First Light for HORS on the Gran Telescopio CANARIAS

26/05/2015
The HORS spectrograph, one of the supported technology projects of the SO Program at the IAC, was successfully installed on the Gran Telescopio CANARIAS (GTC) last week, and observed its “first light” through the telescope last Saturday. After a battery of tests of the optics, electronics, and software, on Saturday night the GTC pointed at the Pole Star, and its light was analyzed by HORS. A few more months of trials are coming and then it is hope that HORS will begin routine use as a Visiting Instrument on the GTC early in 2016. The new instrument will enable the GTC to analyze light with a resolution ten times higher than any of the other instruments on the telescope. >> Further information