, 219, 1992.
- 0.88(±0.06). (2) + 0.67 mag more appropriate based on
Carney, B. W., Storm, J., Jones, R. V.; ApJ,
the same Baade-Wesselink results that 386, 663, 1992.
While it might be coincidental that the provides the basis for Eq. 2. Correct- Feast M. W.; in Observational Tests of Infla-
slopes agree so weil, the result clearly ing the modulus of Walker (1990) ac- tion, Eds. T. Banday and T. Shanks, Klu-
indicates that the slope d (K) / d log P cordingly, we derive a modulus of wer, Dordrecht, p. 147, 1991.
determined for Galactic RR Lyrae stars 18.02 mag. Jones, R. V., Carney, B. W., Storm, J. and
can also be applied to low metallicity RR To further constrain the slope, we are Latham, D. W.; ApJ, 386, 646, 1992.
Lyrae stars in the LMC, and the relation attempting to obtain more data at differ- Longmore, A. J., Dixon, R., SkilIen, 1., Jame-
ent phases to decrease the scatter due son, R. F. and Fernley, J. A.; MNRAS, 247,
can thus be used to determine the dis-
685, 1990.
tance to such stars. to the random phasing of the data
Longmore, A. J., Fernley, J. A., and Jameson,
From the above equations we derive a points and to improve the S/N for the R. F.; MNRAS, 220, 279,1986.
distance modulus of 17.94 ± 0.15 to faintest of the stars. Finally, we intend to Saha, A., Freedman, W., Hoessel, J. G.,
NGC1841, where the uncertaintly re- measure stars in more LMC clusters to Mossman, A. E.; AJ, 104, 1072, 1992.
flects internal errors only. This value is in increase the sampie size. Walker, A. R.; AJ, 100, 1532, 1990.
excellent agreement with the results of For a discussion of the adopted zero Walker, A. R.; AJ, 103, 1166, 1992.

The Great Annihilator in the Central Region of the Galaxy

/.F. MIRABEL, Service d'Astrophysique, CE-Sac/ay, France

matter, producing pairs of photons of source of positrons could be a black

1. The Sepulchral Silence of the hole of several million solar masses re-
511 keV, the rest-mass energy of the
Hypothetical Super-Massive siding at the dynamic centre of the
annihilated particules.
Black Hole Galaxy.
The sporadic appearance of this type
For two decades gamma-ray as- of gamma radiation in the central region However, the French gamma-ray tele-
tronomers observing the galactic centre of our Galaxy indicated the existence of scope SIGMA on board the Russian
region with many balloon and satellite- a compact object (or objects) capable of satellite GRANAT has recently found'
borne instruments have been reporting fabricating enormous quantities of posi- that the strongest source of 511 keV
intermittent radiation from the annihila- trons in short periods of time. The poor gammas is not at the dynamic centre of
tion of positrons with electrons. Posi- angular resolution of the detectors used the Galaxy, but 50 arcminutes away
trons are electrons of positive charge until recently gave wide latitude to the from it (Fig.1). On October 13-14,
that annihilate when they meet ordinary belief that the mysterious compact 1990, SIGMA detected from this source

51
 inside the error circle of the X-ray and
gamma-ray telescopes a compact radio
source that varies in a synchronized way
with the high energy source. This com-
pact variable source is the radio coun-
terpart of the Great Annihilator. A pair of
radio jets whose centre coincides with
the variable source was soon discov-
ered 4 (see Fig. 2). These jets, at least
three light-years long, are probably syn-
chrotron emission from positron-elec-
tron pairs streaming out at high veloci-
ties from the source of anti matter.
The broad annihilation line detected
by SIGMA from the Great Annihilator
must be distinguished from the variable
component of the narrow annihilation
line observed since two decades from
the galactic centre region. The broad
line was observed only once, in less
than one day. This implies that the an-
nihilation took place in a region smaller
Figure 1: Image of the Great Annihilator of positrons near the Ga/actic Centre obtained by the
than 200 astronomical units. If the
SIGMA telescape on board of GRANAT. Contrary to the expectations, in hard X-rays (40-120 observed redshift of 20 % is gravitation-
keV) the strongest source is not at the dynamic centre of the Ga/axy (white cross), but 50 ai, the annihilation took place in a region
arcminutes away from it (- 300 Iight-years at the distance of the galactic centre). (Photo CEN closer than 10 Schwarzschild radii from
CESRICNES.) the black hole (for a black hole of stellar
mass, the Schwarzschild radius is a few
tens of km). This annihilation medium
a powerful annihilation burst 2 , and we Our search for a radio counterpart of must have a size smaller than a few
then realized that this object is the the compact source of positrons had an hundred kilometres in radius, tempera-
strongest compact annihilation source unexpected turn 4 . Using the VLA we find tures above 10B K, and should be essen-
known in the Galaxy. Since it can fabri-
cate 10 billion (1010) tons of positrons in
just one second, it is now known under
the name of the "Great Annihilator".
The Great Annihilator may be a black
hole of stellar mass. In its standard
state, the X-ray spectrum resembles
that of the stellar-mass black-hole can-
didate Cygnus X-i, both in shape and
intrinsic luminosity. Furthermore, dy-
namic studies of sources detected by
SIGMA beyond 100 keV show that they
are likely to be binary systems with
gravitationally collapsed objects having
masses between 3 and a few tens of
solar masses.

2. A "Microquasar" Ejecting
Positrons Into the Cold Inter-
stellar Medium
To know the nature of this extraordi-
nary source we have carried out
ground-based multiwavelength obser-
vations coordinated with the observa-
tions by SIGMA from space. Due to the
high interstellar absorption along the
line of sight to the central region of the
Galaxy, the optical identification of a
binary companion is very difficult3 .
Therefore, we have undertaken a pro-
gramme of observations at centimetre,
millimetre, and infrared wavelengths us-
ing the Very Large Array (VLA), the 30-m Figure 2: This 20-centimetre VLA radio image shows jets at least 3 Iight-years lang emerging
telescope of the IRAM, and the 2.2-m from the Great Annihilator. The jets seem to be streams of electrons and their antimatter
telescope of ESO. counterparts, positrons.

52
 hole, producing the broad line observed
by SIGMA. Some fraction of the e>e-

Vna,,~w lin~ ~hOI~

pairs will be accelerated by radiation
pressure, and collimated by magnetic
511 ke /.
fields. These pairs streaming away at
relativistic velocities will produce the
well-aligned synchrotron radio jets ob-
served with the VLA over a few light-
MOLECULAR CLOUD . 1 pe years of distance from the central
p(H z ) ~ 10 5 em- 3 ; T:::; 10 5 K source. The positrons will be slowed
down in high density clumps of the
molecular c10ud with the subsequent
annihilation that gives rise to the time
variable narrow line.
When it is not fed, a black hole re-
mains silent. Sesides its gravitational
effects it can reveal its existence as a
source of high-energy photons and par-
ticles produced at or near an accretion
disk built at the expense of matter com-
ing from a binary companion. For in-
stance, Cygnus X-1, one of the best
black hole candidates has a blue super-
giant companion that feeds the black
hole by its strong stellar wind. Other
black-hole candidates are fed by low-
mass stellar companions, which transfer
mass through the Roche lobes to the
accretion disk of the black hole.
PA Duc from Saclay and I have used
IRAC2 on the 2.2-m telescope at La Silla
Figure 3: Theorelieal model of the Great Annihilator, possibly a stellar-mass blaek hole in a in an attempt to identify a binary com-
moleeular eloud. Eleetron-positron pairs will annihilate sporadieally within a few hundred panion. We obtained J, H, and K images
kilometres from the blaek hole produeing the redshifted broad emission line centred at 420 keV of the field centred at the position of the
observed by SIGMA. Some fraetion of the pairs will stream out at high veloeilies up to VLA compact source, wh ich we know
distanees of - 1 pe before they are slowed down in the high density moleeular gas, and with aprecision better than 1". Despite
annihilate giving rise to the 511 keV narrow line. the high density of optically absorbed
stars in the field, Figure 4 shows no
infrared counterpart within 1" of the
radio counterpart down to mag K = 17.
tially transparent for the 511 keVannihi- tions revealed the presence of a This is comparable to the result ob-
lation photons. molecular cloud in the direction of the tained by Djorgovski et al.7 at Palomar.
Although the source of positrons at Great AnnihilatorS. The radial velocity For an optical absorption of 50 mag
the origin of the broad line and the vari- indicates that this molec'ular cloud is in along the line of sight to the galactic
able component of the narrow line may the galactic centre region, has a total centre, this infrared magnitude limit im-
be the same, the annihilation medium of mass of 50,000 solar masses and a plies that the Great Annihilator is not
the narrow line must be different from mean density of 105 cm-3 . The absorp- accompanied by a massive star, as is
that of the broad line. The redshift upper tion in soft X-rays along the line of sight the black hole in Cygnus X-1. Conserva-
limit of 10-5 and the line width smaller to the Great Annihilator suggests that tive calculations show that no massive
than 5 % indicate that this narrow line is the compact source could be inside or star with optical luminosity brighter than
arising in a cold (s 105 K) and high near the foreground surface of this Mv = -3 mag is associated with the high
density medium (n ~ 104 cm-3 ). These cloud. Although the physical association energy source.
properties are consistent with those of of the gamma-ray source and the Since it is difficult to explain the light
molecular clouds wh ich have tempera- molecular c10ud has not been demon- curve of the Great Annihilator observed
tu res below 100 K, and densities greater strated, the probability of a coincidental by SIGMA 1 in terms of feeding from a
than 104 cm-3 . In this context one may superposition is less than 7 %. low-mass companion, we envisage the
ask if the Great Annihilator could be a To build up a model of the phe- possibility that the compact source is
black hole in a molecular cloud. nomenological diversity associated to fed directly from the interstellar cloud by
the Great Annihilator we use a carte- a classic mechanism first proposed by
sian approach, going from a simple pic- Sondi and HoyleB• We have shown 5 that
ture to a more complex one. This simple a compact object of stellar mass slowly
3. A Black Hole Passing Slowly
picture, which at present is full of unan- moving through a dense molecular
Through a Dense Molecular
swered questions is shown in Figure 3. cloud can accrete more than 10-8 solar
Cloud?
Instabilities in the accretion disk around masses per year, namely, the equivalent
To answer this question we carried a stellar-mass black hole produce an of the accretion rate from the stellar
out observations of molecular tran- enhancement of gamma photons, wh ich wind of a massive companion.
sitions at millimetre wavelengths with by y-y interactions produce bursts of In the context of this hypothesis one
the 30-m telescope of IRAM in the Sierra e+e- pairs that will annihilate within a few may ask why only a single powerful
Nevada, southern Spain. The observa- hundreds of kilometres from the black source of high-energy emission and

53
annihilation occurs within the inner few
15" ····························i·····························i·····························
degrees of the Galaxy, where molecular
gas is more abundant than anywhere :"
, 0 ,j @
o
else in the Galaxy, and where there is no
reason to expect that massive stellar ,
: .~
rD ~...............
o
remnants are rare. According to our hy-

" ~[~
20" , Ö
pothesis, the unusual properties of the
Great Annihilator are the result of two ;
conditions, each of which has a small
..
probability of being satisfied: first, that
the object is located within a dense 25" . . . . . .+~ : .
cloud, and second, that it has a relative- 4'i A\ :i
Iy small velocity with respect to that
cloud. Our calculations show that only tiY \ :
: ~ :
one among the -40,000 massive rem- \i
i / :
nants within 200 pc from the centre of 30" ........ ~
,\,
. ...........l / .:. :
i ....
the Galaxy would satisfy the conditions ; /. a ! '" ;
required to produce a substantial accre-
tion luminosity without a binary com- , ~
1
panion. Therefore, it is not surprising
35"
that despite the large amount of com-
pact objects in the central region of the
Galaxy, there is only one Great
Annihilator.
Although this is a possible scenario -29°43'40"
from a theoretical point of view, we have
not demonstrated that it also corre- 17h40m44~00
sponds to reality. Therefore, it still re- Figure 4: K band image of the fie/d in the direction of the Great Annihi/ator obtained with /RAC2
mains an open question how the on the 2.2-m in June 1992. The ROSA T HR/ X-ray error circ/e 6, and the cross corresponding to
accretion disk of the black hole is actu- the compact radio counterpart of the high energy source 4 are indicated. Within 1" of the VLA
ally fed. counterpart there is no infrared source down to mag K = 17. This imp/ies that there is no
massive star associated to the compact source more /uminous than Mv = -3.

4. A Second Microquasar in the

Central Region of the Galaxy
After the Great Annihilator, the sec-
ond strongest persistent gamma-ray Paul, J. and Lebrun, F. 1992, Nature 358, 7 Djorgovski, G. et al. 1992, IAUC 5596.
source in the galactic centre region is 215. 8 Bondi, H. and Hoyle, F. 1944, MNRAS
the source GRS1758-258', wh ich is 10- 5 Mirabel, I.F., Morris, M., Wink, J., Paul, J., 104, 21.
cated at galactic coordinates I = 4.51°; and Cordier, B. 1991, A&A 251, L43. 9 Mirabel, I.F. et al. 1992, IAUC 5655.
b = -1.36°. We have recently identified 6 Prince, T. et al. 1992, To be submitted to 10 Rodriguez, L.F., Mirabel, I.F., Marti, J.,
the compact radio counterpart of this ApJ. 1992, ApJL 401, L15.
gamma-ray source 9 . Infrared imaging
with IRAC2 on the 2.2-m by PA Duc
and the author shows that the field is
less populated than that of the Great
Annihilator. However, as for the Great
Annihilator, we did not detect any K
band counterpart to a limiting mag- ANNOUNCEMENT
nitude of 17.
The recent discovery'O of equally ESOIOHP
symmetric radio jets emerging from the
second strongest persistent gamma-ray WORKSHOP ON DWARF GALAXIES
source in the galactic centre region sug-
gests that positron-electron pair jets A joint ESO/OHP Workshop on Dwarf Galaxies will be held from 6 to 9 September 1993,
may be common phenomena associ- at the Observatoire de Haute-Provence (OHP) in France.
ated with high energy sources. Our ob-
servations suggest that this dass of ob- Topics of the workshop:
- Searches for dwarf galaxies
jects represents a scaled-down ver-
- Morphological classification
sion of active galactic nuclei, which - Luminosity function
appear as "microquasar" stellar rem- - Spatial distribution
nants in high density environments. - Detailed kinematical and dynamical studies
- Photometry and HR diagram
References - Spectral synthesis
- Evolution and origin
1 Cordier, B., 1992 Ph.D. thesis, Universite
de Paris VII. Contact Address: Georges Meylan, European Southern Observatory, Karl-Schwarz-
2 Bouchet, L. et al. 1992, ApJL, 383, L45. schild-Straße 2, D-W8046 Garehing bei München, Germany, e-mail (Internet):
3 Mereghetti, S. et al., 1992, A&A 259,205. gmeylan@eso.org
4 Mirabel, I.F., Rodrfguez, L.F., Cordier, B.,

54
Keeping an Eye on the X-Ray Sky
N. LUNO, Oanish Space Research Institute, Lyngby, Denmark

Introduction
board the Russian space observatory clean away the sources sequentially,
Ground-based, optical observations GRANAT. Since August 1992, a fourth and in this way identify several sources
of the counterparts of celestial X-ray instrument of the same type has been in in the same sky image. Another tech-
sources are essential for the under- operation aboard ESA's EURECA nique wh ich has turned out to be par-
standing of the physics of these sour- satellite. Each instrument covers about ticularly useful for the treatment of the
ces. Since the typical X-ray source is one quarter of the celestial sphere, and EURECA data is the generation of global
quite inconspicuous in the optical, they are capable of locating strang correlation maps, adding together data
we need X-ray-sensitive wide-field X-ray sources within their field of view to fram many days with slightly different
monitors working in space to alert the aprecision of about 45 arcminutes. pointing. In these global maps the
ground-based astronomers to any un- The instruments use a rotating source sidelobes, visible in the indi-
usual activity in the X-ray sky. shadow grid to modulate the signal from vidual images will be significantly sup-
Most X-ray sources are highly vari- the X-ray sources, and the observed pressed (Fig. 2 and 3).
able, and many are in fact impossible to modulation function can be used to The rotation rate of the instrument
observe between their outbursts with construct sky images (correlation maps) modulators has been chosen so high,
present-day X-ray telescopes. On the in a number of X-ray energy bands. This one revolution per second, that the in-
other hand, during the outburst they can imaging technique is simple and re- struments can localize also many of the
outshine the brightest persistent X- and quires only a small amount of data to be so-called cosmic gamma-ray bursts. It
gamma-ray sources, and new phe- transmitted fram the satellite, but the is one of the primary objectives of the
nomena may become observable. images require additional data treat- praject to pravide gamma-ray burst po-
ment to extract weak sources in the sitions rapidly to observatories on the
presence of stronger ones. Araund each graund to enable a search for optical
The WATCH Instruments
source, and extending to the edge of the counterparts. An example of a correla-
Since December 1989, three X-ray image field, is a sequence of circular tion map based on only four seconds of
monitors built at the Danish Space Re- ridges, slowly decreasing in amplitude data during a gamma burst is shown in
search Institute have been in orbit on (Fig. 1). Nevertheless, it is possible to Figure 4.

Figure 1: A correlation map corresponding to 24 hours integration Figure 2: Global correlation map corresponding to 30 days of integra-
with the WATCH instrument on EURECA-I. Sco X-1, the brightest X- tion with WA TCH-EURECA. The image is composed of about 90
ray source in the sky, is dominating the image. The sidelobes of the individual eight-hour maps. In the data processing the signals from
strong source are completely hiding the images of other sources in the three strongest sources in each sub-image were subtracted
the field. At least five of these sources can be identified once the Sco before combining the sub-images. Thus Sco X-1 is completely
X-1 signal has been removed. The energy range is 6 to 8 keV; the removed, and the two next brightest sources for any given period are
lowest energy band accessible to WATCH. The full image is 130 reduced in intensity in this composite picture. The eight sources
degrees across. visible are from top left to bottom right: Cyg X-1, GRS 1915+105, GX
17+2, GX 9+9, GX 5-1, 4U 1700-37, GX 340+0 and Cir X-1. The
energy range is from 6 to 8 keV. The image covers from 14 h to 21 h
in right ascension and from -65 to +45 degrees in dec/ination.

55
Figure 3: As Figure 2, bu/ here /he energy range is rram 15/025 keV. Figure 4: The crass correla/ion map or a cosmic gamma burst
No sub/rac/ion or strang sources has been performed, so /he sour- observed wi/h GRANAT-WATCH. This image corresponds /0 only 4
ces appear wi/h /heir correc/ relative intensities. At these higher seconds or integration. Despile /he noisy image /he burst source
energies Cyg X-1 (a black hole candida/e) is by rar /he s/ranges/ position can be de/ermined. Berore a gamma-burst position is
source, while Sco X-1 (at righ/ cen/re) is ra/her insignirican/. GRS accep/ed we require several independent images like /his one. The
1915+105 (an unidenlified hard X-ray /ransien/) and 4U 1700-37 are energy range here is 6 /0 8 keV.
also visible.

