Andrew Yee[_1_]
May 28th 08, 05:16 PM
ESO Education and Public Relations Dept.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Text with all links and the photos are available on the ESO Website at URL:
http://www.eso.org/public/outreach/press-rel/pr-2008/pr-16-08.html
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contacts
Dr. Henri Boffin
ESO Press Officer
Phone: +49 89 3200 6222
Valentina Rodriguez
ESO Press Officer in Chile
Phone: +56 2 463 3123
For Immediate Release: 27 May 2008
ESO Release 16/08
The Perfect Science Machine
ESO celebrates 10 years since First Light of the VLT
Today marks the 10th anniversary since First Light with ESO's Very Large
Telescope (VLT), the most advanced optical telescope in the world. Since
then, the VLT has evolved into a unique suite of four 8.2-m Unit Telescopes
(UTs) equipped with no fewer than 13 state-of-the-art instruments, and four
1.8-m moveable Auxiliary Telescopes (ATs). The telescopes can work
individually, and they can also be linked together in groups of two or three
to form a giant 'interferometer' (VLTI), allowing astronomers to see details
corresponding to those from a much larger telescope.
"The Very Large Telescope array is a flagship facility for astronomy, a
perfect science machine of which Europe can be very proud," says Tim de
Zeeuw, ESO's Director General. "We have built the most advanced ground-based
optical observatory in the world, thanks to the combination of a long-term
adequately-funded instrument and technology development plan with an
approach where most of the instruments were built in collaboration with
institutions in the member states, with in-kind contributions in labour
compensated by guaranteed observing time."
Sitting atop the 2600m high Paranal Mountain in the Chilean Atacama Desert,
the VLT's design, suite of instruments, and operating principles set the
standard for ground-based astronomy. It provides the European scientific
community with a telescope array with collecting power significantly greater
than any other facilities available at present, offering imaging and
spectroscopy capabilities at visible and infrared wavelengths.
The first scientifically useful images, marking the official 'First Light'
of the VLT, were obtained on the night of 25 to 26 May 1998, with a test
camera attached to "Antu", Unit Telescope number 1. They were officially
presented to the press on the 27 May, exactly ten years ago. Since then, all
four Unit Telescopes and four Auxiliary Telescopes went into routine
operations and the number of instruments has continued to grow, to fill all
the possible positions in the telescopes where instruments can be attached.
In 2007, about 500 peer-reviewed papers using data collected with VLT and
VLTI instruments at Paranal were published in scientific journals. Since the
start of science operations, in April 1999, the VLT has led to the
publication of more than 2200 refereed papers, an average of about one paper
published every single working day.
"The combination of high operational efficiency, system reliability and
uptime for scientific observations results in very high scientific
productivity," says Andreas Kaufer, director of the La Silla Paranal
Observatory.
The VLT and VLTI have contributed to all areas of astronomy, including the
nature of dark matter and dark energy; the extreme physics of gamma-ray
bursts and supernovae; the formation, structure and evolution of galaxies;
the properties of exoplanets, Solar System objects, star clusters and
stellar populations, the interstellar and intergalactic medium, and of
super-massive black holes in galactic nuclei, in particular the one in the
Galactic Centre; and the formation of stars and planets.
The stunning scientific success of the VLT has attracted new member states
to ESO. In the past decade Portugal joined (in 2001, after a ten-year
associate status), followed by the United Kingdom (2002), Finland (2004),
Spain (2006) and the Czech Republic (2007). Austria also announced its
intent to join later this year.
Another measure of success is the number of observing proposals made every
year for the use of the VLT, which is now above the 1500 mark. On average,
the amount of time requested to use the VLT is 6 times higher than what is
available.
The VLT will continue to increase in power over the next decade. The first
of the second-generation VLT instruments, X-Shooter, will come online this
year, with KMOS, SPHERE and MUSE to follow, together with multiple laser
guide stars, an adaptive secondary mirror on Yepun (UT4), and one or more
third-generation instruments, including an ultra-stable high-resolution
spectrograph at the combined focus. The VLTI will also be equipped with
second-generation instruments.
Clearly, the VLT's story has only begun.
