Gallery

Instrument

09 Jul 2015: cleaning of the VIS vacuum tank

Gerardo preparing the radiation shield rails
MORE LATER...

06 Jul 2015: VIS vacuum tank arrives Calar Alto

Wrapped vacuum tank inside its climatic chamber
ALL 120 IMAGES (by Marco Azzaro)

02 Jul 2015: VIS vacuum tank departs from Köaut;nigstuhl

Wrapped vacuum tank on its truck, together with the radiation shield, pumps... ready to leave

24 Jun 2015: Front-end commissioning, second run (FE-COM#0.2)

20 May & 12 Jun 2015: Fabry-Pérot etalons optical bench at Calar Alto

Newport optical bench inside its wooden box
Plastic pipes
Optical bench inside the calibration room

18 May 2015: fully-assembled NIR optical bench during AIV phase at IAA

"Visual report on the progress of the NIR channel" (by Pedro J. Amado)

14 May 2015: NIR and VIS pipeline GUI computers in temporary location

kapteyn and lacaille...
... near the main computers rack (or is it the Space Odyssey monolith?)

30 Apr 2015: Front-end commissioning, first run (FE-COM#0.1)

In the control room during the second night
MORE LATER...

29 Apr 2015: Front-end at the 3.5m Cassegrain focus

Making the last adjustments (with two-tonne PMAS attached below)
First telescope moving tests (successful)

23 Apr 2015: Front-end in the 3.5m laboratory

Front-end with electronics box on red standard support
Same as above
Same as above, but with many colourful screwdrivers in cardboard box
Opto-mechanics: general view inside
Copper connectors of A&G CCD camera (foreground)
Second lens of the atmospheric dispersion corrector and A&G camera optics
ADC#2 and part of the aluminium test trunk
Closer view to A&G camera optics, ADC#2 wheel and electronics connectors
Julian and Gerardo checking fibres alignment

21 Apr & 13 May 2015: NIR rack cabinet

Front during assembly (exposure meter, NIR main and space computers and space for interlocks, from top to bottom)
Closer view of the ExpMeter electronics and main and spare ross
Rear during assembly
Cover with CARMENES logo
Detector cryostat electronics in temporary rack (between NIR CalUnit -left- and detector cryostat -right-)
The latest sketch

17 Apr 2015: NIR detector and continuous-flow cryostat departs from Königstuhl

Big wooden box on a truck on its way to Granada

14 Apr 2015: NIR detector and continuous-flow cryostat ready for acceptance

20 Mar 2015: new real and forward-simulated images

A&G: real "flat" image of the acquisition and guiding (A&G) camera, without binning. Sides are 180 arcsec, north is up, east is left. Non-vignetting circular area is larger than 200 arcsec. The optical fibre holes, separated by 88 arcsec, are in the centre north (science) and and centre south (sky - surrounded by an "umbra")
NIR 1: pictogramme showing the different orientations of the mosaic of two CMOS detectors of the NIR channel: wavelengths (in red, left and right), orders (in red, centre), mechanics reference frame (in blue), fits images (in yellow). Jerry is the "left" detector, "Tom" is the right one. Background image is a forward-simulated image using a real bias image, a U-Ne lamp high-resolution spectrum, and a Phoenix synthetic model of a field M dwarf
NIR 2: zoom of a forward-simulated spectrum of the NIR channel (centre of "Tom") showing real line wavelengths and intensities of the IAG Fabry-Pérot etalon (fibre "A", top of order) and U-Ne hollow-cathode lamp (fibre "B", bottom of order) as measured by a Fourier transform spectrograph

17 Mar 2015: Jose's visit to Institut für Astrophysik Göttingen

The NIR and VIS Fabry-Pérot etalons on a temporary optical bench with their pumps
MORE LATER...

12 Mar 2015: a customized "CARMENES" four-port long-cable USB hub

06 Mar 2015: Front-end attached to a telescope simulator at MPIA

Front-end being tested. "The alu profile beam on top of the FE is the mount for our projection optics simulating the telescope optical beam as well as a CCD camera to monitor and measure the flexures".