X-RayNovae paign covering all wavelengths from source is likely to remain quite limited.
radio to gamma-rays. The early results Jugded from the X-ray spectrum alone,
One class of X-ray transients where of this campaign were discussed at a this source mayaiso be different from
optical follow-up of space observations workshop at the Danish Space Re- the X-ray novae discussed above.
have been particularly rewarding are the search Institute in May 1992 (Brandt, The X-ray novae are exciting objects
X-ray novae. The most recent such 1992). because they seem to be our major
events are GRS 1124-683 (Nova Mus- The observations of the recent Nova source of information concerning black
cae 1991) and GRO J0422+32 (Nova Persei 1992 have followed a very similar holes in our Galaxy. Since 1975 where
Persei 1992). pattern. Originally discovered as a the British ARIEL-V satellite discovered
Nova Muscae was discovered in strong X-ray source by the BATSE the first X-ray nova (Elvis et al., 1975), a
January 1991 by one of the WATCH de- instrument on NASA's COMPTON total of six have been observed. In all
tectors on GRANAT, and, independent- satellite (Paciesas et al., 1992) the ob- cases the eruption appears to come
Iy, by the Japanese GINGA satellite ject was optically identified from the Cri- from a binary system in which a dwarf
(Lund and Brandt, 1991, Makino et al., mean Astrophysical Observatory mak- star of spectral type G or later orbits a
1991). The uncertainty in the early X-ray ing use of an improved X-ray position massive compact object. The masses of
positions were too large to allow effec- provided by WATCH. (Castro-Tirado et the compact objects have been deter-
tive follow-up in the radio- or UV-range, al. , 1992 a, 1992 b). Following the opti- mined by optical observations of the
but, in the optical, the ESO Schmidt cal identification a steady stream of lAU systems in quiescence, and they all ex-
group began a search for a counterpart. Circulars have testified to the breadth of ceed the theoretically predicted max-
Simultaneously, preparations got under- the ongoing observation campaign. imum masses for stable neutron stars,
way to reorient the GRANAT spacecraft Simultaneously with the optical iden- thus they must be assumed to be black
to allow the Russian ART-P and the tification of Nova Persei 1992 another holes. The X-ray spectra observed dur-
French SIGMA telescopes to observe bright X-ray transient, GRS 1915+105, ing the outbursts are quite variable but
the source. These X- and gamma-ray was discovered by WATCH (Castro- in all cases the sources have, at times,
telescopes have sufficiently large fields Tirado et al., 1992 cl. Unfortunately no exhibited power-law-Iike spectra with-
of view to be able to cover the WATCH optical counterpart for this source has out sharp cut-offs toward the high ener-
error box. As it were, a candidate coun- as yet been identified despite intensive gy end. Such spectra are also present
terpart was identified first at ESO (Della search both at ESO and at Crimea. Even from time to time from Cyg X-1, a per-
Valle et al., 1991) and the association of the availability of a much improved sistent X-ray source also believed to
the ESO candidate with the new X-ray X-ray position from the SIGMA experi- harbour a black hole. A major surprise,
source was confirmed a few days later ment has not resulted in finding a coun- wh ich may be very important also for
by the ART-P and SIGMA observations terpart. This source is located right in our understanding of some of the X-ray
(Sunyaev et al., 1991). The accurate po- the Galactic plane and apparently the sources near the galactic centre, was
sition provided by the ESO team paved object is hidden behind dust clouds. the observation from Nova Muscae
the way for a major observation cam- Consequently our knowledge about this 1991, of a relatively short duration

56
episode of intense emission of electron- vide positions useful for Schmidt cam- when mounted on suitable telescopes
positron annihilation radiation (Ballet et era follow-up with a minimal delay. But could provide a field of view matching
al. , 1992). the average detection rate of gamma- the limited precision of the X-ray posi-
bursts with WATCH has been only one tions. The gain in sensitivity and ease of
per month or less, and in practice the data analysis should allow much more
Gamma-Ray Bursts
delay between the localization of a burst rapid and effective searches to be per-
This is a branch of X-ray astronomy by WATCH and the exposure of a formed. An alternative route, hopefully
where optical follow-up so far has Schmidt plate is typically 48 hours or to be exploited in space astronomy, is to
yielded only negative or inconclusive re- more. These exposures are definitely in- supplement a wide field X-ray monitor
sults. The importance of finding coun- teresting even if no object can later be with gimballed X-ray and optical preci-
terparts in any waveband is however so found, because they set important con- si on telescopes on the same satellite.
obvious, that the search has to be con- straints for the source models. Particu- But, with the established development
tinued and improved despite all dis- larly if the bursts are assumed to origi- times for space instrumentation, the
appointments in the past. The confusing nate at cosmological distances they ground observers are likely to have still
situation regarding our (lack ofj under- must involve energy releases corre- another 10 years to find the elusive
standing of these enigmatic events has sponding to supernova explosions and sources of the cosmic gamma bursts.
recently been discussed in this journal the absence of optical emission a few
(Boer et al. , 1992). so here only tlle main days after the event is disturbing. But, of
points will be mentioned: The bursts course, the identification of one real
appear isotropically distributed over the counterpart would be a lot more fun Referen ces
sky, yet they are not homogeneously than ten interesting non-detections! Lund, N., 1985, In: X-ray Instrumentation in
distributed in space since the number of Astronomy, ed. J.L. Culhane, SPIE 597,
bursts does not increase as rapidly as p.95.
Outlook for the Future
the volume of space accessible by in- Lund, N. and S. Brandt, 1991, lAU Cire. 5161.
struments of different sensitivity. There Both the WATCH instruments and the Makino, F., 1991, lAU Cire. 5161.
are simply not enough weak bursts ob- BATSE instrument will continue to pro- Della Valle, M., B.J. Jarvis and R. West, 1991,
served (Meegan et al., 1992). The burst vide rapid but rough gamma-burst loca- lAU Cire. 5165.
durations span the range from tens of tions for some time to come. Combining Sunyaev, R., E. Jourdain and P. Laurent,
1991, lAU Cire. 5176.
milliseconds to hundreds of seconds data from these instruments with those
Brandt, S. (editor), 1991, Proeeedings of the
with a great variability of time structures from space probes such as ULYSSES Workshop on Nova Museae 1991, DSRI
and no obvious subclasses. The X-ray will yield more accurate positions, but Report 91-2. 1991.
energy spectra are extremely hard, ex- with some time delay. The next im- Paeiesas, W.S., M.S. Briggs, BA Harmon,
tending far up in the gamma-ray regime. provement in the space segment may R.B. Wilson and M.H. Finger (1992), lAU
In fact, the bursts are so deficient in come with the launch in 1994 of HETE, a Cire.5580.
soft X-rays that they cannot originate small satellite carrying conventional Castro-Tirado, A.J., S. Brandt and N. Lund
close to any stellar surface (Imamura gamma-burst instrumentation supple- (1992 a), lAU Cire. 5587.
and Epstein, 1986) - still some of the mented with X-ray and UV cameras. The Castro-Tirado, A.J., E.P. Pavlenko, A.A. Shly-
apnikov, R. Gersllberg, V. Hayrapetyan, S.
bursts exhibit lines in the X-ray spectra positions determined by HETE will be
Brandt and N. Lund (1992 b), lAU Cire.
very reminiscent of the cyclotron reso- accurate to some arcminutes based on 5588.
nance lines thought to be associated the X-ray camera and accurate to may- Castro-Tirado, A.J., S. Brandt and N. Lund
with strong magnetic fields surrounding be 0.1 arcminute if sufficient UV emis- (1992 e), lAU Cire. 5590.
neutron stars. sion is present to allow the UV cameras Elvis, M., C.G. Page, K.A. Pounds, M.J. Riek-
No model has been put forward as yet to pick up the source. The main limita- etts and M.J.L. Turner (1975), Nature, 257,
wh ich can encompass all these appar- tion of the HETE cameras is that they p.656.
ently conflicting bits of evidence. And so cover effectively less than 10 % of the Boer, M., C. Moteh, H. Pedersen, S. Brandt,
sky. But, as stated above, one good A.J. Castra-Tirado, N. Lund and A. Smette
far our only information channel are the
(1991) The Messenger, 66, p. 61.
X- and gamma-ray data. To progress catch will be worth a lot.
Meegan, CA, G.J. Fishman, R.B. Wilson,
further we must find new ways of ob- On the ground, the availability of W.S. Paeiesas, M.N. Brack, J.M. Horaek,
serving emissions from the gamma- large-format CCOs for astronomical re- G.N. Pendleton and C. Kouvelioutou,
burst sources. search will no doubt improve the pros- (1992) lAU Cire. 5641.
WATCH was one such attempt of de- pects of searching for counterparts of Imamura, J.N. and R.1. Epstein (1987), Ap.J.
signing an instrument wh ich could pro- transient X-ray sources. Such CCOs 313, p. 711.

Looking Through the Dust - the Edge-on Galaxy

NGC 7814 in the Near-Infrared
R. F. PELETlER, ESO; J. H. KNAPEN, IAC, Tenerife, Spain

1. Introduction are usually investigated in detail. To A complicating factor for the investi-
study the radial properties of galaxy gation of edge-on galaxies is extinction
To study the photometric and mor- disks, one looks at galaxies with a low by dust in the disko Apart from SO galax-
phological properties of spiral galaxies inclination angle, while the vertical dis- ies, whose disks might be transparent,
like our own, large nearby galaxies, tribution of gas and stars is studied in the disks of most edge-on galaxies are
wh ich are assumed to be characteristic, highly inclined galaxies. opaque in the inner regions in optical

57
Figure 1: Images of NGC 7814 in V (Ieft) and K' (right) on Ihe same scale. The size of both fields is 100" x 140". N is up and E 10 Ihe left. The bar al
the boltom of the infrared image is caused by a bad column in Ihe deteclor.

Figure 2: K' image of the slellar disk in NGC 7814. The field is the Figure 3: J-K' colour map of NGC 7814. J and K' were chosen
same as in Figure 1. This image was made by fitting ellipses oulside because Ihe seeing in Ihose bands was Ihe besl. The field is the
Ihe region of Ihe disk, exlrapolating Ihem, and sublracting them from same as in Figure 1. Darker colours here indicate redder colours.
the galaxy. One can see Ihal even in K' some of Ihe stellar lighl is
being absorbed.

58
 7814 W Ge 7814 NE
0.4
> 0.4 "~....... i
> • •••1
0.2 0.2 !.~ . . . .a..a.u.q
I I
P=l 0 P=l 0 I
~ ~ i
-0.2 -0.2 I
I
~ ~

~
1.5 1.5
I I
> 0.5 '1 > 0.5
1
~
I
I •
0 ........ 0 ~-l+++++--+-+-:++-I-l-I+I--I~-t-Il-+II t-Ht---+
I
2 .. ..I •• I
2 •••••
.....,. I

i~
,
1.5 I •• T 1.5
> i ....... Itf!t > I

+t-~ .............. I iIl I I II-Ht -1-H+tH I I 1 i l I 1I 111f----1 1 111·

~
4 ....A.a.l
' ~
4
A,o,AA.o. !
.e.AA• I
A

3 I ""••
.A~
I 3 ..r.................
I .~
~
> 2 I > 2 I
i
6
......I
•• I l I 11111I I I 6 ..... 11 I 11111
~ ~

I
5
4
~
j ••••
i ............ ... T I
5
4
-..
.. ..
I
~
! - TT
> 3
I • .-.:q
> 3 I • 1
2 ~ 1 1 II11111 I I H 2 1 -1-1 I-l+H f----1-HI1+Hf----+-
1---1--'1+-
~ ~

:~
1.5 1.5
I I
~ ~

0.5 0.5
0.4 10 100 0.4 10 100

Radiu (are ee) Radiu (are ee)

Figure 4: C%ur profi/es determined in a wedge of 60° a/ong the minor axis through the bu/ge. The optica/ c%urs are on the system defined by
Schild and Kent (1981), where JB lies between Band V, and Fis more or /ess equa/ to Cousins R. Note the large gradients towards the centre
and the constancy of the c%ur outside 10".

bands like Band V. This makes the et al., 1992). We have used this combi- with 4 exposures of the sky back-
determination of the z-distribution of the nation to study the Sa galaxy NGC7814, ground. This was done to get rid of bad
stars, as weil as the light distribution of a system with a large bulge and a disk pixels and to be able to cancel out sen-
the bulge, very difficult. Although for that is very close to edge-on. This sitivity variations across the chip. We
edge-on galaxies it is easy to separate galaxy has been investigated before by thus obtained better flatfields than by
bulge and disk, it is difficult to know how Van der Kruit and Searle (1982), who using only the calibration exposures on
much extinction is present in front of the found large colour variations as a func- the dome. The reduction and analysis
bulge. tion of radius in the bulge, wh ich they was done in Garching, where the IR data
One of the great advantages of going interpreted as metallicity gradients. This were also compared with optical CCD
to the near-infrared (NIR) is that the ex- result, as weil as the aperture photome- frames taken by R. Schild at the
tinction by dust is much smaller (e.g. try of Wirth and Shaw (1983) was taken F. L. Whippie Observatory in Arizona. In
Schultz and Wiemer 1975). In the K- as evidence that metallicity gradients in Figure 1 we show the images in K' and V
band at 2.2 ~lm, AK / Av = 0.11 in our bulges are common. both on the same scale. The dust lane is
Galaxy (Rieke and Lebofsky, 1985), and much more clearly visible in V, but the
this ratio for large external spirals is resolution in K' is much higher.
2. Observational Details
likely to be similar (Knapen et al., 1991).
So by observing an edge-on spiral in the NGC 7814 was observed in Sep-
3. Properties of the Disk
NIR, we can study the properties of the tember 1992 in the J (1.2 ~m) and K'
stars of both bulge and disk much (2.1 ~m) filters. Because of the good To separate bulge and disk in K' we
better. seeing (0.9") we chose to observe it in first removed the region of the disk out-
For a few months ESO has an in- two magnifications, namely LC (0.49"/ side the central area (r 2: 20" and Iz I
strument-telescope combination that pixel) and LB (0.27"/pixel). During this :5 10"), fitting ellipses as a function of
offers the large field of view and the run a best seeing of 0.70" (FWHM) was radius in the remaining area, and ex-
good sampling in the NIR that is needed reached. The galaxy was observed in 4 trapolating and subtracting the con-
for the study of large nearby spirals, different positions on the array in each tribution of those ellipses in the region of
namely IRAC2 on the 2.2-m (Moorwood band and magnification, interleaved the disk (see Fig. 2). This method leaves

59
 much smaller. We have determined the
colour profiles in a number of optical
and NIR colours in a wedge along the
4 minor axis with an opening angle of 60°,
and plotted them in Figure 4.
Je .... Large colour gradients are seen within
V 10" from the centre, but at larger radii
the colours are constant. Extinction by
F dust, also because the colour profiles on
3
the NE and SW side are not symmetrie.
I Some minor metallicity change within
10" can however not be excluded. In a
J recent survey Balcells and Peletier
K' (1992) find that the stellar popUlation
gradients in bulges are similar to those
in ellipticals of the same luminosity.
NGC 7814 agrees with this, because its
bulge luminosity is MB = -19.1 (at
12 Mpc), and elliptical galaxies of that
luminosity usually do not display any
1 metallicity gradient. If this result for
bulges turns out to be general, it shows
that the mechanism that formed the disk
has not perturbed the bulge in general,
implying that it happened later, and
gradually.
We have calculated extinction profiles
along the minor axis. Since the centre of
NE sw
the galaxy is obscured by the dust lane,
-20 0 20 we cannot simply subtract the obscured
Distance from center (arcsec) half of the disk from the unobscured
half, as in the case of the Sombrero
Figure 5: Profi/es of Ihe exlinclion a/ong Ihe minor axis, ca/cu/aled in a band with a widlh of galaxy (Knapen et al., 1991). Here, we
1.5". The same c%urs are used here as in Figure 4. have estimated the unobscured profile
from the profile in K', using the J - K'
profile and the galactic extinction law
(which is probably valid, see Knapen et
a "hole" in the disk in the centre, wh ich the thickness of the disko This can be al., 1991). The results are presented in
is probably unrealistic, but the fact that understood if the dustlane, as in our Figure 5. Note the asymmetry in the dust
our isophotes here are boxy (e.g. Carter, Galaxy, is associated with the young profiles, weil visible in images of
1979) shows that the contribution of the stars, wh ich have a much smaller verti- NGC 7814 (see Fig. 1). The maximum
disk at any radius is less than 0.5% of cal scale height. For NGC 7814 we find edge-on extinction in the K' band is
that of the bulge. that the thickness of the dust distribu- 0.2 magnitude, in the B band it is some
One sees a sharp absorption band, tion lies between 0.33 and 0.5 times the 4 mag. The bump in the profiles be-
wh ich also makes the disk in the outer thickness of the distribution of old stars tween 5" and 10" from the centre toward
regions asymmetrie. It shows that ex- producing the K' light. For spiral galax- the NE may be caused by in-
tinction, although insignificant, is still ies one would expect such a ratio from homogeneities, or alternatively by warp-
present in K'. We measured the thick- the relation between surface brightness ing in the dust lane.
ness (FWHM) of the disk at several posi- and inclination (see Peletier and Willner, We can see from this example that
tions and find values between 7 and 10", 1992). with the new IRAC2 data it is now possi-
with an average of 9", wh ich would ble to perform a good decomposition of
correspond to 480 pe if this galaxy were bulge and disk in spiral galaxies, and to
4. Properties of the Bulge determine some fundamental properties
at 12 Mpc, a distance obtained from the
Tully-Fisher relation (Aaronson et al., The fact that NGC 7814 is relatively of both components due to the much
1980). Exponential fits also give an aver- nearby and has a large bulge makes it, reduced influence of dust extinction in
age scale height of 9 ± 1". Our galaxy just like the Sombrero, a prime candi- the NIR bands.
has ascale height of = 200 pe (Kent et date for the study of stellar population
al., 1991), which implies that the disk of gradients in bulges. It is in general not
NGC 7814 is thicker, or that the disk is possible to determine from colours
inclined. Assuming a diameter of 8', as alone whether gradients are caused by References
obtained from the HI (Van der Kruit and extinction by dust or by metallicity varia- Aaronson, M., Mould, J. R. and Huchra, J. P.,
Searle, 1982) the disk cannot be inclined tions. Secondary, morphological argu- 1980, ApJ, 237, 655.
ments can however sometimes be used; Balcells, M. and Peletier, R. F., 1992, in lAU
by more than 1°.
Symposium 153, Ga/aclic Bu/ges, Gent,
The dust lane itself is thinner than the usually one can detect dust because it
17-21 August 1992.
disko In the J - K' colour map, shown in shows a patchy distribution. For NGC Carter, D., 1979, MNRAS, 186, 897.
Figure 3, the thin absorption band is 7814 it is clear that the reddening in the Kent, S. M., Dame, 1. M. and Fazio, G. G.,
seen across the whole disko The FWHM disk is caused by extinction. It is clear 1991, ApJ, 378,131.
of the dustlane varies between 3.1" and from the colour map (Fig. 3) that the Knapen, J. H., Hes, R., Beckman, J. E. and
4.6", more than a factor 2 smaller than colour variations outside the disk are Pelelier, R. F., 1991, M, 241, 42.

