The Life and Times of AMBER: The VLTI's Astronomical Multi-BEam combineR

W.-J. de Wit , M. Wittkowski (1) , F. Rantakyrö (1) , M. Scholler (2) , A. Mérand (1) , R. G. Petrov (3) , G. Weigelt (4) , F. Malbet (5, 5) , F. Massi , S. Kraus , K. Ohnaka (4) , F. Millour (3) , S. Lagarde (3) , X. Haubois (1) , P. Bourget (1) , I. Percheron (1) , J.-P. Berger (5) , A. Richichi (6)

1 ESO - European Southern Observatory
2 IBCP - Institut de biologie et chimie des protéines [Lyon]
3 LAGRANGE - Joseph Louis LAGRANGE
4 MPIFR - Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie
5 IPAG - Institut de Planétologie et d'Astrophysique de Grenoble
6 OAA - INAF - Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri

The sharpest images on Paranal are produced by the beam-combining instruments of the Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI). Currently, the VLTI is close to completing a transitional period, moving away from the first generation of instruments (AMBER, MIDI) and offering new instruments and subsystems to the community. In this article, we report on the life and achievements of the recently decommissioned, near-infrared beam combiner instrument AMBER, the most prolific optical interferometric instrument to date.

Domaines: Astrophysique [astro-ph]

W.-J. de Wit, M. Wittkowski, F. Rantakyrö, M. Scholler, A. Mérand, et al.. The Life and Times of AMBER: The VLTI's Astronomical Multi-BEam combineR. The Messenger, 2018, ⟨10.18727/0722-6691/5106⟩. ⟨hal-02447626⟩