05 Mar 2015: VIS channel electronics at LSW

Controllers of the continuous-flow cryostat and (partly) of the CCD detector
Rack with wolf main and spare (black) and exposure-meter electronics (white)

04 Mar 2015: a custom-made steel rack for arranging the plastic curtain strips of the CAHA coudé room clean-shower tent

25 Feb 2015: VIS channel initial alignment completed

The red alignment laser dot is within 1 mm of the pre-calculated position on the VIS spectrograph detector plane represented by the auxiliary mask seen in the picture, and the alignment is within 1 mm at all optical surfaces through the complete system

25 Feb 2015: CAB-CSIC adhesive labels

Switch at CAHA
Rack and transceivers at CAHA

20 Feb 2015: preparation of CVC-1 (first NIR cryo-vacuum cycle) at IAA

Collimator mirror dummy in its handling cage
Collimator mirror dummy made of aluminium
Collimator mirror dummy as seen from the detector cryostat hole in the radiation shield
Copper thermal links connecting the NIR collimator mirror mount to the optical bench
Same as above
Multi-layer insulation installed
Optical bench and radiation shield inside the vacuum tank
A photograph of the photographers

20 Feb 2015: all opto-mechanical elements on VIS optical bench at LSW

Collimator mirror
Camera, échelle grating, and red laser (from collimator side; rotated)
Camera, échelle grating, and red laser going through the collimator (from detector side; rotated)
Same as above (note the reflected laser point on the right laser's screw)

17 Feb 2015: van Biesbroeck (vb), the GTO data server at CAB

11 Feb 2015: CMT visit to IAA clean room (by Joseé. A. Caballero and Marisa García-Vargas)

Panoramic view of the IAA clean room during CMT visit
Image 88
Full NIR vacuum tank, pumping system and N2G preparation unit
Same as above, different view
(Almost) same as above, different view
Three of the six vibration insulators of the NIR vacuum tank
Vacuum tank feedthroughs for the cooling unit
N2G preparation unit and two "long tails that end in a stinger-like appendage and allow Cell to absorb other organisms"
Same as above (" I swear it moved")
CARMENES sticker on NIR vacuum tank
NIR vacuum system "lakeshores"
NIR interlocks system
"The Tutankhamun's tomb"
Walter and David admiring the NIR optical bench and half of the thermal shield
NIR optical bench from differente perspectives: above, a side, the same side a corner (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7), the collimator end (1, 2, 3), with Marisa, with Walter et al., and with more pople, and more, and one more
"Through the looking-glass, and what David found there"
Thermal connectors between the NIR optical bench and the collimator mirror mount
Same as above, lateral view
A heat exchanger and N2G pipes of the cooling unit circuit
Thermal sensors (#7 and #8)
Detail of the N2G circuit attached to the radiation shield
Same as above, closer
NIR optical bench support on rails
Spirit level of the optical bench support
Ana and Edu near the optical bench
Multi-layer insulation in a corner
Copper tape for thermal connection
David ready to break the (unbreakable) NIR collimator mount (with an inoffensive tool)
Back of the NIR collimator mount (made in IAC)
Drawings of the thermal links of the NIR collimator mount
Same as above, without people
(Almost) same as above, without people
NIR collimator mirror dummy inside its handling cage (with crane)
Closer view to NIR collimator mirror dummy: CA-SE-SP-3401 and CA-SE-SP-3402
Closer view to NIR collimator mirror dummy: CA-SE-SP-3403
A hole in the collimator mirror dummy (for an easier alignment)
Crane: far
Crane: close
NIR rack: back
NIR rack: Hamamatsu NIR ExpMeter photomultiplier
NIR rack: ross-main
"Something is wrong with this tube", by Ana and Edu: (0), (1), (2), (3), (4), (5), (6), (7), (8), (9), (10)
First group: watching around
First group: watching carefully
First group: watching Santi and a feedthrough
Second group: discussing (from Jose's side)
Second group: discussing (from Marisa's side)
Second group: smiling
Reflected in the window (with test cryostat in foreground)
The Oscar Selfie (Pedro: co-PI, top left; Ignasi: PS, top centre; Jose: co-PM, right; Ana: SE, bottom centre; Marisa: PM, bottom left)
Another version of the Oscar Selfie (with Happier Pedro and Ignasi)
"Abran paso" ("El ingeniero está aquí")
Santiago Becerril and the vacuum tank
Santiago Becerril and the optical bench
Same as above, two seconds later
Safety Access System 1 (David Galadí)
Safety Access System 2 (Walter Seifert and Santiago Becerril)
Protective box of the optical elements on the optical bench of the NIR calibration unit
"for Cube!" (what is inside this Edmund box?)
Julian's fibres (three rolls for the NIR CalUnit)
Plugs of the electronics box of the NIR CalUnit
NIR CalUnit spares and box with three U-Ne lamps
"Hasta luego, baby"
"Adiós"
"Tschüss"
"See you later, aligator"
John Philip Sousa's "The Transit of Venus" March (for Jose's Musica universalis)
Video 1
Video 2
Video 3

