CASPEC on the ESO 3.6-metre telescope

This is the Cassegrain Echelle Spectrograph (CASPEC) instrument, which was the first major ESO-built instrument at the Cassegrain focus of the ESO 3.6-metre telescope at La Silla Observatory, in Chile. The decision to build such an instrument was taken in 1974, but due to ESO’s move from Geneva, Switzerland to Garching, Germany and the difficulties in procuring a suitable 2D detector, tests at the ESO 3.6-metre telescope only started in June 1983. Visiting astronomers could observe with CASPEC beginning on 1 April 1984.