ESO and JRA2 OPTICON have jointly funded e2v technologies to develop a custom CCD for Adaptive Optic Wave Front Sensor (AO WFS) applications. The device, called CCD220, is a compact Peltier-cooled 240×240 pixel frametransfer 8-output back-illuminated sensor. Using the electron-multiplying technology of L3Vision detectors, the device is designed to

Seismicity induces ground vertical and horizontal displacements that could affect the image quality obtained by telescopes in a similar fashion than atmospheric turbulence. In this work, we study the effect of local seismicity relative to atmospheric turbulence upon the image quality of astronomical observations at El Teide observatory, Canary

We present the first detailed abundance analysis of the metal-poor giant ligiant. This star was observed as part of the University of Texas Long-Term Chemical Abundances of Stars in the Halo (CASH) Project. We find that this metal-poor ([Fe/H] =-2.2) star has an unusually high lithium abundance (log ɛ (Li)= +2.1), mild carbon ([C/Fe] =+0.7) and

We present preliminary results obtained from the first year of observations of a new, long-term project of the University of Texas, the Hobby-Eberly Telescope Chemical Abundances of Stars in the Halo (CASH) Project.

We present an abundance analysis of three newly discovered stars from the Hamburg/ESO survey for which HET observations have been obtained as part of the CASH project. Light elemental abundances of all three stars agree with those of other metal-poor stars. This means that they likely formed from well-mixed gas. Upper limits on the heavier neutron

We describe the on-board electronics chain and the on-ground data processing pipeline that will operate on data from the Herschel-SPIRE photometer to produce calibrated astronomical products. Data from the three photometer arrays will be conditioned and digitised by on-board electronics and sent to the ground with no further on-board data