During the first week of October 2005, a set of 9 Volume Phase Holographic (VPH) Grisms were installed on Dolores and successfully commissioned. The grisms used in Dolores were assembled and laboratory-tested by the Golem group (Brera-INAF Observatory in Milan).Since July 2001, one experimental VPH grism (centered on the H_Alpha) was regularly used in Dolores and its superior performances indicated that this would have been the natural evolution for a serious up-grade of Dolores.Thanks to...

On July 4th, at 5:52 UT (6:52 in Canary Islands local time), NASA Deep Impact spacecraft concludes a six-month voyage to reach 9P/Tempel 1 by sending a projectile crashing into this comet. The impact of the projectil of 370 Kg into the comet nucleus, will cause a crater on the surface and will eject fresh material from its interior. The interior of comets hides important clues about the origin of the Solar System, as this objects formed from the same pristine material as the solar...