09 Feb 2015: José A. Caballero's visit to Calar Alto

Driving on snow. I. Just arrived with KITT
On-line pipeline test with Mathias Zechmeister. I. Skype
On-line pipeline test with Mathias Zechmeister. II. xpipe and ds9
On-line pipeline test with Mathias Zechmeister. III. Order 40 of VIS channel
On-line pipeline test with Mathias Zechmeister. IV. Orders 40:44 of VIS channel, after correcting blaze angle
Main rack in the 3.5m computers room. I. Front, closed
Main rack in the 3.5m computers room. II. lalande, barnard and gliese
Main rack in the 3.5m computers room. III. Three computers and switch
Main rack in the 3.5m computers room. IV. Same as above, with plugs
Coudé pit. I. Four steel plates
Coudé pit. II. Fibre optics path
Climatic rooms ceil. I. Before cleaning
Climatic rooms ceil. I. Air pipe
Climatic rooms ceil. I. REC 4 (Jens Helmling showing the fibre optics path)
Coudé room technical area. I. Clean tent
Coudé room technical area. II. Jens Helmling and Luis Hernández
Coudé room technical area. III. Ethernet connections
Coudé room technical area. IV. Fire extinguisher (dry powder; to be replaced by two carbon-dioxide ones)
Climatic rooms interior. I. The other two steel plates (NIR)
Climatic rooms interior. II. Moiré effect in the windows (VIS)
Climatic rooms interior. III. "Please, come in"
Climatic rooms interior. IV. "You shall not pass"
Climatic rooms interior. V. ...unless you press the red button
Machine room. I. From entrance
Machine room. II. In/out temperatures and pressures inside each climatic room
Machine room. III. Interlocks
Machine room. IV. More interlocks and a switch
Machine room. V. The 750-litre deposit, top
Machine room. VI. The 750-litre deposit, bottom
Machine room. VII. East-room temperature controller
Machine room. VIII. The two controllers
Technical area oxygen sensor. I. Touchscreen
Technical area oxygen sensor. II. Air intake
Technical area oxygen sensor. III. 21.1%
Weather screen. I. Main parameters
Weather screen. II. Seeing monitor
Driving on snow. II. Down the mountain
Miscellanea. ¿Dónde está Antonio?

05 Feb 2015: Visit of the CSIC vicepresidency to IAA and CARMENES lab.

CSIC VICYT. From left to right: Ángel Caballero: Deputy vicepresident for knowledge transfer - Pedro J. Amado: CARMENES co-PI - Alicia Castro: Vicepresident of Science and Technology (CSIC member in the CAHA Executive Committee) - Javier Sánchez Herencia: Deputy vicepresident of scientific programme - José M. Vílchez: IAA director

29 Jan 2015: ICS and pipeline computers and switch being mounted on the CARMENES rack in the 3.5m building (shared with some PANIC computers at the bottom)

20 Jan 2015: tricks to mount the Fibre Input Units

Mounting instructions of the NIR FIU (video by Pablo Redondo)

