This is the #ESO #picture of this week. It shows the 1.52m #telescope at #LaSilla #observatory 🇨🇱 observing the #MilkyWay thought the #dome's opening.

This telescope is now retired after almost 30 years to study #stars, #galaxies, #comets and even #exoplanets.

This telescope is the twin of the 1.52m telescope at #HauteProvence Observatory 🇫🇷 . Still used nowadays, the french brother has a new adaptive-optic (AO) test bench, 33 years after the first AO prototype for ESO (COME-ON).

I would like to warmly #welcome all the #Astronomy & #Astrophysics enthusiasts who recently joined #Astrodon or another instance. Welcome to the #fediverse. 🤗

#Mastodon is currently a bit slow because of the sudden increase in users doing their #twittermigration. I am sure it will get back to normal in no time.

As a welcome gift 🎁 , I am posting below my #bestof #timelapse #video from the #LaSilla, #LaPalma, and #HauteProvence observatories.

Enjoy !

#photography 📷

https://youtu.be/wbnvOkpapX4

@megschwamb Oh cool, so you have some time to accomodate for the jetlag and the night shift. That's good. Good luck with the weather. I am eager to follow your observing experience on #Mastodon 😉
I toot right now from the #HauteProvence observatory. 🔭 ✨ 🪐 (last & cloudy night).

Although the #Nobel Prize 2019 was awarded to the 2 leading astronomers, the 51Peg b discovery was made possible thanks to a much broader team of technicians and engineers (here in 2005) from the #HauteProvence Observatory and the Marseille Observatory, especially André Baranne.

from left to right: J.-P. Berger, G. Knispel, J.-C. Baietto, G. Adrianzyk, D. Lacroix, A. Baranne, M. Mayor,
D. Queloz, D. Kohler, J.-P. Meunier, P. Véron, and P. Brunel.
A. Vin is missing in this picture.

All these optical elements can now be seen on the ground floor of the 1.93-m telescope at the #HauteProvence #Observatory (🇫🇷 ). Here are a few pictures of #ELODIE I took for you.

#Astronomy #exoplanet

All these optical elements can now be seen on the ground floor of the 1.93-m telescope at the #HauteProvence #Observatory (🇫🇷 ). Here are a few pictures of #ELODIE I took for you.
.
#Astronomy #exoplanet

To improve the radial velocity precision, #ELODIE had to be a much more stable instrument, in a temperature- and pressure-controlled environment which was not compatible with the dome.

So, André Baranne (a french astronomer at Marseille Observatory who also built #CORAVEL in 1977) suggested to use optical #fibers to feed the stellar light from the #telescope to the instrument. We can see these fibers in orange in this picture of the bonnette, mounted on the 1.93-m telescope at #HauteProvence.

The jump in precision between the #CORAVEL (300m/s) and the #ELODIE (10m/s) spectrographs was due to several achievements.

CORAVEL was mounted directly on the back of the swiss telescopes at either the #HauteProvence or #LaSilla observatories. In such case, the instrument's #optical and #mechanical components are deformed by #temperature, #humidity and the position of the telescope. Such deformation was a clear limitation to the radial velocity precision.

In 1995, the swiss #astronomers Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz discovered the first #exoplanet orbiting a #Sun-like #star: 51 Peg b. For that, they received the 2019 Physics' #Nobel Prize.

This discovery opened a new field of research in #astronomy. It was based on #observations done with the 1.93m #telescope at #HauteProvence #observatory (🇫🇷 ) with the instrument #ELODIE.

Below ⤵️ is a #thread presenting this instrument who allowed the discovery of 51Peg b.

#astrophysics #Science

If you have 40s, give a look at this #timelapse #video I did a few years ago from the #HauteProvence #observatory. It shows the 1.93m #telescope I am currently using to hunt for #exoplanets. This is the very same telescope that allowed the discovery of 51 Peg b, the first exoplanet.

The telescope doesn't have a laser guide star. The green laser is a LIDAR, dedicated to study the atmosphere.