60
Moorwood, A., Finger, G., Siereichei, P., De- 103, 1761. Schultz, G. V. and Wiemer, W., 1975, AA, 43,
labre, S., Van Dijsseldonk, A., Huster, G., Rieke, G. H. and Lebofsky, M. J., 1985, ApJ, 133.
Lizon, J.-L., Meyer, M., Gemperlein, H. and 288,618. Van der Kruit, P. C. and Searle, L., 1982, AA,
Moneti, A., 1992, The Messenger, 69, 61. Schild, R. and Kent, S. M., 1981, Proc. SPIE, 110,79.
Peletier, R. F. and Willner, S. P., 1992, AJ, 290,186. Wirth, A. and Shaw, R., 1983, AJ, 88, 171.

Dark Matter in CL0017 (z = 0.272)

L. INFANTE, H. QUINTANA, G. HERTLlNG, M. WA Y, P. Universidad Cat61ica de Chile
P. FOUQUE, P. Universidad Cat61ica de Chile and Observatoire de Paris
E. GIRAUO, ESO

1. Introduction
The above results motivated more de- scopes (CTIO 4-m, ESO 2.2-m, LCO
The motion of galaxies has been used tailed photometric and spectroscopic 1-m). A paper reporting the results is in
to study the gravitational field araund observations of this cluster. In 1987 preparation (Infante et al. 1992).
cluster cores and, thus, estimate their Quintana and Infante observed the cen- Here we report the results fram
masses. An independent way to obtain tral nucleus of this cluster with the 2.5-m our spectroscopic observations with
the total mass in clusters is now avail- Las Campanas Observatory 20F spec- EFOSC 1 on the ESO 3.6-m telescope.
able using gravitational lensing. In fact, trograph and obtained a velocity of The observations were carried out on
gravitational arcs have become an addi- 81435 ± 68 km/sec (z = 0.272). Later in three non photometric nights in Oe-
tional test to probe not only the exis- 1991, Giraud acquired short B,V and R cember 1990. Two multiobject plates
tence and amount of dark matter in CCO exposures with EMMI on the ND. were used to obtain spectra of about 25
clusters but also how this matter is dis- As reported in Infante, Giraud and Triay selected red galaxies. The aim was to
tributed. (For a review see Tyson 1992). (1991), an arc-like feature on all these determine a dynamical mass of the clus-
Using recent results from observa- deep images was confirmed. Although ter, particularly of its core, and its mass-
tions of a medium-redshift rich cluster of during the ND observations the seeing to-light ratio. The spectra were reduced
galaxies, namely CL0017, we here make was 0.9", poor for ND standards, the twice; a preliminary reduction with IHAP
the case for one of the best candidates arc-like feature is quite conspicuous in software and then a final reduction us-
where to look for gravitational arcs. all the frames. The arc is significantly ing IRAF 20 spectral package (details in
From spectrascopic data fram 5 clus- bluer than the red cluster galaxies. Fur- Infante et al. 1992). Both reductions
ters at z-0.3, we find that CL0017 thermore, images of the cluster have gave consistent results.
meets all the necessary characteristics been obtained in a variety of band- In Figure 1 we show the distribution of
for a gravitational arc search: high mass, passes (V,R,I,g,r) on a number of tele- velocities. After clipping out 3 sigma
high M/L, medium redshift and extreme
compactness.
VELOCITY HISTOGRAM CL0017

2. Discussion
CL0017, a rich cluster at a redshift of
0.272, has turned out to be quite an
interesting case. It was first discovered
on deep CFHT prime focus plates by O"Ob. = 1466 (km/s)
Infante et al. (1986). It is located near the Mean = 81540 (km/s)
South Galactic Pole and contains a Nu•• = 22
giant galaxy at its centre, probably a cD -!
galaxy. This galaxy is surraunded by
several smaller galaxies in a disk-like z I
configuration, all embedded in what 1\
seems to be a common, extremely
I-'
compact, halo of diameter - 77h- 1 kpc
(qo = 0) and total absolute magnitude \-
in V of -24.

~ \
The brightest members of this cluster
are clearly very red (i.e. (B-V) = 0.9) as
would be expected for a cluster domi-
nated by E/SO galaxies. However, a sig-
nificant blue population of galaxies (with
(B-V) < 0.7, which would correspond to
later than Sab spirals) is also found,
n ) \ m
consistent with the findings of Butcher Velocity (km/s)
and Oemler (1984) of a higher fraction of Figure 1: Histogram of velocities in CLO017. Galaxies with velocities larger than 311 have been
blue to red galaxies in medium redshift removed. 22 out of 26 galaxies remained. We also plot the best gaussian distribution to the
clusters as compared to low z clusters. points.

61
 MAGNITUDE HISTOGRAM CL0017 Adopting a luminosity distance of 1200
Mpc, the correcting factor for incom-
pleteness is 2.18. As the total luminosity
of the galaxies brighter then 20.8 is
3.9 x 10" ., we adopt a totalluminosi-
ty of the cluster of 8.5x10" .,
!Xl
corrected for relativistic effects and in-
completeness. 20 % of this luminosity is
concentrated in the nucleus.
Finally, we derive a mass-to-light ratio
- in the B-band of 820 MGI
L-
Q)
.n
E
:l
- - 3. Conclusions
Z

Rich, compact and massive galaxy

clusters at redshifts between 0.2 and
- 0.5 with line of sight velocity dispersions
exceeding 700 km/s are good gravita-
tional lens candidates. They distort
background galaxies which are as far as

o n n
16 20
l 22 24
twice the cluster distance. The magnifi-
cation and distortion of these galaxies
provide an independent method to de-
temine cluster masses and to study ob-
B jects at high redshifts.
CL0017 is one of the best lens can-
Figure 2: Histogram of corrected B magnitudes.
didates available. It possesses a mass
of 7.0x 10'4 MG and a luminosity of
8.5x10" . (M/L= 820 Md~), much
outliers 22 out of 26 galaxies remained. corrected magnitude in the B-band is of it in a very compact nucleus of size
A Kolmogorov-Smirnov test which com- evaluated from Gunn 9 and r mag- 77h-' Mpc. Because of its high mass
pares our distribution of velocities to a nitudes, using Kent's (1985) relations. and high M/L ratio, CL0017 becomes an
gaussian distribution returned a signifi- The corrected B-magnitude is then cal- excellent candidate to search for multi-
cance level larger than 95 %. The un- culated adding -1.27 + (0.34 + 0.08) = ple arcs and, therefore, probe the dark
corrected line-of-sight velocity disper- -0.85. The mean observed colour is matter independently.
sion and mean recession velocity are g-r = 0.90, corresponding to
a = 1466 kms-' and 1) = 81,540 kms ' B-V = 1.46. Applying the K-and References
respectively. evolutionary corrections to this value Arimoto, N., Yoshii, Y. 1987, A&A, 173,23.
We then applied the method de- gives a corrected B - V at redshift 0 of Butcher, H., and Oemler, A. 1984, Ap. J, 285,
scribed in Gourgoulhon et al. (1992) to 0.93 (typical of E/SO galaxies), confirm- 426.
determine the vi rial mass and mass-to- ing the order of magnitude of these Gourgoulhon, E., Chamaraux, P., Fouque, P.
light ratio of the cluster. As the collapse corrections. The total luminosity of the 1992, A&A, 255, 69.
time of the cluster (2 Gyr) is small com- cluster in the B-band is obtained after Infante, L., Giraud, E., and Triay, R. 1991, Tl1e
pared to the Hubble time, the cluster is correction for the contribution of faint Messenger, 64, 65.
virialized, and its virial mass is a good members not measured. To make this Infante, L., Pritchet, C.J., and Quintana, H.
1986, A.J, 91, 217.
estimator of its total mass. correction, we integrate aSchechter
Infante, L., Giraud, E., Quintana, H., Way, M.,
We first correct our raw data for vari- luminosity function from the limiting and Hertling, G. 1992, In preparation.
ous effects: K-corrections are adopted magnitude of a complete sub-sample Kent, 3.M. 1985, P.A.S.P., 97,165.
from Pence (1976), and amount to -1.27 down to infinity. Figure 2 shows that our Pence, W. 1976, Ap. J, 203, 39.
and -0.66 in the Band V-bands, re- sam pie of 22 galaxies is complete down Tyson, A. 1992, Pl1ysics Today, Vol. 45, No.
spectively; evolutionary corrections are to a corrected B-magnitude of 20.8. 6,24.
taken from Arimoto and Yoshii (1987) for
a 10" MG E/SO galaxy, and amount to
+0.34 and +0.08 for V-magnitudes and
(B-V) colours, respectively; relativistic
corrections to mass and mass-to-light New Features of IRSPEC
ratio multiply uncorrected values by
0.42 and 0.35, respectively. The de- R. GREOEL and U. WEILENMANN, ESO La Silla
pendence of these corrections upon
adopted values of Ho, qo and Zf (redshift
of formation) is small at the cluster red- In January 1991, IRSPEC at the ND the meanwhile. Recent instrumental
shift (0.272). Due to the location of the was equipped with a 58 x 62 pixel InSb modifications have resulted in a higher
cluster (South Galactic Pole), galactic array from Santa Barbara Research sensitivity in the 1 - 2.5-flm region. Op-
absorption is neglected; internal ab- Center (SBRC). The chip replaced a 10 erational enhancements such as the im-
sorption is neglected as weil, because array and brought new observing plementation of automatic beam-
most of our sampie galaxies are early- features such as long-slit capability. The switching and continuous mode have
type. new system is discussed in the March increased the efficiency of observations
We obtain a corrected mass of 1991 issue of The Messenger 63, p. 77. with IRSPEC. The modifications were
7.0x10'4 MG. For each galaxy, the un- IRSPEC has been further improved in carried out by Peter Biereichei, Gert

62
 ters are set via form filling or through
typed commands. In April 1992, two
S(7) new observing procedures, continuous
HH91 A mode and beam switching, were im-
plemented. It is now possible to obtain a
~
full spectrum with specified beginning
I and end wavelength and the respective
8 0.75
:i. sky frames automatically. The pixel
'"I overlap between adjacent spectral seg-
8u ments, the number of object-sky pairs
~ per grating setting, and the reference
!:: 0.5
I position can be entered as weil. The
0
.::.. system then performs the given number
(1.0) S(9)
:< of integrations per grating setting, off-
~ 0.25 sets the telescope to obtain explicit sky
S(8) measurements, if desired, and steps the
grating successively through the given
wavelength range to obtain the full
0 spectrum. The automatie observing pro-
cedures not only remove overheads that
1.65 1.68 1.71 1.74 were introduced in the past when many
A (J.Lrn) of these steps had to be performed
Figure 1: H-band speclrum of Ihe Herbig-Haro objecl HH 91A. Monochromatic fluxes in unils manually. They also eliminate a source
of 10- 17 W cm-2 {Im-I are plotled vs. wavelenglh;' in 1'm. Individual rolalional transitions thai of error and make sure that the observer
arise in Ihe S-branch of Ihe (1,0) band of H2 are idenlified. leaves La Silla with a complete set of
measurements, without sky frames mis-
sing or gaps in his or her spectra.
In the future, it is expected to increase
Finger, Manfred Meyer and Jean-Louis were not sized for the SBRC array. Giv- the wavelength encoder resolution from
Lizon from Garehing, and Flavio en the fact that the usable length of the presently 2.6 encoder steps per pixel by
Gutierrez and one of the authors (U.W.) slit is about 100", however, this draw- about a factor of 4. Thus, settings to
from La Silla. back does not influence observations particular wavelengths will become
The following contains a discussion of with IRSPEC. more reproducible. A transfer of IRSPEC
the recent instrumental changes and the data to a SUN workstation is planned to
new observing modes that are now allow on-line data reduction using exist-
New Observing Modes
available. It also summarizes some of ing MIDAS routines.
the scientific results obtained with The software that handles the spec-
IRSPEC during the last year to illustrate trometer setting was rewritten and
Scientific Results
the applications of the instrument. transferred from an old HP 1000 to the
main HP A900 instrument computer. HH 90/91. Figures 1 and 2 show the
Spectrometer and instrument parame- H- and K-band spectra obtained to-
Instrumental Enhancements
In April/May 1991, non-destructive
multiple readout was installed as part of
the data-acquisition software. In this
HH91 A
mode, the output voltages of the pixels
are continuously sampled at a rate of (1.0) 5(1)

19 S-1 without resetting. A linear regres-

sion is fit through the individual "read- (1.0) Q(l) Q(3) Q(5)

outs", wh ich results in a significant re- ~

I
duction of the effective read-noise. Sev- 8
eral measures were taken to suppress :i.
2
the internal background, including '"I
8u
screening of the light path and blocking
~
of remaining light leaks in the cold ,.
shield. In J, Hand K, these measures I
0
have reduced the RMS noise to less .::..
than 200 e for detector integration times :< (2.1) 5(3)
Q(2) Q«)
~
(DITs) of a few tens of seconds. For DITs (1.0) 5(0)
(3.2) 5(5)
longer than about aminute, the noise (2.1) 5(1)
(3.2) 5«) (2.1) 5(0)
increases due to shot noise. Other hard-
ware modifications included modifica-
tions of various components of the
opto-mechanical functions, such as the
0 J
(2.1) 5(2)

!
(3.2) 5(3)

A J h
(3.2) 5(1)

grating exchange mechanism, which 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4

caused some trouble in the past. Only A (J.Lrn)
one of the previously reported short- Figure 2: K-band spectrum of HH 91A. Labels as in Figure 1. The spectrum is a composile of
comings remains: about 20 % of the slit 16 individual segments oblained wilh ,m integration time of 8 min each, equal/y shared
remains vignetted by the filters which between objecl and sky.

63
Figure 3: Sky-subtraeted frames of the HH 111 jet in [Fell] 1.644 11m (Ieft panel) and H2 2. 121 11m (right panel). Wavelengths are in X and the slit is
in Y direetion. The slit is oriented along the jet axis. The on-souree integration limes are 5x60 s. The white horizontal pattern atthe extremes of
the slit are introdueed by the f1at-fielding and mark the region that is vignetted.

wards the low-excitation Herbig-Haro shown in Figure 2 consists of 16 indi- the emission lines seen in HH objects
(HH) object HH 91A. HH 91A is a bright vidual segments, each obtained with an arise from the recombination region be-
knot in the HH complex HH 90/91 in integration time of 4 x 1 min on the ob- hind a shock. The excitation tempera-
Orion (Gredel et al. 1992). The spectra ject and a similar time on a reference ture measured in HH 91A indicate shock
are dominated by emission lines of position. The resolution is)J A = 2500. velocities of a few tens of km/so Non-
molecular hydrogen that arise from the The inferred population densities of the thermal excitations of H2 levels wh ich
electric quadrupole cascade in the X1L~ H2 levels follow a thermal distribution can be introduced by UV photons that
groundstate of H2 . Individual lines are wh ich is characterized by an excitation are expected to arise in the apex of
identified in the spectra. The spectrum temperature of 2750 K. It is believed that strong bow-shocks are not observed in
HH 91 A. The reddening towards HH 91 A
can be determined from a comparison
of the intensities in the (1,0) 8(1) and the
(1,0) 0(3) lines which arise from a com-
B33975 ::: ~ ~ AO Ib mon upper level. A value of Es_v:S 0.6
mag is found.
B86615 ::: ~ ~ F2 lae HH 111. Figure 3 shows two IR8PEC

B34511 ::: ~ -.1'\,,,",1"",""'. rr-, ............. f"'",.....\ <I,........, r--_r----~~ .- . r------_~ GO 0-l
frames in [Fe 11] (1,644 I-lm) and H2 (2.121
~Lm) obtained towards the weil colli-
mated HH jet HH 111. The frames are
B34337 0.8 ~ G4 0-1 sky-subtracted and flat-fielded using an
internal halogen lamp. A tilt of the spec-
B34882:::1 Ga Ib
tral lines in the raw frames, introduced
1.0 'W"'~"""'''-N-.J'''-'''/''''J'V\ by the off-axis Littrow mount of the grat-
B35171 0.8 KO 0-1
ing, has been removed by shifting each
B815002 ::: 1!W-'I/'N"""""'' ' ' ' 'w-'""",,,/'J\/''wI,f{Vo-I\JI K2Ib row appropriately. The enhanced
background that can be seen in the
1.0 """"'- .IJ./1'-""/\/lAr''W''"''I\J''Wr'Ir" 1
BS6959 0.8 K3 Ib upper and lower part in both frames
1.0 results from the flat-fielding and marks
BS5645 0,8 K4 Ib the parts of the slit that are vignetted.
1.0 The slit is in Y direction and has a scale
B86693 0.8 _ 111 Ib of 2.2" per pixel. It is aligned along the
1.0 HH 111 jet and centred on knot H (see
B53364 0,0 lL2 lab e.g. Reipurth 1991). The H2 frame shows
1.0 three emission maxima along the jet and
B56406 0,0 Y5 Ib
follows the intensity distribution of Ha,
BS8022~::-~v-"vY~vI(Y-~'U:O Ib? as inferred from a CCO frame obtained
, I , I I , I ! I I , I , I I I ! , , I ,
at the Oanish 1.5-m telescope. The
1.1515 1.60 1.615 1.70 three maxima seen in the H2 frame cor-
respond to knots O-H, knot L, and knot
Figure 4: H band speetra of supergiant stars, P (Reipurth 1991). [Fe 11], on the other

64
 spectra is comparable to or less than
the thickness of the traces.
N 49. IRSPEC can be used to obtain
spectral line images of extended ob-
jects. An example is shown in Figure 5
which contains [Fe 11] images of the
supernova remnant N 49 in LMC. The
images are reconstructed from individu-
al IRSPEC frames, obtained by scan-
ning the slit across the object. The red
and blue [Fe 11] images, shown in the
upper part, contain the emission inte-
grated in 200 km/s wide bands, centred
270 km/s to the red and blue of the
systemic velocity. They reveal an inter-
esting velocity structure wh ich suggests
that the northern and southern filaments
are probably located on opposite sides
of an expanding shell. In the lower part
of Figure 5, the [Fell] image, obtained by
integrating over all velocities, is com-
pared to an Hß interference filter image
obtained with the CCO camera at the
2.2-m telescope. The latter frame has
been smoothed to the same spatial res-
olution ("" 2") as the IRSPEC image.
80th images have the same cut levels,
and show that the morphology and the
A
Figure 5: Images of Ihe LMC supernova rem-
nanl N 49 in Ihe [FeIlJ (1.644 11m) line ob-
lained by slit scanning. The field is approxj-
malely l' wilh N al Ihe lop and E 10 Ihe left.
The upper panels show images in velocily
bands 200 km/s wide. The lower [FeIlJ image
is inlegraled over all velocities. I1 has Ihe
same cul levels as Ihe Hß inlerference frame
shown in the lower right.

side, has a significantly different dis-

tribution. In particular, the [Fe 11] emis-
sion is strong near knots O-H, whereas it
is weak around knots Land P.
Giants/Supergiants. The high resolu-
tion of IRSPEC has initiated a spectral
classification programme of giant and
supergiant stars (Origlia et al. 1992). Fig-
ure 4 shows spectra of A-M supergiant
stars between 1.51 ~lm and 1.72 ~lm.
The spectra of the hottest stars with A-G
spectral types are dominated by 8rack-
ett series hydrogen absorption lines.
The cooler stars show a variety of
molecular and atomic absorption bands
whose equivalent widths increase to-
wards later spectral types. Note that the
reproducibility of the faintest spectral
features indicates that the noise in these
~
Figure 6: Images of the nearly edge-on late
type spiral galaxy NGC 4945 obtained by
slepping the IRSPEC slit. The upper row
shows the continuum image (three frames to
the left) and Ihe corresponding emission in
[Fe IIJ (1.644 pm), H2 (2.121 ~(m) and Bry
(2.167 pm) (Ihree frames to the right). The
second, third and fourlh rows S/1OW seven
images in each of Ihese three lines, in steps
of 1 pixel, i. e. at increasing velocity, from left
to right.

