<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2 Final//EN"> <!--Converted with LaTeX2HTML 98.1p1 release (March 2nd, 1998) originally by Nikos Drakos (nikos@cbl.leeds.ac.uk), CBLU, University of Leeds * revised and updated by: Marcus Hennecke, Ross Moore, Herb Swan * with significant contributions from: Jens Lippmann, Marek Rouchal, Martin Wilck and others --> <HTML> <HEAD> <TITLE>Introduction</TITLE> <META NAME="description" CONTENT="Introduction"> <META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="vol2"> <META NAME="resource-type" CONTENT="document"> <META NAME="distribution" CONTENT="global"> <META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <LINK REL="STYLESHEET" HREF="vol2.css"> <LINK REL="next" HREF="node491.html"> <LINK REL="previous" HREF="node489.html"> <LINK REL="up" HREF="node489.html"> <LINK REL="next" HREF="node491.html"> </HEAD> <BODY > <!--Navigation Panel--> <A NAME="tex2html7549" HREF="node491.html"> <IMG WIDTH="37" HEIGHT="24" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0" ALT="next" SRC="icons.gif/next_motif.gif"></A> <A NAME="tex2html7546" HREF="node489.html"> <IMG WIDTH="26" HEIGHT="24" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0" ALT="up" SRC="icons.gif/up_motif.gif"></A> <A NAME="tex2html7540" HREF="node489.html"> <IMG WIDTH="63" HEIGHT="24" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0" ALT="previous" SRC="icons.gif/previous_motif.gif"></A> <A NAME="tex2html7548" HREF="node1.html"> <IMG WIDTH="65" HEIGHT="24" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0" ALT="contents" SRC="icons.gif/contents_motif.gif"></A> <BR> <B> Next:</B> <A NAME="tex2html7550" HREF="node491.html">Data Format</A> <B> Up:</B> <A NAME="tex2html7547" HREF="node489.html">PISCO</A> <B> Previous:</B> <A NAME="tex2html7541" HREF="node489.html">PISCO</A> <BR> <BR> <!--End of Navigation Panel--> <H1><A NAME="SECTION002810000000000000000"> <B>Introduction</B></A> </H1> PISCO is the ESO <B>P</B>olarimeter with <B>I</B>nstrumental and <B>S</B>ky <B>CO</B>mpensation, a two-channel filter polarimeter using photon counting and offered on the ESO/MPI 2.2-m telescope. A description of its design and operation can be found in ESO Operating Manual No. 13 and references therein. Appendix A of that manual also discusses in detail the mathematical principles around which the MIDAS reduction program for PISCO data has been written. <P> <BR><HR> <ADDRESS> <I>Petra Nass</I> <BR><I>1999-06-15</I> </ADDRESS> </BODY> </HTML>