1. IR Astronomy with the Italian Robotic Antarctic Infrared Telescope (IRAIT) (M. Busso) IRAIT status, June 2006 (Mounting - Container – Tent - Software) IRAIT – 2005/2006 & 2006/2007 activities on site. First examples of feasible science of interest for THIS meeting (IR surveys) Some characteristics of the camera (M. Dolci) Paris, June 14-16, 2006

2. Who is involved? Paris, June 14-16, 2006 University of Perugia – P.I. Gino Tosti (telescope) INAF (various Institutes, coordinated by Teramo Observatory) – AMICA camera (Straniero, Dolci) Spanish consortium (coordinated by Granada & Barcelona groups, P.I. C. Abia): M2 and M3 (moving optics) Plus: a ‘commissioning’ advisory council (M. Busso et al); will be changed into a more official International Scientific Board after Commissioning.

3. The optical layout Paris, June 14-16, 2006 Optical Scheme: Optical Scheme: Classical Cassegrain +2 Nasmyth stations Primary Mirror Diameter 800 mm Focal Ratio of the primary 3 Tolal Focal Ratio 20 Presently: all parts finished. Mounting under way at ‘Marcon Telescopes’ (after sparate tests, in climatic room or Antarctica, of critical subsystems). From July, 1 to September, 30: Astronomical tests in Perugia.

4. Paris, June 14-16, 2006 Tent Completed: end of May 2006

5. Container Was delivered to the Marcon Telescope company on Jan 16 Paris, June 14-16, 2006

6. Expedition Paris, June 14-16, 2006 EXPEDITION IN AUTUMN!

7. Mirrors – ready by now! Paris, June 14-16, 2006 IRAIT M1 IRAIT M3 IRAIT M2

8. Mounting… (May 2006) Paris, June 14-16, 2006 Telscope Basement Elevation wheel-pinions Top Ring Optical tube

9. …and mounting… Paris, June 14-16, 2006 Telescope center piece Azimuth slewing bearing & IRAIT Motors

10. … and mounting… Paris, June 14-16, 2006 IRAIT M2 & M3 DRIVER SUBSYSTEMS (PI Carlos Abia UGR-Spain) Construction: NTE (Barcelona), including mirrors, supportrs, focuser motor and reducer, limit switches, chopper actuators and chopper sensors. Manufacturing of mechanical parts started in January 2006. Ready by end June 2006 (mounting will start on the pre-assembled IRAIT structure in 10 days from now) A B

11. A B C IRAIT Control system is on board the telescope More details on subsystems? Paris, June 14-16, 2006

13. IRAIT Internal Data Distribution Layout 1 Moxa 2p 23 4GALIL Moxa 2p SWITCH Moxa 2p PLC KT 97 AI DCDC PC 1 (TCS) G PS AI DCDC M2/M3 PC 2 (CAMERA) AI DCDC Ethernet MM Optical Fiber CS31 Bus Telescope Fork Box Optical Tube Box Infrared Camera Box Container Box RCN 727 EnDAT SLIPRING TESTE R Paris, June 14-16, 2006

14. IRAIT software modules: TCS TCS Telescope Control System Controller Driver M M M M TCP/IP I am not the right person for this! Gino should have been here, and he is in bed with a flu, instead! But….. You are all invited to see, and touch, and try, and drink a good glass of wine with us at the end of the test phase: PERUGIA 12-13 September 2006: IRAIT kick-off (info will be posted on the ARENA web-page). Paris, June 14-16, 2006

15. Test done at Dome C in summer 2005/2006 1.Power supply stability 2.WiFi Networking 3.Tests on greese 4.IRAIT PC server installation 5.Measurements of the sky polarization (we need to operate ALSO in summer: polarizing skylight lets you see the stars for pointing) Paris, June 14-16, 2006

