Following the development of the laser frequency comb which led to the 2005 Nobel Prize in Physics, we began investigating the possibility of using this novel technology for precise and accurate spectrograph calibration. A programme was begun, aimed at demonstrating the capabilities of laser frequency combs (LFC) when coupled to an astronomical

The final years of the XXth Century and the initial years of the XXIst Century are witnessing a revolution in the construction of large telescopes. This has been possible thanks to the availability of both thin mirror technologies and large computing power. Astronomy is thus benefiting from this. Indeed the turn of century has been rich with new

The Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos (ORM), in the Canary Islands (Spain), was one of the candidates to host the future European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) and is the site of the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC), the largest optical infrared facility to date. Sky transparency is a key parameter as it defines the quality of the

Over 30 years of solar data have been acquired by the Birmingham Solar Oscillations Network (BiSON), an international network of telescopes used to study oscillations of the Sun. Five of the six BiSON telescopes are located at major observatories. The observational sites are, in order of increasing longitude: Mount Wilson (Hale) Observatory (MWO)

The MAGIC telescopes in La Palma, Canary Islands, measure the Cherenkov light emitted by gamma ray-induced extended air showers in the atmosphere. The good knowledge of the atmospheric parameters is important, both for the correct and safe operations of the telescopes, but also for subsequent data analysis. A weather station measures the state

We present the largest data base so far of atmospheric optical turbulence profiles [197 035 individual C2N(h)] for an astronomical site, the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory (La Palma, Spain). This C2N(h) data base was obtained through generalized SCIDAR observations at the 1-m Jacobus Kapteyn Telescope from 2004 February to 2009 August