Presentation
EMIR (Espectrógrafo Multiobjeto Infrarrojo) is a common-user, wide-field, near-infrared camera-spectrograph operating in the near-infrared (NIR) wavelengths 0.9–2.5µm, using cryogenic multi-slit masks. EMIR is installed at the Nasmyth focus of the GTC. It provides a robust second-generation instrument for the GTC while offering unique observing modes in the 10m class telescopes. EMIR is equipped with, among others, three high technology subsystems: a cryogenic robotic slit mask or Configurable Slit Unit ( CSU), the dispersive elements (pseudo-grisms) and the Detector Translation Unit ( DTU). Its Multi-Object Spectroscopic (MOS) mode (when offered), will allow observers to obtain spectrum of up to 55 objects simultaneously, in the NIR bands Y, J, H, K. The EMIR low resolution grisms gives the capability of obtaining multi-object spectroscopy in a wider spectral range covering the YJ and HK spectral windows.
EMIR has been designed to address using as a drivers the science goals of the proposing team and of the Spanish community at large. It has been built by a consortium of Spanish and French institutions, led by the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias. Funds for EMIR have come from GRANTECAN, through a dedicated contract; from Dirección General de Investigación Científica y Técnica de la Subdirección General de Proyectos de Investigación through the Plan Nacional de Astronomía y Astrofísica; from the Agencia Estatal de Investigación trough the Programa Estatal de Generación de Conocimiento; and from the Agencia Canaria de Investigación, Innovación y Sociedad de la Información.