01 Jan 2015: Christmas pictures by Eike W. Guenther at Calar Alto

"3p5 I" and "3p5 II": the Zeiss 3.5 m telescope
"Panorama I" (the Observatory)
"Panorama II" (Sierra Nevada)
"Weather transparency" (the bluest sky)
"Weather seeing" (0.54 arcsec in V!)
"Nochebuena" (people prefers jamón serrano instead of chorizo)

22 Dec 2014: the penultimate components for the ethernet network at Calar Alto

N2048 switch and four transceptors (two plugged in the front, the other two to be plugged in the rear)

19 Dec 2014: radiation shield and optical bench inside the NIR vacuum tank, with extraction table

David, Miguel, Santi, Héctor, Marco, Eduard, Rafa, Conchi, Ernesto, Irene, Emilio and Pedro
The CARMENES team at IAA wishes you merry christmas and a happy first light year

11 Dec 2014: the NIR and VIS cross-disperser mounts arrived from Tenerife

The VIS grism mount at the LSW clean room
Another view (with a dummy grism inside)
One of the four M6 screws to the shimming plate that must be replaced by vacuum-compatible ones
Before shipping: laid and front at the IAC
Mounting instructions of the NIR grism mount (video by Pablo Redondo)
Assembly time lapse of the mounting instructions (featuring Always on the run - thank you, Mr. Kravitz) (YouTube video)

11 Dec 2014: works by Ecofred in the coudé room of the 3.5 m Calar Alto telescope (cont.)

27 Nov 2014: the collimator mirrors arrived from France (II)

The gold-coated NIR collimator at IAA, Granada, enclosed in a matallic cage
Same as above, but with CARMENES logo in the background

24 Nov 2014: the NIR camera almost ready to be shipped

"Dime cuándo tu vendrás"

24 Nov 2014: the NIR optical bench arrived at IAA

18 Nov 2014: the collimator mirrors arrived from France (I)

The silver-coated VIS collimator at LSW, Heidelberg

17 Nov 2014: two screens for pipelining in the control room

2x Dell P2314H 23-inch monitors for kapteyn, which is connected via ethernet to barnard (VIS pipeline) and lalande (NIR pipeline)

12-13 Nov 2014: José A. Caballero's visit to IAC

CARMENES among the projects in development at IAC
Pablo accessing EMIR with Víctor in foreground
Studying the drawings for the anodysing of the mechanical pieces
More drawings. The pieces were anodysed the previous day in Tenerife
Opening one of the boxes with the anodysed pieces
Some makeup is still needed
Final VIS cross-disperser pieces, still attached to the anodysing strip
Close look to a NIR cross-disperser piece
Same as above
"We have to repeat this piece" (it was made from a block of a wrong aluminium alloy)
Drawings of the support of the off-axis parabolic mirror of the exposure meter. Both NIR and VIS supports are identical
The NIR mount being worked, as seen through a slit of the CNC milling machine
Close look to the aluminium milling. The cutting fluid is an oil-water emulsion, not milk
Video of the milling
Final VIS OAP exposure-meter support before screw hole drilling and fine polishing
Note the dents at the base

06 Nov 2014: works by Ecofred in the coudé room of the 3.5 m Calar Alto telescope (cont.)

05 Nov 2014: all CARMENES computers in ICE Barcelona (before shipping)

gliese (ICS One), jahreiss (ICS Two), luyten (ICS Lab), one of the two 24-inch monitors, and a temporary switch
Development computers: Dell PC with OpenSuse and Mac laptop

29 Oct 2014: works by Ecofred in the coudé room of the 3.5 m Calar Alto telescope

Interior of the West (VIS) room, seen from the South, northwards
Photo update (x4; docx)

15 Oct 2014: quick progress of Ecofred works in the 3.5 m coudé room

14 Oct 2014: the two collimator mirrors after polishing and coating by Winlight Optics

07 Oct 2014: works by Ecofred in the coudé room of the 3.5 m Calar Alto telescope

View from entrance: calibration room (close) and NIR climatic room (far) to the left, VIS climatic room to the right
Spaces for doors: calibration, NIR/engine, VIS rooms from left to right
Telescope door to outside (Achtung, fall risk!) from calibration room
The "engines" of the climatic system
NIR room from pit corner
VIS room from pit corner
Basement for VIS vacuum tank
Basement for NIR vacuum tank
Distribution of components in the coudé room
Walls and doors

