The Mid-infrared ELT Imager and Spectrograph (METIS) will provide the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) with a unique window to the thermal- and mid-infrared (3–13 µm). Its single-conjugate adaptive optics (SCAO) system will enable high contrast imaging and integral field unit (IFU) spectroscopy (R ~ 100 000) at the diffraction limit of the ELT. This article describes the science drivers, conceptual design, observing modes, and expected performance of METIS.@en

The Mid-Infrared ELT Imager and Spectrograph (METIS) is one of three first light instruments on the ELT. It will provide high-contrast imaging and medium resolution, slit-spectroscopy from 3 - 19um, as well as high resolution (R ∼ 100,000) integral field spectroscopy from 2.9-5.3μm. All modes observe at the diffraction limit of the ELT, by means of adaptive optics, yielding angular resolutions of a few tens of milliarcseconds. The range of METIS science is broad, from Solar System objects to active galactic nuclei (AGN). We will present an update on the main science drivers for METIS: circum-stellar disks and exoplanets. The METIS project is now in full steam, approaching its preliminary design review (PDR) in 2018. In this paper we will present the current status of its optical, mechanical and thermal design as well as operational aspects. We will also discuss the challenges of building an instrument for the ELT, and the required technologies.@en

The Mid-infrared ELT Imager and Spectrograph (METIS) is one the first three scientific instruments on ESO's Extremely Large Telescope (ELT). At the time of anticipated first light in 2025, METIS will provide diffraction limited imaging, coronagraphy and medium resolution slit spectroscopy in the 3-19 micrometers range, as well as high resolution (R approximately equals to 100, 000) integral field spectroscopy from 2.9-5.3 micrometers. The unique combination of these observing capabilities with an angular resolution of 0.020 sec, and the sensitivity provided by a 40m aperture, make METIS a very powerful tool to study the infrared sky - from objects in our Solar system, the Galactic center, brown dwarfs, evolved stars, and massive stellar clusters to active galactic nuclei (AGN), local starbursts, transient events, and luminous infrared galaxies at intermediate redshifts. Its main scientific focus, however, will be on the study of proto-planetary disks and exoplanets. In this paper, we describe the instrument concept and performance. We discuss the scientific performance of METIS with respect to AKARI, and elaborate on the relevance of the AKARI archive with respect to the METIS observing program.@en

The Mid-infrared ELT Imager and Spectrograph (METIS) is one the first three scientific instruments on ESO's Extremely Large Telescope (ELT). At the time of anticipated first light in 2025, METIS will provide diffraction limited imaging, coronagraphy and medium resolution slit spectroscopy in the 3-19 micrometers range, as well as high resolution (R approximately equals to 100, 000) integral field spectroscopy from 2.9-5.3 micrometers. The unique combination of these observing capabilities with an angular resolution of 0.020 sec, and the sensitivity provided by a 40m aperture, make METIS a very powerful tool to study the infrared sky - from objects in our Solar system, the Galactic center, brown dwarfs, evolved stars, and massive stellar clusters to active galactic nuclei (AGN), local starbursts, transient events, and luminous infrared galaxies at intermediate redshifts. Its main scientific focus, however, will be on the study of proto-planetary disks and exoplanets. In this paper, we describe the instrument concept and performance. We discuss the scientific performance of METIS with respect to AKARI, and elaborate on the relevance of the AKARI archive with respect to the METIS observing program.@en

The Mid-infrared ELT Imager and Spectrograph (METIS) is one the first three scientific instruments on ESO's Extremely Large Telescope (ELT). At the time of anticipated first light in 2025, METIS will provide diffraction limited imaging, coronagraphy and medium resolution slit spectroscopy in the 3-19 micrometers range, as well as high resolution (R approximately equals to 100, 000) integral field spectroscopy from 2.9-5.3 micrometers. The unique combination of these observing capabilities with an angular resolution of 0.020 sec, and the sensitivity provided by a 40m aperture, make METIS a very powerful tool to study the infrared sky - from objects in our Solar system, the Galactic center, brown dwarfs, evolved stars, and massive stellar clusters to active galactic nuclei (AGN), local starbursts, transient events, and luminous infrared galaxies at intermediate redshifts. Its main scientific focus, however, will be on the study of proto-planetary disks and exoplanets. In this paper, we describe the instrument concept and performance. We discuss the scientific performance of METIS with respect to AKARI, and elaborate on the relevance of the AKARI archive with respect to the METIS observing program.@en

