The Visitor Focus has been reserved to permit innovative observations by teams using stand-alone instruments. The Visitor Instrument (VI) teams should in particular be able to react quickly to new scientific and/or technical opportunities. VIs are therefore free from a substantial fraction of the requirements imposed on VLT facility instruments.
The requirements of the VLT towards VIs are collected in the "Requirements for Visitor Instruments on the VLT UT3 Visitor Focus" (VLT-SPE-ESO-10000-3912 issue 1 dated 27.09.2007). Although this document has been prepared with great care it is strongly recommended that a VI team double-check with ESO (through the contact person assigned to the instrument in question) all necessary details before designing critical items.
We make available here as separate pdf files with higher resolution than in the document appendix the applicable interface drawings:
ADWG |
Drawing title | Drawing nr |
|---|---|---|
N1 |
VLT-Nasmyth Interface Nasmyth Instrument Flange A Rotator, cross section |
VLT-DWG-ESO-11420-2615 |
N3 |
VLT-Nasmyth Interface Nasmyth Platform A Top view and floor requirements |
VLT-DWG-ESO-11420-2617 |
N4 |
VLT-Nasmyth Interface Nasmyth Instrument Flange A: Front view with telescope installations |
VLT-DWG-ESO-11420-2618 |
N6 |
VLT-Nasmyth Interface Nasmyth Platforms Access and handling constraints |
VLT-DWG-ESO-11420-2620 |
C3 |
VLT-Cassegrain Interface Observing Floor Plan Installations and floor loads |
VLT-DWG-ESO-11430-2054 (colour or b/w) |
A data sheet for the portable LN2 storage tanks (type XRP 120) used on Paranal is available here.
You can get an overview of the Melipal (UT3) Visitor Focus Nasmyth platform and its surroundings by visiting our Gallery.