OSIRIS tunable imager and spectrograph for the GTC: from design to commissioning

OSIRIS (Optical System for Imaging and low Resolution Integrated
Spectroscopy) was the optical Day One instrument for the 10.4m Spanish
telescope GTC. It is installed at the Observatorio del Roque de Los
Muchachos (La Palma, Spain). This instrument has been operational since
March-2009 and covers from 360 to 1000 nm. OSIRIS observing modes
include direct imaging with tunable and conventional filters, long slit
and low resolution spectroscopy. OSIRIS wide field of view and high
efficiency provide a powerful tool for the scientific exploitation of
GTC. OSIRIS was developed by a Consortium…

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Signore e Signori, il cielo!

L'apertura pubblica del 24 novembre non sarà effettuata; al suo posto, a partire dalle ore 17:00, si effettuerà una manifestazione, presso la chiesa di S. Pietro in Vincoli, dal titolo "Signore e Signori il cielo" durante la quale il socio Domenico Ienna terrà una conferenza dal titolo "Letture e scritture del Cosmo da Terra e dallo Spazio Note storico-antropologiche su oggetti e attori relativi”.

Inoltre saranno lette poesie con tema "il cielo" ed il coro "Franco Potenza" terrà un concerto di "composizioni colte e folcloristiche".

Auditorium “S. Pietro in Vincoli” di Frasso…

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Getting to know the cataclysmic variable beneath the nova eruption

The eruption of a (classical) nova is widely accepted to be a recurrent
event in the lifetime of a cataclysmic binary star. In-between eruptions
the system should therefore behave as a "normal" cataclysmic variable
(CV), i.e. according to its characteristic properties like the
mass-transfer rate or the strength of the magnetic field of the white
dwarf. How important are these characteristics for the nova eruption
itself, i.e. which type of systems preferably undergo a nova eruption?
This question could in principle be addressed by comparing the post-nova
systems with the general…

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2012 TT5

Available from the Minor Planet Center.

2012 TS5

Available from the Minor Planet Center.