Fig. 2: The black line shows the background model in the near-IR for the Paranal-like (High and Dry) site, 1 airmass, the bare aluminium coating and a resolution of R = 1000. The dotted red line represents the continuum (which is assumed to be constant in each band but does not extend beyond the K-band). The blue (dashed) line represents the background from the telescope assuming the bare aluminium (protected silver/aluminium) coating, while the green line shows the thermal emission from the atmosphere. For comparison, the faint grey line shows a near-IR background model from the Gemini Exposure Time Calculator for Mauna Kea (at a much higher resolution).