VISTA: the Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy
VISTA ― the Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy ― is the newest telescope at ESO’s Paranal Observatory in northern Chile. VISTA is a survey telescope working at near-infrared wavelengths and is the world’s largest survey telescope. Its large mirror, wide field of view and very sensitive detectors will reveal a completely new view of the southern sky.
The telescope is housed on the peak adjacent to the one hosting the ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT) and shares the same exceptional observing conditions.
VISTA has a main mirror that is 4.1 m across. In photographic terms it can be thought of as a 67 megapixel digital camera with a 13 000 mm f/3.25 mirror lens.
At the heart of the telescope is a huge three-tonne camera with 16 state-of-the-art infrared-sensitive detectors.
VISTA’s observing time will be totally devoted to mapping the sky systematically and six huge public surveys will take up the majority of the telescope’s first five years of operations.
The hidden fires of the Flame Nebula,
as revealed by VISTA
VISTA was conceived and developed by a consortium of 18 universities in the United Kingdom, led by Queen Mary, University of London and became an in-kind contribution to ESO as part of the UK's accession agreement. Project management for the telescope design and construction was undertaken by the Science and Technology Facilities Council‘s UK Astronomy Technology Centre (STFC, UK ATC).
The telescope was provisionally accepted by ESO on 10 December 2009 and is now operated by ESO.
Details for observers using VISTA are available at:
http://www.eso.org/sci/facilities/paranal/instruments/vista/