EMIR: a Near-Infrared Multiobject Spectrograph for the GTC

In this contribution, we review the overall features of EMIR, the NIR multiobject spectrograph of the GTC. EMIR is at present in the middle of its PD phase and will be one of the first common user instruments for the GTC, the 10 meter telescope under construction by GRANTECAN at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory (Canary Islands, Spain). EMIR is being built by a Consortium of Spanish, French, and British institutes led by the IAC. EMIR is designed to realize one of the central goals of 10 m class telescopes, that of allowing observers to obtain spectra for large numbers of faint sources in a time-efficient manner. EMIR is primarily designed to be operated as a MOS in the K band but offers a wide range of observing modes, including imaging and spectroscopy, both long slit and multiobject, in the wavelength range 0.9 to 2.5 μm. The present status of development of EMIR, its expected performance, and the project schedule are described and discussed. This project is funded by GRANTECAN and the Plan Nacional de Astronomia y Astrofisica (National Plan for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Spain).