65
 sion) and [Si VII] (2.48 I-lm) coranal lines
~
t)
[Fell] H2 Br')' and the wealth of stellar absorption
.,
Cl.> features in the H band (Moorwood and
I Oliva 1992).
10
...
t)
PKS 0237-23. The high sensitivity of
..!.

~
IRSPEC allows the study of quasars in
l:
0 the near infrared. Studies in the UV and
:;:;
'00 0 optical wavelength region have revealed
0 the presence of different classes of
0..
>- sharp line absorption systems at red-
Cl.> shifts lower than that of the quasars.
.~
....CIl -10 Among those are metal-line systems be-
v0:: lieved to arise in H 1I regions in gas-rich
and star-forming intervening dwarf
galaxies. This hypothesis can be tested
-5 0 5 -5 0 5 -5 0 5
by searching for Ha lines at redshifts
Relative X position (are-sec)
smaller than that of the quasar, and
Figure 7: Contour maps of NGC 4945 in [Fell], H2 , and Bry. other unequivocal signatures of an H II

surface brightness seen in [Fe 11] and Hß 120

are remarkably similar. Hel
NGC 4945. Figure 6 contains images E:::L 100 N1068
of the nearly edge-on late type spiral ~
NGC 4945, obtained by stepping the C'4
E
u 80
IRSPEC slit. The upper six panels show C,
Py
emission in the continuum (Ieft) and ~
C1>
[Fe 11], H2 and Brackett y lines (right) at 60
b
1.644/-lm, 2.121 I-lm and 2.167 I-lm, re- ......
-..<
spectively. The lower panels show im- LL 40
ages in the same lines but in velocity
slices separated by 1 pixel or 97 km/s 20
for [Fe 11] and 66 km/s for the other two
1.05 1 .1 1.15 1.2 1.25 1.3 1.35
lines. The dynamics is dominated by a
velocity gradient of 15 km/s/arcsec.
This is the same as that obtained from
50
millimetre CO observations wh ich reveal
the presence of a molecular disk or to- E
rus in wh ich the infrared line emitting :::L 46
region is embedded (Moorwood and ~
C'4

Oliva 1992). E 42
~
C)
Figure 7 contains the contour maps of ~
C1>
NGC 4945 in the [Fell], H2 and Bry lines. ~ 38
The emission in all three lines extends b......
"'" 650 pc along the major axis wh ich is
~
34
parallel to the Y axis in this figure. Of LL
most interest, however, is the similarity
of the [Fe 11] and H2 distributions and the 30
fact that they are more extended than 1.5 1.55 1.6 1.65 1.7 1.75 1.8
the Bry emission along the minor axis.
Taking into account also the integrated
line luminosities and ratios it appears 70
(SIVII)
most likely that the Bry emission arises
in gas photoionized by hot stars in a E:::L 65 N1068

nuclear starburst while the [Fe 11] and H2

C'4
~ 60
lines are shock excited by a supernova E
u 55
driven superwind (Moorwood and Oliva C,
~

1992). C1>
50
~

NGC 1068. Figure 8 contains com-

'e:» 45
plete J, Hand K band spectra of the
Seyfert galaxy NGC 1068 showing a
=-
LL
. .<
40
wide range of identified spectral
features and some whose origin is still 35
unclear. More than 50 grating settings 1.9 2 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6
were required. The integration time per Wavelength (f.lrTl)
setting was 60 s. Of particular interest
are the strang and broad [Si VI] (1.96/-lm) Figure 8: Complete J, Hand K band spectra of the Seyfert galaxy NGC 1068. Individual
(blended with narrow H2 (1,0) S(3) emis- spectral features are identified.

66
 16,000 s. Ha emission is not seen at z =
1.3648. The upper limit in the Ha
PKS 0237-2331 luminosity of 2.5 x 1042 erg S-1 indicates
that the star-formation rate in the inter-
Oct. 25th 1991
vening system is 22-36 MQ/yr at most.
2 The continuum of the quasar in H is 1.4
± 0.2 mJy. The Hß line is detected at the
redshift of the quasar, however. The gap
in the spectrum right at the peak of Hß
reflects the serendipitous character of
the observation. The line width is
4000 km/s and agrees with that of Ha,
21 earlier detected in PKS 0237-23.
u..

Acknowledgements
It is a pleasure to thank H.U. Käufl, A.
Moorwood, E. Oliva, and L. Origlia for
o providing some of their unpublished re-
sults, and E. Oliva for making available
his MIDAS routines to correct for the
spectral line tilt.
1. 55 1.6
uavelength (mlcron!

Figure 9: Spectrum of Hß at a redshift o( Z = 2.224 towards the quasar PKS 0237-23 (upper
spectrum) and a re(erence sky position (Iower spectrum). The horizontal dotted fine in the References
upper spectrum marks the quasar continuum. The vertical lines show the location o( Ha and Gredel, R., Reipurth, B., and Heathcote, S.:
[S IIJ at z = 1.3648. The centre o( the H{'3 line at z = 2.224 is indicated. 1992, A&A, in press.
Käufl, H.U., Rosa, M., Caulet, A., and Viegas,
S.M.: 1992, submitted to A&A.
region. Because the redshifts are, in The lower part contains the spectrum of Moorwood, A.F.M., and Oliva, E.: 1992, to
appear in PASP Proceedings o( Calgary
general, larger than one, many of these a reference position for comparison.
In(rared Spectroscopy Con(erence.
transitions are shifted into the infrared The observations were aimed to detect Moorwood, A.F.M. and Oliva, E.: 1992, in
domain. Figure 9 contains the spectrum Ha in emission and the [S 11] doublet at z preparation.
between 1.54 flm and 1.61 flm towards = 1.3648, wh ich corresponds to the red- Origlia, L., Oliva, E., and Moorwood, A.F.M.
the quasar PKS 0237-23 (Käufl et al. shift of previously reported UV absorp- 1992, A&A, submitted.
1992) wh ich has a redshift of z = 2.224. tion lines. The total integration time is Reipurth, B. 1991, Nature 340, 42.

TIMMI at the 3.6-rn Telescope

H. u. KÄUFL, ESO
R. JOUAN, P.o. LAGAGE, P. MASSE, P. MESTREAU, A. TARR/US, OAPN/AiSAP, CEN-Sac/ay,
France

Careful readers of The Messenger cipal Investigator: P. O. Lagage). The in- o pupil stop. The filterwheel is located
may have stumbled over the acronym strument was then built by the SAP behind that pupil stop in the collimated
TIMMI occurring in the context of in- according to ESO's specification in a beam. This is followed by a lens-wheel.
strumentation in various previous issues period of two years. The camera has three mechanical
(see e. g. No. 61, p. 58). In this article we functions (operated remotely under
report about the first commissioning run computer contra!): a mechanism to ex-
1. Description of TIMMI
on La Silla in July 1992 and give a short change the cryogenic field mask with a
description of the instrument. TIMMI Like all infrared instrumentation cryogenic slit assembly, a filterwheel
stands for Thermallnfrared Multimode TIMMI is a cryogenic instrument. It is and a lenswheel. Figure 1 shows the
Instrument. TIMMI is supposed to be- mounted inside a Solid Nitrogen/Liquid non-trivial parts of the camera dis-
come a general user instrument allowing Helium cryostat. Its optical principle is assembled. The camera is interfaced to
for imaging as weil as limited long-slit best described as an "infrared EFOSC". the telescope with the standard infrared
spectrascopy in the 1O-flm atmospheric The optics consists of a f = 136-mm lens adaptor (see Fig. 2) and utilizes the f/35
window. The project started in July 1990 having a tripie function: entrance win- chopping secondary unit. It can be
when ESO signed a contract with the dow to the Dewar, focal reduction and mounted both at the 3.6- and 2.2-m
Service d'Astrophysique of the Com- field lensing. The telescope focal plane telescopes. At present, however, opera-
missariat a l'Energie Atomique for the is located inside of the Dewar. Behind a tion is foreseen primarily at the 3.6-m
development and supply of TIMMI (Prin- f= 103-mm collimator there is a 3.6-mm telescope.

67
 The camera features a 64 x 64 ele-
ment Gallium doped Silicon array
bonded to a silicon Direct Voltage Read-
out (DVR) circuit. This detector has been
manufactured by Leti/L1R, Centre d'Etu-
des Nucleaires de Grenoble, France. It
has a weil capacity of "" 2.10 7 e-. The
cut-Off wavelength of the detector
material is "" 17.8 flm. Various magnifi-
cations can be chosen (at present
0.3 arcsec/pix, 0.46 arcsec/pix and
0.6 arcsec/pix). On the filterwheel a vari-
ety of standard filters as weil as suffi-
cient spare positions are available for
specialized filters. The filters are
mounted in a collimated beam so that
no or only very limited refocussing of the
instrument is required after change of
the filter. Also the lenses are weil
enough pre-adjusted that no appreci-
able focus-shift occurs after the change
of magnifications.
Because of the strang background
radiation emitted by atmosphere and te-
Figure 1: The rare but essential ingredients of the camera cryostat are shown: cryostat
lescope in this part of the spectrum,
entrance lens with mounting flange and slit assembly (front centre), block containing the lens
rapid readout of the detector as weil as
wheel and the filter wheel (behind, lett) and detector assembly with flexible cable (behind,
right). The diameter of the flange holding the entrance window is 120 mm. All optics is from fast processing of the data is required.
Germanium. Slit assembly and collimator are cooled to 575 K, lens and filter wheel to 560K. Therefore TIMMI has an electronic front-
The detector is connected directly to the liquid Helium bath. The greyish cylinders protruding end system somewhat faster but other-
into the upper lett corner are the actuator rads connected to 4-phase stepper motors outside wise very similar to the ones already in
of the cryostat. use with the other infrared instruments

Figure 2: This shows the complete cryostat of TIMMI mounted on the f/35 adaptor unit in the Cassegrain cage of the 3.6-m telescope. The entire
cameralspectrameter is contained in a 3D-cm diameter cryostat. In the lower centre of the cryostat the three stepper motor drives are easily
distinguishable. On the top right of the adaptor flange the VME-rack with the prepracessing unit can be seen.

68
(IRSPEC, IRAC1 and IRAC2) on La Silla.
The frontend allows to read out the de-
tector array in = 7 ms and processing of
the results according to the require-
ments of synchronous detection.
While TIMMI will provide new obser-
vational possibilities for the ESO users
community it is also supposed to be-
come a test-bed to gain experience for
similar instrumentation at the VL1.

2. First Results
In the first test period a complete check-
out of the imaging modes of the camera
was possible. We could verify the image
quality (typically 0.9 arcsec FWHM)
wh ich is only 30 % larger than the dif-
fraction limit of the 3.6-m telescope. The
sensitivity achieved is also within the
range of expectations. When observing
stars close to the detection limit of IRAS
with a spectral bandpass 8.0-13.3 ~lm,
we achieved e. g. for the 1000-mJy
source SAO 192176 (IRAS 23468-2153)
a S/N of 5-60 for the brightest pixel
(scale 0.3 arcsec) for 80 s integration. If
one compares the flux integrated over
the 5 brightest pixels to the noise then
the S/N becomes 9 o. This indicates
that on point sources TIMMI will allow to
go fainter than the IRAS 12-~lm channel
while providing for near diffraction lim- Figure 3: This is an image of the Planetary Nebula NGC 7009 through a narrow-band filter
ited image quality. centred at the wavelength of the 1O.52-{lm fine of tripIe ionized Sulfur (ionization potential 47.3
TIMMI also compares favourably with ev,J. South is up on this image, east to the right. The pixel scale is 0.46 arcsec/pix, i. e. the size
of the frame is = 30 x 30 arcsec 2. The location of the central star would be right on the centre of
the existing bolometer. Similar mea-
the array but it is too faint at this wavelength to be detected. The observation of such fines in
surements with the other filters having a compact Planetary Nebulae is of particular scientific interest because of the high spatial
narrower spectral bandpass have not resolution (0.9 arcsec FWHM) and the fact that even very compact nebulae are opticalty thin at
been done yet, but it can be expected these wavelengths. The integration time for this image was 12 min.
that the sensitivity will be slightly better
since the detector tends to perform bet-
ter if it is exposed to less background
radiation. For the above-quoted ob- chopping increased the sensitivity typi- able for Arlll And Nell. The Nell filter
servation the background signal was cally 8-10 fold. was successfully used to image the low
5 . 105 ADU per second and pixel, while In Figure 3 we show how the instru- excitation Planetary Nebula le 418.
the signal from the star was 110 ADU/s ment operates with a narrow-band filter.
in the brightest pixel. All observing was This image was made using a 2 %-
done in chopping and nodding mode band pass centred around the
3. Future Work and Use of TIMMI
(= 6.3 Hz, amplitude 7-30 arcsec). As wavelength (1 0.52 ~m) of the forbidden
by the Community
compared to nodding every 30s alone transition of S IV. Similar filters are avail- As stated above, TIMMI should also
work as a moderate-resolution spec-
trometer. This mode could not yet be
Table of Filters of TIMMI: implemented, however, because ESO
has not been able to procure suitable
M-band filter )'Centre:04.71 ~lm ),:0.63 ~lm
grisms (transmission gratings mounted
N-band filter )'Centre: 10.1 0 ~lm ),:5.10 ~lm
to the back of prisms). Even though ESO
N, filter 1..centre:08.39 ~lm ),:0.96 ~lm
N2 filter Acentre:09.78 ~lm ),:1.29 ~lm
had a prototype device on loan for
Na filter )'Centre:12.56 ~lm 1.:1.41 ~lm evaluation from a commercial source, all
Arlll 1..centre:08.99 ~lm 1..:0.19 ~lm attempts for procurement failed even
SIV 1..centre: 10.52 ~lm 61.:0.23 ~lm though an intensive market survey was
Nell )'Centre:12.78 J.lm 1..:0.25 pm made. ESO therefore concluded a con-
Q-band )'centre: 17 . 15 !Am 1..:1.50 ~lm tract with the Fraunhofer Gesellschaft
... )'centre: 11 .65 J.lm 1..:2.70 !Am (Institut für Festkörpertechnologie, Mün-
... 1..centre:09.70 !Am 1..:0.49 ~lm
chen) to produce such gratings from
... )'centre: 11.30 IAm 1..:0.57 !Am
monocrystalline Germanium wafers .
... 1..centre:08.60 !Am 1..:0.40 ~lm
... )'centre:07.70 !Am 6),:0.35 J.lm These gratings will then be packaged
together with prisms and mounted to
N. S.: The exact position of these filters may be slightly different because they still need to be the filter wheel of TIMMI. We expect to
exactly measured when mounted in the camera under operating conditions.
receive the first test structures by the

69
end of this year, while the complete set transferred (via magnetic mass storage) in the announcement for observing
of grisms may be available in summer to MIDAS for off-line analysis. period 52 (Oct. 1993 - March 1994)
1993. TIMMI will then provide a long-slit For operation at Ionger wavelengths about how to apply for observing time
spectroscopic mode with aresolution (16.4 to 17.9 flm), a specialized lens is with TIMMI.
)J A. = 300 for a slit length of = 35 arc- under construction which will be incor-
sec. porated into the camera. This lens will
As for the other IR systems on La Silla be a doublet of CdTe with a pixel-scale
Acknowledgements
the preprocessor is a selfcontained of 0.45 arcsec/pix. A special antireflec-
hardware/software unit wh ich also pro- tion coating will ensure that this mode We are grateful to all ESO staff in
vides for a reasonable quick-look facili- will be = 10 times more efficient as Garching and La Silla who supported us
ty. Nevertheless, data transfer and data compared to using the standard Ger- and thus made this first observing run
storage including more sophisticated manium camera lenses. successful. We would, however, like to
on-line analysis of the raw data are re- The next test period and a scientific specifically mention the help of B.
quired and have to be prepared. Right observation period (the scientists of the Delabre, A. van Dijsseldonk, G. Fischer,
now TIMMI is operated from a Micro- SAP are entitled to several nights of M. Meyer, A. Moorwood and A. Silber in
VAA which is made available on loan to guaranteed observing as a compensa- Garching and of H. Gemperlein, E.
ESO from the SAP for the observing tion for their effort) are scheduled for Matamoros, J. Roucher and U. Weilen-
runs. But even now all data can be easily January 1993. ESO will inform the users mann at La Silla.

Fire at the 1-rn Telescope!

During the past months, there had
been much concern about how weil the
1-m telescope dome is able to protect
its valuable contents against the exter-
nal elements. On some occasions, wa-
ter was actually found in several places
in the building after one of the numerous
rainstorms this winter. As this might
have a very adverse effect on the
telescope electronics and optics,
a programme to improve the water-
impermeability of the dome was duly
initiated.
On Sunday, October 25, asphalt had
to be put on an area joining the building
with the rotating dome. A torch was
used in order to heat the asphalt to the
appropriate temperature, but unfortu-
nately some flames reached the inner
part of the dome, wh ich is covered by a
special painting that is very inflam-
mable. In a matter of seconds, all the Figure 1: The 1-metre dome after the rire on October 25, 1992. Photos by H. Barwig, München
inner part was on fire. An extinguisher (who lost all his observing time).
that was ready for use was not of much
help due to the great speed with which
the fire progressed. The La Silla fire
brigade came quickly (this was by the
way the first time since its creation that
its help was needed) and after a few Acknowledgement
minutes the situation was under contro!. As visiting astronomers directly affected by the fire we would like to make the
Nobody was injured although the toxic following remarks;
gases produced inside the dome pre- - Thanks to the quick, careful and efficient action of the ESO fire brigade, our special
vented people from entering without a fiberoptic multicolour photometer (MCCP) was not severely damaged by the fire.
mask for several hours. After a lot of cleaning work and extensive tests that we were able to perform in the
As soon as possible, a thorough optical lab the next day, the instrument was once again operable.
evaluation of the destruction took place. - Shortly after the fire, the ESO staff members expressed their regret for the incident
and immediately tried to obtain one ar two extraordinary nights at one of the larger
The inside cover of the dome was com-
telescopes where our instrument could be used likewise: not an obvious gesture but
pletely burnt. On November 10 it had
one which was very welcome for us after the loss of all our observing time. Since it
already been cleaned and repainted. turned out that no test time was available, another observing run was arranged at the
The cover of the floor suffered a lot, 1-m telescope in December.
especially from drops of burning dome We would like to thank all the people who made it possible far us still to perform our
paint, and must be replaced. The inside observations with such a short delay. H. BARWIG, K.H. MANTEL,
crane is unusable. Hopefully, the deli- Universitäts-Sternwarte München
cate parts of the electronics and tele-

70
Figure 2: The inside of the 1-m dome, just after the fire had been
extinguished. The 1-m telescope and the multichannel photometer
fortunately do not seem to have suffered bad damage. This was later
confirmed.