More Information
The VLT was designed from the start as an integrated system of four 8.2m
telescopes, including the possibility to combine the light from individual
telescopes for optical interferometry, enabling stupendous spatial
resolution. First light on Antu occurred in May 1998, with Kueyen, Melipal
and Yepun following soon after. Most of the VLT and VLTI instruments were
built in close collaboration with institutes in the member states. The
first-generation instrument suite was completed in 2007 with the
commissioning of CRIRES. The Paranal arsenal includes turnkey adaptive
optics systems and a rapid-response mode to react to fast transient events.
Recently, the near-infrared imager HAWK-I was added as a 'generation-1.5'
instrument.
See the amazing posters and videos,
http://www.eso.org/public/outreach/press-rel/pr-2008/phot-16-08.html
National contacts for the media:
Belgium: Dr. Rodrigo Alvarez, +32-2-474 70 50
Czech Republic: Pavel Suchan, +420 267 103 040
Denmark: Dr. Michael Linden-Vornle, +45-33-18 19 97
Finland: Ms. Riitta Tirronen, +358 9 7748 8369
France: Dr. Daniel Kunth, +33-1-44 32 80 85
Germany: Dr. Jakob Staude, +49-6221-528229
Italy: Dr. Leopoldo Benacchio, +39-347-230 26 51
The Netherlands: Dr. Marieke Baan, +31-20-525 74 80
Portugal: Prof. Teresa Lago, +351-22-089 833
Spain: Dr. Miguel Mas-Hesse, +34918131196
Sweden: Dr. Jesper Sollerman, +46-8-55 37 85 54
Switzerland: Dr. Martin Steinacher, +41-31-324 23 82
United Kingdom: Mr. Peter Barratt, +44-1793-44 20 25
USA: Dr. Paola Rebusco, +1-617-308-2397
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
ESO Press Information is available on Receive email notification
the WWW at about important news from
http://www.eso.org/outreach/press-rel/ ESO - subscribe to the
ESO-NEWS Mailing List.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright ESO Education & Public Relations Department
Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 2, D-85748 Garching, Germany
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Text with all links and the photos are available on the ESO Website at URL:
http://www.eso.org/public/outreach/press-rel/pr-2008/pr-16-08.html
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contacts
Dr. Henri Boffin
ESO Press Officer
Phone: +49 89 3200 6222
Valentina Rodriguez
ESO Press Officer in Chile
Phone: +56 2 463 3123
For Immediate Release: 27 May 2008
ESO Release 16/08
The Perfect Science Machine
ESO celebrates 10 years since First Light of the VLT
Today marks the 10th anniversary since First Light with ESO's Very Large
Telescope (VLT), the most advanced optical telescope in the world. Since
then, the VLT has evolved into a unique suite of four 8.2-m Unit Telescopes
(UTs) equipped with no fewer than 13 state-of-the-art instruments, and four
1.8-m moveable Auxiliary Telescopes (ATs). The telescopes can work
individually, and they can also be linked together in groups of two or three
to form a giant 'interferometer' (VLTI), allowing astronomers to see details
corresponding to those from a much larger telescope.
"The Very Large Telescope array is a flagship facility for astronomy, a
perfect science machine of which Europe can be very proud," says Tim de
Zeeuw, ESO's Director General. "We have built the most advanced ground-based
optical observatory in the world, thanks to the combination of a long-term
adequately-funded instrument and technology development plan with an
approach where most of the instruments were built in collaboration with
institutions in the member states, with in-kind contributions in labour
compensated by guaranteed observing time."
Sitting atop the 2600m high Paranal Mountain in the Chilean Atacama Desert,
the VLT's design, suite of instruments, and operating principles set the
standard for ground-based astronomy. It provides the European scientific
community with a telescope array with collecting power significantly greater
than any other facilities available at present, offering imaging and
spectroscopy capabilities at visible and infrared wavelengths.
