1.2-m Mercator Telescope
The 1.2-m Mercator telescope is located at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory (La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain). Operated by KU Leuven, this optical alt-azimuth reflecting telescope is equipped with high-resolution spectroscopy (HERMES) and 3-channel fast photometry (MAIA) instruments.
Location Details
| Location | Roque de los Muchachos Observatory (La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain) |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 28°46' north, 17°53' west |
| Altitude | 2333m |
| Type | Optical alt-azimuth reflecting telescope |
| Operated by | KU Leuven (Louvain, Belgium) |
| Instruments | HERMES (high-resolution spectroscopy), MAIA (3-channel fast photometry) |
Telescope Time
Form: Template in LaTeX
Submission: Proposal in PDF format by e-mail to Hans Van Winkel
Requirement: PI affiliated to a partner institute of the HERMES consortium
Observing Cycles
Cycle A: 1 April - 30 September
(proposal deadline: end-February/begin-March)
Cycle B: 1 October - 31 March
(proposal deadline: end-August/begin-September)
HERMES (High Efficiency and Resolution Mercator Echelle Spectrograph):
- Wavelengths: 377-900 nm (55 orders)
- Spectral resolution: 85,000
- Second fiber: sky spectrum or wavelength reference spectrum
- Throughput: >25% in V
- Radial velocity stability: ~2.5 m s⁻¹
- Limiting magnitude: 60 min exposure = SNR= 100 for mv = 10.4 mag
- Stray light: ~0.1% of flux in adjacent orders, free of ghosts
MAIA (Mercator Advanced Imager for Asteroseismology):
- Field-of-view: 9.4 x 14.1 arcmin
- Filters: u, g, ri for science (simultaneous), z for guiding
- Detector: 2048 x 6144 (13.5 micron pixels), 3 science cameras and 1 guiding camera
- Readout time: 295 ms for frame transfer shift, 30-43 s for full-frame readout