In order to improve the signal-to-noise ratio of HARMONI (E-ELT first light visible and near-infrared integral field VIR spectrometer), a pupil mask has been identified to be included at the fore-optics to limit the background radiation coming into the spectrographs. This mask should rotate synchronously with the telescope pupil during observations

We present the first comparison between the lifetime star formation histories (SFHs) of M31 and Milky Way (MW) satellites. Using the Advanced Camera for Surveys on board the Hubble Space Telescope, we obtained deep optical imaging of Andromeda II (And II; MV = -12.0 log(M sstarf/M ⊙) ~ 6.7) and Andromeda XVI (And XVI; MV = -7.5 log(M sstarf/M ⊙) ~

We present new low-resolution (R ~ 800) optical spectra of 22 Galactic planetary nebulae (PNe) with Spitzer spectra. These data are combined with recent optical spectroscopic data available in the literature to construct representative samples of compact (and presumably young) Galactic disc and bulge PNe with Spitzer spectra. Attending to the

This paper gives an overview of the CARMENES instrument and of the survey that will be carried out with it during the first years of operation. CARMENES (Calar Alto high-Resolution search for M dwarfs with Exoearths with Near-infrared and optical Echelle Spectrographs) is a next-generation radial-velocity instrument under construction for the 3.5m

We present the second generation BLASTbus electronics. The primary purposes of this system are detector readout, attitude control, and cryogenic housekeeping, for balloon-borne telescopes. Readout of neutron transmutation doped germanium (NTD-Ge) bolometers requires low noise and parallel acquisition of hundreds of analog signals. Controlling a

An attitude determination system for balloon-borne experiments is presented. The system provides pointing information in azimuth and elevation for instruments flying on stratospheric balloons over Antarctica. In-flight attitude is given by the real-time combination of readings from star cameras, a magnetometer, sun sensors, GPS, gyroscopes, tilt