The Mid-infrared ELT Imager and Spectrograph (METIS) is one the first three scientific instruments on ESO's Extremely Large Telescope (ELT). At the time of anticipated first light in 2025, METIS will provide diffraction limited imaging, coronagraphy and medium resolution slit spectroscopy in the 3-19 micrometers range, as well as high resolution (R approximately equals to 100, 000) integral field spectroscopy from 2.9-5.3 micrometers. The unique combination of these observing capabilities with an angular resolution of 0.020 sec, and the sensitivity provided by a 40m aperture, make METIS a very powerful tool to study the infrared sky - from objects in our Solar system, the Galactic center, brown dwarfs, evolved stars, and massive stellar clusters to active galactic nuclei (AGN), local starbursts, transient events, and luminous infrared galaxies at intermediate redshifts. Its main scientific focus, however, will be on the study of proto-planetary disks and exoplanets. In this paper, we describe the instrument concept and performance. We discuss the scientific performance of METIS with respect to AKARI, and elaborate on the relevance of the AKARI archive with respect to the METIS observing program.@en

The Mid-infrared ELT Imager and Spectrograph (METIS) is one the first three scientific instruments on ESO's Extremely Large Telescope (ELT). At the time of anticipated first light in 2025, METIS will provide diffraction limited imaging, coronagraphy and medium resolution slit spectroscopy in the 3-19 micrometers range, as well as high resolution (R approximately equals to 100, 000) integral field spectroscopy from 2.9-5.3 micrometers. The unique combination of these observing capabilities with an angular resolution of 0.020 sec, and the sensitivity provided by a 40m aperture, make METIS a very powerful tool to study the infrared sky - from objects in our Solar system, the Galactic center, brown dwarfs, evolved stars, and massive stellar clusters to active galactic nuclei (AGN), local starbursts, transient events, and luminous infrared galaxies at intermediate redshifts. Its main scientific focus, however, will be on the study of proto-planetary disks and exoplanets. In this paper, we describe the instrument concept and performance. We discuss the scientific performance of METIS with respect to AKARI, and elaborate on the relevance of the AKARI archive with respect to the METIS observing program.@en

The Mid-infrared ELT Imager and Spectrograph (METIS) is one the first three scientific instruments on ESO's Extremely Large Telescope (ELT). At the time of anticipated first light in 2025, METIS will provide diffraction limited imaging, coronagraphy and medium resolution slit spectroscopy in the 3-19 micrometers range, as well as high resolution (R approximately equals to 100, 000) integral field spectroscopy from 2.9-5.3 micrometers. The unique combination of these observing capabilities with an angular resolution of 0.020 sec, and the sensitivity provided by a 40m aperture, make METIS a very powerful tool to study the infrared sky - from objects in our Solar system, the Galactic center, brown dwarfs, evolved stars, and massive stellar clusters to active galactic nuclei (AGN), local starbursts, transient events, and luminous infrared galaxies at intermediate redshifts. Its main scientific focus, however, will be on the study of proto-planetary disks and exoplanets. In this paper, we describe the instrument concept and performance. We discuss the scientific performance of METIS with respect to AKARI, and elaborate on the relevance of the AKARI archive with respect to the METIS observing program.@en

