The dwelling of the HARPS intrument
One of today’s highlights was seeing the room where the HARPS instrument is being kept. For it be able to achieve accurate radial velocity measurements the instrument has be kept at a constant temperature and pressure. I was fortunate to be shown the room where the instrument is kept locked inside a carefully monitored subroom. Due to us humans emitting heat, the visit had to be rather quick and we had to remember to close the door after us to make sure this nights observers did not loose any measurement accuracy.
Here the HARPS instrument lies locked inside. The HARPS room is kept at a very precise temperature and pressure. If it were to be opened it would take days for the temperature to return to the stable conditions required for measuring radial velocities at the 1 m/s level.
"First Light" - A little bit of history written on the whiteboard inside the old abandoned control room.
You’re a very lucky astronomer! Congratulations : )
If you could tell them to put all their data on archive while you’re there that would be swell.