02 Oct 2014: VIS observing bench just arrived LSW

01 Oct 2014: Visit at CARMENES-IAA premises of the CSIC deputy vice-president of scientific and technological areas, Miguel Ángel Bañares and the CSIC delegate in Andalucía, Miguel Ferrer

Outside the CARMENES clean room, with Pedro J. Amado and the IAA director, José Vílchez
The NIR vacuum tank in background

25-26 Sep 2014: José A. Caballero's visit to Calar Alto

3.5 m control room with computers (starting from the right)
Right: vmon3, xt12b and thin7 (off) ("Gran Hermano", 1.23m remote, tecs35 monitor for telescope parameters)
Centre-right: tecs35 (off), the two screens of xt32 (for observations with all instrument GUIs) and Rubén Hedrosa observing in service mode with PMAS
Centre-left: xt32 (left), zeus, and xt31 (right) (zeus = "el de la bola")
Left: zeus and the two screens of xt31 (xt31 = secondary computer for showing CAHA weather, finding charts)
PMAS GUI on xt32 right
3.5 m telescope GUI on tecs35
The new weather screen at the CAHA hotel
Cabling...
Temporary ethernet network switch for CARMENES computer
The CARMENES rack will look like the PANIC's one (with cover)
The CARMENES rack will look like the PANIC's one (without cover)
Barnard and Lalande (VIS and NIR pipeline computers) and a temporary switch
Nervous Barnard waits for its definitive rack
Barnard screen with running IDL
Coudé room before works start (see 07 Oct 2014)
Removable wall from coudé room to coudé pit
Fire door rim at ground level (obstacle for large LN2 bottles)
CARMENES storage room: two fiberboard boxes
CARMENES storage room: a wood box
CARMENES storage room: door
Calar Alto LN2 machine and big tank
Calar Alto LN2 machine and atmospheric processors
Three 350-litre liquid nitrogen bottles
2.2 m telescope GUI
Weather parameters
3.5 m Zeiss telescope
Cassegrain focus from west
Cassegrain focus from west, closer view
Primary mirror rear and electronic box
Primary mirror rear, equatorial support and secondary ring
Old front-end below primary mirror and above another instrument
Removable wall from coudé pit to coudé room
Steel plates in coudé pit for supporting the vacuum tanks

24 Sep 2014: José A. Caballero's visit to IAA

NIR AIV meeting: from left to right, Edu, Miguel, Ana, Marisa and Conchi
NIR AIV meeting: same as above, but with Santi (left) and Ernesto (right)
The NIR calibration unit in Granada, painted in red
Detail of the CalUnit octagon mechanism, the "inspiration" for the HPF calibration system (Halverson et al. 2014SPIE.9147E..7ZH)
Front of the NIR vacuum tank through the window
Achtung! Vacuum equipment
The nitrogen-gas preparation unit (N2GPU) for the NIR cooling system through the window
IAA engineers around the N2GPU
A closer view to the N2GPU
The 350-litre bottles for the N2GPU liquid nitrogen through the window
Close view to one of the 350-litre bottles
CA/NIR/VT/TP/COOLING FAN = CARMENES near-infrared vacuum-tank turbo-pump cooling fan
Transporting legs for the NIR vacuum tank
Vibration insulators for the NIR vacuum tank
Compressor for the vibration isulators
Label of the compressor
CARMENES cable box, green plastic box and "cuaderno de laboratorio"
Preliminary plan of the NIR rack cabinet
Exposure-meter ledge in the NIR rack cabinet, before fixation
Exposure-meter ledge in the NIR rack cabinet, from above
NIR computers, PDUs, blue crocs and lakeshores
Back of ross main and spare NIR computers, with red, green and blue lights. I
Back of ross main and spare NIR computers, with red, green and blue lights. II
Back of ross main and spare NIR computers, with red, green and blue lights. III