The Mid-infrared ELT Imager and Spectrograph (METIS) is one the first three scientific instruments on ESO's Extremely Large Telescope (ELT). At the time of anticipated first light in 2025, METIS will provide diffraction limited imaging, coronagraphy and medium resolution slit spectroscopy in the 3-19 micrometers range, as well as high resolution (R approximately equals to 100, 000) integral field spectroscopy from 2.9-5.3 micrometers. The unique combination of these observing capabilities with an angular resolution of 0.020 sec, and the sensitivity provided by a 40m aperture, make METIS a very powerful tool to study the infrared sky - from objects in our Solar system, the Galactic center, brown dwarfs, evolved stars, and massive stellar clusters to active galactic nuclei (AGN), local starbursts, transient events, and luminous infrared galaxies at intermediate redshifts. Its main scientific focus, however, will be on the study of proto-planetary disks and exoplanets. In this paper, we describe the instrument concept and performance. We discuss the scientific performance of METIS with respect to AKARI, and elaborate on the relevance of the AKARI archive with respect to the METIS observing program.@en

METIS is one the first three instruments on the E-ELT. Apart from diffraction limited imaging, METIS will provide coronagraphy and medium resolution slit spectroscopy over the 3 - 19μm range, as well as high resolution (R ∼ 100,000) integral field spectroscopy from 2.9 - 5.3μm, including a mode with extended instantaneous wavelength coverage. The unique combination of these observing capabilities, makes METIS the ideal instrument for the study of circumstellar disks and exoplanets, among many other science areas. In this paper we provide an update of the relevant science drivers, the METIS observing modes, the status of the simulator and the data analysis. We discuss the preliminary design of the optical system, which is driven by the need to calibrate observations at thermal IR wavelengths on a six-mirror ELT. We present the expected adaptive optics performance and the measures taken to enable high contrast imaging. We describe the opto-mechanical system, the location of METIS on the Nasmyth instrument platform, and conclude with an update on critical subsystem components, such as the immersed grating and the focal plane detectors. In summary, the work on METIS has taken off well and is on track for first light in 2025.@en

We present the preliminary design of the calibration unit of the future E-ELT instrument METIS. This independent subunit is mounted externally to the main cryostat of METIS and will function both as calibration reference for science observations, as well as verification and alignment tool during the AIT phase. In this paper, we focus on describing its preliminary layout and foreseen functionalities, based on the performance requirements defined at system level and the constraints imposed by warm IR background. We discuss the advantage of employing an integrating sphere as common radiation emitter, leading to a novel and versatile design, where the source's spatio-spectral properties can be varied with high fidelity and repeatability. By combining only few tuneable sources and mechanisms we show how a large instrument such as METIS can be calibrated and tested, without the need of a complex cold calibration unit.@en

METIS, a mid-infrared imager and spectrograph for the wavelength range 2.9-19μm (astronomical L-, M-, N- and Q-band), will be one of the first three science instruments at the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT). It will provide diffraction limited imaging, coronagraphy, high resolution integral field spectroscopy and low and medium resolution slit spectroscopy. Within the international METIS consortium, the 1st Institute of Physics of the University of Cologne in Germany is responsible for the design, manufacturing, integration and qualification of the Warm Calibration Unit (WCU) of the instrument. The WCU will be a self-contained unit operating at ambient temperature outside of the voluminous METIS dewar, feeding a variety of optical calibration and alignment signals into the optical path of METIS. The functionalities of the WCU will be used for routine daily daytime calibrations after astronomical observing nights and verification of the internal alignment of METIS during assembly, integration and verification (AIV). In this contribution we present the preliminary optical design and principle of operation of the WCU in its current state of the preliminary design phase of METIS.@en

We report on the design of a meteorite impact simulator and evaluate the first results. Artificial meteorites were dropped on the ground with realistic terminal velocities. The soil disturbance and impact pit remained recognizable for approximately 3 months. These experiments foster our understanding of impact dynamics in soft deformable top soils, and contribute observables to improve the success rate of meteorite search campaigns.@en

The computation of the dark flight of a bright fireball requires knowledge of the atmospheric parameters. In particular wind and wind direction as a function of height are crucial for an accurate trajectory. In this paper we compare different sources of sounding balloon and model data, and study the effect on the dark flight.@en