EGGS reference fiber is damaged
Since August 20th 2008 the EGGS reference fiber is damaged and does not transmit light.
The remaining fiber (the science fiber) is performing as expected. Its efficiency is as expected.
EGGS, due to its limited RV precision, should not be used anyway in simultaneous reference mode, therefore the usefulness of the second fiber was limited to sky subtraction.
The HARPS pipeline has been modified to process smoothly all the data coming from the "handicapped" system.
EGGS, despite the accident, can continue to produce excellent science results , particularly for faint objects, for which the attaianble RV precision is limited by the achievable S/N.
For questions please send an e-mail to: ls-harps[AT]eso.org