Figure 3: On the next day, the cleaning work began. Thanks to a very
dedicated effort by ESO staff, this only lasted two weeks and the
telescope was again in operation by mid-November.

scope control system suffered no major shown by an Antares run conducted on mechanics and construction groups
damage. The mirrars had to be cleaned; November 6. The instruments on the made a tremendous effort to quickly
the secondary was realuminized, while it telescope - a special photometer just return the telescope to the astronomical
is not necessary to realuminize the pri- installed when the fire started - did not community. The normal schedule of ob-
mary immediately. suffer much, although it obviously had servations started again on November
The image quality fortunately did not to be cleaned very thoraughly. 12, following some necessary test
suffer fram this bad experience, as The La Silla operations and nights. A. SMEITE, ESO-La Silla

Astronomical Data Handling:

Windows of Opportunity and of Challenge
F. MURTAGH, ST-ECF, Garehing
It is the destiny of astronomy to become the first all-digital science. 1

1. Medium and Message and DAT cartridges, respectively using tical disks both read-only and read-writ-
6 mm, 8 mm and 4 mm tape tech- able, and optical tapes.
The different sections of this article CD-ROMs ("Compact Disks - Read-
nology.
start up a few windows, in order to view
QIC (referring to "Quarter Inch Car- Only-Memory") are of somewhat better
some current developments affecting quality than their audio (music) siblings.
tridge", rather than speed) is similar to
astronomical storage and retrieval. As
9-track tape in capacity, but several They are being increasingly used for
an area driven powerfully by collective
times more compact. This streamer storage of astronomical catalogues
research efforts, we can only offer a
tape storage medium potentially suffers (somewhat disingenuously referred to
small (but colourful!) palette of what is as "dead data"). The 12-in diameter op-
from heat, static build-up, and resultant
currently available.
positioning difficulties. Exabyte and DAT tical disk shown in Figure 1 is of the sort
Dusty card decks, screaming paper
are helical-scan (hence storage-effi- used for receipt of Hubble Space Tele-
tape and (soon) cumbersome 9-track
cient) tape devices. The former is mar- scope archive data in Europe. The stor-
magnetic tape reels have given way to
keted uniquely by Exabyte. Unit costs age supported by CD-ROMs is soon to
storage devices of the sort shown in
for these storage media are uniformly be 4 GB. And what of the near future?
Figure 1. The reel of 9-track ~-in tape is
low. We will see widespread usage of eras-
shown for comparison.
Optical media are laser-read and able, or read-write, optical disks, using
Magnetic media include QIC, Exabyte magneto-optic (MO) technology. These
hence less susceptible to mishaps like
head-crashes. They also are unhindered will, inter alia, come in 3~-in diameter
in backspacing. Periodic head realign- sizes, will cater for 128 MB, and will be
1 Larry Smarr, University of IIlinois, quoled in Tl1e ment may however be necessary. Here attachable to anyone's laptop or
Economist, October 17,1992. we will comment on compact disks, op- notebook. For larger-scale applications,

71
 Quick-look capability introduces the
same sort of inestimable improvement
into working with databases as interac-
tive computing brought to the world of
batch computing. Images can be quite
large (e.g. around 10 megabytes for
some HST images), thereby slowing
down any quick-look implementation.
The clever scheme implemented in
STARCAT is based on a compressed
version of the image. Wavelet-based
compression is one approach which has
proved very effective. If loss of informa-
tion is acceptable as is the case for
quick-look information, then ~th of the
original image's size may suffice for an
acceptable visual interpretation. The
slimmed-down, but faithful, representa-
tion of the image lets the user know in
real time if the image is worth retrieving
or not. Figure 2 shows an example of
the use of the STARCAT preview facility.
Whether used for spectra or 2-d images,
the potential savings in time and effort
on the part of the user can be enormous.

3. United Colours of Astronomy

Figure 1: Optical disk; 9-track tape (for comparison); GD-ROM; OIG; Exabyte; DA T (front).
Panchromatic or pluri-disciplinary as-
tronomy implies the use of various
optical tape will allow for storage of 1 down menus launched a thousand wavelength windows and of the results
TB. Juke-boxes, to expedite the mount- graphical user interfaces. of various observational instruments. It
ing and unmounting of storage devices, Support for multitasking and support comes at a price. Diverse data collec-
are still very expensive. of graphics are among the machine tions can occasion ambiguity, confusion
The examples of storage media dis- qualities that we now take for granted. and error. Among pitfalls are: physical
cussed here refer to a very small range The X Window System arose out of location of data, and access pro-
of what is available in the market-place. Mirs Project Athena, a joint project be- cedures; nomenclature and content-
When it comes to the transfer of data, tween MIT, DEC and IBM which began characterization; homogeneity and relia-
one should keep computer network in in May 1983. The current version of X, bility; and so on. The user must first
the pictures also. Finally, as the storage X11, has become the most widely-used identify what catalogues or databases
standard in common use, FITS ("Flex- windowing system on scientific work- are relevant; secondly, appropriate
ible Image Transport System") has im- stations. Motifis one among many inter- access conventions must be availed of;
posed itself everywhere - an indication face systems which have been built on and thirdly, special analysis utilities may
of unequivocal success. top of X. be required in order to combine different
More basic prompt and menu-driven data.
user interfaces are still widely used. For The latter aspect may involve graphi-
2. Beyond WYSIWYG: cal approaches - image overlays and
example, one can access the NSSDC
Wh at You See Is What You mosaics, for example; or regression or
On-Line Data & Information Service at
Want other data summarizing methods using
Goddard by telneting to nssdca. gsfc.
A powerful impulse to changing the nasa.gov and using nodis as the user- data values affected by various errors or
way we interface with machines was the name. But the user will generally have to censoring; or model-driven data fusion
introduction of the Macintosh by Apple wait until ordered information shows up, such as is practised in multiframe image
in 1984. Its windows, icons and pull- before accessing its relevance. restoration.
Support for some of these options is
becoming possible with the ESIS
("European Space Information System")
Table 1: Indicative storage capacities and costs of drives for a range of media Correlation Environment (CE). Figure 3
shows a summary statement of what is
Device Indicative max. capacity Indicative cost of drive available on an object, across various
databases. A bibliographie survey (us-
OIC 250 MB DM 1000 ing SIMBAD) is also illustrated.
DAT 2 (8) GB DM 3000 Beyond this, the CE is ambitiously
Exabyte 2.5 (5) GB DM 5000
designed to be an evolving collection of
CD-ROM 650 MB DM 1000
display and manipulation tools. The CE
optical disk 1.2 or 3.2 GB DM 50000
1 TB
is disciplined by connectivity to a query
optical tape DM 200000
environment which is more precise and
Notes on Table: IndicaUve maximum capacity figures in parentheses are with use or compression; limited in its functionality.
optlcal dlsk flgures are tor one-sided use, for different vendors. 1 MB is 1 x 10 bytes (a character or a With the CE, the "correlation of data",
number), 1 GB is 1 x 109 by1es, and 1 TB is 1 x 10 '2 bytes).
we are entering new and uncharted

72
,MM'W#' !J

proP_ld:~Pl: • publ:!at:e:~
dataset:. Target: • expflag:_· .
SelCat:' VerSion:
Exp len: •• start: .. stop: r4*;!iiWWIil.J'e,,_1I
!"a obse!"ved: ~ oee observed: ~ V3 an s: _
vlaxls !"a: ~ vlaxIs dec: ~ qual:

OPT rly: .-268: IIl!ii!m!I

lIl!ii!m! speeLr. m O d e : . 1 sh.Jll.er:.1
ILED cl!".mode:
f 11 t: . wh . 1 :
Fleld of Vlew:
f 1 ! t . v,h . 2 : •
• 1m format: ..
. wh . 3 :
l' 11

'1elp H Doe .. ..... D Ol.:tP.Jt_Fl1e 0 Ouallfy ... Q

Restart ., .... L FlndNext: F BaekFlnd
Nex _mark
Ce"ter .. ..
"C
+
Ll~'t
Mark
PrEVle>, ...
X
\{]
'~odQuery "
,~ flark All..
B
y

Figure 2: Previewing an HST Faint Object Camera image of 1987A using STARCAT.

territory. It is, though, the type of system 1985 in computer-readable form. It is tions, andanonymous ftp (to
which is needed to channel the ever- now available in the PHYS on-line bib- babbage.sissa.i~. Thus far, the number
grawing flood of observational data, and liographic database supported by the of astronomy-related papers is not large.
to satisfy the widely-understood need FIZ (Fachinformationszentrum für Phy- The preprint situation at CERN is in-
that expensively-gathered data is a val- sik, Karlsruhe). spirational. The CERN printshop out-
uable resource for all who wish to avail Titles and abstracts help, but evident- puts 60 million A4 pages per year, of
of it. Iy fall short of what could be possible wh ich 20 % are preprints. Standardiza-
with full-text retrieval. The copyright tion on printer systems wh ich adhere to
situation casts a long shadow over what the PostScript standard has reduced
4. Literature
is technically feasible and - on the part production time of preprints from weeks
Literature has, in time-honoured fash- of the end-user - desirable. Preprints, to days. Spurred on by speedier appear-
ion, been considered a humanizing in- though, are usually in a sort of benevo- ance, submission of preprints in Post-
fluence. How does astronomy fare in lent zone. Their transitory nature allows Script by authors rose from 5 % to 60 %
this regard? More on the point, where is them to partially escape fram otherwise in one year. PostScript is, of course, the
the literature when you need it within stringent proprietary controls. The value page description standard supported by
seconds, if not sooner? of having preprints on-line is inestimable most text processing systems (TeX and
The widely-used SIMBAD database for three reasons: (i) savings of paper LaTeX, MS Word, PageMaker, Word-
contains bibliographic references - up and postage, (ii) speeding-up of the Perfect, most graphics packages, etc.).
to 600 for an individual object. It con- transfer of information to the scientific The next step was to further reduce
tains appraximately 1 million references consumer, and (iii) opening up of the delays from scientific producer to scien-
in total, covering about 60,000 papers, possibility of using full-text retrieval tific consumer by simply having perma-
derived from 90 astronomical periodi- mechanisms. nent on-line access to all preprints. Fig-
cals. A li ne-mode preprints server, covering ure 4 shows an example of the use
Abstracts may be accessed through astronomy as weil as other areas of of the X-Windows interface to this
the Astronomy and Astrophysical Ab- physics, is run by the International server. Preprints can be pulled over
stracts (AM), formerly from 1899 to School for Advanced Studies in Trieste. at the proverbial drop of a hat. A sim-
1969 under the title of Astronomischer Access by mail is supported, as is a mail- pler line-mode interface is also sup-
Jahresbericht. AM is available since based alert 'system for new contribu- ported.

73
 !:i'e :1J:~ea~::e !!.tilily OJslomlze Da!." Overview Image Processlng

1992ApJ .. ,389 .. 167W: WILLIAMS O,R .. TURNER M,J, L .. STEWARl

R,D" OHASHI T" MAKISHIMA K., KU T., INDUE H" MAKIN(
K. end I(OYAMA K. <A~troph!:l~. J . • 369.157,1992.)
Tho X-ray ~pectra cf hiih-lul"llno~it!:::l act!ve aalactlc r
b~ GINGA,

1992ApJ ... 389L ... 1M: MADAU P. <Aotroph~., J .. 389,1-4,1992 (l

The contrlbution cf qua~ar~ to the ultravlolet
backe round.

1992ApJ ... 390 .. 369K: KOFMAN L. .nd RAGA A,C.

J. ,390,369-364,1992, >
Modelina ~tructure~ cf knot~ in jet flow~ with the BUraf

19928AAS, ,.23.13965: SCHONFELDER V., COLLMAR W" DIEHL R.

t"IJCH R., STEINLE H" STRaNG A., VARENDORFF M., 8LOEMf
H .• OEN HERDER J.W. and ct al. <Bull. Al"'lef
Soc. ,23, 1396. 1992. >
Fir:H preliPllnar!::l re~ult~ (rOM COMPTEL,

1992Nat ... 355 .. 299B: BIGNAMI G.F <Nature.356.299.1992.>

Gat"'ll"'la-ra!:::l power frofl'l 3e 279.

1992SSRev, .59 . . 316W: WEEKES T.C. <Space Sei. Review~.69.316. ~

TeV radiation frof'll aalactic ~ource~,

Current Ouery
System :
I Xlmage

I--~ml
1-.1 '....
Figure 3: Matching data on 3C 273 {rom various databases, and {rom the literature, using ESIS's Correlation Environment.

5. The Late 20th Century's Lingua term papers done by posting a question, A number of other distributed infor-
Franca and waiting for the answers to roll in. mation retrieval systems have also
Cleverly, though, it has been noted come to prominence in recent times. A
We may have different national ori- that even low-grade questions can play system called WWW ("World-Wide
gins, but we all now speak one a beneficial role. In many newsgroups, a Web") supports Internet-wide hypertext.
language: tpc/ip. A mild exaggeration FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) post- Try it, with its simplest access interface:
perhaps, not least because various ing is regularly updated. The FAQ (in- telnet to info.cern.ch (no password).
other computer communication pro- cluding answers) for the astronautic WAlS ("Wide Area Information Server")
tocols can make themselves under- newsgroup, sci. space, for instance, is a network-wide information retrieval
stood loudly and clearly to the tcp/ip comprises 170 kilobytes. A FAQ is a too!. To quickly try out WAlS, the author
protocols. Furthermore middle-Ievel, paradigmatic dynamic document, which indexed 125 papers and book chapters
hand-shaking, data-transferring pro- collects many of the most frequent in one of his subdirectories. The indexes
tocols such as tcp ("transmission con- questions and answers. FAQs are ped- were established for approximately half
trol protocol") and ip ("internet pro- agogical documents par excellence and a million words in a few minutes. A
tocol") are not as user-relevant as even can be availed of by anyone seeking a natural-Ianguage query (Fig. 5: "Every-
higher-Ievel protocols. In this section, quick grounding in a particular subject. thing you've got on the VLT ... ") yielded
we will look at what is possible using The common data transfer protocol a thoroughly acceptable set of docu-
some of these higher-Ievel standards. (and command name) on the Internet is ments. This tool, though, aims at dis tri-
The basis of fact in this section's title ftp ("file transfer protocol"). Anonymous buted information retrieval, accessing
is that the Internet is closely related to ftp has become a standard way to make remote servers. If the information exists,
these protocols. The internet is made up datasets, documentation, and code and is set up approximately for WAlS,
of a large number of backbone, regional available. then it will be found. WAlS represents
and local data networks. A qualitative step forward is currently one line of attack on the "resource dis-
The Usenetllnternet newsgroup sys- taking place in regard to what is avail- covery" problem. It is a step on the way
tem presents a daunting and fascinating able through anonymous ftp. Indexing towards unleashing the genie in the
communication subsystem. An esti- and stock-taking of what is available is computer networks which are now com-
mated 60,000 sites have access to the increasingly being carried out in an monplace in research.
8000 newsgroups and about 1.6 million automated way. The archive server, ar-
users at these sites are newsreaders. chie, regularly polis 1000 anonymous ftp
6. From Palette of Tools
The approximate 16,000 message post- sites, seeking out updated directory list-
to Chiaroscuro of Knowledge
ings per day correspond to over 40 ings at these sites. "Browsing through
megabytes of traffic. Of course the sig- terabytes" of text, of software code, and The developments overviewed here
nal-to-noise ratio is not always high: to- of other data, has become the operative are driven by one consideration: there is
day's undergraduate students get their principle. no alternative. Mounting quantities (and

74
 ) : .. "

JJ PHYSICS ftlD (ISTR!l'lOi1Y FERMILAB.Pub-Il2/217 -A

UCLA/9'JlTEP /27
TeJ1lqlU week equivelcu:eprindplowilh tho co.... ~
Augwt, 1992
oaclw<nlJlli opectnoa
M.~tijo,ICR
Combrid~: OAMfP. A1ll;I9921. -7 p.
Shtlf u: DAMTP lIfI-~
Ul on Power Speclrn
COIlK'I""""OO oClU COBE ..tollte lar tIu: ft1aIionory.cauoriD
SoI.p.l<, OS """
C""bri~:OAMfP.191",,1992.-7 p.
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,::1', and JO.hU8 A. Frieman'
Shtlf." DAM11' B 91-t6 myoim Cenlcr
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~ ~I :i~n..~
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1~ 4
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Sobm.. {O Asrropbys j
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Figure 4: The CERN preprint service. Shown are windows with a subject list, arecent preprint list, and the full text corresponding to one such
preprint. A hypertext system facilitates navigation through all of this information.

