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ESO 36/07 - Associated Images

22 August 2007
For Immediate Release

HAWK-I Takes Off

New Wide Field Near-Infrared Imager for ESO's Very Large Telescope

The HAWK-I instrument mounted on the telescope's Nasmyth (side) port. HAWK-I is attached on Yepun, Unit Telescope number 4 of ESO's Very Large Telescope and saw First Light on the night of 31 July 2007. As the telescope tracks the celestial object under study, the entire instrument (2.2 tonnes) must rotate with great precision about its optical axis to hold the image stationary while the exposure is taken.

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The figure shows the Serpens star-forming region, as it was imaged during commissioning, on HAWK-I's four large infrared detectors. The gap between them is real, and multiple exposures are required to make a filled-in picture. The colour composite was created from images taken through three filters, J, H and K.

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This image shows a close-up view of detector 1 of HAWK-I. Despite a total exposure time of only 1 minute in each of three infrared filters, the image shows great detail in this million-year old region, revealing red young stars, reflection nebulae and dark clouds of gas and dust very clearly.

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Project Manager Jeff Pirard and ESO staff Raul Esteves are checking HAWK-I on Yepun at Paranal.

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