EKARUS

A new Adaptive Optics R&D Platform at the Asiago Observatory

EKARUS

Why EKARUS?

The name EKARUS comes from the union of the Cima Ekar mountain where the INAF Copernico Telescope is located and the PAPYRUS project developed by LAM & ONERA at the Observatoire de Haute Provence.

What is EKARUS?

EKARUS is a project led by LAM/ONERA and INAF, in collaboration with Durham University, UNIGE and IPAG to gather resources and provide an ambitious state-of-the-art AO platform with guaranteed on-sky access and a modular design to test and validate innovative AO R&D concepts at the ASIAGO Observatory.

EKARUS will inherit from the PAPYRUS platform, scheduled to be decommissioned early 2026 due to the renovation of the OHP Telescope 152. The availability of most of the key-elements (RTC, DM, Pyramid, fast WFS Detectors) as well as the experience acquired on the PAPYRUS bench allows us to target an aggressive first light for the EKARUS platform scheduled for the summer 2026.

What are the objectives of EKARUS?

The objective of the EKARUS project is to provide an AO R&D platform with on-sky access at the Cima Ekar Copernico Telescope. The targeted science cases are innovative WFS concepts for XAO application to prepare the upcoming XAO systems on the 10-m class telescope (RISTRETTO) and future 40-m class telescopes (ANDES, PCS). As such, EKARUS should provide a high level of modularity to be able to welcome visiting instruments and concepts. The modularity of the bench should be prioritized with respect to the optimality of the design. In addition, the bench should be fully usable remotely to provide access to all the users.

As well, EKARUS will be used for educational purposes to train young researchers to plan AO observation and learn how to calibrate and operate AO systems on-sky.

EKARUS News

September 2026 : First light completed!

The EKARUS team is glad to share the successful first light of the platform ! Thanks to the hard-work and dedication of the team, we managed to commission the instrument during the summer and to be ready for our First Light nights on the 31st of August and 1st of September.

We managed to obtain 40% of strehl ratio @650 nm !! The associated seeing estimated from the PSF is around 1.3 " at 500 nm. The airy rings are visible,s DM correction area and we can even notice the wind halo!

The system proved to be extremely stable while performing closed-loop operation, we never had to open the loop or lost any device during the night. Congratulation again to everyone and thanks again for the support of the Asiago observatory for this exciting project!