Tell me about:

I_E_v_e_r_y_t_h_i_n_g_y_o_u_'_v_e_g_o_t_o_n_t_h_e
__VL_T__
. _._.A -'II Search I
In Sources: Similar to:

I=Ä=ll=My=p=ap=e=rs:;r:.=sr=c===:::::;-_ _I I = = = = : ; r = = = = = = ; - _
I Add Source 11 Delete Source I I Add Docmnent 11 Delete Docmnent 1
~~~~~................~~~~~~~~~~................= - - - - - - ,
Resulting 1000 28. 2K irastj. tex /home/st2a/ecf/ fmUl:tagh/my-paIJers/
docmnents: 550 10.3K sxb_disc.tex /home/st2a/ecf/fmurtagh/my-papers/
I View 250 31. BK compstat.tex
250 1020 irastj fig. tex
/home/st2a/ecf/fmurtagh/my-papers/
/home/st2a/ecf/fmurtagh/my-papers/
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fihot:1:
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Quit

S ta tus: iFound 4 iteros.

. ;

Figure 5: A WAlS query ("Tell me about:'j and results (on a set of the author's papers, which had been indexed beforehand).

75
quality) of data require such steps to WAlS and WWW, see contributions in Gonference and Workshop Proceedings,
produce the global and integrated pic- Heck and Murtagh (1993). 1992.
ture of information and knowledge. 6. A. Heck and F. Murtagh (Eds.), Adding
Intelligence to Information Retrieval: The
Acknowledgements
Gase of Astronomy and Related Space
7. To Probe Further Thanks to: M. Albrecht, R. Hook, B. Sciences, Kluwer, Dordrecht, 1993, forth-
Pirenne and R. Albrecht, for comments, coming.
For material throughout, see inter alia 7. W. Higgins and J. Leech, "Gompiling an-
and to S. Ansari and E. van Herwijnen
Albrecht and Egret (1991), and Heck swers to frequently asked questions
for some of the material used.
and Murtagh (1992). about space on computer networks", in
Section 1: See Pirenne and Ochsen- Proc. 43rd. Gongress of the Internation-
References al Astronautical Federation, Aug. 28-
bein (1990 - to be updated soon).
Section 2: For STARCAT, see Pirenne 1. MA Albrecht and D. Egret (Eds.) Sept. 5, 1992, in press.
et al. (1992). Databases and On-Une Data in As- 8. B. Pirenne, M.A. Albrecht, D. Durand and
tronomy, Kluwer, Dordrecht, 1991. S. Gaudet, "STARGAT: An Interface to
Section 3: For ESIS, set hast to esis
2. D. Egret, M. Wenger and P. Dubois, "The Astronomical Databases", in A. Heck and
(29671) and login with username esis SIMBAD astronomical database" in M.A. F. Murtagh (Eds.), Astronomy from Large
(no password); or telnet to esis.esrin. Albrecht and D. Egret, Eds., Databases Databases 11, ESO Gonf. and Workshop
esa.it (192.106.252.127), again using and On-Une Data in Astronomy, Kluwer, Proc., 1992.
username esis with no password. On Dordrecht, 1991, 79-88. 9. B. Pirenne and F. Ochsenbein, "New
the Correlation Environment, see 3. E.D. Feigelson and F. Murtagh, "Public media for data distribution and exchange
Giommi et al. (1992). software for the astronomer: an over- in astronomy", ST-EGF News/elter,
Section 4: For SIMBAD, see Egret et wiew", PASP, 104, 574-581,1992. No. 12, Jan. 1990, 11-12.
al. (1991). For contact points of com- 4. P. Giommi et al., "The ESIS Gorrelation 10. E. van Herwijnen, "Are document servers
Environment prototype", in D.M. Worrall, replacing journals?", preprint AS/MI-92-
mercial database providers, see Watson
G. Biemesderfer and J. Barnes, Eds., As- 05, GERN, 1992.
(1991). On the CERN preprint server, tronomical Data Analysis Software and 11. J.M. Watson, "Astronomical bibliography
see van Herwijnen (1992). Systems I, Astronomical Society of the from commercial databases", in M.A. AI-
Section 5: For FAQs, see Higgins and Pacific, San Francisco, 1992, 59-61. brecht and D. Egret, Eds., Databases and
Leech (1992). For archie see Feigelson 5. A. Heck and F. Murtagh (Eds.), As- On-Une Data in Astronomy, Kluwer, Dor-
and Murtagh (1992). For archie, Gopher, tronomy from Large Databases 11, ESO drecht, 1991, 199-210.

ESO Computer Networking

R. Hook, ST-ECF

1. Introduction State without either the astronomers 2. The Main Networks

having to travel to Garching to the re-
Astronomy has always been an inter- mote control centre or all the way to Computer networks have tended to
national subject from the historical link Chile. This successful experiment was expand from modest systems linking
to navigation up to the modern require- described in detail in the last edition of workers in a similar discipline or geo-
ment to erect telescopes at the best The Messenger. graphical area to huge "internets" span-
sites in the world regardless of distance. Despite these huge improvements, ning the globe and united by the use of a
ESO is itself a fine example of this trend networking still has a long way to go common protocol. The protocol may be
- what could be more international than before it becomes as consistent and thought of as the standardized set of
a collaborative organization of eight dif- easy to use as the telephone or FAX rules for communication wh ich is inde-
ferent countries running an observatory machine. There are several different net- pendent of the type or manufacturer of
in the opposite hemisphere? Efficient works in use and they all have their computer equipment. There are now
operation requires efficient communica- quirks, foibles and inconsistencies. two main "protocols" wh ich are
tions and in the era of predominantly They are also often too slow and some- dominating international science net-
digital data and text processing this times don't work. This article describes working. They are the TCP I IP protocols
means efficient computer networking. briefly the most important current net- used by the Internet and the set of stan-
Networking has now advanced works used by astronomers. It then de- dard protocols defined by the Interna-
enough that it reaches most astronomi- scribes in more detail how external us- tional Standards Organization (ISO) and
cal sites world wide. Operations such as ers may contact ESO electronically and often referred to as OSI. In addition
sending electronic mail from an Institute what facilities are available. People who there are several other protocols in use
in Estonia to a student observing at La are already familiar with the networks wh ich astronomers encounter, in par-
Silla are now taken for granted although may find most of the important informa- ticular DECnet (used by the SPAN net-
they would have been unthinkable in tion they need in the box which work), BitnetiEARN and UUCP. To
more ways than one twenty years ago. summarizes ESO electronic contact some extent these may be used to-
Another important recent development, points. The text inevitably uses rather a gether. For example it is quite common
wh ich is totally dependent on networks, lot of acronyms for conciseness. These for TCP/IP or DECnet to be im-
is remote observing in Chile directly are explained in Table 1 wh ich should plemented "on top of" the lower level
from an institute in an ESO Member be consulted when necessary. OSI protocol X.25.

76
Table 1: Networking Acronyms 2.2 OECnet Networks
BITNET "Because it's time" network In the 1980s scientific computing was
CISCO Major manufacturer of network routers dominated by VAX computers and it
CUNY City University of New York was convenient to link them up using
CWI Company contracted to provide Dutch networking the protocol supplied by their manufac-
DATEX-P DBP's packet switching (X.25) system
turer wh ich is called DECnet. The most
DFN Deutsches Forschungsnetz
DLR familiar DECnet network used by as-
Deutsche Luft- und Raumfahrt
DBP Deutsche Bundespost Telekom tronomers is called SPAN (the Space
EARN European Academic Research Network Physics Analysis Network) which has
Ebone European backbone network expanded from space physics to cover
ECRC European Computer Industry Research Centre GmbH many astronomical sites worldwide.
EUnet European UUCP network However, the general move away from
E-SPAN European-SPAN VAX computers to higher performance
ESOC European Space Operations Centre UNIX machines as weil as the desire to
ESTEC European Space Technology Centre
avoid dependence on single vendors
STECF Space Telescope European Coordinating Facility
STScl Space Telescope Science Institute has also led to the TCP/IP Internet
GSFC Goddard Space Flight Center largely superseding DECnet for as-
ISO International Standards Organization tronomical communications, particularly
MPE Max-Planck-Institut für Extraterrestrische Physik in the USA. However, in Europe many
OSI Open Systems Interconnect sites still rely on SPAN and are not ac-
SPAN Space Physics Analysis Network cessible via the Internet. DECnet nodes
TCP/IP Transmission Control Protocol/internet Protocol are identified by a name (with a max-
UNIDO University of Dortmund imum of six characters), this is equiva-
UUCP Unix to Unix Copy Protocol lent to a number which mayaiso be
WIN Wissenschaftsnetz
used if the name is not known on the
local system. The new DECnet (Phase V)
will move much closer to OSI standards
2. 1 The "Internet" hosts at Garehing and ".Is.eso.org" for but it is not clear that it will be widely
La Silla hosts. used throughout the astronomical
This network began in the US military
(as ARPAnet) but has rapidly expanded
in the US and joined up with other net-
works using the TCP/IP protocol to ESO Electronic Contact Point Summary
form what is now the largest global
computer network used by astronom- Electronic Mail:
ers. The total number of hosts world-
Usernames are normally first initial plus surname, truncated to 8 characters. Addresses
wide is now close to one million. The take the form:
word "internet" can be confusing - an Internet: user({1 eso.org (preferred)
"internet" is a group of "networks" DECnetlSPAN: eso::user -or- 28760::user
which are linked together to form a sin- Bitnetl EARN: user(ii dgaes051.bitnet
gle entity but the term "the Internet" UUCP: user({t eso.uucp -or- eso!user
(capital "I") is normally used to mean the PSI mail: Notsupported
global internet using the TCP I IP pro-
tocol. The Internet will be the dominant Remote Login:
international science network of the next
ESO supports several remote login facilities on the Garehing "network host"
decade. (mc3.hq.eso.org = 134.171.8.4). This machine is also accessible over X.25 at the number
Every Internet host has a unique ad- 0262458900924 and via telephone modems (numbers on request, not recommended).
dress which is normally written as four There is no direct DECnet access.
numbers separated by dots, e. g.
134.171.8.120. The addresses of all
Bulletin Boards:
ESO machines begin .. 134.171 .... Host
names follow a hierarchical system Simple news facilities based on USENET News are available on the network host. Login as:
using domains. Examples are esobb - for general ESO news including La Silla schedules, MIDAS news, instrument
news, etc.
"mc6.hq.eso.org" (a main UNIX com-
stinfo - for news about the Hubble Space Telescope.
puter at Garehing), "lwO.ls.eso.org" (a
UNIX machine at La Silla), "foca.
stsci.edu" (a VAX at STScl) and "sim- Anonymous FTP:
bad.u-strasbg.fr" (the SIMBAD server at ftphost.hq.eso.org (134.171.8.4) - for general ESO files and ESOFORM.
CDS Strasbourg). Typically the last part ecf.hq.eso.org (134.171.11.4) - for Space Telescope related files.
of the name (the domain) is either a
country code (.de, .fr, .es, .jp, .se, .nz, In case of problems:
etc.) or one of a few special cases such
Send mail to "postmaster" at one of the addresses given above. If all else fails, telephone
as ... edu" (used mainly for US academic
one of the Garehing computer support statt:
hosts) or ... mil" (US military). The domain Peter Dierckx - +49 89 32006-387
... org" is used for international organiza- Renny de Roos - +49 89 32006-445
tions not fitting into any other class, Richard Hook - +49 89 32006-389
hence all ESO machines have names Carlos Guirao - +49 89 32006-434
ending in ".eso.org" - ".hq.eso.org" for

77
 net, DECnet (SPAN) and UUCP. Mail
may be sent to and fram BitnetiEARN
via gateways on the Internet. The con-
figuration is shown in simplified, but still
rather complex, form as Figure 1. In
order to make it compact acranyms are
used a great deal and these are ex-
plained in Table 1. Both SPAN and Inter-
net traffic currently uses a line between
Garching and ESOC wh ich was original-
Iy established for communications be-
tween the Space Telescope Science In-
stitute in Baltimore and the Space Tele-
scope - European Coordinating Facility,
which is based at ESO. Most European
Internet traffic is rauted from this ESA
network onto the European high speed
backbone (the Ebone) in Holland. Traffic
for the rest of the world goes initially to
Goddard Space Flight Center in the
USA. This ESA link is an effective tem-
porary solution but in the medium term
ESO is planning to get its own high
speed link into the Internet. One possi-
bility which is being considered in detail
at present is a new connection wh ich
HQ. ESo. ORG. will link ESO Garehing with a "Point of
Presence" in Munich and fram there to
X.25 BITNET/EARN
the Ebone via Amsterdam. This link will
TCP/IP"lnlernet" Planned links allow comparable or better performance
to the present system without having to
DECnet (SPAN)
0 Cisca Rauter
use ESA lines originally installed for a
uUCP @] Unix hast different use. However, it must be stres-
sed that this new link is far fram being
Satellite links
~ VAX/VMS
finalized yet and it may not prove to be
Figure 1. possible in the form given here.
Other lines out of ESO include a slow
telephone modem link to Dortmund
wh ich carries some electronic mail (e.g.
world. The main ESO VAX for commu- 2.4 UUCP UUCP maiI), an X.25 connection to the
nication has the host name ESO German DATEX-P public packet switch-
(= 28760). La Silla is not directly ac- UUCP is a simple network system ing network and an X.25 link into the
cessible over DECnet. wh ich originated as a way of connecting German Wissenschaftsnetz (WIN) wh ich
UNIX machines together over telephone also can carry Internet pratocol traffic at
modems. It is now little used in as- low data rates.
2.3 Bitnet and EARN
tronomy and is included here only be-
These two networks use the same cause ESO has a UUCP link to the Uni-
4. Sending Mai! to ESO Statt and
pratocols and differ only in that the versity of Dortmund and may be con-
Visitors
former is mainly confined to North tacted at the address eso.uucp.
America and the latter to Europe. They Most ESO Staff at both Garching and
are based on the RSCS pratocol de- La Silla have a username on a UNIX
3. ESO Networking Configuration
veloped by IBM, and many of the ma- computer. These usernames are nor-
chines initially using this network were Most ESO computers in Garehing and mally the initial letter of the person's first
IBM mainframes. However other im- La Silla run the UNIX operating system, name, followed by their surname and
plementations (e.g. for VAXes) have but there are still a few VAX machines with the result truncated to eight
been produced and are widespread. In running VAXIVMS. As a matter of policy characters, all in lowercase. E.g., the
the early days the networks were finan- all the machines support the TCP I IP username of a hypothetical Helmut
cially strangly supported by IBM wh ich pratocol and hence they can all com- Mitterand would be "hmittera". The
made them attractive. However the rise municate with each other and with the same rule is used at both Garehing and
of the Internet has made their use start external Internet. Only the VAXes are La Silla. Once the username has been
to decline. BitnetiEARN is now primarily also connected to SPAN although elec- deduced, a message may be sent to
used for electranic maiI but can support tronic maiI may be sent between SPAN one of the standard ESO addresses giv-
other facilities, such as file transfer, al- and the UNIX machines by using one of en in the summary box. It is not
though these facilities are only likely to the VAXes as a gateway. Only TCP/IP is necessary to either specify a particular
be used in conjunction with IBM compu- supported on the link between Garching machine at Garching or La Silla. Typical
ters. ESO retains the clumsy name and La Silla which is a multiplexed line addresses would be "hmittera ( eso.
DGAES051 for electronic mail but is no also for other types of communications org" or "hmittera CI dgaes051.bitnet" or
longer directly connected to Bitnetl (e.g. remote observing). "eso::hmittera". It should be noted that
EARN. ESO is directly connected to the Inter- every UNIX username has a unique maiI

78
delivery point and sending messages to
specific machines in Chile or Garching
will probably result in the message arriv-
Electronic Network Access to ESO
ing at the same place anyway even if the for Image Processing Group, P. GROSB0L
user has a username on several different November 13, 1992
machines. The main emphasis for ESO's Wide Area Network connections will be placed on
Visitors to La Silla may be contacted providing a fast and reliable access through Internet although connections to SPAN,
by sending maiI to the special account EARN and UUCP will be maintained as long as it is reasonable considering both usage
"Iasilla" at the same address. This is and cost. During the major part of this year, ESO has been allowed to route a significant
read regularly at La Silla and a message part of its Internet traffic through an ESA/NASA link. This has significantly contributed
may be delivered to the required person. to the stabilization and been greatly appreciated by both ESO and its user community.
ESO is now in the process of establishing a faster and more direct link to the European
To make the recipient clear the "sub-
Internet Backbone to accommodate the increasing network traffic.
ject" line should specify whom it is in-
tended for.

5. Other ESO Networking

Facilities
ESO provides a number of facilities
which may be accessed via the net- batch style, a new facility called STAR- 6. A Bright Future
works. Firstly there are two anonymous MAlL is now available. To use this, one The near future plans for ESO are
FTP accounts which may be reached by prepares a set ot STARCAT commands based on getting improved TCP/IP
anyone on the Internet. The first of these remotely and sends them as an elec- communications between Garching, La
is ESO specific and provides MIDAS tronic maiI message to "starmaii" at the Silla and the astronomical community.
software updates and general informa- standard ESO addresses. The com- Other protocols will be maintained
tion. The second is maintained by the mands are automatically issued to where they are required but are likely to
ST-ECF and contains files relevant to STARCAT and the resultant output is fade away quite quickly as the demand
HST's operation. In particular there is a returned to the remote user by elec- for them from other institutes also fades.
large software library from many sour- tronic mai I. For more details please At present the revolution in the way
ces and documents and software useful contact Miguel Albrecht (username astronomers use computer networks is
for proposal preparation. The addresses "malbrech"). STARMAll will be de- just beginning. There are three main
of these FTP accounts are given in the scribed in detail in the forthcoming ST- changes wh ich will inevitably happen
summary box. They are accessed in the ECF News/etter (Number 19, January over the next few years. Firstly there will
usual way-connect to the machine us- 1993). be much greater line speeds, these are
ing FTP and give "anonymous" as the A final and important new network- obtainable easily using current fibre-
username and your electronic mail ad- ing facility is the support of electronic optics technology, the delays are practi-
dress as the identification string when observing time proposal submission cal and financial. End-to-end speeds of
prompted. and validation for the ESO La Silla roughly a Megabitls should be attain-
In addition, two Bulletin Board sys- telescopes. This system is called able throughout Europe within five
tems mayaiso be accessed over the ESOFORM and it is a three-stage pro- years. In the US, where TCP/IP net-
Internet. They provide access to up-to- cess: working is far more advanced, such
date information using the USENET 1. Collect the l!'TEX style files and speeds are already available between
News system. The first, "esobb" gives proposal validation software from the some sites. Improvements of this mag-
information about the ESO computer ESO anonymous FTP. The directory nitude would, for example, allow a future
systems, MIDAS news and other news is eso/proposal and the file wh ich Hungarian ESO astronomer t0 displaya
for visitors to Garching or La Silla. should be collected (using binary CCD image which had just been taken
The second is for HST news and has the FTP) is the compressed "tar" file by the VLT in a few seconds on their
username "stinfo". Again the details esoform-NN.tar.Z where NN is the own workstation in Budapest. The sec-
are given in the summary box. Just ESO observing period number e.g. ond change will be the global adoption
login and try them, no password is 52). Alternatively the files may be cop- of more compatible protocols, almost
required. ied over DECnet from the directory certainly using TCP/IP as the /ingua
It is also possible to access the ESO/ ESO::ANONYMOUS:[ESOFORM). franca. This change is already weil ad-
ST-ECF STARCAT system over the net- 2. Prepare the proposal in the correct vanced and will allow the vast majority