24 Sep 2014: Front-end virtually finished at LSW

15 Sep 2014: NIR cross-disperser just arrived at IAA

11 Sep 2014: Winlight NIR camera before installing the optics

07 Aug 2014: van Biesbroeck (vb) arrives at CAB

30 Jun 2014: start of AIV phase at IAA

View from outside the IAA clean room: NIR vacuum tank, nitrogen-gas preparation unit, N2GPU test facility, portable liquid nitrogen tank and "mango" computer
NIR tank: general view, front door, guillotine valve, turbopump valve, rear part, air line, extra feedthrough and temporary leg, NIR detector read-out electronics support, space for electronic box, 40 cm
Cooling unit: N2GPU and test facility, lakeshore and controllers, N2GPU from above, huge nitrogen-gas pipe, starring Miguel Abril (I), weighing machine display and all stuff, liquid-nitrogen bottle on weighing machine
NIR computers: (temporary) red rack, main, spare and switch, with fingers, closer view (left), closer view (right), closer view (back), computers cloning, in English, clonezilla, two PDUs
Interlocks: panel electronics, manual
Exposure meter: electronics, Nport
"Mango" computer: Scada, starring Miguel Abril (II), kde (Santa Claus is at the top right corner!), session (Santa Claus caught leaving presents)
Webcam
Miguel Abril and serious Conchi, smiling Conchi
The photographer

26 Jun 2014: VIS (and NIR) ROE boxes

ARC VIS CCD read-out electronics box: front and top, bottom, side with exhaust vent, the other side and with power unit box
Simon Tulloch's sketch
Ulrich Mall's pictures of the ROE support on the VIS vacuum tank: dimensions and mounted spare NIR ROE electronics
Jose A. Caballero's sketch

22 Jun 2014: CARMENES goes on holidays (Las Salinas del Río beach, Lanzarote, and La Graciosa island in the horizon)

16-18 Jun 2014: assemblying, integrating and verifying in Heidelberg at LSW and MPIA, in coincidence with Core Management Team meeting

VIS detector cryostat and pump under a blackboard at LSW, from inner side with a cover, and from outer side with pipe to pump
VIS calibration unit at LSW, the octagon, and a close view to one of the Th-Ne lamp sockets
Front-end optical bench with some components mounted, optical fibre input units, cover with hole (and screw boxes), a different perspective, inside the front-end, detail of screw holes, black lateral panels, several meters of optical fibres and one of the vacuum-tank feedthroughs for the optical fibres
The VIS camera arrives Königstuhl: box and truck, to the LSW laboratory, before opening, pretty case, everything in good order, first handling, "Ja, es ist gut"
NTG VIS vacuum tank in the MPIA instrument assembly room: vacuum tank, pumps, interlocks and Walter Seifert, LSW, MPIA and CAHA people, 4more people, door and readout electronics support, door hinges and cooling system feedthroughs (not bo be used in VIS channel), close view to a hinge, hook holes (for transport), below the tank with temporary legs, NTG plate and aluminium wall
Pfeiffer pumps and valves attached to the vacuum tank: main valve and turbopump, the VIS turbopump, a guillotine valve, sorption-pump valve, "Remove screw plug before setting into operation"
CAHA-made NIR channel interlocks: panel, controllers, screen, Luis Hernández and VIS interlocks computer, pressure-meter at P = 1.7e-5 mbar and down to P = 6.4e-6 mbar
NIR detector cryostat: CARMENES Labor, drawings in the wall, cryostat from above, the ESO detector head and a rigiflex cable, valve and rear side, a different perspective, picture of a picture, Pedro, the photograph, test rack, JUMO controller, temperature stability, P = 2.3e-5 mbar, everybody happy, materials and tools,
Blue boxes of acquisition-and-guiding camera Starlight Xpress SXVR-H16: "Hola, soy Coco, y hoy vamos a ver la diferencia entre cerrado y abierto", "Esto es cerrado, y esto es abierto"
Red box of the VIS image slicers and focal adapters (main and spare): #1 and #2, close view of image slicer #1 inside its protective case
Miscellanea: CARMENES poster in MPIA corridor, "Hola, soy Coco de nuevo, y hoy vamos a ver la diferencia entre lejos y cerca",

