Instrumentation Projects

(left) A 3D rendering of MICADO. For reference, the instrument is approximately 7 m tall. MPIA is delivering the warm fore-optics and calibration facilities, which reside in the red-shaded area at the top of MICADO. The right panel shows an expanded engineering drawing of these components. — *(left)* A 3D rendering of MICADO. For reference, the instrument is approximately 7 m tall. MPIA is delivering the warm fore-optics and calibration facilities, which reside in the red-shaded area at the top of MICADO. The *right* panel shows an expanded engineering drawing of these components.

*(left)* A 3D rendering of MICADO. For reference, the instrument is approximately 7 m tall. MPIA is delivering the warm fore-optics and calibration facilities, which reside in the red-shaded area at the top of MICADO. The *right* panel shows an expanded engineering drawing of these components.

History has demonstrated that advances in astronomy go hand in hand with innovation in telescope and instrument technology. Similarly, the collaboration of MPIA scientists and engineers, working with our world-class technical facilities, has placed the institute in a leading role in multiple projects for both ground-based and space-based astronomy.

These projects include state of the art cameras and spectrographs operating at visible and infrared wavelengths on telescopes ranging in diameter from under 20 cm to almost 40 meters. The diversity of these efforts reflects the diversity of scientific interests of the Galaxies and Cosmology group.

For example, the MICADO instrument for the European Extremely Large Telescope will achieve unprecedented spatial resolution and astrometric stability to advance our understanding of the makeup and evolution of our Galaxy and others. MICADO will allow our astronomers to peer closer and with greater sensitivity than ever before at individual objects, such as the active cores of galaxies. At the opposite end of the observing landscape, the Local Volume Mapper, part of the fifth generation of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, will illuminate the process of energy injection into our Galaxy from stars, and it will do so by mapping the spectral line emission of the entire Milky Way, which covers a substantial fraction of the sky.

The LVM employs four small telescopes feeding three spectrographs in an environmentally controlled chamber (left). MPIA is producing the telescopes, which exploit moving flat mirrors (blue and white structures) to direct the light to opto-mechanical components mounted on a stable optical table (dark gray boxes). The first optical table undergoing development and test in the lab at MPIA (right). — The LVM employs four small telescopes feeding three spectrographs in an environmentally controlled chamber *(left)*. MPIA is producing the telescopes, which exploit moving flat mirrors *(blue and white structures)* to direct the light to opto-mechanical components mounted on a stable optical table *(dark gray boxes)*. The first optical table undergoing development and test in the lab at MPIA *(right)*.

The LVM employs four small telescopes feeding three spectrographs in an environmentally controlled chamber *(left)*. MPIA is producing the telescopes, which exploit moving flat mirrors *(blue and white structures)* to direct the light to opto-mechanical components mounted on a stable optical table *(dark gray boxes)*. The first optical table undergoing development and test in the lab at MPIA *(right)*.

The following (alphabetical) list summarizes the current instrumentation projects being pursued by the Galaxies and Cosmology department and provides links to further information.

4MOST – 4-Metre Multi-Object Spectroscopic Telescope at Paranal
Contact Scientists at MPIA: Maria Bergemann (S4 Survey Lead), Wolfgang Gaessler (Local Project Manager)
ARGOS - Advanced Rayleigh guided Ground layer adaptive Optics System, the laser guide star system for the LBT
Contact Scientist at MPIA: Wolfgang Gässler (Local Project Manager)
Euclid - Visible and NIR wide-field imager to map the geometry of the dark Universe
Contact Scientist at MPIA: Knud Jahnke (NISP Instrument Scientist)

Euclid NISP Calibration light-source. Specified, designed, built by MPIA and von Hoerner & Sulger (Schwetzingen) for ESA’s Euclid dark universe mission to be launched in 2023.

Euclid NISP Calibration light-source. Specified, designed, built by MPIA and von Hoerner & Sulger (Schwetzingen) for ESA’s Euclid dark universe mission to be launched in 2023.

LINC-NIRVANA – High Resolution near-infrared camera with Multi-Conjugate Adaptive Optics at the LBT
Contact scientist at MPIA: Tom Herbst (Principal Investigator)
LOCAL VOLUME MAPPER - Integral-field spectroscopic survey instrument targeting the Milky Way, the Magellanic Clouds, and other Local Volume galaxies.
Contact scientist at MPIA: Tom Herbst (Telescope Lead)
MICADO – Multi-AO Imaging Camera for Deep Observations. A first-generation instrument for the European Extremely Large Telescope
Contact scientist at MPIA: Jörg-Uwe Pott (Co-Investigator and Instrument Scientist)
PANIC-4k – Detector upgrade to the PAnoramic Near-Infrared Camera for the Calar Alto 2.2m telescope
Contact scientists at MPIA: Peter Bizenberger (Project Lead), Vianak Naranjo (Detector Scientist)

For a complete list of all current and past MPIA instrumentation projects, consult our overview of ground-based and of space-based projects.