It has recently been announced that the UK will begin to develop the first tool for equipping the latest Extremely Large Telescope (ELT).
This telescope the size of a Colosseum will be located at an altitude of 3000 meters above sea level in the Pustama desert in Chile. The construction is led by the European Southern Observatory (ESO), which also controls the Very Large Telescope (VLT) telescope in this region. A high location provides ideal conditions for conducting astronomical observations thanks to dry climate.
The first approved tool for ELT was MID-Infrared Elt Imager and Spectrograph (metis), which recently passed the final verification and is ready for production. Metis consortium includes ten astronomical research institutes, including the Dutch research school of astronomy (nova) and Leiden University.
According to Gillian Wright, director of StFC UK ATC, Metis It will be indispensable for the exact observation of the average infrared light, which will change the understanding of the place of mankind in the universe. Astronomers will use the medium-infrared vision of the tool to observe planet-forming disks filled with gas and dust, which often absorb visible light. Thus, the average infrared image is important for the study of such areas. The data obtained can significantly affect the understanding of the formation and evolution of galaxies.
Scientific goals
Among the scientific purposes of Metis are the search for the nearest exoplanets, the study of the origin of the solar system, and the study of the nuclei of the galaxies, where super-massive black holes live. It is important to note that this tool will be able to look for potentially inhabited worlds, since some cold planets emit light in the middle-infrared range.
ELT will create more clear images than the Hubble telescope
After the completion of construction, this ground telescope will become unique in its kind. ELT is one of the most ambitious scientific and engineering projects in history, aimed at studying the most remote corners of the universe using visible and infrared light. Its 39-meter primary mirror will be able to collect light 100 million times more than the human eye. ELT will use five mirrors for a detailed study of the universe. Three of them will have a curved shape, which will