UK ELT: The next generation instrumentation suite for the Extremely Large Telescope: MOSAIC Focal Plane
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Oxford
Department Name: Oxford Physics
Abstract
The European Southern Observatory's (ESO) Extremely Large Telescope, currently under construction in the Atacama Desert in Chile, will be the largest visible and infrared light telescope in the world.
It will explore the early universe and other worlds in unprecedented detail and provide clearer observations of cosmic objects than ever before. The UK is one of 16 ESO member states funding the construction of the state-of-the-art telescope.
This grant enables essential design and development work as part of delivering the full instrumentation suite for the ELT, which will allow scientists to analyse data collected by the telescope and fully utilise the power of this ground-breaking new facility.
The MOSIAC instrument will allow the ELT to observe up to 300 simultaneous targets (e.g. stars or galaxies) within the full field of view available to the telescope, splitting the light from each source into detailed spectra covering a range of wavelengths from the extreme blue end of the visible spectrum(~400nm) to around 1800nm (near-infrared).
As a facility instrument, MOSAIC will provide unprecedented capabilities for astronomers to study the processes of the formation of stars in the Milky Way, and the formation and evolution of galaxies over most of the observable Universe.
It will explore the early universe and other worlds in unprecedented detail and provide clearer observations of cosmic objects than ever before. The UK is one of 16 ESO member states funding the construction of the state-of-the-art telescope.
This grant enables essential design and development work as part of delivering the full instrumentation suite for the ELT, which will allow scientists to analyse data collected by the telescope and fully utilise the power of this ground-breaking new facility.
The MOSIAC instrument will allow the ELT to observe up to 300 simultaneous targets (e.g. stars or galaxies) within the full field of view available to the telescope, splitting the light from each source into detailed spectra covering a range of wavelengths from the extreme blue end of the visible spectrum(~400nm) to around 1800nm (near-infrared).
As a facility instrument, MOSAIC will provide unprecedented capabilities for astronomers to study the processes of the formation of stars in the Milky Way, and the formation and evolution of galaxies over most of the observable Universe.
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
| Gavin Dalton (Principal Investigator) |