Tools and Tips
VISIR Reference Papers
Publications based on data obtained with the VISIR instrument should quote the following reference paper: Lagage, P. O. et al. 2004, The Messenger 117, 12.
A description of the VISIR upgrade can be found in Käufl, H.U, et al. 2015, The Messenger 159, 15.
Calibrators for VISIR
The most commonly used calibration sources in the mid-infrared are the ones characterised by Cohen et al. in a series of papers starting in 1992: "Spectral Irradiance Calibration in the Infrared". A summary of these papers including a spectro-photometric catalogue of 422 stars scattered over the entire sky can be found on their Paper X (Cohen et al. 1999, AJ 117, 1864). This catalogue is included in the VISIR pipeline and the basis of the sensitivity determination for VISIR. Nevertheless these templates should be used with caution, because many of them have not been verified observationally.
- Flux catalog of 425 Mid-Infrared Standard Stars for VISIR imager filters based on Cohen et al. (ASCII, binary fitstable)
- Selected list of 81 Standard Stars from Cohen et al. (ASCII)
- Selected list of 12 Standard Stars from Cohen et al. (ASCII)
- Flux catalog of 44 A0 stars for VISIR imager filters (ASCII)
- List of (23 bright) MIR (TIMMI2) calibration standard stars
- On the selection of the short list of Standard star
Generic tools and information
- ESO Exposure Time Calculators (ETC)
- Phase 1: Proposal Preparation and Submission
- p2 Tutorials: Tutorials about the use of p2 and ObsPrep, including a VISIR p2 tutorial
- Magnitude/Flux/Jansky conversion
- Molecfit - a software tool to correct astronomical observations for atmospheric absorption features, based on fitting synthetic transmission spectra to the astronomical data
- HITRAN atmospheric transmission profiles for Paranal (2500m, 1mm H2O). FilesThe following files contain wavelength and transmission for zenith (0deg), 30deg and 60deg (by courtesy of B. Schulz)
- Publically available data reduction package for Sparse Aperture Masking: AMiCAL (Aperture Masking Interferometry Calibration and Analysis Library)
Other ground-based mid-infrared instruments
For reference, below an incomplete list of other historical or future ground-based mid-infrared instruments:
| GTC | CanariCAM: Mid IR imager, spectroscopic, polarimetric, coronographic options at the GTC (decommissioned 2021). |
|---|---|
| KECK-Observatory | LWS: Long wavelength spectrometer (decommissioned). LWIRC: Long wavelength infrared camera. |
| Subaru | COMICS: Cooled mid infrared camera and spectrograph (retired). |
| GEMINI-North | Michelle: Mid IR echelle spectrograph and imager (retired since 2011). |
| GEMINI-South | OSCIR (mid IR imager/spectrometer, retired since 2002) T-RECS (Mid IR Imager/Spectrometer for Gemini South, retired since 2012) |
| TIMMI2 | TIMMI2: Mid IR imager with spectroscopic and polarimetric options at the ESO 3.6m (decommissioned 2006) |
| MMT | BLINC / MIRAC: Mid-Infrared Array Camera and Bracewell Infrared Nulling Cryostat (no longer available) |
| LBT | LBTI: Large Binocular Telescope Interferometer (LBTI) consisting of LMIRcam (1.5 to 5.1µm) and NOMIC (8 to 14µm) |
| ELT | METIS: Mid-infrared ELT Imager and Spectrograph (project for the Extremely Large Telescope) |