SPIROU problems

SPIROU at CFHT, one of the future radial velocity planet searchers, in the NIR, has to face some important design problems.

http://www.cfht.hawaii.edu/en/science/SAC/reports/SAC_report_Nov_2012.php#Rec1

Maybe its future is uncertain.

With the funding problems of CARMENES at CAHA, two of the more promising RV NIR instruments are at risk.

http://arxiv.org/abs/1310.2991

World-leading science with SPIRou - the nIR spectropolarimeter / high-precision velocimeter for CFHT


SPIROU not dead ! It should be installed on the 3.6-m CFH telescope in early 2017

http://arxiv.org/abs/1406.6992

SPIRou: the near-infrared spectropolarimeter/high-precision velocimeter for the Canada-France-Hawaii telescope

SPIRou is a near-IR \'echelle spectropolarimeter and high-precision velocimeter under construction as a next-generation instrument for the Canada-France-Hawaii-Telescope. It is designed to cover a very wide simultaneous near-IR spectral range (0.98-2.35 {\mu}m) at a resolving power of 73.5K, providing unpolarized and polarized spectra of low-mass stars at a radial velocity (RV) precision of 1m/s. The main science goals of SPIRou are the detection of habitable super-Earths around low-mass stars and the study of how critically magnetic fields impact star / planet formation. Following a successful final design review in Spring 2014, SPIRou is now under construction and is scheduled to see first light in late 2017. We present an overview of key aspects of SPIRou's optical and mechanical design.

http://www.cnrs.fr/midi-pyrenees/IMG/pdf/dp_spirou_avril_2017.pdf

Press release (in french)

First light late 2017
A copy of the instrument will be installed on the 2m telescope at the Pic du Midi Observatory (France) in 2020

...and finaly first light !

http://spirou.irap.omp.eu/News-Discoveries/News/2018-April-First-light-for-SPIRou

Great!

I guess this is no longer the SPIRou problems thread...