work. STARCAT provides access to the form on the local machine using the of computers worldwide to talk to one
Hubble Space Telescope catalogue and l!'TEX style files and template pro- another. The final change may prove to
the ESO Archive catalogue as weil as vided and validate it using the soft- be the most important for the actual
many other astronomical catalogues ware which is also available from the user. Once networks become compat-
and data bases. There are two kinds of same place. ible and fast, the mechanisms of moving
access. Firstly one may login to the 3. Send the completed proposal to the information around on them will become
account "starcat" on the Internet host username "proposal" at the standard less obvious and the systems will be-
dbhost.hq.eso.org or to the DECnet ESO addresses. The text sent will come more distributed. Instead of users
host STESIS (28771). These are captive automatically be validated on arrival invoking basic network facilities (ftp,
accounts wh ich have no password but and a message returned to the sender mail and telnet) more advanced tools
give interactive access to the STARCAT either notifying him/her that the pro- (probably using a graphical user inter-
system. posal has been validated correctly face based on X11) will use the net as
It is often inefficient to use STARCAT and has been passed on to the ESO and when required, rather as a current
interactively over a slow network link. Observing Programmes Committee ethernet is used within an organization.
To provide an effective way of issuing (OPC) or that it failed validation and In such an environment finding and or-
STARCAT commands remotely in a will have to be re-submitted. ganizing information will become more

79
of an obstacle to effective research than 7. Acknowledgements this article and particularly Miguel
the practical aspects of how to move Albrecht who gave me detailed informa-
information around. These issues are I would like to thank the many people tion about the proposal submission sys-
addressed by Fionn Murtagh's article in at ESO and the ST-ECF who provided tem and STARMAlL.
this edition of The Messenger. helpful comments on the manuscript of

Report on ALD-II, Astronomy from Large Databases 11

M. CREZE 1, A. HECK 1 and F. MURTAGH 2
1Strasbourg Observatory, France; 2 Space Telescope - European Coordinating Facility

The colloquium on "Astronomy from

Large Oatabases 11" was held from Sep-
tember 14-16, 1992. It was a follow-up
to a meeting with the same title ("As-
tronomy from Large Oatabases: Scien-
tific Objectives and Methodological Ap-
proaches") held in Garching in 1987.
The proceedings of both meetings were
published by ESO.
If one considers the two terms of the
title, "astronomy" and "Iarge data-
bases", then the aim of the conference
was the directed link between these.
Hence the objective was not so much to
cater for new astronomical results -
there are many appropriate fora for thi~
- nor to deal thoroughly with database
technicalities. Rather the aim was to
share experiences, and to focus inter- weil as the President of lAU Commis- longer has any right to consider as-
ests, along the interface between these sion 5 (Oata and Oocumentation), fo- tronomical databases separately from
areas. cused further on this topic. What is the role played by astronomical libraries.
The meeting was structured so as to aimed at is nothing less than the in- Conferences such as this are of great
prioritize discussion. Twenty-odd in- creasingly better integration of data and help in combating "photonic provincial-
vited talks were complemented by information that the astronomer has to ism" (0. Wells). The lowering of bound-
around 70 posters wh ich were on dis- deal with, whether bibliographic, sym- aries, and the bridging of what were until
play throughout. A number of talks cov- bolic, numeric, image, or whatever. recently distinct areas, can only be for
ered database and archive usage on the Following this conference, one no the betterment of our science.
part of extant projects (IUE, HST,
ROSAT, HIPPARCOS, COBE, etc.). Re-
ference was made to the myriad
databases constituting a back-drop to
such large projects. Panchromatic as- The New MIDAS Release: 92NOV
tronomy is certainly the order of the day.
Subsequent talks included coverage of: ESO Image Processing Group
classification-oriented front-ends for
databases; current research and per-
spectives in the information retrieval The new 92NOV release of MIOAS is The introduction of source code con-
community; data security issues; the as- now available for general distribution. trol and other CASE tools for code pro-
tronomer's research environment; and The one-year release cycle introduced duction in MIOAS not only improves the
other topics. Poster papers covered last year has made it possible to extend development cycle but also provides
such themes as: statistical and pattern the validation tests significantly. The interesting statistics as a side effect.
recognition studies; visualization; quali- current release is actually based on the The number of source code lines is
ty control of data; thesauri; sky survey development version of MIOAS frozen in shown in Table 1 for different types of
databases; and many descriptions of August. This frozen version is first going files, where FORTRAN and C corre-
functionality offered by particular pro- through a one month ((-test inside ESO, spond to actual programme code, while
jects. after wh ich aß-test version is sent out to prg refers to high-level MIOAS pro-
A feature of note, regarding this con- 5-10 test sites. The final release version cedures. Oocumentation is mostly in the
ference, was the fact that the role of is made in the course of November, form of ~TEX or ASCII help files. In a
libraries (paradigmatic large databases, taking into account the different test re- few cases, the size has decreased due
of course, even if not always in elec- ports. We hope that this rigorous test to revisions and rearrangements of old
tronic form) in astronomy was ad- procedure and full configuration control code. For the first time, the new release
dressed. A discussion panel involving of the source code will provide a stable contains more C than FORTRAN code.
librarians from ESO, AAO and others, as and reliable system for the users. The change is caused by a significant

80
number of MIDAS core commands be-
ing optimized and rewritten in C. Most of
the astronomical applications are still First Announcement of the 5 th ESO/ST-ECF
written in FORTRAN. The increase in
MIDAS procedures indicates that many
DATA ANALYSIS WORKSHOP
new commands are added by combin- ESO, Karl-Schwarzschild-Straße 2
ing basic MIDAS applications, thereby D-W8046 Garehing, FRG
reusing code al ready written. The 20% April 26-28, 1993
increase in documentation since the
91 MAY release reflects the emphasis The aim of the Workshop is to provide a forum for discussions of astronomical
put on better documentation during software techniques and algorithms. It is held annually du ring the spring (ApriI/May)
MIDAS command verification in recent and centres on a different astronomical area each time. The Workshop will be held at
years. the ESO headquarters where there is room for 100 participants only. We may therefore
The size of the source code can also have to reject some people and recommend you to register weil before the deadline
(1993-March-01) either through normal mail or E-mail.
be divided into the main MIDAS classes.
TI,e topic lor the 1993 Oata Analysis Workshop is the analysis 01 direct imaging. The
As a sampie, Table 2 shows some main
scientilic section 01 the meeting will consist of three sessions each starting witl, a main
categories, namely "core" MIDAS, talk after which papers 01 approximately 10 minutes duration can be presented. The
graphie user interfaces (gui), system ap- last day is reserved for the MIOAS user's meeting and special sessions.
plications (applic), standard reductions The tentative agenda is as foliows:
(stdred) and general application pack-
Analysis of Direct Imaging Data
ages (contrib). Whereas the basic sys-
tem has been constant in size, a major April 26: 14:00-18:00: Surface Photometry
increase for standard reduction pack- April 27: 09:00-12:30: Point Source Photometry
14:00-17:00: Time Series Analysis
ages and general applications can
17:00-18:00: European FITS Committee
be seen in the last release. This is a April 28: 09:00-12:30: MIOAS users' meeting
direct result of the stabilization of the 13:00-14:00: European FITS Committee
MIDAS core system wh ich has enabled 14:00-17:00: User Interfaces and Oata Acquisition
us to put more emphasis on new app-
We especially welcome contributions on algorithms and techniques for: time series
lications.
analysis 01 non-equally sampled data, calibration 01 photometry, and shapes of
The 92NOV release contains a large extended objects. We encourage people to present their work in these areas even il
number of improvements and new ap- they are only ideas. After each introductory talk, there will be a more informal
plications. The table file system was sig- discussion where such contributions can be made. There will also be a poster session
nificantly enhanced by making it possi- where people can present short contributions. The special session on Graphical User
ble to store arrays of values in individual Interfaces and Oata Acquisition will also include instrument control and on-line pro-
elements. This makes it fully compatible cessing. Proceedings 01 tl,e scientilic sessions will be published.
with the Binary Table Extension pro- The scientilic organizing committee includes: P. Grosbel (Chairman) P. Benvenuti
posed for FITS. Its basic routines were O. Baade S. O'Odorico
optimized so that it now can handle big R. H. Warmeis
tables with a size of over 100 Mbytes. Contact address: Resy de Ruijsscher,
Important new applications were added, Attn.: 5th Oata Analysis Workshop,
such as a join of tables with uncertain- European Southern Observatory,
ties, which can be used for cross iden- Karl-Schwarzschild-Straße 2,
tification of objects in tables when only O-W8046 Garching, FRG.
approximate coordinates are known. E-mail: daw@eso.org (Internet)
The FITS reader/ writer were upgraded

Table 1: Size of source code for different fife types in units of 1000 fines to support the new proposed FITS ex-
tensions for Binary Tables and Images.
MIOAS File type
release The graphie and display commands
FORTRAN C prg LATEX Help have been improved. More and better
fonts were added to the plotting pack-
90 MAY 211 175 26 42 24 age, which also now provides more con-
90 NOV 210 199 23 41 24 trol to the user. The interactive "VlEW"
91 MAY 191 180 33 48 29 command gives much better options to
91 NOV 210 204 29 59 34 display images. The PostScript output
92 NOV 217 275 34 62 36
files generated are now encapsulated
and can be included more easily in other
documents. A first set of Graphical User
Table 2: Size of source code in different directories in Mbytes
Interfaces has been included in this re-
MIOAS Oirectory lease to give a feeling for how the man-
release machine interface can be improved for
"core" gui applic stdred contrib MIDAS applications. The current inter-
faces were developed both at La Silla
91 MAY 12.4 - 1.4 1.9 2.0
and in Garehing as prototypes to evalu-
91 NOV 11.5 - 1.4 1.5 3.4
92 NOV 1.5 2.4 5.0
ate different designs. They will be mod-
12.0 3.5
ified to conform to a general ESO Look

81
& Feel based on OSF/Motif depending source photometry. OEC, HP/Apollo and IBM, respectively.
on the user feedback. There are now more than 160 regis- The MIOAS site data-base as weil as
Significant contributions were ad- tered MIOAS sites, of wh ich approxi- problem reports are available through
ded in the application area as weil. The mately 100 are in the ESO member the starcat account on the host
IRSPEC reduction was revised by T. States, 30 in other European countries dbhost.hq.eso.org.
Oliva, while an image restoration and and 16 in North America. Since many of A number of MIOAS information ser-
co-addition application, based on ideas these sites have several different com- vices are provided through Internet or
of L. Lucy, was added by R. Hook (ST- puter systems, this represents a signifi- e-mail. A bulletin board can be ac-
ECF). A Time Series Analysis context, cantly larger number of installations. Our cessed by login on the esobb account
wh ich includes analysis of non-equally current statistics (not fully complete) on bbhost.hq.eso.org. Oocumentation
spaced data, was made by A. Schwar- show that 70 % of the systems run and patches can be obtained through
zenberg-Czerny. Finally, a photometry UNIX, while the remainder have VAX/ anonymous ftp from ftphost.hq.eso.org.
scheduling programme was introduced VMS. Of the UNIX systems, the distribu- General questions and problems can be
by A. T. Young as the first application in tion between different vendors is 42 %, mailed to the MIOAS hot-line account
a new context for calibrations of point- 21%,15% and 7% for SUN/SPARC, midas at eso.org.

FFT Removal of Pattern Noise in CCO Images

E. J. WA MPL ER, ESO

1. Introduction
a simple way has been found to obtain a tail. Briefly, the technique is a crude
The second-generation CCO detec- considerable reduction in the pattern approximation of Wiener, or optimal,
tors at ESO have very greatly reduced noise seen in the ESO CCO frames. FFT filtering. See Brault and White
readout noise. This noise reduction Because this method may be useful to (1971) or Press et al. (1988) for descrip-
allows ESO astronomers to extend their others, it is described here in some de- tions of Wiener filtering using FFT.
observations to fainter sources. Unfor-
tunately, with the lower detector
background, electronic interference
noise now often becomes the limiting
background noise source. It is thought
that this noise is mostly generated by
the switching power supplies that are
used in the CCO controllers (Roland
Reiss, private communication). These
are to be replaced in the near future by
less noisy power supplies, but in the
meantime it is useful to search for ways
to remove the interference from existing
frames as weil as to develop tools to
cope with possible future problems.
After experimenting with the MIOAS
Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) packages,

Figure 1: A comparison of an unfiltered frame Figure 2: Frames produced during the filtering process. a: The real FFT image of the raw input
(Iower half of the image) with a FFT filtered frame. b: The raw input frame with the stars replaced by the median value of the background.
image (upper half). c: The real FFT image of the frame shown in panel b. d: The real FFT image after setting all low
amplitude pixels (both positive and negative) equal to zero.

82
2. FFT Cleaning of CCO Frames the data frame. First, any low frequency to the application of a Wiener filter to the
irregularities of the frame are removed. transform except that replacement by
Figure 1 shows a split-frame image of Then, using the MIDAS command zero creates a filter function that is a
SN 1987 A taken with SUSI in Sep- STATISTICS/IMAGE, the median value truncation rather than a gradual roll-off.
tember 1991 using a very narrow-band of the background is determined and set This is not too serious as we will iterate
redshifted He 11 A4686 filter. The lower to some convenient value. By using the the resulting frame once. Because
part of Figure 1 shows the received data MIDAS command REPLACElIMAGE, all MIDAS does not have a simple proce-
frame, wh ich is contaminated with elec- pixel values above the highest ones dure for constructing and applying FFT
tronic interference. The upper part of the found in the noise signal are replaced by filters and because the FFT procedures
figure shows a matching section of the the background level. The result of this are so fast, it takes less time to run
same frame after using the cleaning pro- operation on the example given here is through the procedures twice than it
cedure described here. The beginning shown in Figure 2 b. This modified frame does to construct an optimal filter. In
steps of the procedure are shown in is then transformed using FFT/IMAGE. any case, the results of the interactive
Figure 2. Frame 2 a shows the real FFT The real part of the clipped image trans- procedure described here, seem to be
image of the frame. For illustration pur- form is shown in Figure 2 c. Note that nearly as good as those that could be
poses I am only showing the real image the background from the science signal, obtained by a more careful filtering pro-
in the transform domain; the imaginary which, for our present purposes, be- cedure.
image is similar in appearance. The haves as a noise source, has now been The filtered images in the transform
pattern in Figure 2 a is dominated by the greatly reduced. REPLACE IMAGE is domain are transformed back to the
transform of the science data in the used again to set all low amplitude com- measurement domain by using the
frame. The first step in separating the ponents of Figure 2 c and its imaginary MIDAS command FFT/INVERSE. This
interference from the data and counterpart to zero. The result of this inverse transform results in real and im-
background noise is to remove as much operation is shown in Figure 2d. aginary frames wh ich must be com-
as possible of the science signal from This replacement procedure is similar bined by taking the square root of the
sum of the squares (remember that the
square of an imaginary number is nega-
tive). Figure 3a shows the output frame.
Note that both the science signal and
the shot-noise in the input frame have
now been greatly reduced, although
faint evidence of the input signal at the
positions of the bright stars can be
seen. Subtracting the output frame from
the input frame gives a substantial re-
duction of the pattern noise (see
Fig. 3 b). However, because a rather
strong cut was used to filter the images
in the transform domain some residual
patterned structure remains in the
background. For instance, note that a
structured band still remains at the top
of the frame. A strong cut of the frames
in the transform domain was needed to
suppress the science signal in the out-
put image. But now that we have a first
estimate of the pattern noise at the star
positions in the input frame (Fig. 3 b), we
can replace those star images with this
pattern. A mask for this can be pro-
duced from the star field by using the
MIDAS commands REPLACElIMAGE,
FILTER/SMOOTH and then REPLACEI
IMAGE again. Try to have the mask ex-
tend beyond the immediate neighbour-
hood of the star positions. Then by us-
ing REPLACElIMAGE and INSERT/IM-
AGE the stars in the input image are
replaced by the pattern image. This op-
eration further reduces the signal from
the science data and allows us to lower
the cut values for the transform domain
Figure 3: Frames produced during the filtering process (conlinued). a: The inverse FFT of the images. Figure 3 c shows a second iter-
filtered FFT frames (Fig. 2d). The interference paNern is now clearly seen with onlya faint trace ation of the FFT input frame and Fig-
of the star images. b: The result of subtracting the pattern noise (panel a) from the input image.
ure 3d shows a comparison of the final
Note the imperfect cancellation of the paNern noise. c: The raw input frame with the star
output with the intermediate output.
images replaced by an appropriate seclion from the FFT image of the pattern noise (panel a).
Here the cosmic rays have also been replaced with the median background value. d: After the Finally, Figure 4 shows the back-
FFT of panel c was clipped, the new image of the inverse transform was subtracted from the ground statistics obtained for a patch of
raw input image. The resulting output image (upper half of the frame) is compared with the sky in the frames produced during the
intermediate output from the first pass (panel b, lower half). different steps of the pattern rem oval

83
 that the distribution of values is nearly
Gaussian. After the second iteration the
width of the distribution has been further
reduced, allowing improved detection of
threshold stars. The use of a proper
3
Wiener filter would result in optimal
.:... :.:'\J noise reduction but would require a
>- :
.' l MIDAS programme that could adjust the
U I ..
Z I
value of low amplitude signals in the
W .' r
~ 2 -' transform domain by factors that de-
0 1
pend on the signal amplitude. The
~
J
I
~
-' cleaning procedure described here is
I
0
r logically very similar to the procedure by
0 I
.....:l I Adorf and Catchpole (1992) for creating
1 a filter by isolating a domain in Fourier
power space. The sharp edges of his
domains are equivalent to a box filter, as
is used here, rather than the optimal
Wiener filter.
o I am indebted to L. Lucy for pointing
out the references to Wiener filtering.
180 190 200 210 220 230 240 250 260
PIXEL VALUE
References
Figure 4: The background statistics of the images. Ootted line: the input image; dashed line: an
intermediate output; solid line: the final output. See the text. (1) Brault. JW. and White, O.R. 1971, A & A.,
13,169-189.
[2] Press, W.H., Flannery, B.P., Teukolwsky,