09 Jun 2014: NIR vacuum tank arrives at IAA

ALL 106 IMAGES

06 Jun 2014: optomechanics pictures for Mirabet et al. (2014, SPIE)

Different pictures of the mechanical design of the NIR spectrograph and all its components (vacuum tank, radiation shield, cooling circuit, optical bench, optomechanics, detector cryostat...) and of the ESO-made nitrogen-gas preparation unit

05 Jun 2014: Santiago Becerril and Walter Seifert's visit to Winlight

03 & 19 Jun 2014: Mathias Zechmeister connects with barnard and lalande (the new pipeline computers in Calar Alto) from his desktop in Göttingen

29 May 2014: VIS CCD at LICA UCM (id est, "the electronics of the visible detector, assembled in Madrid, is almost done" & "the four quadrants of the science CCD are imaging correctly")

Electronics mounting: 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09, 10, 11, 12
Close views of the CCD inside the head: 06, 07, 08, 09, 10, 11
Fully mounted VIS ESO head (by Simon Tulloch)
Head attached to the LICA test cryostat: 01, 02, 03, 04, 05,
First image of the science CCD while being cooling down (by Simon Tulloch)
Screen
Happy Simon
Arragement
New and old ESO-head rigiflex PCBs: from above and close-up of one side
Connectors of ribbon cables: from above, with a hand and from a side
Oscilloscope
Lakeshore: back and front and top
ESO-head cable and connector
Science CCD box: top and side
Readout noise = 3.3 e- (with Moiré effect)

27 May 2014: some key components being assembled in Heidelberg

Front-end, NIR detector cryostat and head: front-end baseplate and pick-up mirror and ADC optomechanics (LSW), NIR detector continuous-flow cryostat (MPIA), NIR detector ESO head (MPIA)

26 May 2014: acceptance of the two vaccum tanks in NTG, Gelnhausen

The two tanks
Closer look at one of the tanks
Open tank
Inside one of them
"And the happy designers"
More pictures (inc. IAG vacuum tank extraction table)

23 May 2014: assembly of the test facility for the nitrogen-gas preparation cooling unit

MP4 video of test facility assembly

09 May 2014: VIS Calibration Unit arrived to Heidelberg and accepted

06 & 21 May 2014: Instrument Control System (2x) and Pipeline (2x) computers arrived to Barcelona and Calar Alto, respectively

ICS One (ICS Two is identical)
ICS One (another view)
NIR pipeline (VIS pipeline is identical)

05 May 2014:more mechanical pieces at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias instrumentation workshop

05 May 2014: nitrogen-gas preparation (cooling) unit arrived to Granada (merci beaucoup, Jean-Louis!)

The press release picture

14 Apr 2014: both NIR and VIS detector flow cryostats arrived to Heidelberg (merci beaucoup également, Jean-Louis!)

04 Apr 2014: manufacture of a mechanical piece at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias instrumentation workshop

28 Mar 2014: Assembly of the NIR detector head at the Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie: test installation of the pre-amplifier boards on the reverse side of the head and of the detector dummy on the front side of the head

Original docx with all pictures (by Panduro, Mundt, Mall, Hermann)
Video with all pictures (by Caballero)

27 Mar 2014: Assembly of the VIS detector head at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Pictures are named after craters on Mercury/famous writers and artists starting with 'B' (keywords: LICA, QuCam, Fractal)

Bach, Balagtas, Balzac, Bartók, Barma
Basho, Beckett, Beethoven, Bek, Belinskij
Bello, Benoit, Berkel, Bernini, Bjornson
Boccaccio, Boethius, Botticelli, Brahms, Bramante
Brontë, Bruegel, Brunelleschi, Burns, Byron
ALL 100 IMAGES

05 Mar 2014: electronics of NIR exposure meter at IAA Granada

06 Feb 2014: opto-mechanics and tools for cryogenic and vacuum tests of image slicers at IAA Granada

10 Jan 2014: some of the interlocks components at CAHA

17 Dec 2013: first light of the VIS calibration unit at the Coudé Échelle Spectrograph of the 2 m Alfred-Jensch Teleskop in the Thüringer Landessternwarte Tautenburg
[for Back to the Future fans]