The first scientifically useful images, marking the official 'First Light'
of the VLT, were obtained on the night of 25 to 26 May 1998, with a test
camera attached to "Antu", Unit Telescope number 1. They were officially
presented to the press on the 27 May, exactly ten years ago. Since then, all
four Unit Telescopes and four Auxiliary Telescopes went into routine
operations and the number of instruments has continued to grow, to fill all
the possible positions in the telescopes where instruments can be attached.
In 2007, about 500 peer-reviewed papers using data collected with VLT and
VLTI instruments at Paranal were published in scientific journals. Since the
start of science operations, in April 1999, the VLT has led to the
publication of more than 2200 refereed papers, an average of about one paper
published every single working day.
"The combination of high operational efficiency, system reliability and
uptime for scientific observations results in very high scientific
productivity," says Andreas Kaufer, director of the La Silla Paranal
Observatory.
The VLT and VLTI have contributed to all areas of astronomy, including the
nature of dark matter and dark energy; the extreme physics of gamma-ray
bursts and supernovae; the formation, structure and evolution of galaxies;
the properties of exoplanets, Solar System objects, star clusters and
stellar populations, the interstellar and intergalactic medium, and of
super-massive black holes in galactic nuclei, in particular the one in the
Galactic Centre; and the formation of stars and planets.
The stunning scientific success of the VLT has attracted new member states
to ESO. In the past decade Portugal joined (in 2001, after a ten-year
associate status), followed by the United Kingdom (2002), Finland (2004),
Spain (2006) and the Czech Republic (2007). Austria also announced its
intent to join later this year.
Another measure of success is the number of observing proposals made every
year for the use of the VLT, which is now above the 1500 mark. On average,
the amount of time requested to use the VLT is 6 times higher than what is
available.
The VLT will continue to increase in power over the next decade. The first
of the second-generation VLT instruments, X-Shooter, will come online this
year, with KMOS, SPHERE and MUSE to follow, together with multiple laser
guide stars, an adaptive secondary mirror on Yepun (UT4), and one or more
third-generation instruments, including an ultra-stable high-resolution
spectrograph at the combined focus. The VLTI will also be equipped with
second-generation instruments.
Clearly, the VLT's story has only begun.
More Information
The VLT was designed from the start as an integrated system of four 8.2m
telescopes, including the possibility to combine the light from individual
telescopes for optical interferometry, enabling stupendous spatial
resolution. First light on Antu occurred in May 1998, with Kueyen, Melipal
and Yepun following soon after. Most of the VLT and VLTI instruments were
built in close collaboration with institutes in the member states. The
first-generation instrument suite was completed in 2007 with the
commissioning of CRIRES. The Paranal arsenal includes turnkey adaptive
optics systems and a rapid-response mode to react to fast transient events.
Recently, the near-infrared imager HAWK-I was added as a 'generation-1.5'
instrument.
See the amazing posters and videos,
http://www.eso.org/public/outreach/press-rel/pr-2008/phot-16-08.html
National contacts for the media:
Belgium: Dr. Rodrigo Alvarez, +32-2-474 70 50
Czech Republic: Pavel Suchan, +420 267 103 040
Denmark: Dr. Michael Linden-Vornle, +45-33-18 19 97
Finland: Ms. Riitta Tirronen, +358 9 7748 8369
France: Dr. Daniel Kunth, +33-1-44 32 80 85
Germany: Dr. Jakob Staude, +49-6221-528229
Italy: Dr. Leopoldo Benacchio, +39-347-230 26 51
The Netherlands: Dr. Marieke Baan, +31-20-525 74 80
Portugal: Prof. Teresa Lago, +351-22-089 833
Spain: Dr. Miguel Mas-Hesse, +34918131196
Sweden: Dr. Jesper Sollerman, +46-8-55 37 85 54
Switzerland: Dr. Martin Steinacher, +41-31-324 23 82
United Kingdom: Mr. Peter Barratt, +44-1793-44 20 25
USA: Dr. Paola Rebusco, +1-617-308-2397
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
ESO Press Information is available on Receive email notification
the WWW at about important news from
http://www.eso.org/outreach/press-rel/ ESO - subscribe to the
ESO-NEWS Mailing List.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright ESO Education & Public Relations Department
Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 2, D-85748 Garching, Germany
----------------------------------------------------------------------------