16. IRAIT Team A Dome C Paris, June 14-16, 2006

17. IRAIT Team A Dome C IRAIT first experiments near Concoriastro Paris, June 14-16, 2006

18. IRAIT Team At Dome C Paris, June 14-16, 2006

19. Campaign at Dome C 2006/7 Preparation of the IRAIT Site Istallation of the IRAIT auxiliary devices (Meteo station, etc..) Transportation of IRAIT at Dumont d’Urville (Oct 2006) One person (R. Briguglio) of the IRAIT team during winter 2007 at Dome C. Paris, June 14-16, 2006

20. IRAIT at Dome C 2006/2007 Paris, June 14-16, 2006

21. IRAIT at Dome C 2006/2007 sIRAIT (IRAIT Team + AIP Potsdam) Installation of a small optical telescope + CCD camera & Filters(more extended tests of software, motors etc.). We shall try to operate it during winter. Small IRAIT Focal Plane instrumentation: MAXCAM CM7-1ME Digital imaging system UBVRI Filterrad 28mm, 8 Pos. UBVRI filters DF-2 Digital focuser (50mm aperture) AD-1 Adapter MAXCAM AN DF-2 Small IRAIT is a 25 cm Cassegrain equatorially mounted Paris, June 14-16, 2006

22. Science, a few examples (for an 80-cm telescope) Mid-IR wavelengths: stars  black-bodies (Rayleigh-Jeans, -4) ; Circumstellar envelopes with dust dominate over photospheres. (OR  very cool objects: brown dwarfs, giant planets, ….). Obvious targets: red Galactic objects, interactions between stellar fluxes and the ISM Examples: 1. Small-scale surveys of mass losing evolved stars (AGB); 2. Small-scale surveys of dense ISM regions & SFR Variability studied with repeated observations (long obs. time). (In principle, a sample of galaxies at low Z (< 0.1) accessible to study colors, SF bursts. IR bright galaxies, as well. Moreover, ~100 known AGN reachable - IRAS!). Hence: science interesting in itself, not only as a test-bench for larger instruments.

23. Paris, June 14-16, 2006 At 12.5 mm, 0 mag  25.88 Jy. Suppose we measure down to 0.5 Jy in 10 min, 5  (a limit reached by us with TIRCAM2 at TIRGO, not in Antarctica! See Busso et al. 2006). This means m(12) = +4.8 AN EXAMPLE: AGB STARS I magnitudes: 17 to 14, with large I-K (2 to 5) Alcaino et al. 1999

24. Paris, June 14-16, 2006 LMC MIRAS in K Indeed, K-magn of LMC MIRAS are 9-14 (Wood, 2000)

25. Paris, June 14-16, 2006 -Bolometric corrections on K are huge; -K-[12.5] colors are huge, up to 10 or more [12.5] magnitudes (in a filter 1  m wide) are huge: between -10 and -15 for red AGBs with Mbol = -4 to -7 With a distance modulus of 18.5, we have apparent [12.5] mags for LMC AGBs are 1 -- 5 Galactic AGBs (see Guandalini, on Friday) With a very cautious estimate we said we can measure a mag. of 4.8 in a 1 mm wide filter at 12 mm.  We can study in mid-IR the AGB phase of LMS stars, e.g. cluster.  Rich clusters in LMC are small: 3x3’ is a typical number.  With AMICA (field > 2x2) we can do ‘limited surveys’ and study luminosities and mass loss of the final evolutionary stages, at known distance  With long time availbale (variability) this is a unique, unprecedented result  With a 4-m telescope: same up to 200 Kpc (all dwarf spheroidals)  In MCs, down to the whole of the RGB

26. Paris, June 14-16, 2006 Post-AGB Sources…….

27. As a conseqeunce…. Best use of IRAIT: i) Preparation of automated operations for survey mode observations ii) Identification of key small-scale survey projects, on topics like those mentioned (SFR, AGB stars, old populations in the Galaxy, & MCs). iii) Moreover, ToO, like gamma-ray bursters: we will be operative during GLAST) Paris, June 14-16, 2006

28. Astronomy is continuing to change… J. Vermeer, The Astronomer, XVII century (The Louvre, Paris) The Astronomer, XXI century, (Dome C, Antarctica) Paris, June 14-16, 2006