Instrumentation Activities at Paranal Observatory

摘要

This paper presents miscellaneous activities related to instrumentation taking place at Paranal Observatory. The number of instruments and / or facilities that will eventually equip the Observatory (VLT, VLTI, VST, VISTA) is about 20. An adequate organization (human and technical) is required to ensure configuration control and efficient preventive and corrective maintenance (hardware and software). Monitoring instrument performance is a key feature to guarantee success of operations and minimize technical downtime. Some observational projects are carried out with the aim of characterizing the Paranal sky conditions in the visible and the IR, in emission and absorption. Efforts are being developed to monitor, characterize and archive the transparency conditions at night.