S.A. and Vetleling, W.T. 1988, Numerical
process. The distribution of pixel values reduced after the first pass through the Recipes in C (Cambridge Universily
for the input frame (dotted line) shows FFT filter. At this stage the distribution of Press, Cambridge) p. 434 ff.
the wide, flat peak caused by the inter- pixel values in the log-linear plot looks (3) Adorf, H.M. and Calchpole, R. 1992, in
ference pattern noise. This is greatly like an inverted parabola, suggesting ST-ECF Newsletter, February, 16-17.

Adaptive Optics on the 3.6-rn Telescope:

Latest News!
After several strenuous months of
assembly and testing, the Come-On-
Plus Adaptive Optics system has finally
come to life in the "Laboratoire d'lnter-
terometrie Infrarouge et d'Optique Tur-
bulente (LYOT)" of the Observatoire de
Meudon, under ONERA's supervision.
Thanks to LASERDOT, who designed
the control computer and the deform-
able mirror, the closed-Ioop 40-Hz
bandwidth performance (at 0 dB) has
been achieved. The LEP (Laboratoires
d'Electronique Philips) delivered the
EBCCD (see The Messenger No. 67), a
low-flux wavefront sensor detector,
wh ich is a quantum noise limited detec-
tor with a switchable frame frequency
from 25 to 400 Hz. The 52-actuator de-
formable mirror has been tested with
successful results. The actuators, made
of a very hard piezoelectric material,
show no hysteresis or heat dissipation
at all, and the mechanical bandwidth is
more than 10KHz (far more than re-
quired for an atmospherical turbulence tion, the mirror can lower its own wave- be tested on the sky, under real condi-
correction). The surface quality is also front residual error to less than 20 nm tions in December 1992.
very good: by means of a self-correc- rms. The whole system is now ready to E. GENORON and N. HUB/N, ESO

84
Where is MIDAS Available?
R. OE RUIJSSCHER, ESO

During the past years, the ESO Agreement with ESO was signed, the must sign a User Agreement before dis-
MIDAS Image Processing System has name of the institute and the location, tribution material can be shipped.
been exported to a large number of arranged by country. The necessary forms can be obtained
scientific institutes in the world. The lat- The MIDAS system is available, free of by contacting Resy de Ruijsscher at the
est count shows that MIDAS is now charge, to all non-profit research in- Image Processing Group (ESO-Gar-
available at about 160 institutes in 37 stitutes, whereas other organizations or ching, address on the last page) or
countries. For those who would like to companies may be charged a nominal by sending an e-mail message to
know where, the list below indicates the fee to cover distribution. "midas eso.org".
date when the corresponding User Institutes interested in using MIDAS

Date Institute Location Date Institute Location

Argentina 25 Nov 90 Laboratoire d'Astronomie Spatiale Marseille

14 Jul92 Instituto de Astronomia y Ffsica Buenos Aires 29 Nov 90 Departement d'Astrophysique Nice
dei Espacio Universite de Nice
Australia 06 Dec 90 Petrou Service d'Astrophysique Gif-sur-Yvette
23 Jun 92 11 Dec 90 Equipe d'Astrophysique Univer- Montpellier
Mount Stromlo and Siding Spring Weston A.C.T.
Observatory site Montpellier II (Sciences)
02 Dec 90 Centre d'Oceanologie de Mar- Marseille
Austria
seille
05 Nov 90 Institut für Astronomie der Univer- Innsbruck
13 Dec 90 Laboratoire de Cancerologie Ex- Marseille
sität Innsbruck
perimentale, Faculte de Medecine
06 Nov 90 Institut für Astronomie der Univer- Wien
20 Jan 91 Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris Paris
sitätWien
23 Jun 91 12 Mar91 Observatoire de la Cote d'Azur Nice
Institut der Astronomie der Univer- Graz
sität Graz 15Apr91 Observatoire Midi Pyrenees Bagneres
Bigorre
Belgium
02 Jul91 Observatoire Astronomique de Strasbourg
12 Nov 90 University of Antwerp Antwerpen Strasbourg
18 Nov 90 Institut d'Astrophysique de Liege Liege 02 Sept 91 Observatoire de Besan90n Besan90n
18 Nov 90 Koninklijke Sterrewacht van Brussel 10 Jan 91 Laboratoire de Mecanique et Marseille
Belgie d'Acoustique
25 Nov 90 Sterrenkundig Observatorium Gent 03 Jul91 LSEET, Universite de Toulon La Garde
17 Mar92 Universite Libre de Bruxelles Bruxelles
13 Feb 92 Centre de Physique Theorique Marseille
Bulgaria 18 Feb 92 Centre d'Etude Spatiale des Toulouse
15 Jun 92 Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Sofia Rayonnements
Canada 26 Mar92 IRAM St.-Martin-
08 Jan 91 Dept. of Physics and Astronomyl Calgary, Alberta d'Heres
Univ. of Calgary Germany
Chile 05 Nov 90 Universitäts-Sternwarte München München
08 Jan 92 Pontificia Universidad Cat61ica de Santiago 06 Nov 90 Landessternwarte Känigstuhl Heidelberg
Chile 11 Nov 90 Astronomisches Institut der Tübingen
31 May 92 Instituto Isaac Newton Santiago Universität Tübingen
P.R. China 11 Nov 90 Institut für Astronomie und Berlin
12 Mar91 Beijing Astronomical Observatory Beijing Astrophysik TU Berlin
09 Sep 91 Shanghai Observatory Shanghai 11 Nov 90 Dr. Remeis-Sternwarte Bamberg
12 Nov 90 Radioastronomisches Institut der Bonn
Czechoslovakia Universität Bonn
24 May 92 Ondrejov Observatory Ondrejov 14 Nov 90 Max-Planck-Institut für Aeronomie Katlenburg-
15 Jun 92 Astronomicallnstitute, Siovak Bratislava Lindau
Academy of Sciences 25 Nov 90 Max-Planck-Institut für Garching bei
Denmark Extraterrestrische Physik München
04 Nov 90 Niels Bohr Institut Copenhagen 29 Nov 90 Zentralinstitut für Astrophysik Potsdam
Estonia 02 Dec 90 Institut für Theoretische Physik Kiel
05 Nov 90 Tartu Astrophysical Observatory Toravere und Sternwarte der Universität
02 Dec 90 Institut für Theoretische Physik Frankfurt am
Finland
und Astrophysik Main
02 Nov90 University of Helsinki Observatory Helsinki 09 Dec 90 Max-Planck-Institut für Garching bei
France Astrophysik München
11 Nov 90 Observatoire de Lyon SI. Genis Laval 20 Dec 90 Max-Planck-Institut für Garching bei
11 Nov 90 Observatoire de Meudon Meudon Extraterrestrische Physik München
11 Nov 90 Groupe d'Astrophysique de Gre- Grenoble 20 Jan 91 Institut für Astronomie und Würzburg
noble Astrophysik
12 Nov 90 CEN-SACLAYIDPHPE/SEPH GiflYvette 31 Jan 91 Astronomisches Institut der Ruhr- Bochum
18Nov90 Observatoire de Marseille Marseille Universität Bochum
18Nov90 Observatoire de Haute-Provence SI. Michell'Ob- 06 Feb 91 Max-Planck-Institut für Heidelberg
servatoire Astronomie

85
Date Institute Location Date Institute Location

27 Feb 91 Max-Planck-Institut für Radio- Bonn 06Jan 92 Scuola Normale Superiore Pisa
astronomie 30 Jan 92 SISSA Trieste
03 Mar 91 Karl-Schwarzschild-Observatory Tautenburg 11 May 92 Istituto Astrofisica Spaziale Frascati
(Thüringer Landessternwarte)
Israel
02 Apr91 Deutsches Museum München
10 Sep 91 School of Physics and Astronomy/ RamatAviv
10Apr91 Universitäts-Sternwarte Jena
Tel Aviv Univ.
03 Oct 91 Hamburger Sternwarte Hamburg
17 Nov 91 Sternwarte Sonneberg Sonneberg Japan
21 Jan 92 Max-Planck-Institut lür Kern- Heidelberg 21 Oct 91 National Astronomical Observa- Tokyo
physik tory
17 Jan 92 Max-Planck-Institut lür Garching bei 15 Jun 92 University 01 Tokyo Tokyo
Extraterrestrische Physik München
24 May 92 MPE-Außenstelie Berlin Berlin Mexieo
27 Oct 92 Institut für Physikalische Stuttgart 04 Mar91 Instituto Nacional de Astrolisica, Puebla
Elektronik Optica y Electronica

Greeee The Netherlands

29 Oct 91 Foundation lor Research and Heraklion 18 Nov 90 Astronomicallnstitute, University Amsterdam
Technology 01 Amsterdam
Hungary 25 Nov 90 Space Research Organization Utrecht
02 Dec 90 Konkoly Observatory Budapest Netherlands
13 May 92 Gothard Observatory Szombathely 24 Jan 91 Kapteyn Astronomicallnstitute Groningen
14 Apr91 Laboratory lor Space Research Groningen
Ireland 11 Jul 91 Sterrewacht Leiden Leiden
05 Dec 90 The Dublin Institute for Advanced Dublin 17Nov91 Astronomicallnstitute BBL Utrecht
Studies 05 Mar92 ESA Astrophysics Division Noordwijk
17 Feb91 University College Galway/De- Galway
partment 01 Physics NewZealand
24 May 92 University College Dublin/Physics Dublin 06 Dec 90 Department of Physics University Christchurch
Department 01 Canterbury
India Poland
09 Dec 90 Indian Institute 01 Astrophysics Bangalore 17 Feb 91 Astronomical Observatory 01 the Warszawa
13 Dec 90 Inter University Centre lor Pune Warsaw University
Astronomy and Astrophysics 09 Sep 91 Institute 01 Astronomy/N. Coper- Torun
11 Jul 91 Udaipur Solar Observatory Udaipur nicus University
27 Feb 91 U.P. State Observatory Nainital
02 Nov 92 ISRO Satellite Centre Bangalore Portugal
24 Mar92 Centro de Astrolisica da Univer- Porto
Italy
sidade do Porto
18 Nov 90 ASTRONET Documentation Trieste
Facility Russia
07 Jan 91 Dipartimento Scienze Fisiche Napoli 13Jan91 Institute of Astronomy, Russian Moscow
07 Jan 91 Istituto TE.S.R.E./C.N.R. Bologna Academy 01 Sciences
08 Jan 91 Istituto di Fisica Cosmica Milano
Spain
08 Jan 91 Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri Firenze
11 Nov 90 Universidad Complutense Facul- Madrid
07 Jan 91 Istituto di Fisica Cosmica e Palermo
tad de Fisicas
Applicazione dellinlormatica/CNR
25 Nov 90 Laboratori d'Astrolisica IEC. Barcelona
07 Jan 91 Stazione Astronomica - Cagliari Cagliari
07 Jan 91 Nordic Optical Telescope Santa Cruz de
28 Jan 91 Dipartimento di Fisica, Universita Arcavacata di
La Palma
della Cantabria Rende
10 Mar91 ESA Villafranca Satellite Tracking Madrid
20 Feb 91 Teramo Astronomical Observatory Teramo
Station
10 Mar91 IFSI-CNR Frascati, Roma
10 Apr91 Dept. de Fisica Moderna, Facultad Santander
10 Mar91 Dip. Astronomia Universita di Bologna
de Ciencias/Univ. de Cantabri
Bologna
22 Apr 91 Universidad Autonoma de Madrid Madrid
10 Mar 91 Cattedra di Astrolisica, Universita Perugia
30 Oct 91 Instituto de Astrofisica de Tenerile, Islas
di Perugia
Canarias Canarias
02 Apr91 International Center lor Relativistic Roma
04 Mar92 Centro Astronomico de Yebes Guadalajara
Astrophysics
02 Apr91 Osservatoria Astronomico di Napoli South Afriea
Capodimonte 15 Oct 92 University 01 South Africa Pretoria
02 Apr91 Osservatorio Astronomico di Milano
Sweden
Brera
11 Nov90 AstronomicalObservatory Uppsala
02 Apr91 Astronomical Observatory Monte Porzio
11 Nov90 Stockholm Observatory Saltsjöbaden
Catone, Roma
02 Dec 90 Lund Observatory Lund
24 Apr91 Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste
04 Jun 91 Onsala Space Observatory Onsala
Trieste
24 Apr 91 Osservatorio Astronomico di Palermo Switzerland
Palermo 18 Nov 90 Observatoire de GenilVe Sauverny
13 May 91 Dipartimento di Fisica, Universita Milano 11 Jan 91 Astronomisches Institut der Binningen
di Milano Universität Basel
22 May91 Istituto Astronomico Roma 19 Feb 91 Institut d'Astronomie/Universite Chavannes-
05 Aug 91 Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova de Lausanne des-Bois
Padova 16 Jun 91 Institute 01 Astronomy ETH Zürich Zürich
05 Aug 91 Osservatorio Astronomico di Pino Torinese, 24 May 92 University 01 Berne/Astronomical Berne
Tori no Torino Institute

86
Date Institute Location Date Institute Location

Turkey 20 Jun 91 Smithsonian Astrophysical Cambridge

26 May91 Istanbul University Observatory Istanbul Observatory
Research Center 23 Jun 91 Space Telescope Science Insti- Baltimore
tute
29 Sep 91 University of Wisconsin/Space Madison
Ukraine
Physics Dept.
28 Feb 91 Main Astronomical Observatory, Kiev Goloseevo 030ct91 NASA Goddard Space Flight Greenbelt
Ukrainian Academy of Sciences
Center
030ct91 Canada-France-Hawaii-Tele- Hawaii
United Kingdom scope Corp.
13 Nov 90 Armagh Observatory Armagh 17Nov91 University of Colorado Boulder
19 Aug 91 Leicester University X-ray Leicester 31 May92 University of Maryland College Park
Astronomy Group 29 Juli 92 Penn State University University Park
24 May92 University College London/Optical London 06 Aug 92 Naval Research Laboratory/Space Washington
Science Lab. Science Division
20 Oct 92 Department of Astronomy/Univer- Manchester 10 Nov 92 Steward Observatory Tucson
sity of Manchester

Uruguay
United States 31 Mar92 Departamento de Astronomia/ Montevideo
02 Dec 90 Physics Dept., University of Madison Facultad de Ciencias
Wisconsin
19 Apr91 NASA/lUE Observatory Lanham
Seabrook Venezuela
24 Apr 91 University of Wisconsin Madison 230ct91 Centro de Investigaciones de Merida
Astronomy Department Astronomia

The End 01 the Earth?

Titles play an important role in all two American astronomers who discov- without any damage, although it would
areas of communication. A catching line ered it in 1862, was already seen in still be a very spectacular sight in the
on top of a long (and boring) text Beijing in 1737, and possibly even much sky.
seduces the reader to have a closer look earlier in that same country. It seems to Such encounters with long-period
- you realize of course that that is exact- have a rather unpredictable motion be- comets are much more rare than as-
Iy the reason why you are reading this! cause of irregular outgassing from the teroid fly-bys. For instance, the one on
The boulevard press plays this game all cometary nucleus wh ich causes a vari- December 8 by (4179) Toutatis was
the time, and most often you will find able, decelerating jet-effect. This is pretty close, at a distance of about
that the implied sensation isn't one, af- known as the "non-gravitational force", 3.5 million kilometres only, and giving
ter all. But you spend your valuable time a phenomenon that has been known the astronomers a great opportunity to
reading on to the end... hoping that since the 1820's, when it was found watch an asteroid from close quarters.
something really interesting will show up impossible to explain the motion of Since asteroids are not plagued by non-
further down the column. comet P/Encke by the gravitational at- gravitational forces (they supposedly
Scary titles like the one above seil weil traction from the Sun and the planets have no ices which evaporate when they
nowadays. That is at least the impres- alone. are near the sun), Toutatis' orbit can be
sion we just had here at ESO, trying to Extrapolating the motion of P/Swift- calculated with great accuracy and
answer a true deluge of questions about Tuttle forwards in time, it can be seen there is no risk that it hits the Earth, at
cosmic catastrophes. During the recent that it will take about another 134 years least this time. Still, there have been
months, newspapers all over the world before it again comes close to the Earth. reports in the press that this will surely
have been full of stories about "Lurking According to one particular orbital pre- happen in a not too distant future.
Danger from Space", "Giant Comet Will diction, and further assuming that the As a solar-system astronomer, I must
Collide with the Earth", "The World Ends comet for some reason will be about 14 admit that I read such catastrophic re-
in 2126", and the like. Solar-system as- days late, it can be shown that it will ports with very mixed feelings. On the
tronomers from many countries have pass very close to the Earth on Au- one hand, it gives you an impression of
done their best to explain a frightened gust 14, 2126; a further empirical fine- being a useful member of society when
pub/ic about the real risks of cosmic tuning of the predicted orbit will actually the media ask you to express your opin-
collisions, why the dinosaurs were extin- make it collide with the Earth. The very ion about these events, and especially
guished, how many Megatons the ener- whisper about this possibility was of when you can put things right by refer-
gy of a 1-km asteroid moving at 20 km/ course more than enough to immediate- ring to the extremely low probability of
sec is equivalent to, how big the hole will Iy alert the media; from a vague possibil- something disastrous happening. (You
be or what happens if it falls into the ity with a lot of "if's", the unavoidable may sometimes have abrief thought
ocean, etc. took its course and in many newspapers about the precarious position of the as-
Much of this activity is the outcome of a disastrous collision soon became the tronomer-priests of earlier ages who
the recent announcement about the firm reality. Most of the reports of were believed to be the masters of na-
possibility that the Earth may be hit by course completely failed to mention the ture, at least until they made a wrong
comet P/Swift-Tuttle, which was finally vanishing probability of such an event - prediction).
recovered earlier this year after 130 if the comet would be just a few minutes On the other hand, I think that we
years. This comet, wh ich is named after too early or too late, it would pass by astronomers must be extremely cau-

87
 tious when we deal with these matters. just to profit by the subsequent attention
Even though cosmic collisions are of the media. We are fortunate that as-
bound to happen sooner or later, it tronomy is reasonably free from the
would be very bad if we were ever sus- problems that plague some of the much
pected of deliberately creating a public more "applied" sciences -let it continue
scare by announcing a possible danger, to be so! The Editor

Table of Contents
H. van der Laan: Jan Hendrik Oort (1900-1992) - Looking Ahead in Wonder . . . 1
Announcement of "2nd Miniworkshop on Large CCDs" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
H. van der Laan: The Idea of the European Southern Observatory . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
G. Bachmann and M. Tarenghi: Developments in ESO/Chile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Paranal (October 1992) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
R.M. West: ESO to Help Central and Eastern European Astronomers . . . . . . . . . 8
Video from the ESO Information Service: The ESO Video Collection . . . . . . . . . . 9
The Editor: ESA Astronaut Claude Nicollier Visits ESO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
A. Moorwood: ISAAC -Infrared Spectrometer and Array Camera for the VLT . .. 10
H. Dekker and S. D'Odorico: UVES, the UV-Visual Echelle Spectrograph for the
VLT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 13
L. Zago: The Choice of the Telescope Enclosures for the VLT . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 17
L. Zago: The VLT Enclosure from the User's Standpoint 19
U. Michold: Something is Going On in the ESO-Libraries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 21
Announcement of SEST Users Meeting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 24
C. Madsen: "Exploring the Universe" from the Desert Gate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 24
IC 1396 .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 25
H. Zodet: ESO in Milan. Some Notes on the Assembly of an ESO Exhibition. . .. 26
Professor Lodewijk Woltjer Elected to the French Academy of Sciences 27
Two European Astronomy Encounters in 1993 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 27
Staff Movements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 27
N.S. van der Bliek et al.: Profile of an ESO Key Programme: Standard Stars for
the Infrared Space Observatory, ISO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 28
G.F. Bignami et al.: SUSI Discovers Proper Motion and Identifies Geminga .... 30
R.M. West and O. Hainaut: New Object at the Edge of the Solar System. . . . . .. 33
H. Hensberge et al.: Long-Term Stability in Classical Photometry . . . . . . . . . . .. 35
G. Cayrel de Strobel: The Contribution of Detailed Analyses of F, G, and K Stars
to the Knowledge of the Stellar Populations of the Galactic Disk . . . . . . . . .. 37
New ESO Preprints (September-November 1992) 42
B. Barbuy et al.: A Study of T Tauri Stars and Li-Rich Giant Star Candidates . . .. 43
MD. Guarnieri et al.: IR Stellar Photometry in Globular Clusters Using IRAC2 . .. 44
J. Storm and A. Moneti: Distances to Extragalactic RR Lyrae Stars Using IRAC2 50
I.F. Mirabel: The Great Annihilator in the Central Region of the Galaxy 51
Announcement of "ESO/OHP Workshop on Dwarf Galaxies" 54
N. Lund: Keeping an Eye on the X-Ray Sky 55
R.F. Peletier and J.H. Knapen: Looking Through the Dust - the Edge-On Galaxy
NGC 7814 in the Near-Infrared . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 57
L. Infante et al.: Dark Matter in CL0017 (z=0.272) 61
R. Gredel and U. Weilenmann: New Features of IRSPEC . '.' . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 62
H.U. Käufl et al.: Timmi at the 3.6-m Telescope 67
A. Smette: Fire at the 1-m Telescope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 70
H. Barwig and K.H. Mantel: Acknowledgement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 70
F. Murtagh: Astronomical Data Handling: Windows of Opportunity and of
Challenge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 71
R. Hook: ESO Computer Networking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 76
P. Grosb01: Electronic Network Access to ESO 79
M. Creze et al.: Report on ALD-II, Astronomy from Large Databases . . . . . . . . .. 80
ESO Image Processing Group: The New MIDAS Release: 92NOV . . . . . . . . . . .. 80
First Announcement of the 5th ESO/St-ECF Data Analysis Workshop. . . . . . . .. 81
E.J. Wampler: FFT Removal of Pattern Noise in CCD Images 82
E. Gendron and N. Hubin: Adaptive Optics on the 3.6-m Telescope: News. . . .. 84
R. de Ruijsscher: Where is MIDAS Available? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 85
The Editor: The End of the Earth? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 87

88