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January 16, 2012:
A new long slit mask with a 10" wide slit has been insterted into the LIRIS cryostat.
September 11, 2009:
New mask available: l0p75ext6. This mask has six 0.75 arcsec smaller slits offset from the center of the detector for increased wavelength coverage. The minimum offset from the nominal l0p75 slit is 150 pixel to the blue and 174 to the red, while the maximum is 450 pixel to the blue and 490 to the red. (2013 March: Currently known as lext6)
July 20, 2009:
Change in the MOS mask preparation regulations document (check the appendix). Please note that in order to be able to properly trace the spectra, if every science target is fainter than the 19th mag, assigning a brighter star to a science slitlet is now MANDATORY.
March 13, 2007:
The R=2500 H-band grating is finally available. So it is the new y-band filter. Both are being comissioned in late March, 2008.
August 27, 2007:
We are finally getting the long-awaited medium-resolution gratings (R=2500) for J and K-band. Both gratings will be commissioned in December 2007, and will be available starting from period 2008A. Unfortunately, the medium-resolution grating for H-band is delayed further. Currently we are not able to foresee an installation date.
August 27, 2007:
The spectropolarimetry mode will be offered for the first time in 2008A. This mode has not yet been fully characterised, and hence it is on a shared-risk basis. However, we expect that the new specpol mode will provide observers with data of the same high quality as all the other observing modes do that are offered with LIRIS.
January 11, 2007:
The LIRIS cookbook in PDF format is now available. We recommend all observers to have a look at it before their observing run.
The filter transmissions have now been measured for all filters at cryostatic temperatures, the data is available in digital format as well. Have a look here.
January 01, 2007:
The gain of LIRIS has been adjusted, which led to a significantly increased dynamic range. Saturation now occurs at 45000 ADU.
Below 20000-25000 ADU the nonlinearity is 2% or less.
The latest release of THELI, the fully automatic image data reduction package, is now available via anonymous ftp from
ftp://ftp.ing.iac.es/mischa/THELI/
January 05, 2006:
Two new filters (Paschen-beta and J-continuum) have been installed in LIRIS, as well as the first medium resolution (R=2500) grism for the K-band. Funding for the three other medium resolution grisms (z, J, H) is now secured and with a little luck we will see one or more of them still in 2006.
Commissioning of the medium resolution K-band grism is expected for January 2006, as are further refinements for the imaging polarimetry mode.
June 28, 2005:
The user manual now reflects the recent changes in the syntax of a few of the observing scripts. The screen shots have been updated as well.
The full command list has seen an update.
The LIRIS configuration page was updated.
Minor changes in the remaining pages, mainly to reflect the current instrument and software status.
November 25, 2004:
Correction of a few typos in the LIRIS commands.
Added a list of representative overheads.
Added guidelines of how to obtain different calibration frames with LIRIS.
The LIRIS configuration page was updated.
November 12, 2004:
Several sections have been updated and/or bugfixed. Most noteworthy are the User's guide chapter 5 and the addition of a full command list.
September 24, 2004:
An analysis of the LIRIS image quality is available now from the starting page. We recommend all observers with imaging programmes to read it carefully.
Important setup change: The 0.65" long slit and the 2.5" long slit were removed from the slit wheel. The 0.5" slit was added.
May 24, 2004:
The scheduling of LIRIS at the WHT for semester 2004B has been published. If observing time was allocated to your proposal, then please check the timetable for consistency.
May 10, 2004:
LIRIS goes to the telescope again in June 2004. It will perform its first service night on June 4th, followed by 4 nights of granted time for the IAC LIRIS instrument team. This will be the first time that LIRIS pursues exclusively scientific programmes only. The instrument performance (which has been excellent so far) will be monitored closely during this run, so that we can gain more experience before LIRIS will be used the first time by visiting observers later this year.
May 10, 2004:
A new long slit mask with an 0.65" wide slit has been inserted into the LIRIS cryostat. See the latest LIRIS configuration.
March 09, 2004:
The exact date is unknown when Supernova SN2004an went off in the star-forming galaxy M82, mostly unnoticed by astronomers. Yet it is the closest Supernova since 10 years, and together with its twin SN1993J in M81 the second closest one since the invention of the telescope four centuries ago. Only SN1987A in the Large Magellanic Cloud was even nearer. Being hidden behind huge amounts of gas and dust, SN2004an was extraordinary difficult to discover, not to mention the proof of its explosive nature. LIRIS, however, could peer through all the obscuring foreground material by means of its near-infrared view, took images and spectra of the object and confirmed its SN nature (IAUC 8299).
More LIRIS observations of SN2004an will follow later this year, in order not to lose the rare opportunity to further analyse such a nearby SN.
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