On this page, we list the main changes that affected the instrument and this web site. For earlier news see this page, and for earlier updates see this page

SofI Status

Updates

• A new tool for proposal preparation is available: P1. For more details users should consult the Call for Proposal for P105.
• A turbulence parameter should be used instead of the seeing. For details, please consult the user Manual and check this link:

           https://www.eso.org/sci/observing/phase2/ObsConditions.html

• A new tool will in operation in La Silla to prepare OBs, www.eso.org/p2. All users observing in La Silla from P104 onward starting middle of October 2019 should use this tool to prepare their OB and not P2PP

• As of 2012-10-04 there are 596 papers, based on SofI data, and the number is growing. Check ESO Telescope Bibliography.
• The problem with the GenericSpectro and GenericImaging templates was solved: from now on the guiding option B must be used for guided observations, and N must be used for non-guided observations (2012-05-10).
• SofI User Manual ver. 2.30 released; autoguiding info updated (May 10, 2012).
• SofI User Manual ver. 2.20 released; global overhaul of the web page, particularly the Tools and Data reduction pages; update of the SofI specific visitor page; new bad pixel mask, new ZJJsHKs special dome flats, new ZJJsHKs illumination corrections, distortion maps for spectrosocpy (Blue, Red, H and K set ups), photometric zero points (May 23, 2011).
• Web-page clean up, correction of obsolete links, and migration of the entire calibration fits archive to a new ftp repository (Apr 14, 2011).
• New/updated: bad pixel mask, linearity correction, gain, read-out-noise, zero points and atmospheric extinction coefficients, illumination corrections in all broad band filters, and some web page cleanup/update (Aug 2010).

Press Releases (with lot of pretty pictures)

• The Light and Dark Face of a Star-Forming Nebula (Mar 31, 2010)
• Watching a Cannibal Galaxy Dine (Nov 20, 2009)
• Ticking Stellar Time Bomb Identified (Nov 17, 2009)
• New portrait of Omega Nebula's glistening watercolours (Jul 7, 2009)
• Seeing through the Dark (Mar 07, 2008)
• Star Family Seen Through Dusty Fog (Mar 13, 2007)
• The Star, the Dwarf and the Planet (Oct 19, 2006)
• HD3651b - BD companion to a planet-hosting star, Click here for an animation. (Aug 28, 2006)
• The Great Easter Egg Hunt: The Void's Incredible Richness (Apr 14, 2006)
• W49 Press Photo (July 22, 2003)
• Discovery of Nearest Known Brown Dwarf (Jan 13, 2003)
• Deepest Wide-Field Colour Image in the Southern Sky (Jan 10, 2003)
• Infrared Images of an Infant Solar System (May 7, 2002)
• Dusty Disks around YSO in Orion (Jun 7, 2001)
• How to Become a Star (Jan 10, 2001)
• Stellar Birth in a Dark Cloud (Oct 27, 2000)
• The Most Remote Gamma-Ray Burst (Oct 17, 2000)
• M17 Press Photo (Sept 14, 2000)
• Dark Cloud RCW 108 (Oct 27, 2000)
• Youngest Brown Dwarf Yet in a Multiple Stellar System (Jul 21, 2000)
• Faintest Methane Brown Dwarf Discovered with the NTT and VLT (Aug 18, 1999)
• Dark Cloud Barnard 68 (Jul 2, 1999)
• Southern Fireworks above ESO Telescopes (May 18, 1999)
• First Results from the UT1 Science Verification Programme (Nov 26, 1998)
• First Light Press Release (Jan 29, 1998)
• ISAAC and SOFI: New Infrared Instruments for ESO Telescopes (Jun 17, 1997)