#Astronomy #photography #AstronomerLife

credits: A. Santerne / OHP-CNRS

https://youtu.be/0UD_UJNUk4E

The night is getting to its end over #Europe. Here is the status of the #HIP41378 f campaign so far:
- #HauteProvence observatory: we got ONE (likely out-of-transit) spectrum through a hole in the clouds
- #CalarAlto: all-sky camera showed stars all the night. I've not heard back from the observatory yet, but it looks good
- #LaPalma had lot of cirrus passing. Likely a killer for photometry, but OK for spectroscopy. 🤞

Now, it's time for #ESO to start the show !

#AstronomerLife #astronomy

#HIP41378 f #transit

We are observing from the #HauteProvence observatory !!!!

Conditions are sub-nominal, but at least we are collecting photons. Let's hope for the best. 🤞

#AstronomerLife #astronomy

@JuliaVSeidel GREEEEAT !

Here at #HauteProvence, it is already dark, and we don't even see #Jupiter 😭

#AstronomerLife

I'm currently observing at the #HauteProvence observatory.

My #night started at 18:20 local time and will finish at 6:20 local time. Before the night, I have to prepare the instrument and my scheduling. This takes me about 1 hour.

It's currently 0:30 and I am working for already 7 hours. This is the equivalent of one full day of work in France. I still have 6 hours to go before I could go to sleep...

#AstronomerLife

#Picture: the 1.93m telescope I am currently using to hunt for #exoplanets

Update on the campaign to observe the #transit of #HIP41378 f on Nov. 12. We are one day before !!!

Main observatory statuts:
- #Wendelstein obs. 🟢
- #SOPHIE / #HauteProvence 🟢
- #CARMENES / #CalarAlto 🟢
- #MERCATOR / #LaPalma 🟢
- #HARPS-N / #LaPalma 🟢
- #ESPRESSO / #ESO Paranal 🟢
- #EXPRES / #Lowell 🟢
- #NEID / #KittPeak 🟠
- #MINERVA / #FWLO 🟢
- #HIRES / #MaunaKea 🟢
- #MAROON-X / #MaunaKea 🔴
- #SPIRou / #CFHT 🟢
- #PARAS / #MountAbu 🟢

#AstronomerLife #Astronomy #exoplanet

Do you like #Sunset ?

Enjoy this one from the #HauteProvence #observatory.

credits: A. Santerne / OHP-CNRS

#Photography #AstronomerLife

Just arrived at the #HauteProvence #observatory. This is the view from the catwalk of the 1.93m #telescope I will be using for the next 5 #nights, weather permitting.
So far, the #sky is 🔵
I love when it’s 🔵

Tonight I will hunt for #exoplanets and start observing #HIP41378 🔭

@JuliaVSeidel: how is your sky ? 🔵 I guess as well ?

Credits: A. Santerne / OHP-CNRS

#Astronomy #AstronomerLife #Photography

🚨 Conférence 🚨
J'organise demain apres-midi avec Pierre Henriquet (aka astroPierre) une #conférence en ligne sur les #exoplanètes 🌟 🪐 🔭 . Je serai en direct depuis l'#observatoire de #HauteProvence et vous ferai visiter la grande #coupole, le #télescope qui a permis la découverte de la première #exoplanète en 1995 ainsi que d'autres lieux auxquels le public n'a généralement pas accès. 👀

Ticket 3€ (pour soutenir le travail de médiation d'astropierre) sur https://utip.io/astropierre/RencontreAlexandreSanterne

#Astronomie

The #transit was expected to start when it was the night in #Chile. So, #ESO were supposed to start the party. Observation there are performed in service, meaning the observatory staff are performing the observation for you. I was at the #HauteProvence observatory, observing with SOPHIE.

So, I wake up from my morning sleep, checked my emails: no news from #ESO. I checked the archive: no #data available. NOTHING ❌❌❌❌ 😡

#HIP41378 #astronomy #AstronomerLife

We requested #ESO's director time on the #VLT ➡️ time granted on #ESPRESSO ✅
We requested time to the director of the #HauteProvence observatory ➡️ time granted on #SOPHIE ✅
We requested time to the director of the #CalarAlto observatory ➡️ time granted on the #CARMENES spectrograph ✅
We contacted a colleague who use a telescope in India ➡️ time granted on #PARAS ✅
We contacted by a colleague in the #US who developed a new spectrograph ➡️ time granted on EXPRES ✅

#AstronomerLife #HIP41378