MARTINOT-LAGARDE , G.

Aims. This paper describes the design goals and engineering efforts that led to the realization of AMBER (Astronomical Multi BEam combineR) and to the achievement of its present performance. Methods. On the basis of the general instrumental concept, AMBER was decomposed into modules whose functions and detailed characteristics are given....

Aims. This paper describes the design goals and engineering efforts that led to the realization of AMBER (Astronomical Multi BEam combineR) and to the achievement of its present performance. Methods. On the basis of the general instrumental concept, AMBER was decomposed into modules whose functions and detailed characteristics are given....

International audience

For many years, lunar laser ranging (LLR) observations using a green wavelength have suffered an inhomogeneity problem both temporally and spatially. This paper reports on the implementation of a new infrared detection at the Grasse LLR station and describes how infrared telemetry improves this situation. Our first results show that infrared...

This article exposes how we improved (by more than a factor of four) the green Lunar Laser Ranging instrumental sensitivity of the French telemetric station of the "Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur" in 2012. The primary reason for this success is the doubling of the pulse energy of our green Nd:YAG laser, reaching now 200 mJ at 10 Hz. This first...

In this work, we present the first AMBER observations, of the Wolf-Rayet and O (WR+O) star binary system y² Velorum. The AMBER instrument was used with the telescopes UT2, UT3, and UT4 on baselines ranging from 46m to 85m. It delivered spectrally dispersed visibilities, as well as differential and closure phases, with a resolution R = 1500 in...